Happy New Year!
I have a small dining room , about 3mx2.5m, currently carpeted and am thinking of replacing this with wooden laminate flooring. The actual floor underneath is concrete. Happily, I have no skirtings fitted as I've removed these, having just had the walls replastered. So, carpet, underlay and grippers are coming up at the weekend.
I don't know much about laminate but I imagine I want some 'underlay/ foam' stuff down on top of the concrete, take the laminate to the walls with a small (10mm ?) gap all around, then put the skirting boards on last, allowing the floor to 'float' - is that about right?
Now, laminate flooring is available from Wickes, B&Q, IKEA, etc. Is it all pretty much the same re. choice of colours and quality? Am I likely to have trouble fitting it myself? Are the 'locking' panels equally effective and easy to snap together without special tools? Any recommendations for other suppliers? What should I put underneath it? Anything else I should bear in mind?
Many thanks, Jeff