Laminate flooring advise

hopfarm

I am looking for the best quality laminate I can buy for approx £25 a square metre,having just done the rounds of diy shops and dealing with fairly unhelpful staff then I am still baffled! One assistant pointed me in the direction of quick step flooring informing me that this is the best on the market,anyone know if this is true,any advice or tips would be very appreciated.Oh the flooring is for the complete ground floor of my house so needs to be fairly tough!

Radish72

I would try a carpet shop that also does laminate flooring as well

They would probably give you better advice

ormus

quick step is about 9/12 quid per sq m.
hardly the best on the market is it.

even wickes sell flooring twice that price.

hopfarm

Thanks but that didnt really help me ! Would like advise on what to get not what not to get !

DirectDebacle

hopfarm wrote: »

Thanks but that didnt really help me ! Would like advise on what to get not what not to get !

What to get.

1. Real wood flooring. Too expensive?

2. Engineered wood flooring. Too expensive?

3. Cheap carpet or lino. Save up for 1 or 2 above.

4. Walk around on what is already there.

5. Waste as little money as possible on laminate and save up for 1 or 2 above.

hopfarm

Sorry,some background.My house was gutted by a fire in November,it started in the dishwasher and spread throughout the house.I am a single mum who works full time to support her 3 children and this has had a devastating effect on us all.I am now starting the process of with the help of the insurance company of
bringing my house back to a home.They have given me a budget of £25 per square metre for laminate flooring as stated in the original post,any advice would be appreciated.

DirectDebacle

Sorry to hear that you have suffered what must have been a very distressing event.

What were the original floors constructed from.

Does the £25 p.sq.m include fitting or is it materials only.

For the kitchen, tiles are imo far superior to laminate and reasonable quality floor tiles need cost no more than half what the ins. co. have allowed.

phill99

As direct debacle suggests, you need to find out if the £25 covers just the actual laminate flooring, or does this include the underlay and ancillaries as well (eg, scotia beading, door bars, edge strips etc.) And also what of the fitting? If the figure is plus all the above, then you can look at a Supply and fit price of app £40 / metre. If the £25 per metre is an all inclusive price, then the laminate flooring itself is more like £12 - 14 / metre.

hopfarm

The £25 is just for the laminate,they will supply underlay and fitting.The original floors were laminate but were already there when I moved in. Am looking to do hall,living room.dining room and cloakroom,the kitchen is a seperate issue,Howdens are coming round on Wednesday to help with that.It is all a bit overwhelming as I have a week to source materials for the whole house,just thought I would do the laminate first! I was told by an assistant today that the difference between a £10 laminate and a £22 laminate was just the colour ! just wondered if anyone could give me better advice.

ccygirl

It's not laminate but i've used Khars linnea 7 oak city narrow. Its an engineered wood floor that costs about £20 per sq metre. it's quite tuff as it only has 0.5mm layer of oak and other wood layers underneath which increases the hardness. It's easy to lay and very well made.

phill99

hopfarm wrote: »

I was told by an assistant today that the difference between a £10 laminate and a £22 laminate was just the colour ! just wondered if anyone could give me better advice.

If that was the case, all laminate would cost £10 per metre. Quality laminate flooring has a thicker laminate (ie the actual layer you walk on), a thicker sunstrata (ie 9 or 10mm as opposed to 6 or 7 mm)and a more comprehensive locking system. Cheap ones have thinner laminates and as such can wear quicker and a thinner substrata.

Remember that a laminate at £25/metre from B & Q is probably only a £15 product through the trade outlets or specialist suppliers. So paying £25 / metre doesn't mean you are getting £25 worth of value.

Pergo is a high quality laminate and tends to have long guarantees (25 years or even lifetime residential guarantees) and is often a commercial grade product (ie suitable for offices, shops etc.