How hard is it to lay a floor?

Bobarella

Hi All
Some advice would be appreciated. I have a commerical premises that at the moment has just a bare concrete floor. It used to have a floating wooden floor. I paid quite a lot for the original floor to be laid, but it was damaged & I am not covered for its replacement.
I have been to Wickes today & seen the sorts of costs for wood laminate, underlay etc, & have to say there appears (as a novice) to be quite a saving to be made if I asked my husband or friends to aid us in laying a new floor. So we'd just have material costs to find rather than paying an expert.
Am I being ridiculous? How hard is it to actually lay a floor? We'd be talking about making the existing concrete level as far as possible, laying underlay & then laminate wood floor boards on top.
Appreciate its quite a specific situation but I am keen to make an informed decision.
Many thanks
Bobarella

onomatopoeia99

I've laid an engineered wood floor in a couple of rooms, it's not difficult, you just have to be patient and methodical. It took me two days to do a 16' by 12' room including all the cutting required and laying of the underlay. I was glueing, but if you got click together laminate it's likely to be cheaper.

You'll need something to cut the boards to length, I bought a circular saw for this as using a hand saw would have been too much effort.

Bobarella

Onomatopoeia - Thank you, thats a great bit of advice to get. What was your floor like underneath? Was it just concrete?

topicalcat

We decided to redo our kitchen floor and replace carpet tiles with click style laminate on the concrete floor which looked level, However it has a slight dip and had a hell of of a time trying to click flooring together. Tried again laying at 90 deg angle and was easier! So moral of the tale is check that 1 is floor absolutely level and 2 some systems are better quality and click together easier. Also I would advise on using a membrane on the concrete first to prevent condensation and damp. Then the underlay on top, will not add much to the cost, you will find foil backed membrane in the flooring section.

onomatopoeia99

Bobarella wrote: »

What was your floor like underneath? Was it just concrete?

Yes, plain concrete and pretty much level (1950s bungalow).

rob7475

If you have some basic DIY knowledge, it's straight forward.

I laid about 50 sq. m in our house with no major issues. For a decent finish, you need to remove skirting boards and cut door frames/architrave so the flooring can sit underneath without having to use beading - may not be an issue in a commercial building though.

Make sure you plan where to lay your first plank - if you just start at the wall, you may find you get to the other side of the room and end up having to try and cut a slither of wood to fit.

Another thing to bear in mind though - if it's going to get heavy footfall, make sure you get a floor that is suitable for commercial use

RichardD1970

It's quite easy to lay, there are plenty of guides on line to give you an idea.

I've laid all my house and my parents and a few other relatives and the nicest click-lock laminate to lay has been Ikea stuff. Although my last floor was of a new B&Q flooring which is a vinyl click-lock plank and doesn't need any sawing, just scoring with a Stanley knife. It was a dream to lay although quite expensive.

On concrete use an appropriate underlay, some have limited levelling properties.

A circular saw will save a lot of time and effort.

Get some knee pads.

paddyrg

RichardD1970 wrote: »

Get some knee pads.

Knee pads are a tenner, knees are priceless!! Those gel with hard plastic frontage ones are cheap and work well enough that you won't be in tears when you kneel on that little nobbly offcut ;-)

Marktheshark

DIY quality laminate wont last in a commercial space on concrete.
The Humidity from the concrete will swell the floor.
Commercial grade laminate has a impervious layer on the backing, hence why it costs more.
You also need to be aware that if the area is open to public and something goes wrong like a trip or fall, the insurance are going to dodge paying out if the flooring you lay does not meet the BS standard guidelines for commercial areas.

Bobarella

topicalcat wrote: »

We decided to redo our kitchen floor and replace carpet tiles with click style laminate on the concrete floor which looked level, However it has a slight dip and had a hell of of a time trying to click flooring together. Tried again laying at 90 deg angle and was easier! So moral of the tale is check that 1 is floor absolutely level and 2 some systems are better quality and click together easier. Also I would advise on using a membrane on the concrete first to prevent condensation and damp. Then the underlay on top, will not add much to the cost, you will find foil backed membrane in the flooring section.

Thank you. That's a very good point about membrane I'd not thought about it. I don't think our floor is very level at all which may be a challenge. The original builder was very skilled so he didn't have any problems we probably will. A good story though in the end

Bobarella

Marktheshark wrote: »

DIY quality laminate wont last in a commercial space on concrete.
The Humidity from the concrete will swell the floor.
Commercial grade laminate has a impervious layer on the backing, hence why it costs more.
You also need to be aware that if the area is open to public and something goes wrong like a trip or fall, the insurance are going to dodge paying out if the flooring you lay does not meet the BS standard guidelines for commercial areas.

Thank you Mark. I did notice that some of them did say commercial use and others did not. I will ensure I check this with the shop we buy from before taking any bad decisions. Thank you, this is why I wanted to ask on here for the range of experience.