Page 1 of Laminate Flooring in new house

Completely off the subject. Has anyone laid laminate flooring? Easy? Just moving into a new house and bird wants this in some of the rooms. It`s a brand new house with no carpets, just some kind of board on the floor, anyone know what I`ll have to lay underneath the laminate (apart from underlay, waterproof membrane?). Any hints. Cheers.

Rory

Unless you`re laying onto a concrete ground floor, all you need is the underlay. Also make sure the boards you`re laying onto are nice and flat.

I laid this first time with help, then I did the hall and spare room on my own. a 10ft sq. room took me about 7 solid hours on my own. (I`m not a DIY person by trade). It`s relatively easy, but hard work and hard on the knees (!) it does require concentration. The best way to proceed (which works for me) is to first lay 2 rows without glue - cut them to size and get them to sit correctly in a straight line. Once they are down glue them then the next rows go down nice and easy. Be sure to stagger your joints. Also be sure to leave a gap all round the edge of about 1 cm between floor and wall. Cover this later with a nice angled edge piece (available by the 6ft (?) length) stuck with `no more nails` or similar. Don`t forget that it`s important to decide which way the `grain` will run - away from you and the room seems longer - left to right and the room will seem wider. also when you buy the stuff be sure to get the kit (glue/little plastic things to make the gap/metal angle which lets you bash the sections nice and tight without damaging and get edge pieces pulled into place). You`ll probably need a jigsaw or a good sawing hand to go around doors etc.

Blimey! I know more than I thought.

Probably going to avoid the glue stuff.

If I did it again I`d definitely try the click-fit stuff. The wall we started at was bowed so there was nothing to properly brace the first line of boards against, which made hammering the next line into the first a right pain (and every line after that until the floor was wide enough for someone to lie on).

Dave

here`s a little trick for you to do!.
Before you try and lay the wood, take all the skirting boards off the walls.
Listen! Take them off because its easier to lay the wood , especially if you`re not gifted in the diy dpt :-P also once your done, put the skirtings back on and so you do away with all that unsightly little edgings right the way round your room..
Then look round, pat yourself on the back, go for a pint.
Have fun! :-)
mike
(flooring specialist by trade)

Watch out for the dust bunnies!

Not a bad description here
http://www.publicservantlifestyle.co.uk/home_and_garden/homebase/laying_laminate_floors.html
I bought some underlay which as well as the padding, has a reflective side to it, to act as a damp membrane and to keep heat in. I bought in bulk (100m2 floor area to do), but B&Q do it in 10m2 packs. If yours is a new house, you may not need to worry about this.
You DEFINITELY need a padded membrane underneath, or you`ll end up clopping around all the time.
If it`s a new house, why not consider decorating first, so you`re not worried about paint on your lovely new floor?

My mate asked me to help him to put in a new wooden floor a couple of months ago.
We finally went out and bought the stuff from B&Q for £300, on Friday ...Floor Loc or something like that. Never done a laminate floor before. Watched the video a few times. We pulled off the skirting beforehand, laid the flooring using the spacers, put on the new skirting and Yep it looks good, very good.
Not my cup of tea, but that`s `cos I live in a 1930`s semi and not a modern house....I like all the old stuff y`know..Definitely recommend it from B&Q even if they are a s***e shop with bloody great big queues all the time. 15 year guarante I think

Cheers

Has anyone put laminate down in their `home-cinema` room? Does it have noticeable effects on the sound quality?