On 1 Jan, 14:47, Merryterry wrote:
On 1 Jan, 14:13, "James R" wrote:



wrote in message

....

Happy New Year!

I have a small dining room , about 3mx2.5m, currently carpeted and am
thinking of replacing this with wooden laminate flooring. The actual
floor underneath is concrete.
Happily, I have no skirtings fitted as I've removed these, having just
had the walls replastered.
So, carpet, underlay and grippers are coming up at the weekend.

I don't know much about laminate but I imagine I want some 'underlay/
foam' stuff down on top of the concrete, take the laminate to the
walls with a small (10mm ?) gap all around, then put the skirting
boards on last, allowing the floor to 'float' - is that about right?

Now, laminate flooring is available from Wickes, B&Q, IKEA, etc. Is it
all pretty much the same re. choice of colours and quality? Am I
likely to have trouble fitting it myself?
Are the 'locking' panels equally effective and easy to snap together
without special tools?
Any recommendations for other suppliers?
What should I put underneath it?
Anything else I should bear in mind?

Many thanks,
Jeff

Laminate is very 90's now like garden decking. I prefer a good quality
underlay and carpet. They look much better, are not "cold" and don't
make everything echo. Why fit a £2.99 cheap looking laminate floor
and ruin the appearance of your home?
I have spent months ripping up laminate flooring and fitting carpets as
people have moved on from a cheap look.

I agree with this poster. Its a sod to keep looking good. Scratches
easily and shows every speck of dirt.

You can get pretty good and tough laminate flooring with textured
grain etc.
Note that the darker colours look better. For the cheap look, the
worst is that pine-type
stuff, that looks yellow (thats really the 80s/90s peril !)
Thing is, good stuff costs nearly as much as engineered wood, so you
might as well use
real wood.
Simon.