12mm laminate flooring - Wickes ?

ajtrader100

brownbake wrote: »

I guess the 98 % out of 99 people who have used this laminate at £5 m2 and rated it at 5 stars must all be wrong!!!:rotfl:

Do you think that maybe they were rating it at value? At £5m2 surely anything is good!

The stuff in Wickes is made by either Kronospan, Kronotex, Classen or Egger, all of which make low quality laminate, but they make it cheap! You can buy 4.99 carpet, do you actually think its any good?! No, but its good value for money.

It may go together well, but durability is another question.......

ormus

if anyone can find me pergo flooring, at a little more than wickes own brand price, theres a big reward going.
get real mate.

ajtrader100

Sorry, I stand corrected. I know nothing, I only sell laminate flooring into around 700 retailers.

Read the posts above, most say its worth spending a few extra quid and getting a branded product such as Balterio, Quickstep, Parador or Pergo, and I fully agree.

If you get a cheap floor that costs you £7 a metre, but it needs replacing in 3 years time because the joints have failed, or its worn through, or its faded, or its stained. Then you pay another £7 a metre on the flooring (plus more accessories and underlays, and whatecer else you need). Then that lasts you another 3 years then you have to pay again....... (see a pattern here?!)

So you may have well have spent a few more quid on a product that will last you much much longer - and you only have to fit it once!

brownbake

Yeah not sure why my professional fitter said that Wickes own was better than B&Q and Balterio that is sold in Carpetright of all places!! Not sure why they offer a 20 year guarantee either or 10 year on the one I mentioned!!

Get real mate - all laminate is pretty crap - only real wood at £40 + lasts.

What is this site? Sugar its a Money SAVING site!!! :T

ajtrader100

brownbake wrote: »

Yeah not sure why my professional fitter said that Wickes own was better than B&Q and Balterio that is sold in Carpetright of all places!! Not sure why they offer a 20 year guarantee either or 10 year on the one I mentioned!!

Get real mate - all laminate is pretty crap - only real wood at £40 + lasts.

What is this site? Sugar its a Money SAVING site!!! :T

Wrong, wrong wrong.......

Wood lasts less than laminate as it does not benefit from wear layers, its a natural product that is more susceptible to scratching, denting and marking (all the things you dont want from your floor)

Many laminates have a commercial rating to show how durable their products are, from class 31 (light commercial) through to class 34 (Extra Heavy Commercial) these types of products are down in very high use areas like Heathrow Terminal1. They would not put a solid wood down in these environments as they simply would not last.

I can tell you that neither of the products you have mentioned have a guarantee, they have warantees which are compleley different.

Maybe your "professional fitter" gets a good trade rate at Wickes, heck if I got a good deal I would say its the best thing sinced sliced bread if I could make a load of money out of it! Its 7mm thick, and £5.49 a square metre, you will not be getting a good product for that sort of money, no matter who the manufacturer is. At that thickness it is probably a class 31 product (maybe a class 32 if hey are pushing their luck heavily), which is right at the bottom rung of the laminate ladder.

If you wanted to get a good floor then a class 33 or 34 would be the bees knees. You can not say that all laminate is crap when you know nothing about the product, there are good products and poor products - it all depends what your willing to pay.

And trying to compare Laminate with Wood, is like comparing Carpet with Vynil - they are 2 completely different products with different advantages and disadvantages.

richardw

I put down the stuff from wickes and am perfectly happy with it and it looks great, depends where you are putting it and how much bashing it will get, I would go for something better quality in a room of above average traffic.

supersavy

I beg to differ with ajtrader re real wood floors 'Wood lasts less than laminate as it does not benefit from wear layers, its a natural product that is more susceptible to scratching, denting and marking (all the things you dont want from your floor)'.

I have an oak floor that has been down for 10 years plus that looks just as good if not better than when we first laid it. I also have a laminate floor that has been down for 8 years and although it has done well it has now blown in places due to cleaning and has scratches on it.

Like you say comparing wood and laminate is not even worth doing as they are completely different products.

Personally if I had the money I would go for a wood floor every time.

ajtrader100

supersavy wrote: »

I beg to differ with ajtrader re real wood floors 'Wood lasts less than laminate as it does not benefit from wear layers, its a natural product that is more susceptible to scratching, denting and marking (all the things you dont want from your floor)'.

I have an oak floor that has been down for 10 years plus that looks just as good if not better than when we first laid it. I also have a laminate floor that has been down for 8 years and although it has done well it has now blown in places due to cleaning and has scratches on it.

Like you say comparing wood and laminate is not even worth doing as they are completely different products.

Personally if I had the money I would go for a wood floor every time.

Supersavy, if you dont mind me asking is the wood dented / scratched in any areas? Where are the two products located in the house? and also how much were the products per sq metre including fitting?

Its only so we can have a fair comparison.

supersavy

It is laid in my main sitting room and dining room (we have a big family with pets so it has been used well). Like you said before you can't really compare real wood with laminate as it is not in the same league.

It is a solid american white oak floor and looks as brill as the day we laid it. If it ever does start to look worn (which would only add to it beuty) then we can sand it down no probs and it will look new again. We fitted it ourselves which was quite easy as we love DIY.

The laminite is in our kitchen but it was not the best on the market when we bought it and I know the technology has advanced on laminates now.

I still prefer real wood for some reason, it just has a nicer feel about it for me.

brownbake

ajtrader100 wrote: »

Wrong, wrong wrong.......

Wood lasts less than laminate as it does not benefit from wear layers, its a natural product that is more susceptible to scratching, denting and marking (all the things you dont want from your floor)

Many laminates have a commercial rating to show how durable their products are, from class 31 (light commercial) through to class 34 (Extra Heavy Commercial) these types of products are down in very high use areas like Heathrow Terminal1. They would not put a solid wood down in these environments as they simply would not last.

I can tell you that neither of the products you have mentioned have a guarantee, they have warantees which are compleley different.

Maybe your "professional fitter" gets a good trade rate at Wickes, heck if I got a good deal I would say its the best thing sinced sliced bread if I could make a load of money out of it! Its 7mm thick, and £5.49 a square metre, you will not be getting a good product for that sort of money, no matter who the manufacturer is. At that thickness it is probably a class 31 product (maybe a class 32 if hey are pushing their luck heavily), which is right at the bottom rung of the laminate ladder.

If you wanted to get a good floor then a class 33 or 34 would be the bees knees. You can not say that all laminate is crap when you know nothing about the product, there are good products and poor products - it all depends what your willing to pay.

And trying to compare Laminate with Wood, is like comparing Carpet with Vynil - they are 2 completely different products with different advantages and disadvantages.

No you are wrong. It is very clear on the Wickes website that it has a 10 Year GUARANTEE - get your facts right!!!