Laminate Underlay on floorboards - vapour tape?

usman330

Getting laminate flooring and wanted to know about the correct underlay to use.

The floor is standard floorboards and no concrete, and the laminate will be fitted to ground floor.

Need 40sq/m of it, I have seen this stuff on ebay which looks good value:

Sonic Gold 5mm - Acoustic Underlay For Wood or Laminate Flooring



They say you need to use vapour tape for the joins, but it seems like this vapour tape is only needed if you are installing the underlay to a concrete floor. Could I get away with just putting the underlay down, laying it tight next to each other and not using the tape, as i dont think its necessary when laid on floorboards?

Also, when buying the underlay and floorboards, if I have 40sq/m of floor, should I add 10% to both underlay and laminate to ensure there is enough or it that not necessary for laminate?

Thanks for the help !

System

What does a Mexican put under his carpet?
Underlay underlay!

Silver-Surfer_2

Is anyone still fitting laminate?

Couldn't believe home much was in the local recycling centre yesterday.

Kiran

Vapor tape is used if you were using it as a DPM, as you said needed on a concrete floor. Personally I would tape all underlay from a quality point of view but if you want to check ask the technical department for the manufacturer as they'll be able to give you a definitive answer

dominoman

Silver-Surfer wrote: »

Is anyone still fitting laminate?

Couldn't believe home much was in the local recycling centre yesterday.

What are people replacing it with?

ic

I used this sonic underlay for my engineered floor. I used the tape they supply underneath to tape the overlaps, then used masking tape on top just to keep it all together whilst I fitted the floor. The underlay had a habit of rolling up and moving around - and I was working into alcoves and around a kitchen island.

You'll need extra laminate as you'll have off-cuts and possible miss-cuts, but can be leaner with the underlay, as you can use off-cuts and join them - nobody will ever see the joins under your floor.

All that said, I completed my room buying three extra packs of flooring, and had two left over (worth £130). Given the cost of shipping them back, I've kept them towards a future project in the next room.

usman330

Thanks for the replies.
Will tape it then as it seems that its just helps hold it all together better.

Is the vapour tape actually the best thing for it or can I just use strong tape like duct tape?

Kiran

Both will give you an air tight seal providing its applied properly so down to cost and quality of your chosen tape I'd imagine. You can buy cheap tuck tape and cheap cloth tape or spend a bit more and get some stuff that stays stuck.