laminate help - totally confused!

Ivrytwr3

Hey all,

We have a nice home and were looking to replace the carpet in the hall with wood flooring. However, we have been really put off with being told, doors have to be shaved, the floor will be raised etc And so we believe that laminate is the way to go.

With that in mind, does anyone have any recommendations on who we should go to? And what questions we should be asking? We really have no knowledge about this subject and could really do with some advice!

We would like a real wood look, waterproof, scratch proof and something which is going to last a long time! (not asking for much are we?!)

Norman_Castle

However, we have been really put off with being told, doors have to be shaved,

This depends on the current gap under the door. I have fitted a few laminate floors and have never needed to trim the doors.

k66yla

I've laminate in my hall and never had to make alterations to the doors. Also factor in the depth of any underlay you are putting underneath it. Will be ripping mine up soon as its been down for quite a few years, will replace with tiles this time.

keystone

Ivrytwr3 wrote: »

We have a nice home and were looking to replace the carpet in the hall with wood flooring.

If you want proper wood have an engineered floor. Its a plywood laminated floor with a real wood top surface but no so expensive as full wood.

However, we have been really put off with being told, doors have to be shaved, the floor will be raised etc And so we believe that laminate is the way to go.

You shouldn't be. Its not difficult and the fitters carry a special saw to do the job. They'll have to undercut the architraves anyway. The floor level will be raised even with a bog standard laminate. You may be lucky that the doors don't need trimming as NC suggests.

We would like a real wood look, waterproof, scratch proof and something which is going to last a long time! (not asking for much are we?!)

Nothing unusual in what you are asking for - go to a couple of flooring specialists and get them to give you competitive quotes.

Cheers

bobthedambuilder

Laminate (the type you get in packs of equal sized boards) is usually thin enough to replace a carpet without needing alteration to doors. There are lots of different finishes, and most are pre-surfaced with a hard protective layer. You get what you pay for - the more expensive, generally the better quality.

Most internal doors off a hallway open away from the hallway anyway.

If you're doing it yourself, peel back a bit of carpet under the door(s) which you are worried about and see what the clearance is. Check that against the thickness of the laminate you are considering, allowing a few millimetres for the cushion layer you will be laying under the laminate.

If somebody else is going to provide and lay for you, get them to check and include for any alterations to the doors.

You'll need to replace the threshold strip at each door with one that accepts laminate. You can do that without removing the doors opening outward (away from the hallway) by opening the doors wide into the rooms, which gives you access to the threshold position (on the line of the closed door). For any doors which open inwards (into the hallway), you're probably better taking them off the hinges before you start laying.

Skimming a few mil off the bottom of a door is not a big job for any half-experienced diy-er anyway. Take it off, if you haven't already done so (see above), mark a line where you want to trim to, and plane to that line. It's a 10 minute job.