I've just bought 6.6 sq metres of bargain-priced laminate flooring
(Floormaster) from B&Q in their sale. It cost only £27 to do the whole
kitchen! It looks brilliant, and they promise it's for 'Heavy Domestic
Use' (AC3). I really can't see how I could justify paying any more for
so-called 'superior' types at around £10, £15 or £20 per metre. Mine
cost only £3.96 per square meter, including VAT. Get down there before
they sell out! I'm not limited to spending £27, plus a bit of
underlay, but what on earth would be the point of paying more? It's
guaranteed for 10 years and I'm confident it will last a lot longer
than that.

But I need to make sure it's waterproof for the areas around the
kitchen sink and washing machine. I placed a teaspoon of water on both
the top surface, and then the bottom surface of a board. These have a
plastic-like coating and proved to be totally impervious to the water.
Brilliant! If the board ever gets hit with deep scratches, I'll touch
up the scratch with resin to restore the waterproof coating.

The only other way that water can get into my floor is through the
thin cracks between the boards. I'll seal-off the perimeter with
silicon. I note that Floormaster do a 'superior' model of laminate
flooring which they claim is water resistant for bathrooms and
kitchens. The composition of these two types of boards only appears to
differ, according to Floormaster's layer by layer diagram, by the fact
that the main layer is water resistant in the 'superior' model. I
guess it needs to be. The main layer is made of particle (chip) board
and looks like blotting paper on mine, and most other laminate
flooring boards I've seen.

So I intend to apply wood protector fluid around the edges of the
boards, hopefully to make the particle layer almost as waterproof as
in Floormaster's 'superior' version. I'll use the clear type of wood
protector which should just soak in via multiple coatings. I could
even dip the ends in a tray of the liquid. This liquid won't sit on
the surface, but will soak into the particle board. When it is dry
(after several weeks), I may add an additional (surface) coating of
water-resistant fence paint (with wax) and finish off with silicon
sealant when I lay the floor and make the joints.

Likewise, it's possible that Floormaster apply their water-proofing
treatment after making their 'super' version of laminate flooring. If
it was applied before the layers are glued together, then the
treatment might make the layers less likely to bond together.

Regards
George

On 2 Jan 2004 03:56:05 -0800, (George Bray)
wrote:

I've just bought 6.6 sq metres of bargain-priced laminate flooring
(Floormaster) from B&Q in their sale. It cost only £27 to do the whole
kitchen! It looks brilliant, and they promise it's for 'Heavy Domestic
Use' (AC3). I really can't see how I could justify paying any more for
so-called 'superior' types at around £10, £15 or £20 per metre. Mine
cost only £3.96 per square meter, including VAT. Get down there before
they sell out! I'm not limited to spending £27, plus a bit of
underlay, but what on earth would be the point of paying more? It's
guaranteed for 10 years and I'm confident it will last a lot longer
than that.

snipped
Cant see this price on www.diy.com so maybe its just an instore price
??-which species of flooring was it ??
Stuart

--

"YESTERDAY is history,TOMORROW is a mystery,TODAY is a gift

That is why it is called the present "

The only other way that water can get into my floor is through the
thin cracks between the boards.

Just glue the boards with PVA to provide better sealing. Wipe up spills as
soon as they happen.

Christian.

Christian McArdle wrote:

Just glue the boards with PVA to provide better sealing. Wipe up spills as
soon as they happen.

I'll second that - I think this is more effective than trying to
waterproof the edges.

--
Grunff

On Fri, 02 Jan 2004 15:39:51 +0000, Grunff wrote:

Just glue the boards with PVA to provide better sealing.

Presumably with waterproof PVA rather than the normal stuff?

Wipe up spills as soon as they happen.

This is probably the key on a floor that isn't glued/sealed. Letting
anything have the chance to soak into the joins is probably a Bad
Thing.

I'll second that - I think this is more effective than trying to
waterproof the edges.

At least the glue will fill and seal the gap and stop capillary action
drawing the liquid into the floor.

--
Cheers
Dave. pam is missing e-mail

Dave Liquorice wrote:

Presumably with waterproof PVA rather than the normal stuff?

Once polymerised, PVA isn't water soluble. That's not to say I'd
want to immerse it for long periods, but the odd exposure to
water won't degrade it at all.

--
Grunff

On Fri, 02 Jan 2004 17:44:40 +0000, Grunff wrote:

Once polymerised, PVA isn't water soluble. That's not to say I'd
want to immerse it for long periods, but the odd exposure to
water won't degrade it at all.

I had wondered about that, as it is recommended that bare worktop
edges and sink/hob cutouts are protected with PVA and this always
flagged an "are you quite sure?" thought for me

Thanks for confirming.

PoP

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On 2 Jan 2004 03:56:05 -0800, (George Bray)
wrote:

I've just bought 6.6 sq metres of bargain-priced laminate flooring
(Floormaster) from B&Q in their sale. It cost only £27 to do the whole
kitchen! It looks brilliant, and they promise it's for 'Heavy Domestic
Use' (AC3). I really can't see how I could justify paying any more for
so-called 'superior' types at around £10, £15 or £20 per metre. Mine
cost only £3.96 per square meter, including VAT. Get down there before
they sell out! I'm not limited to spending £27, plus a bit of
underlay, but what on earth would be the point of paying more? It's
guaranteed for 10 years and I'm confident it will last a lot longer
than that.

At the risk of boring people to tears, as I believe I have already
mentioned this once, I did a similar thing to you but with dirt cheap
laminate from Homebase. It worked out at around £4 a square metre I
seem to recall. Anyway, this is the glued variety, also in the
kitchen, but more towards the "eating " area, therefore not as exposed
to water as maybe yours is. This stuff has been down since May. I have
been walking to and fro over it to the back door to the garden as I
continued with the rest of the house refurb (yeah, I suppose the right
thing to do would have been to leave the floor till last!). The other
day I cleaned it up and it looks as if it was put down yesterday. I
really do not see why some laminate is so expensive. I've seen some
brand names for 25 quid a square metre!

By the way, I feel comfortable with the glued type. You can clamp the
planks together really tightly. It takes longer than the click sort,
but you can get a very smooth finish with the glued stuff. There were
one or two hairline gaps between planks, and I forced wax from one of
those coloured sticks you can buy into them.

MM

Grunff wrote in message ...
Christian McArdle wrote:
Just glue the boards with PVA to provide better sealing. Wipe up spills as
soon as they happen.
I'll second that - I think this is more effective than trying to
waterproof the edges.

Thank you for this suggestion. I wonder if PVA will co-exist
satisfactorily with wood preservative if I decide to soak the fibre
board core with preservative as stage 1. PVA would then replace my
idea of using silicon mastic as I join the boards together. I'll
experiment with some test pieces before deciding on my final approach.

I also noticed that the B&Q special offer laminated flooring is not
displayed on the diy.com website, but it was advertised in the
national UK press.

It's 6.5mm stock described as Floormaster Laminated Flooring - special
buy - glue free - AC3 - 10 year domestic guarantee - heavy domestic
use. Just £3.96 per square metre.

If the normal thickness is 7mm, then this is probably also 7mm but
they might have described it as 6.5mm in order to keep happy the
people who prefer to pay a higher price, believing that you only get
what you pay for.

Regards
George

On 2 Jan 2004 13:13:26 -0800, George Bray wrote:

Thank you for this suggestion. I wonder if PVA will co-exist
satisfactorily with wood preservative if I decide to soak the fibre
board core with preservative as stage 1.

Why bother? I've yet to see anything (insect or fungus) seriously
eating fibreboard/chipboard/mdf or WHY. Prolonged wet on the other
hand will cause the stuff to expand and fall apart but still nothing
actually eats it. I think the formaldehyde(sp), or the adhesives in
general, used in manufacture has something to do with it...

It's 6.5mm stock described as Floormaster Laminated Flooring -
special buy - glue free - AC3 - 10 year domestic guarantee - heavy
domestic use. Just =A33.96 per square metre.

If the normal thickness is 7mm, then this is probably also 7mm but
they might have described it as 6.5mm in order to keep happy the
people who prefer to pay a higher price, believing that you only get
what you pay for.

Or they(*) had a manufacturing problem and it came out at 6.5mm and
thus they can't sell it described as 7mm but have this great pile to
shift... Of course buy more than you need so if (when) a replacement
board is required you have some 'cause I expect this special is a
"when it's gone, it's gone" deal.

(*) Not B&Q they don't "make" anything just buy in and brand but I
should imagine they have close ties with their suppliers...

--
Cheers
Dave. pam is missing e-mail

"Mike Mitchell" wrote in message
...
On 2 Jan 2004 03:56:05 -0800, (George Bray)
wrote:

I've just bought 6.6 sq metres of bargain-priced laminate flooring
(Floormaster) from B&Q in their sale. It cost only £27 to do the whole
kitchen! It looks brilliant, and they promise it's for 'Heavy Domestic
Use' (AC3). I really can't see how I could justify paying any more for
so-called 'superior' types at around £10, £15 or £20 per metre. Mine
cost only £3.96 per square meter, including VAT. Get down there before
they sell out! I'm not limited to spending £27, plus a bit of
underlay, but what on earth would be the point of paying more? It's
guaranteed for 10 years and I'm confident it will last a lot longer
than that.

At the risk of boring people to tears, as I believe I have already
mentioned this once, I did a similar thing to you but with dirt cheap
laminate from Homebase. It worked out at around £4 a square metre I
seem to recall. Anyway, this is the glued variety, also in the
kitchen, but more towards the "eating " area, therefore not as exposed
to water as maybe yours is. This stuff has been down since May. I have
been walking to and fro over it to the back door to the garden as I
continued with the rest of the house refurb (yeah, I suppose the right

thing to do would have been to leave the floor till last!). The other
day I cleaned it up and it looks as if it was put down yesterday. I
really do not see why some laminate is so expensive. I've seen some
brand names for 25 quid a square metre!

At even more risk of starting a laminate v's hardwood floor...

Surely laminate this cheap doesn`t look as good as the real thing & just
ends up getting chipped or scratched?
I`ve no particular alliance to either (have just started investigating both
for a project). I`m slightly more inclined towards hardwood at the moment as
it doesn`t look cheep and nasty and will hopefully last longer that the
non-glue laminate which seems to be in favour at the moment.
I`ll end up paying £15 p/sq m as opposed to £5 p/sq m for the B&Q stuff but
you get what you pay for I suppose...

Steve

On Sat, 3 Jan 2004 02:02:06 -0000, "steve" wrote:

I`ll end up paying £15 p/sq m as opposed to £5 p/sq m for the B&Q stuff but
you get what you pay for I suppose...

Maybe I've been looking at the wrong stuff, but a pack of laminate on
Screwfix seems to be in the £30-£35 region.

PoP

Replying to the email address given by my news reader
will result in your own email address being instantly
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On Sat, 03 Jan 2004 05:40:46 +0000, PoP
wrote:

On Sat, 3 Jan 2004 02:02:06 -0000, "steve" wrote:

I`ll end up paying £15 p/sq m as opposed to £5 p/sq m for the B&Q stuff but
you get what you pay for I suppose...

Maybe I've been looking at the wrong stuff, but a pack of laminate on
Screwfix seems to be in the £30-£35 region.

Go to Floors-2-Go (if that's not too palindromic). They have a wide
range of laminate. The Bingo brand really seems like good value at
£6.98 a square metre. The advantage of buying a brand there is that
they replenish the stock regularly, so you never end up with the
problem of needing one more box like when a B+Q or Homebase one-off
offer has finished and there is none available.

MM

"steve" wrote in message ...
...Surely laminate this cheap doesn`t look as good as the real thing & just
ends up getting chipped or scratched?

£15 per square metre sounds reasonable for real wood and I may switch
over to that in a few years if I can justify it, and find real wood at
anywhere near that price. There's no way my 'special buy' laminate
will look as good as hardwood floorboards, I admit, if you have the
depth capacity to fit real floorboards.

Dave wrote: "...Why bother? (using wood preservative)...I've yet to
see anything (insect or fungus) seriously eating
fibreboard/chipboard/mdf or WHY."

My concern comes (1) from the warning on my laminate pack, not to use
this particular laminate in kitchens, bathrooms or humid areas, and
(2) the frightening rate at which I've seen melamine covered chipboard
expand and disintegrate when left outside and get wet. So I reckon the
small overhead for an application of wood preservative is worthwhile.
I'll probably use Ronseal or plain linseed oil, as sometimes used on
wooden boats.

I'm encouraged by reports that this cheap laminate can last pretty
well, and maintain its good appearance over many years with a minimum
of aftercare. My present approach remains, for a modest house, why pay
more?

Regards
George

On Fri, 02 Jan 2004 22:43:34 +0000 (GMT), "Dave Liquorice"
wrote:

Why bother? I've yet to see anything (insect or fungus) seriously
eating fibreboard/chipboard/mdf or WHY. Prolonged wet on the other
hand will cause the stuff to expand and fall apart but still nothing
actually eats it. I think the formaldehyde(sp), or the adhesives in
general, used in manufacture has something to do with it...

I have seen a combination of mold an little red ants devour a piece of
chipboard -- the laminated kind with a thin layer of melamine on either
side. This was older material, the kind likely to contain formaldehyde.
The damage went to about 40 cm from the edge. I'd have wagered against
that ever happening, myself... It was damp for a long time, though.

Adjacent timber was eaten away until only the thinnest and toughest
strands of wood remained, rather like a forest of uncooked spaghetti.

Thomas Prufer

Mike Mitchell wrote in message . ..
...I feel comfortable with the glued type. You can clamp the
planks together really tightly. It takes longer than the click sort,
but you can get a very smooth finish with the glued stuff. There were
one or two hairline gaps between planks, and I forced wax from one of
those coloured sticks you can buy into them.

I'm wondering whether to glue mine together as the final stage, even
though the pack says 'glue-free'.

Regards
George

I'm wondering whether to glue mine together as the final stage,
even though the pack says 'glue-free'.

Absolutely, if it is used in a wetter than average environment.

Christian.