some of the plank edges of my laminate flooring are chipped. i saw some 'laminate paint' in homebase - does this disguise the damage enough? also, has anyone had any luck returning (unlaid) planks with chipped corners to homebase?
But if you bought the flooring as perfect, then take it back and get new packs or a refund. If you caused the damage yourself, then buy the repair kit that looks like two syringes, with paste that, when you mix them together, you smear into chips and crack and scratches and leaves an invisible repair. Just remember to pick the correct colour match for your flooring.
I damaged some of them using the crappy pull-bar which comes with homebases floor-laying kit. but a very high number of planks (maybe 1 in 4) were chipped at the corners before I even touched them. is this normal?
The pull bar is OK when used with a cloth or sponge to stop it chipping, but you only realise this after your first time of laying the flooring. Your next time will be better. :-))
If the boards were damaged when you opened the packs, then take them back and get them replaced. It is not normal to accept damaged products.
It's not on to have 1-in-4 damaged. 10 months ago I bought about 20 packs of Pergo laminate and IIRC about 1-2 planks were damaged. I didn't worry about that. Any more and I'd have been back to the shop.
I had a bit more luck with the pull-bar thingy (mid-crappy B&Q version)- no chips, but I did find it tended to mash the click-joint mouldings on the Pergo if I wasn't careful. I used the little block tapper thing as much as possible and avoided the iron bar except at the very edges.
I've heard the chip repair stuff is pretty successful - good luck :-)
Cheers
Timbo
Pale plastic wood seems to fill in gaps/chips/etc. Got some Cuprinol all purpose wood filler in Natural which seems to be O.K.
The small tubes of specialist filler that e.g. Wickes sell works well for me. I had to return several planks to B&Q due to pre-sale damage. Its wise to examine every pack instore and when you get home if possible as the store guys can be a bit clumsy. I put all the damaged planks into one pack and they gave me a complete new pack even though what I took back was not a complete pack.
You should only be using the pull bar around the very edge of the room where any damage will be covered by beading or skirting. Anywhere else where you require "percussive encouragement" you should be using the tapping block which should be included in the kit (it was with B&Qs when I bought one).
This doesn't help but B&Q are only too happy to take back damaged planks. I took them back with a few good ones to make up a whole box for exchange.
Andrew
Agreed, I tried a pack of that during our pre install investigations, and it does lay very easy, it also seems to take apart for re-lays pretty well too should you want, but it hurts in the pocket! It seems a great system to lay though.
In our case the costing was something like £520 with B&Q, and we ended up paying about £210 less than that for another brand. Learning to tap wasn't that bad ! ;O)
Take Care, Gnube {too thick for linux}
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