How do you install laminate flooring under sliding closet doors?

We have closet doors that aren’t on tracks, but just has a middle piece screwed to the ground to keep the doors in place. We plan on pulling up the carpet, which goes into the closet. So, I’m wondering what is the proper way to install the laminate flooring there? Should we stop the flooring just outside the closet door and leave the carpet in place inside the closet? Or are we supposed to screw the middle piece to the top of the laminate? Or what?

Do take up the carpet and the center guide, and run your flooring into the closet. I’ve always left the guide off when installing in a closet with no bottom track. I think the little plastic guide looks really tacky on my beautiful new floor, and I haven’t had any problems leaving it off.

Stash the guide piece for now, and if you find that you need it, you can always put it in later (use a dab of construction adhesive (liquid nails) to adhere it to the flooring).

A tip in installing the flooring into the closet– If the flooring runs parallel to the closet, try to plan the layout so you’ve got a joint somwhere in the width of the door opening. It’s a b*tch to cut and fit it in if you end up with a plank that sits the width of the door opening. If your flooring is running perpindicular to the closet, I like to change direction at the closet so the planks in the closet and across the closet threshold run parallel to the closet. It takes some planning in the layout, but it looks super professional.

Another tip- It’s a bit more work, but I always take up the baseboards before installing the flooring and run the flooring right to the edge of the drywall (the drywall *should* be raised up off the floor – if it’s not, I trim it up 3/4″ from the bare floor). This allows you to trim out the floor with just the baseboard, and looks like a true custom install. To my eye, putting a fat piece of quarter-round tacked to the baseboard looks tacky and screams DIY. Yes, it adds some time to the job. But once you see it done that way, you won’t even consider doing the quarter-round solution.

How to lay a laminate wood floor: installing trim near a closet door