Laying Laminate flooring

Over Clocker · 21 Mar 2006 at 19:10

Hi guys,

I'm just looking into the feasability of laying a nice light oak laminate flooring on a concrete floor in a dining room and ajoining lounge.

Any tips etc etc would be great thanks

Mal

norm · 21 Mar 2006 at 19:19

Get wood instead, much nicer.

basmic · 21 Mar 2006 at 19:21

I, personally, wouldn't have laminate flooring given to me.

As nice as pure wooden flooring is, it doesn't good a job as carpets do of keeping the house warm.

Stringy · 21 Mar 2006 at 19:22

norm said:
Get wood instead, much nicer.

Roger that. Laminate flooring is nasty in comparison to real wood flooring.

Over Clocker · 21 Mar 2006 at 19:38

Hmm, how would one lay real wood flooring onto concrete floor though?? Wouldn't the cost be much more?

Thanks,

Mal

iCraig · 21 Mar 2006 at 19:40

Paint the concete brown, job done.

Stringy · 21 Mar 2006 at 19:46

Real wood flooring is more expensive, and you need to get some special underlay type stuff to put under it, but I thought you'd need the same stuff for laminate?
Real wood flooring works much the same way as laminate, its the interlocking stuff.

wez130 · 21 Mar 2006 at 20:05

wether you use laminate or real wood, you will need a waterproof membrane as concrete soaks in water, also, i'd recommend some kind of cushioning to prevent innacuracies in the concrete floor from eventually coming through to the laminate / wood.

As for laying it, tools you will need are a jigsaw, a hammer, a special block to hit against the laminate (if you lay laminate), and also spacers, you will need to leave a 10mm gap between edges and the walls for expansion/contraction, thus i'd recommend new skirting board and lay the laminate before the new skirts.

Modern laminate is glue free and really is straight forward to lay, it literally just slots in the length of the piece, then you hammer the block on the side into the piece next to it, the only problem you should encounter is the very last piece, though, the claw on a hammer will help you here, you don't need to worry about it though as the skirt will cover it.

last but not least, there are 2 sizes of laminate, 6mm and 10mm, if you insist on laminate, go for 10mm, much more hard wearing.

hope that helps

SexyGreyFox · 21 Mar 2006 at 20:28

Exactly what Wes says but there is also another tool that will be very useful.
Its a flat metal bar about 12" long and its turned up at 90 deg one end and 90 deg down at the other end.
Its for those bits that go next to the skirting board and you need to knock them the other way.

kippermitten · 21 Mar 2006 at 21:53

Real wood will survive water better than laminate(although you do get splash proofed laminate) and can be recoated/treated when worn.

If your putting wood or laminate down the following should be done:
You should seal the concrete with floor paint or a heat reflective paint.
Cover the paint with a ploythene sheet.
Attach battons onto the concrete to which you will attach your wooden floor.
Fill the gaps with polystyrene tiles.

This method stops moisture, traps heat but does raise the floor up a bit depending on baton size.

You could also use under floor heating(seriously snug and toasty and means you can ditch a raditor) to heat up the room.

Seal concrete.
Glue down 18mm plywood sheet to level floor and consider screwing down every 40mm as well.
Lay down heat reflecting tiles on the plywood or use heat reflective paint.
Put down the special grout/fixer for the heater matrix, lay heater matirx and wire to mains.
Laydown wooden floor!

Wake up in the morning to a toasty floor!

Im going to use the under floor heating in our kitchen very soon, thats chipboard based floor baords so ill be using 18mm ply then the heater stuff.

Hope that helps.

Perry.