Laminate

Yaayuh! · 19 Aug 2013 at 11:19

Laying down some laminate soon in the hall, extended hall/breakfast room, living room and my office.

Office will be first as it's being decorated first and is square, so will be the easiest and best place to start.

I will be getting some 12mm half-decent (£25max per sq metre) stuff and re-doing the skirting, so i will go upto (leaving the expansion gap) the wall and putting skirting over the top.
I know roughly what i'm doing, apart from the subfloor/underlay. It's concrete and flat, but i have no idea what to put between it and the laminate. Any ideas?

Can you tell i'm decorating an entire house? I'm sorry for the threads. I should ask the Mods to merge all of my threads into a thread titled "Maison du Rossi~"

Actually, can a mod do that for me?

Nightglow · 19 Aug 2013 at 11:49

I use Sonic Gold underlay, tried others, but no so good, & I tape the overlap seams with vapour tape.
Shop around you will find good offers, I bought 45 square mtrs off the bay.
It has a built in dpm, & has a 15 year warranty.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/15m2-Roll...c-Underlay-For-Wood-or-Laminate-/180802669253

Lopéz · 19 Aug 2013 at 12:10

I used Sonic Gold on my living room, very happy with it.

Yaayuh! · 19 Aug 2013 at 12:22

Awesome. I was just reading about that, looks good.
Question on the vapour tape, i have some Flashband will that do or do you suggest i get the vapour tape?

Nightglow · 19 Aug 2013 at 12:24

Use the proper Vapour tape.

You can find 25mtr 30mtrs & even 50mtrs rolls on the bay.

REMOVED LINK.

Superficial · 21 Aug 2013 at 00:38

sonic gold here too.

Word of warning - Novostrat Sonic Gold is bright gold in colour NOT Bronze in any way and should not pop between your finger and thumb much at all - if they send you a bronze underlay that pops with pressure send it back. it will just be the crap the idiots at amazon and ebay and trying to con people with....basically glorified packing foam masquerading as sonic gold - it will just squash down over time as it has lots of air bubbles in it.

this site is excellent:http://www.tradepriced.co.uk/sonic_gold_laminate_hardwood_underlay.html

Superficial · 21 Aug 2013 at 00:43

Nightglow said:
I use Sonic Gold underlay, tried others, but no so good, & I tape the overlap seams with vapour tape.
Shop around you will find good offers, I bought 45 square mtrs off the bay.
It has a built in dpm, & has a 15 year warranty.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/15m2-Roll...c-Underlay-For-Wood-or-Laminate-/180802669253

these guys sent me a cheap knock-off as described above. I complained and they refunded me without requesting the roll back.

a seller on amazon tried the same trick.

Nightglow · 21 Aug 2013 at 07:55

Superficial said:
these guys sent me a cheap knock-off as described above. I complained and they refunded me without requesting the roll back.

A seller on amazon tried the same trick.

Thanks for the warning, a bit naughty, I will be avoiding this seller in the future.

Good alternative link you provided.

Yaayuh! · 21 Aug 2013 at 08:26

I appreciate the heads up, will avoid that potential issue then and go with that tradepriced link. Thanks!

Superficial · 21 Aug 2013 at 15:33

sorry to labour the point but this may be helpful in case anyone else is sold that bronze stuff.

Sonic Gold on the left in both images

Notice that the Sonic Gold has next to no air pockets by comparison.

Nightglow · 21 Aug 2013 at 16:10

Superficial: Genius, excellent idea.

Yaayuh! · 22 Aug 2013 at 09:21

Superficial said:
sorry to labour the point but this may be helpful in case anyone else is sold that bronze stuff.

Sonic Gold on the left in both images

http://i.imgur.com/IKtyzjm.jpg[IMG]

Notice that the Sonic Gold has next to no air pockets by comparison.

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/J78nGdg.jpg[IMG][/QUOTE]

Nice one! Very helpful :) thanks.

Also, another related question; Skirting.
I can either cut the bottom of the existing skirting and struggle sliding laminate under it under slightly (leaving expansion gap). Or i can remove the skirting at the risk of messing up the walls and fit new skirting.

I've never fit skirting before, but looks simple enough. I would prefer not to bash/screw into the boarding so that said, which 'No Nails' gunk should i go for?

ci_newman · 22 Aug 2013 at 09:33

The issue with removing skirting is the risk of damaging the plaster directly above it. We removed some picture railing in our old house (similar principal) and it took large chunks of plaster off with it, despite being careful.

Yaayuh! · 22 Aug 2013 at 10:47

Cheers, the current skirting is nailed in, so hopefully i'll be fine with scoring the top where it meets the wall and jamming a pry bar down the back.

Just had a thought about the underlay. With carpet underlay, i've spray-glued it down on floorboards in the past. With laminate underlay on concrete, should i do the same or not use any adhesive?

Nightglow · 22 Aug 2013 at 11:11

No adhesive needed, just lay it down & use a vapour tape to join the overlap.

Gooner14 · 22 Aug 2013 at 11:51

Nightglow said:
Use the proper Vapour tape.

You can find 25mtr 30mtrs & even 50mtrs rolls on the bay.

REMOVED LINK.

Just ordered from from here the other day. I'll report back once I'm home on Saturday as to whether it's real or not.

Nightglow · 22 Aug 2013 at 12:24

Gooner14 said:
Just ordered from from here the other day. I'll report back once I'm home on Saturday as to whether it's real or not.

If it's fake, then open a dispute with Ebay, they may have made a genuine error sending wrong sort with other person.

The stuff I had was gold, & seem 100% genuine.

Gooner14 · 22 Aug 2013 at 12:30

It's odd there's no negative feedback on there if it is the case. Will post up pictures on here should what ever happens.

Superficial · 22 Aug 2013 at 13:36

Gooner14 said:
It's odd there's no negative feedback on there if it is the case. Will post up pictures on here should what ever happens.

I didn't post negative feedback either. In my opinion the main reason is because the vast majority do not know the difference. In fact it was purely because I had laid Sonic Gold in the past that I was able to tell.

Let's face it most just want to get on with the job and think it's all the same.

I have other pictures showing pressure dents in the fake stuff that would have bounced straight back up with the real sonic gold.

Superficial · 22 Aug 2013 at 13:48

Rossi~ said:
Nice one! Very helpful thanks.

Also, another related question; Skirting.
I can either cut the bottom of the existing skirting and struggle sliding laminate under it under slightly (leaving expansion gap). Or i can remove the skirting at the risk of messing up the walls and fit new skirting.

I've never fit skirting before, but looks simple enough. I would prefer not to bash/screw into the boarding so that said, which 'No Nails' gunk should i go for?

Don't go for no more nails imo - it is very strong and if you want to remove the skirting later it could be a pain.

I would use gripfill white (non solvent) in the yellow tube - it's not as strong as the standard green (and much easier to work with) and that is what you want. non solvent gripfill produces a good hold but the skirting can be removed with a short sharp whack with a tack hammer as the glue itself is very brittle. Skirting that is relatively warp-free will not pose much of a task for gripfill.