Is there a "wrong" direction to lay laminate, wood?

[Bienes Raices]

I bought laminate and was going to install it myself and the store recommended installing the planks parallel to the front door because the bedroom door cuts would be easier for me to do as a novice. But now my tile installer has offered me a good price for installation of the laminate so I think I'm going to have him do it instead of me. In terms of looks is there one way that's preferable to the other? As you open the front door there's a long hallway that goes back to the bedrooms. Thanks.

[Jon Holdman]

Wood flooring is indeed typically installed perpendicular to the floor joists to give better structural support. Not sure that's as important for laminate.

I've just installed about 625 feet of laminate in a rental. My advice is to either rent or buy a electric jamb saw. When you're cutting the laminate, you leave gaps for expansion at the ends and sides. Against the walls you cover these with quarter round. Where this is a mess is around doors. Inside the doorways, cut the door jambs (the piece the door closes against) off and put the laminate under the jambs, tight with the sides of the door frames. On the sides of the door, you will usually have some type of molding that runs vertically along the sides. The baseboards come up against this molding. Along the baseboards you leave a gap and then cover it with quarter round. That doesn't work with the door molding. I recommend undercutting it, and a bit of the baseboard. Then cut the laminate so it slides under the side molding and under the end of the baseboard. Cut at an angle so no gap shows and the laminate is flush against the door frame on the narrow (door) edge of the molding.

Here are some pictures:

This is your starting point with a wall and door frame (white), baseboard (yellow), and frame molding (red).

If you just make a simple cut with the spacing (blue is flooring) slide it in place and put on the quarter round (green) you'll have an ugly gap around the frame molding.

If you undercut the frame molding and a bit of the baseboard, then cut an angle into your flooring, it will slide into the cuts you've made and avoid this ugly gap.