laminate flooring in kitchen

[tandal]

HI

I want to lay laminate flooring in my kitchen. It will be going onto wooden floorboards.

What type of laminate flooring should I use and what about underlays to make the surface for the flooring more level. I dont want it to be to much of the ground because it would cause a trip where the hallway run into the kitchen.

Any advice? I wont be getting the click-in flooring but the tongue and groove one.

Thanks

 

[breezer]

what will you do when you need to get to a dodgy pipe?

 

[WoodYouLike]

The laminated flooring you'll need must be suitable for wetter areas. Get some proper Wood-Engineered ones instead of the (plastic) melamine laminated.
Are the floorboards cupped? If so, you'll have to install sheetmaterials first, if not, proper sound insulation will do.

And why is everyone afraid of 'tripping' when one floor is a bit higher than the other? Do you trip over your frontdoor threshold?? There are reducers, t-sections and end-sections available.

 

[Diyisfun]

breezer

what will you do when you need to get to a dodgy pipe?

Similar to what you do when you have ceramic tiles.
A lot of it is to do with thinking before you do it, & go through the "What / If's"

 

[WoodYouLike]

In those cases (when you have wooden flooring) it's best to have T&G flooring and not the click-system.
If the worst comes to the worst, it's 'easier' to lift a board in the middle of the room (you'll damage that board, but most of the times you'll have left-overs) and to replace it with a new one: cutting of the lower part of the groove and applying enough PVAC adhesive on all for sides. Place a weight on the replaced area for complete bonding of the adhesive.
It will be 'a weakest' link, but it still beats all the problems you can get when using a click-system and having to replace a board in the middle.

 

[tandal]

Blimey, thanks for all the responses.

Will get flooring as suggested. Does B&Q/Wickes do them at affordable prices? Dont know what floorboards are like yet. Sanded the rest of the house, but dont want to do kitchen. The others have 'shrunk' with age I suppose but were still pretty flat. for sanding.

If needed, any suggestions on which sheet material to lay down before I put the flooring down? Saw this at B&Q: http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/produ...0012&entryFlag=false&PRODID=60972&paintCatId=

thanks again

 

[WoodYouLike]

To be honest B&Q and Wickes do do wood-engineered boards nowadays, but I wouldn't trust the quality of their lowest priced ones (china-rubbish) and their better ones are sometimes higher priced than our flooring (we do deliver )

The underlayment you linked is suitable but not very flexible. It's 4 - 5 mm thick. I suggest you look at Timbermate Duratex (also 4mm tick and flexible, more suitable for when you have smaller unevennesses in the floorboards). don't' get Timbermate Excell, that comes with a DPM and it's not recommended you use that on existing floorboards.

 

[tandal]

thanks, I've got 4mx3m kitchen. Looking for Walnut/dark oak colour flooring + underlay/ What price region will that be?

Thanks

 

[WoodYouLike]

Tandal, I don't want to upset the mods here (you will get to know them I'm sure )
have a look at my profile which contains our web-address. Lots of samples and prices there.

 

[tandal]

Thanks, will do. One last question and then thats it from me:

Will the cheaper ones be ok if we only planning on having it for a max of 5 years?

 

[WoodYouLike]

That's a hard question to answer: depends on the traffic, depends on the finish material used by manufacturer et, etc, etc.
But, better safe than sorry: you'll get what you pay for.

 

[tandal]

When laying the floor, it has been mentioned to have spacers next to the skirting board to leave a little space. If this is the case, where would you 'attach the flooring so that it doesn't slide/move. Hope you know what I mean. Or is this just something not worth thinking about?

Thanks again

 

[WoodYouLike]

Or is this just something not worth thinking about?

That's right. That's why it's called the floating method. The weight of the floor itself, plus all your furniture etc will keep the floor in place. But in the same time it allows the floor to 'move' with the seasons, that's why you need expansion gaps around the edges. After installing the floor you can remove your spacers (if you don't and the floor expands these can create a squeaking noise and also fill up your expansion gap unnecessary).

 

[tandal]

Hi again

Finished laying the floor a while back. Laid them on top of existing tiles but now the doorway bit is to high.

Hallway (wooden floorboards) to kitchen (raised laminate flooring). height difference is 25mm.

Does anyone know where I can get an end strip that is high enough. The ones in the major stores are only meant for a 5mm gap approx.

Thanks

 

[WoodYouLike]

Local joiner is your best bet. Ours only cover to 20mm also