Laminate flooring!!!

rynnor

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A strange urge to DIY overcame me on Saturday and so I found myself spending two scorching days inside laying laminate flooring until collapse...

You do the first row and its dead easy - you think your a frickin genius... then you do the next row...

You do one bit and it knocks out two other bits you spent ages getting aligned perfectly earlier...

I had to buy a jigsaw because obviously the walls arent straightforward but covered in pipes, bumps etc.. Nearly manage to carve handy workbench in two with the jigsaw...

After effort of herculaen proportions I finally had the floor down and was ready to stick the bits that cover the expansion gaps you have to leave.

This meant 'no more nails'...- I'm starting to think the name was actually implying you'll have no nails left after using it because youll chew em down to stubs in frustration...

I have one of those glue gun contraptions so stick the 'no more nails' in it - you squeeze the trigger and glue comes out - what they dont tell you is the damn stuff just will not stop - one squeeze and the stuffs coming out for weeks.

Finally I've stuck all the bits onto the skirting board and put things under em to hold em in place while drying - I come back after tidying up and remove the bits holding em up and Ta daa!! ... they start falling off...

I must be the only person in the universe that glue fails to stick for...

Come back nails - all is forgiven.

Let this tale be a warning to those who may consider teh evul Laminate flooring!!!
 

Wij

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I'm crossing that off my possible projects then.
 

Lazarus

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to stop the flow of the glue you have to pull back the plunger part of the gun (not rocket science)

need to hold the glued pieces in place for a little while too ;)
 

Tom

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Its a cartridge gun, and I bet you squeezed it too hard. Oh, and glue doesn't stick well to laminated surfaces, use some sandpaper on the bits you want to glue.

Personally, I wouldn't use glue for the border, I'd just use nails. Its a damn sight less messy should you ever have to pull it up to get under the floor.
 

Ono

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We hired someone to lay our wooden flooring. Was about this time last year as well when temps hit 36 degs.

Really nice.
 

Ch3tan

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I think your just doomed to be bad at diy ryynor. Laminate flooring really isnt that hard.
 

rynnor

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Tom said:
Can't you just use the floorboards? Thats what I did.

No Floorboards - am on concrete otherwise I'd get the sander out - your probably right about my DIY crapness - my Dads a bodger so theres probably some rogue gene to blame - future generations will hopefully cure it.

I did hold the glued bits for a while and even supported them but the surface was not completely flat so when one bit of the rail was sticking the other was off the wall - nails are better...

I have an abiding hatred of 'no more nails' after my disaster with the coving...

Ah well - its not even in my top ten DIY disasters...
 

Cyfr

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Whatever you do don't use those things that make the floor look like its tiled (they have like 4 tiles stuck together and slot in like wooden floors do..)

They blend when they get wet :(
 

rynnor

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Cyfr said:
Whatever you do don't use those things that make the floor look like its tiled (they have like 4 tiles stuck together and slot in like wooden floors do..)

They blend when they get wet :(


Oops....
 

Tom

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You could always make your own floor, like I did in my back room:

floor.jpg


Pieces of 1/2 inch thick plywood, stained and then varnished, with the grain rotated on each tile. Its a lot of work, but at least it will be pretty unique.

The thing I find about DIY is preparation is key. If you just go at it one day, you'll come across loads of problems. If you have patience, and a bit of common sense, its not nearly as hard as you might think. Having lots of tools helps though :)
 

Stazbumpa

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I aer got teh laminate flooring in my front room, the click non gluey stuff and it went down surprisingly well. Took ages though, coz I'm lazy. DIY for me normally means "Don't Involve Yourself".
 

rynnor

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Tom said:
The thing I find about DIY is preparation is key. If you just go at it one day, you'll come across loads of problems. If you have patience, and a bit of common sense, its not nearly as hard as you might think. Having lots of tools helps though :)

Floor looks good mate but is probably beyond my meager DIY skills - plus I couldnt glue it all down as my daughter has a tendency to wander in to see what I'm doing when the missus is supposed to be keeping her entertained - at one point I found her picking holes in the underlay I'd just cut to size and fitted...

I had been thinking about doing the floor for a while and had consulted my very thick diy manual about it but no matter how much preparation I do I always find unexpected requirements leading me back to the DIY shop numerous times... I'm sure its an evil plot.
 

Gef

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Laminate floors are to the 00's what lino was to the 80's, and what woodchip was to the 70's.

Maybe its just me, but it never seemed right having to mop your living room floor. Also makes noise carry further without carpet, i'll never be a convert, no matter how cheap or convenient it may be!
 

Lazarus

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once you have laminate, you wouldnt go back to carpet. Once you see how much dirt and spillage there is, carpets are a no-no
 

Tom

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Gef said:
Laminate floors are to the 00's what lino was to the 80's, and what woodchip was to the 70's

One thing that really annoys me. ITS VINYL FLOORING NOT LINO. LINO IS A PAPER BASED PRODUCT DATING FROM THE VICTORIAN ERA, AND DOESN'T CONTAIN LOADS OF CHEMICALS AND OTHER SHIT.

/rant
 

Gef

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Ooo, touched a nerve somewhere

Lino, Lino, Lino!

;)
 

JingleBells

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tom said:
LINO IS A PAPER BASED PRODUCT DATING FROM THE VICTORIAN ERA, AND DOESN'T CONTAIN LOADS OF CHEMICALS AND OTHER SHIT
Strange, i thought that they were those irritating people in black who wave their snazzy flags when your team puts the ball in the back of the net.

Back on topic, aren't wooden floors horribly cold when you're walking around barefoot? I'd much rather have a nice warm carpet.
 

Gray

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we're gonna have to rip up our lammy flooring because we have an electric cable which is faulty - goes right across the room. Aint had the flooring in that long either, good grand wasted :x
 

~Yuckfou~

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Gray said:
we're gonna have to rip up our lammy flooring because we have an electric cable which is faulty - goes right across the room. Aint had the flooring in that long either, good grand wasted :x

Insurance? Re-route the cable?
 

DaGaffer

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JingleBells said:
Back on topic, aren't wooden floors horribly cold when you're walking around barefoot? I'd much rather have a nice warm carpet.

You'd think that, but doesn't seem to work out that way. I still have carpets upstairs, mainly for the noise-suppression qualities, but I much prefer laminate/floorboards, easier to clean, better looking (imho) than any carpet. Having said that, NO FEKKIN WAY would I ever fit a laminate floor myself; I did it at my old flat a few years ago and its a killer, especially in an older building when you realise none of your walls are actually square to each other. When I bought my house I paid someone else to go through the grief.
 

Tilda

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TomI like your floor, it looks good :)

About the uneven floor, I could be way out, but would it be worth getting some sort of carpet underlay or fom-ey stuff that would compact and make the floor flatter?

Tilda
 

rynnor

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Another good reason for going to Laminate is dust mites - my dog has an allergy to dust mites (amongst other things) so this should mean she doesnt have to keep having nasty courses of steroids which have really bulked her out - plus if she keeps on the steroids I'll have to start taking em in order to be able to control her ;)
 

DaGaffer

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Tilda said:
TomI like your floor, it looks good :)

About the uneven floor, I could be way out, but would it be worth getting some sort of carpet underlay or fom-ey stuff that would compact and make the floor flatter?

Tilda

You need to get your floor screeded before laying laminate (liquid stuff that sets and is skimmed flat), you then have an underlay as well.
 

rynnor

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DaGaffer said:
You need to get your floor screeded before laying laminate (liquid stuff that sets and is skimmed flat), you then have an underlay as well.

Is that doing the same job as an impermeable membrane to prevent the damp seeping up and warping the laminate?
 

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