We were originally going to get vinyl in our kitchen, so we overboarded the floorboards with 6mm plywood, and have fitted all the units on top. We've now decided to get laminate flooring in the hallway and through into the kitchen (3 bed semi with the hallway running through a doorway to the galley kitchen which goes to the back door). So our current thinking is to ply over the hallway to match the height of the kitchen, then lay the laminate all the way through. The problem we've got at the moment is that the kitchen floor dips in the middle. The kitchen is just over 3m long, with units all down one wall, and some units on the other wall. Units are in red below, stairs are green:
So with the plywood, we've got a smooth surface, but not a flat one. The floor curves down between by about 7mm in the middle and back up at either end of the room. So, we were thinking we might need to self level, but self levelling under the units would be a nightmare and pointless, as the laminate would only be going up to the front legs of the units anyway. So a few questions:
1) Do we need to level out that 7mm dip? I'm thinking we probably do - I read most laminate can tolerate a 2mm difference over 1m, so a 7mm dip in the middle of a 3m length is quite big, even though it's curved and not a sudden dip.
2) Is there a way to level it out without needing to use self levelling compound?
3) If we do need to use self levelling compound, what's the best way to contain it to just the area we need? It won't need to go under the units, just to their front legs, so we'd need to put something down to contain it. We also need to stop it going through the doors into the dining / lounge.
4) Also, can we feather it off to nothing at the edges, or would we need to go like 3mm at the edges and then have to go to 10mm in the middle?
If we do need to go the self levelling route, are there any recommendations of ones that would be good to go on plywood that's on top of floorboards? And where's a good place to get it from? I tried to find some suppliers of Arditex NA (which I think should do OK?) but didn't find anyone local (Manchester, UK).
So with the plywood, we've got a smooth surface, but not a flat one. The floor curves down between by about 7mm in the middle and back up at either end of the room. So, we were thinking we might need to self level, but self levelling under the units would be a nightmare and pointless, as the laminate would only be going up to the front legs of the units anyway. So a few questions:
1) Do we need to level out that 7mm dip? I'm thinking we probably do - I read most laminate can tolerate a 2mm difference over 1m, so a 7mm dip in the middle of a 3m length is quite big, even though it's curved and not a sudden dip.
2) Is there a way to level it out without needing to use self levelling compound?
3) If we do need to use self levelling compound, what's the best way to contain it to just the area we need? It won't need to go under the units, just to their front legs, so we'd need to put something down to contain it. We also need to stop it going through the doors into the dining / lounge.
4) Also, can we feather it off to nothing at the edges, or would we need to go like 3mm at the edges and then have to go to 10mm in the middle?
If we do need to go the self levelling route, are there any recommendations of ones that would be good to go on plywood that's on top of floorboards? And where's a good place to get it from? I tried to find some suppliers of Arditex NA (which I think should do OK?) but didn't find anyone local (Manchester, UK).
