Laminate Flooring

[Jon]

All

We are about to get a 20m2 rumpus room added to the back of the house and we are seriously considering click together laminate flooring for this area and then continueing it through the house ( another 30m2 ) replacing existing tiles.

We are looking at the click style as we hope to be able in the future to replace any damaged boards at the external doorways. The floor will be laid on a slab (obviously) and the existing skirtings will be removed, lifted and replaced rather than adding a quad or scotia to cover the expansion gaps. We will be doing this work ourselves.

Does anyone have any experience with this style of flooring and is it's wear capabilities as good as the advertisng material?
We know it can not be resurfaced but it does seem to be tougher than a veneer or solid timber ( but looks and is cheaper )

Jon

[journeyman Mick]

I've laid some of this stuff, builder I work for sometimes is the agent for one type (forget brand) of floating floor, isn't glued down, sits on a rubberised underlay. Appears to be quite hardwearing, BUT it's only MDF with a bit of laminate on top. I've worked on houses 100 yrs old with sound timber floors that will come up as good as new when sanded. I don't think you'll see a laminate floor last 100 years. Another option is a 12mm thick prefinished hardwood floor by Tillings timber. It's glued and nailed (or screwed in the case of concrete substrate) and has a profile which locks together without clamping. It's finished in a very hard wearing 2 pack, and while maybe not as hard as laminate it can be sanded and refinished. I've laid 1 floor in it (can't remember pricing) but for my money it's better value as it's real timber.

Mick

[Jon]

Mick,
thanks for the reply. The timber veneer is around $70 to $90 m2 while the laminate we are looking at is $40 to $50 m2.
The veneer does look and feel better and can be refinished a couple times as you mention.
Depending on how much we can save in the other areas, maybe we can stretch the budget when it comes to the floor.
I originally was looking at the veneer type but only considering the new room. The boss saw the product and decided that it was going through the rest of the house as well and a cost blow out occured, hence the cheaper option.

Jon

[dzcook]

well first time i have tried to reply so here gose
have laid laminate floor in my mothers house looks ok and was easy to do but dont think i would ever do it again as now 18 mths down the track is starting to look worn edges are turning up a little has got wet once a blocked window drain which didnt help but was well dried out finish is still good but is a bit hard on the feet as well
anyway just a comment

[Driver]

Jon

I recently laid a bedroom floor with the 12 mm hardwood product Mick refers to - or something very similar (this one is jarrah, produced in WA). It's 12 mm thick and finished with a hardwearing 2-pack. It cost $56/sq.m from a timber supplier over here in WA.

This was the first time I've ever laid a floor. I didn't find it too difficult. The result is pretty good. The family are all happy with the finished appearance and it feels good underfoot. I see the big advantage being the fact that it can be sanded and re-finished if it starts to get a bit worn. However, I'd expect that to take quite a while. The 2-pack finish seems quite tough.

Good luck

Col

[Driver]

Here's a photo of an offcut from the hardwood floor material. My mistake, BTW, it's 19 mm thick, not 12 mm.

Col

[journeyman Mick]

Col, that loks like standard t&g to me. The Tillings timber one had a very specialised profile, the tongues were very long and actually had a secondary groove just above the tongue. This secondary tongue and groove had an interlocking shape almost like a finger joint, which meant that as you pushed the boards together they married perfectly, horizontally as well as vertically. Jon, I would try to chase up a solid timber product to compare a price, I wouldnt bother with the timber veneer on MDF as it won't be as hard wearing as the laminate and probably too thin to sand and refinish. Unless you have an extremely careful floor sander you will need at least 5mm timber thickness to sand and refinish.

Mick

[Driver]

Mick

Thanks for that. You're right - it's standard t&g. The product you're talking about is clearly different.

However, I guess it'll be obvious from my original response that I'm pretty happy with the finished result using solid timber - and, as a novice, found it relatively easy to install.

Col

[Jon]

Col, did you lay it on joists, battens or straight onto a slab? How did you fix it?

Mick, I have had a look at the tillings website and will get to a showroom in the next couple of days and have a look at it. Cost and not raising the floor level too much are the constraints we are working with. I would love to go with real wood if possible. The previous comment by dzcook about water via a window has been seriously noted and all comments are being shown to the boss.

Jon.

[journeyman Mick]

The Tillings product can be glued straight on the slab ( as long as it's reasonably level, use Ardit levelling compound if neccesary) so you're only looking at +12mm. Can't comment about the cost, but it is foolproof to lay. Normal T&G usually needs to be clamped to get it to marry together and this is extremely difficult when laying direct on the slab.

Mick

[Driver]

Jon

I glued directly to the slab, putting a masonry nail in every 3rd row. This wasn't difficult because the slab is pretty well dead level in the room in question (built the house myself 15 years ago - using very good subcontractors - many of them members of the extended family!). Mick's right about clamping but between my young bloke and myself we manged to exert enough force at the right spots to achieve the objective. It's not a big room BTW - 3.3m x 3.3m.

Col

[dzcook]

well now going off subject a little but still on flooring need to refloor my hse older hse early 1900s i would say and teh current floor is just butted boards no tongue and groove so has developed gaps between them (gaps have been filled in past with something )and also sprung in spots have been thinking off laying 12m (?) ply sheeting across the deriction on current boards would like tg but think costs would be to much could this be done and then filled sanded and finished even thought of a painted finish would ply be to soft ?
dont think masonite underlay would be hard enough as some boards tend to curl up at edges a little and i want to make a smooth floor and on a very limited budget

[coastie]

The townhouse we live in has laminate flooring on the ground floor,we hate the bloody stuff!
It's very drummy to walk on,you have to be very particular about mopping it (you use a slightly moist mop)dont put any pot plants on it,because of the risk of condensation,it shows up scuff marks
badly.
We had a large carpet square made to fit almost the whole of one room (5m longx4m) and it has made it tolerable to walk on.
We have a cat who occasionally goes ballistic and chases a ball of aluminium foil round the place it's great fun to watch her ,she can't get traction on it so its like she's doing a wheelie till she gets traction.
I would look for some alternative if available.
My 2c worth!

[Jon]

thanks Coastie and all. I'm starting to think it is a bad idea in the kitchen where there is a serious probability of water contact and there will be two 20m2 rooms so if anything will drum it will be them.
I will have to look at the glue down types more closely.

keep the comments coming, maybe even a good report?

Jon:confused:

[lnt9000]

Jon: I have laid laminated flooring in the upstairs area of a house and can say that I was very pleased with the result, It does not sound like a herd of buffaloes roaming about when your downstairs, It originally had carpet which I despise(forever vacuuming, fleas,bugs,stains,etc,etc, so laminated flooring wins hands down but is not suitable for Wet areas!!!
It is simply a cheap alternative for carpet, and you would not lay carpet in the bathroom now would you?,then again.....