Some laminate advice

[Kaish]

Hello fellas, first time posting but I've already learned loads off this forum, cheers!

I've just bought a flat and want to lay laminate in the living room and hall.
My problem is that everyone seems to advise laying the laminate in the direction of light entering the room. This is fine for the living room, but would mean that if I wanted to lay it in the same direction in the hall, the planks would be really short and would looks strange.

The alternative is to lay the laminate lengthways in the hall but would mean that it was in a contrasting direction to the living room.

Any advice on what I should do?

Also, I'll be laying this on floorboards and there's conflicting advice on whether to use fibreboards or timbermate as the underlay, which is best?

Floor plan attached

Untitled

• Kaish
• 8 Aug 2012
• 1

 

[neallew]

I.ve helped a mate lay laminate in a flat before - laying in direction of light for main room would be the way i would lay it.Then as you would probably be putting a dividing threshold in the doorway anyway i would lay in lengthways down the hall or you will have much cutting to do and it would look strange in my opinion. As for the underlay my mate bought a thick tile type underlay to help with soundproofing and general insulation between his flats. On concrete I've generally used rolled underlay as its easier and quicker but can be thin.

 

[crazydaze]

It's completelly personal preference, but I would definately lay the boards in the same direction in both areas, wether you use a dividing strip in the doorway or not (I would definately recommend using a dividing strip).

I think you will find that if you lay all the boards towards the light source, the hallway will look fine with the planks laying the shortway, it's just a perception that you have assumed the boards should run the long way in the hall (understandable)

We come accross dilema's like this on a daily basis and If you were my customer I would be recommending laying everything towards the light source.

As for underlay, fibre boards or Timbermate will work fine, they will achieve a similar finish and both are superior to the traditional thin foam rubbish on a roll.

 

[Kaish]

Cheers guys,

I think you're right crazydave, I've done a google search for laminate in hallways and there's quite a few pictures of laminate laid shortways and it doesn't look odd at all, it's obviously just a preconception I had.