Foam Laminate Underlay

[halfajack]

Just been to a big DIY shop to spend another small fortune on more kitchen stuff. This time flooring. I've gone for 8mm tile effect laminate. Our handyman told us about underlay and said it's just a thin foam. I said I'd look into the best kind myself. Then today came and I ended up grabbing what I thought was 5mm underlay but when I got it home I realised I lifted 2mm. Is this going to be ok? Looked up reviews on the product and some say it's so thin it's pointless while others say it's just foam underlay and you can't go wrong! The guy said he's probably laying over existing vinyl flooring. Any thoughts?

 

[crazydaze]

It will be suitable but it is the absolutely bog standard stuff. Much better to lay on 4-5mm high density product similar to Duralay Timbermate XL for concrete floors or Duratex for wood subfloors or Fibreboard squares with a seperate poly sheeting if fitting on a concrete floor.

 

[halfajack]

Thanks for your reply. We ended up keeping it and our fitter said it was fine (before I saw your message). Part of the problem was I wasn't entirely sure what the purpose of the underlay was, unlike the underlay for carpet for which I was happy to pay for the best. I saw really pricey stuff that came in big squares, rather than a roll, which bragged about damp-proofing for wet areas etc. I had that in the trolley, then as we loaded on more and more stuff I decided the kitchen wasn't what I'd call a wet area and swapped it for the cheaper stuff. Oh well! It's quite a small area and we don't have kids running about (yet) so hopefully the bog standard stuff will stand it for a few years!