Flooring

[W]

Hi,

We would like to put down some laminate flooring in a room which is part suspended flooring and part concrete (due to extension). Is this possible and, if so, are there any 'catches'?

TIA, W

[BigWallop]

It's best to cover the whole floor with a layer of 6mm plywood to give you an all over level surface to work on. I've also had the same situation at an in-laws house, and this was the best solution for it. We made sure that the plywood covered the joint between the timber floor and the concrete to take up any height difference. The 6mm plywood was cheap and it didn't really need to be fixed too securely to the floor. On the timber parts we used screws counter sunk to the level of the ply surface, and on the concrete we used PVA glue to hold it in place. Three years down the line and it still hasn't moved out of place, so I think we got it right on that job.

hope this gives a few pointers.

[W]

Yes, thanks. The shops also sell large "tiles" to use under laminate flooring. I don't know what they are made of. Would these also be good?

TIA, W

[BigWallop]

I've heard of the fibre board underlay used with laminate, but I thought this was best used on just concrete flooring, mainly for thermal and moisture prevention. I could be wrong though. We also found that all the underlay materials, sold for use with laminate, was very expensive and not as practical as it was made out to be. That's why we used plywood.

The ply was rigid enough to take away the differences in the height of the old floor boards and the transition between the timber floor and concrete. It also gives enough thermal protection when used with the normal foam (white thin stuff) underlay that you should always put under new laminate flooring anyway. So we kept the cost down, and it really doesn't seem to have created any great disadvantages to the floor at all. In fact, it looks very nice, though I say it myself. :-))

[BigWallop]

Also should have pointed out that, You do need to leave the same expansion gap around the edges of the room for the plywood as well as the laminate flooring.

[W]

I forgot to say this is a Kitchen/dining room. A shop assistant said that laminate flooring is not suitable for this application. Is this true or are they just trying to sell me something more expensive?

TIA, W

[S Viemeister]

Speaking from personal experience, it is NOT suitable for a kitchen area.

Sheila

[BigWallop]

Sheila is right W, laminate flooring is made in different grades for different situations. A kitchen floor is more likely to get wet more often than other floors in the house, and this causes the standard grades of laminate to buckle and crack after just a short time of this type of exposure. You can lay standard grade stuff in the kitchen, but then you get the hassle of having to seal the edges of all the boards with water proofing gunk, or sealing the floor with a varnish type thingy that keep water from getting to the boards underneath. All works out very expensive.

Can you lay laminate in the dining area and ceramic tiles in the kitchen floor?