Recommendations for Laminate Flooring

[Yetty]

Hi, anyone got recommendations for laminate flooring?

It's for my friends home, about 70 square metres, rustic oak effect, use in Hall, Lounge, Dining & Bedrooms. Their budget isn't massive.

They showed me samples of some B&Q flooring, £13 per sqm, but the printed surface looked as thin as paper!

Any recommendations or guidance please.

 

[AndyT]

My recommendation is to not buy the very cheap 'wood effect' flooring. You are getting a printed image of wood on thin MDF. After a few months use, the printed layer will start to wear away at the edges. Then the edges of the MDF will start to curl up. In a year or so they will want to cover it up or rip it out.


I suggest that they do one room with proper materials and the other rooms when they can afford them. If the floors are too manky to tolerate, put some hardboard down for now, to get a smooth surface and block the draughts.

 

[mseries]

I have been very pleased with my Quick Step Country (http://www.floorsonline.co.uk/p-1990-qu ... lanks.aspx) Went down very easily though my subfloor is good. I used the Quick Step underlay too.

 

[chippy1970]

If they really have to have laminate then quickstep is the best one I've fitted.

I did once do a laminate made by kahrs which had real wood veneer on it but I don't remember how much it was.

 

[Yetty]

Thanks for all your thoughts, appreciated.

If comparing different brands of laminate floor, any ideas about what features to consider?

 

[fluffflinger]

Try Pergo Flooring they invented laminate floor I think in 1977.

Excellent quality and great reviews online. We've put it in a few in Kitchens and I know somebody who's had it down in a bathroom for years with none of the usual problems associated laminates and with damp/wet areas.

 

[Graham Orm]

If they really have to have laminate then quickstep is the best one I've fitted.

+1

Get some good knee pads. Use a jig saw, the stuff eats blades and jig saw blades are the cheapest option.

 

[Yetty]

Muchas gracias.

 

[Steve Maskery]

Use a jig saw, the stuff eats blades and jig saw blades are the cheapest option.

And how. I fitted a floor a couple of years ago and it wrecked my Festool TS55 blade in just a couple of cuts
S

 

[mseries]

Regarding jigsaw blades, I did my floor in February, about 16 square metres. My colleague warned me about blades, he's the sort of chap who 'knows everything'. Anyway the last cut went as well as the first, I was pleasantly surprised and didn't need to change blade. I bought a pack of two downcut blades from eBay, downcut so that I could position the laminate face up to see my marks properly. The saw did not mark the surface at all and none of the laminate chipped away. I did intend to make a jig but never got round to it, I just drew a straight line and following it freehand. Except for round the curve of the bottom stair which I followed a curved line. Most if not all of the cuts are hidden under skirting anyway.

 

[n0legs]

:idea: