Laminate flooring advise

mr_vampy

I would recommend the brands of Quickstep, Pergo and Balterio for laminate flooring. I stay away from the ones sold in the sheds like B&Q, Wickes, because from personal experience it chips too easily and the click system is not great, making it more difficult to install.

kabayiri

Are quality laminates like the ones mentioned suitable for something like a dining kitchen? My DH wants the same wooden flooring running throughout and that's a lot of floor space to cover.

I worry about it's suitability in a kitchen area.

mr_vampy

kabayiri wrote: »

Are quality laminates like the ones mentioned suitable for something like a dining kitchen? My DH wants the same wooden flooring running throughout and that's a lot of floor space to cover.

I worry about it's suitability in a kitchen area.

I have fitted laminate in kitchens for people and have it in my own kitchen for about 6 years, and still looks great. The most important thing to think about when having laminate in kitchens or bathrooms is water/liquids. Just make sure you wipe up any spills or splashes immediately and not to let it sit long enough to absorb into the joints causing it to swell.

DirectDebacle

hopfarm wrote: »

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.

This sounds all a bit odd to me. I have never been in your position and had to deal with major fire damage to my home, but I am wondering if you are being given the support and assistance that your insurers should be providing.

Your floors wern't laminate, they were laminate covered. Most likely the original flooring was either concrete or suspended timber. If the latter and they were damaged by the fire then they should be re-instated as that. Here would be your opportunity to ask the £25.00 p. sq.m. for laminate to be put towards the price of a timber floor with all the benefits (and more) that you see in laminate.

To give a working mother with 3 children to care for, a week to sort out what the insurers should in the most part be doing, seems quite irregular to me.

I would suggest you post this on the insurance board if you haven't already as I think you will receive good advice as to whether or not your claim is being handled correctly.

societys_child

DirectDebacle wrote: »

This sounds all a bit odd to me. I have never been in your position and had to deal with major fire damage to my home, but I am wondering if you are being given the support and assistance that your insurers should be providing.

Maybe the insuance co are allowing her to pick the laminate herself so she gets one she likes? They are then arranging fitting. Odd though because a fitter could have given her some advise

Paul_the_Painter

Relax - don't stress

The budget you have been given is nicely generous.

When you are looking at cost/manufacturer of a laminate flooring, there is a huge range even within a manufacturer.

Rule 1 is SPEND THE MONEY. You have been given a budget if £25/m2 so start having a look at flooring at that price. There are no bad floors at that price.

I can reccomend Quick Step and Pergo, as well as Balterio. I would probably get Quick Step or Pergo if I was in your position, as they are big companies with very well known names. It should be a selling point if/when you come to sell your house. It is not just any old laminate it is a QS or Pergo floor.

If it was my own money, I would probably get Balterio, just because it is a bit cheaper, and of a similar quality. I also prefer their designs.

On a seperate note, make sure that they fit the skirting boards AFTER they have fitted the floor, in this way you don't need quadrant around the perimeter, and floor looks so much better. also the insurance company should be happy to do this as the cost will be lower - they have to fit the skirting anyway, this way they don't need to buy and fit the quadrant.

And this is not a dig at the OP but a common thing on the board.

I need advice
I will advise you

http://www.gcse.com/english/advice.htm

Sorry......

sweetilemon

I have 22mm solid oak flooring throught apart from the bathroom. It was £23+VAT from an independant saw mill. B&Q were far more pricey. I would google your local area and see if you can find a wood shop. Im sure they would have negotiated down to £25psm but i just took the price they said as i thought it was fair. There were narrower boards and different wood for less. Real wood will last longer if you can get some in your price range.

siaoeh

we had a heavy duty quickstep one before and that lasted 6+yrs and was still good as new if not for a burst pipe that damaged the subfloor and soaked thru the laminate from underneath we wouldn't have changed it. we were recommended to check out floors-2-go by our carpenter and the quality is pretty good. we've had it down since before christmas and its been no problem at all, hopefully not for a long long time too :-) good luck with your refurbishments, we've had a lengthy job due to the burst pipe too, totally understand your pain

hopfarm

Thank you for all the positive advice. The insurance company have supplied me with a long list of things I have to choose before restoration work begins,the builder will go and buy it,I just have to choose it.They will arrange a fitter and all the skirting boards in my house have to be replaced (already discussed with the builder fitting the floor before the skirtings).
Having read the advice then I will go away and do some research on Pergo, unfortunately I have been instructed that it must be laminate and not real wood.

yumyums

We've got quickstep and it looks pretty good. Seems hard wearing too (I'm clumsy!) I'm not a big lover of laminate but for a laminate floor, it's nice.
We've got the linesse flooring, which is like a parquet look and has a nice texture to it (rather than the too-smooth finish of cheap laminates)


Hope all goes well for you - must be very stressful