What direction to lay laminate

[cravenbiker]

Hi Chaps

Ive put a rough floorplan of my flat here

I want to lay wood laminate all through the flat (except bathroom and wc)

what im not sure about is if it will look ok just laying it continuasly through the whole flat i.e no joints between rooms

do you think it would be better to lay all the rooms seperately as the hallway will have to have the grain running the sameway as the bedrooms ie towards the windows and im not sure how that will look. i know that as a rule you should have the grain unning the length of the room as opposed the width .

need some advice on this one.

if i have missed anything out, please ask and i will fill you in.

Thanks

Tris

 

[cravenbiker]

can someone delete this post or tell me how to as i have reposted in flooring section

Thanks

 

[mac391]

There are no measurements which would help decide. It looks quite a large area to lay as one single floor though. The total area dictates the expansion gap required.
Visually your hallway is a dog leg so it will run in the wrong direction on either the short or long run..
I would be tempted to lay all floors same direction as the arrow in the lounge and turn the hallway the opposite direction, giving each room it's own expansion gap.

 

[cravenbiker]

I had a feeling that might be the best way to do it.
the only problem with that is the entrance door to the flat is the one that is betwen the lounge and the wc , meaning that when you enter the flat, the run of the floor will run from left to right.

whats your thoughts on that?

 

[mac391]

If it was a "uniclic" system such as "quick step" you could run the first part of the hallway the same as the lounge then come off at 90 degress for the return part. so the floor follows the hallway layout, but only with uniclic..!!

Or you could seperate the return in the hallway with a "T bar" (flat profile) and run it the same as above.

 

[crazydaze]

Run the whole installation the same way as your arrow, it will look fine in the hallway running 'the short way'.

You will need expansion strips in all the doorways, or be prepared to fit them when the floor blows in some of the doorways in future. A really good quality product such as Pergo will be more stable than cheap laminate, but don't be suprised if expansion is an issue if you lay all as one.

 

[cravenbiker]

If it was a "uniclic" system such as "quick step" you could run the first part of the hallway the same as the lounge then come off at 90 degress for the return part. so the floor follows the hallway layout, but only with uniclic..!!

Or you could seperate the return in the hallway with a "T bar" (flat profile) and run it the same as above.

it isnt quickstep, its a cheaper version of that that seems to lay well.
what do you think the joins will look like in the doors of the rooms that join?
do you think that running the floor all the sameway will be a better option?

Run the whole installation the same way as your arrow, it will look fine in the hallway running 'the short way'.

You will need expansion strips in all the doorways, or be prepared to fit them when the floor blows in some of the doorways in future. A really good quality product such as Pergo will be more stable than cheap laminate, but don't be suprised if expansion is an issue if you lay all as one.

do you mean expansion strips in the corner of the doorways ie under architrave of in the joins from room to room?

 

[crazydaze]

You need expansion strips/t-profiles in every single one of those doorways off the hallway, wether you under cut the architraves or not.