Wickes Easy Lay Laminate - seem to have cracked it!

[John]

After struggling with 2/3 of daughters bedroom floor with lots of swearing and the odd joint which still gapes a bit, I think I finally cracked it for the last third!

1) Dust out the slot in the already laid planks with a soft brush

2) Lightly sand the half cylindrical mating surface on the next plank

3) Put plank in at 20 degrees up from flat and line up

4) Waggle plank up and down whilst slotted in to bed in the mating surfaces until the plank will lie flat on the floor whilst fully clipped in (about 10 waggles)

5) Admire!

[Tim Watts]

John wibbled on Saturday 03 April 2010 19:50

Just for the record, with any clicky-connect stuff like this, I have a hoover handy and vacuum every joint. I've found previously that the chips from cutting could affect the joints.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Easy way is to get a scrap of laminate fit to arse end of bit to be fitted and whack hard with a hammer. It clicks in in no time!

Then stamp down along the run to settle it all.

[MM]

I used a pair of these floor clamps:

brilliantly.

MM

[Dave]

I have found that the newer click lock is very fussy about the cleanness of the joint, a bit of fibre can take off the top surface of the groove and make the surface look bad.

Dave

[John]

I agree - it is VERY fussy - you put it in, all lined up, lower it down to flat and all of a sudden a bit "pops out". Clean out slot, try again, same result. What I found was odd that sometimes the planks did not seem to have been machined 100% straight and that made it worse. However after the light sand and a bit of waggling then they started to go in, stay in and drop flat.

[Tim Watts]

John wibbled on Monday 05 April 2010 08:28

This seems to be an advert about why not to buy Wickes laminate. I never had any of these problems with Pergo. Good on the OP for making it work, but this level of suffering is unnecessary! :-o

[The Medway Handyman]

Trust me Homobase laminate flooring is far worse. To the point where I turn down the job if they have bought the laminate there.