Laminate around a stone fireplace

hiswife

We are installing a laminate in a room that has a stone fireplace. I think we should start with that wall but don't know for sure. It is on the longest wall and from what I have read, this is the place to start. I also know that we need to leave a space around the perimeter for expanding etc. How do we go about doing this around the fireplace? Should it contour around the stones or just leave it straight? If we contour around the stones, how do we cover the gap?

Floorwizard

use an end cap and fill in the voids with grout to match the stone.
undercutting is a better idea but messy and difficult

hiswife

Thanks Florcraft. We took up the carpet and found that the stones are on a base that is about the height of the flooring that we are putting down. (Don't know why we didn't think of this first.) We should be able to get the flooring under the stones and hope to make it look decent. It will still probably need the grout as you suggested though. I wasn't sure what to fill it in with.

I just wanted to say that I am so glad I found this site. We are remodeling after a flood and there are so many good ideas that we sure can use.

Thanks again!

Floorwizard

if you slide under the stones and hide the expansion space then you should not need any kind of filler.
at least I would expect not.