It's 12mm thick, click system. I'm thinking about getting one of these:
Does anyone have first hand experience, or have any other recommendations/suggestions, please?
Thanks
waste of money. get a new cross cut saw a right angle T square and a pencil.
Thats all i did and its fine.
Remember you can use the ready made ends for any joints in the floor centre and te edges will all be covered by a skirting board anyway as you need a gap there..
I hear what you say, but I've got to cut / trim the ewf around two matwells, which are bordered with an oak strip. If it was just a question of cutting to room width, under the skirting then, yes, what you suggest is fine.
Here's a link to the spare blades for this saw
The point being while they might claim 14 teeth on a 250mm blade will give you a perfect finish on a crosscut - given the choice I'd use a blade with twice as many teeth.
i.e just looking at the profile of this blade doesn't inspire confidence in getting the smoothest possible cut.
Here's a page of crosscut blades in various sizes. The number of teeth (and the replacement cost) contrasts sharply with the GMC blade.
michael adams
...
Angle grinder.
for cuts 90 to the length looks decidedly flimsy to me. Wouldn't a sliding mitre saw be better? That would have nice solid fence to put the board against.
The possible rip cuts to go around the matwells might be harder but I think I'd go for handheld circular saw and sawboard for those.
...Yes hand saw is best. Get a fine tooth disposable one, £5 or £6 Won't the oak strip cover the cut edges?
No, the flooring butts up to the oak strip, so a 'wobbly' saw cut will look pants. I had a local joinery firm mill the 50mm x 12mm strips out of some old oak panelling given to me in return for a fair deed. The quality of the wood is superb and it would be sacrilege to the oak to have some sub-standard workmanship showcase next to it.
I guess, it would be just as well to measure / mark up and take the flooring to the joinery firm, and pay them to cut it.
It sounds like most of the cuts you need to do accurately are cross cuts. In which case a basic powered mitre / chop saw will do what you want. Even a £25 cheapie will give an adequate result. If you need to do a lengthways cut, then make up a (short) sawboard [1], and cut from the
*under* side using a circular saw. That will also leave a perfect finish.
Oops, forgot the [1]:
Thank you for the pointers.
Incidently, where are you sourcing a '£25 cheapie' chop saw that will cross cut an 8" board, which is the width of most ewf boards? Surely you're looking at a sliding chop saw?
Yes for 8" you will be need a bigger saw.... (5" can go on a 8" chop saw, and 6" can be done on the 10" bladed chop saws usually).
You may find you can cut once, flip it round and cut again on a chop saw if you find one that moved the blade guard out of the way in the right way...
Unless you want a SCMS for other reasons, then I would use a short sawboard for the purpose as its a one off job. (or hire a slider for the day)
That's what I did, but that was for ends that were hidden by skirting, so the occasional very slight step didn't matter at all.
The expansion gap will look just as naff. You seem to be doing things in the wrong order.
MBQ
You only need one expansion gap really - and that can be at the wall. However there is the point that with no lip to cover the edge on the mat well, you may get a gap open up there anyway.
That will not look good. Why not remove oak strip and refit afterwards .. otherwise gap will be a spoiler.
Remember floor will move.
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