i keep trying to post this and it freezes on the post screen.

We are laying a laminate floor this weekend. We laid out pieces in both directions and I want to lay it horizontally in the family room. In order to lay it this way it would require a span of 35ft by 6ft, which passes through two doorways. The recommendation is that spans over 30ft require a spacer, which I do not want at all. How much of a difference is 5ft going to make if we choose to go without the strip? We still have all of the required expansion points under the baseboards, cabinet toekicks, etc. I read long spans can buckle; is there anything outside the box we can do to prevent this? I really don’t want to run the flooring the other way because it makes the family room look short, but the transition strips would ruin what makes it look so good, which is the nice long, clean line.