Need help with using laminate flooring in Kitchen

[zenonithus]

Hello all,

I'm thinking of taking up the vinyl tiles in my kitchen and putting down laminate wood tongue groove flooring. Though have a few questions..

Under the vinyl flooring is some thin plywood nailed into the floorboards. Should I put the laminate flooring directly on top of that or would it be best to take it all out and use the wood fibre underlay? Is the wood fibre board just as good for sound insulation as the plywood? (I live in a first floor flat)

Also some of the walls that will be seen do not have skirting at the bottom. With the gap between the laminate and the wall and not being able to nail in beading (there are also electrical wires at the bottom of the wall. What would be the best way to hide the gap?

Cheers!

 

[Doggit]

The plywoods gone down to provide a flat surface for the vinyl, so it'll be good for the laminate. As you're on the 1st floor you need a good sound deadening underlay, but I can't recommend one I'm afraid, as I tend to use 5mm fibre board for it's insulation properties. Once the laminate has gone down, you can use gripfil to fix the skirting board to the wall.

 

[zenonithus]

Hey Doggit. So would I need to add fibre board on top of the plywood? Or can just put the laminate straight onto the ply?

 

[Doggit]

You'll have no soundproofing if you put the laminate straight on the plywood, so you can put the fibreboard down first, or check out the sound reduction figures on it, and see if there's anything better.