I'm sure laminate flooring has been covered before but..

tizzle6560

If anyone has got any recent recommendations for decent suppliers and/or underlay suggestions, that would be grand.

Looking at doing 2 medium sized rooms - 1 bedroom and 1 study. The study has a rather heavy office chair on roller wheels so I'm trying to bear that in mind for durability/ potential damage..

Cheers in advance!

rob7475

I've used both flooringsupplies.co.uk and wood2u.co.uk when buying quickstep flooring. Quickstep is really easy to lay and very durable. Laminate is just mdf with a picture on top but the better brands have a stronger top layer and superior click systems. Quicksteps is by far the best I've found. Bot suppliers above offer free underlay which should be fine for most circumstances. Of the two suppliers I've recommended, both delivered within a couple of days with no issues. I just tend to choose whichever is offering the best prices for the floor I want.

ST1991

We just bought some from b&q on sale (£10 per pack, covering 2.5m) so very cheap. Also got the 6mm fibre-board underlay they sell (Diall, i think?)

We have concrete floors, a little uneven but it has done a wonderful job. Did it ourselves, it is click-together, so simple but a bit fiddly. The underlay was very easy to lay and cut to shape.

It took a few hours to lay... but it was better than paying someone as we have the satisfaction of looking at it thinking 'i did that!'.

Anyway, cheap flooring but surprisingly hardy with the thick underlay
We have 2 large sofas, tv bench, coffee table, armchair on it all fine.

TheCyclingProgrammer

How much per m2 do you want to spend? Get the best you can buy - I highly recommend QuickStep - we have it throughout downstairs and it can start from around £15/m for their basic line. I recommend the type we have, which is the Impressive (we have Soft Oak Natural downstairs and Soft Oak Beige in the nursery upstairs), which can be found around £22/m (look at flooringsupplies.co.uk).

We had ours supplied by an independent fitter who was a QuickStep master installer - price per m was competitive albeit not as cheap as online, but he was able to fully guarantee the install for 2 years. He used the QuickStep vapour barrier and wood fibre board underlay downstairs (suspended timber floor) and his own preferred foil underlay upstairs (not QuickStep's own).

QuickStep recommend you use their underlays though our fitter said as long as you use a good quality equivalent it shouldn't have any affect on the guarantee.

tizzle6560

TheCyclingProgrammer wrote: »

How much per m2 do you want to spend? Get the best you can buy - I highly recommend QuickStep - we have it throughout downstairs and it can start from around £15/m for their basic line. I recommend the type we have, which is the Impressive (we have Soft Oak Natural downstairs and Soft Oak Beige in the nursery upstairs), which can be found around £22/m (look at flooringsupplies.co.uk).

We had ours supplied by an independent fitter who was a QuickStep master installer - price per m was competitive albeit not as cheap as online, but he was able to fully guarantee the install for 2 years. He used the QuickStep vapour barrier and wood fibre board underlay downstairs (suspended timber floor) and his own preferred foil underlay upstairs (not QuickStep's own).

QuickStep recommend you use their underlays though our fitter said as long as you use a good quality equivalent it shouldn't have any affect on the guarantee.

The room itself is not huge - 6m squared and has a concrete floor underfoot, and unsure of how level it is, as currently have carpet there. If Quickstep + decent underlay would work well on concrete floor, then I think thats the route I'll go down.

You mention vapour barrier and wood fibre board underlay for timber floors - any suggestions for concrete floor?

Thanks

Tothepoint.

tizzle6560 wrote: »

The room itself is not huge - 6m squared and has a concrete floor underfoot, and unsure of how level it is, as currently have carpet there. If Quickstep + decent underlay would work well on concrete floor, then I think thats the route I'll go down.

You mention vapour barrier and wood fibre board underlay for timber floors - any suggestions for concrete floor?

Thanks

A large polythene sheet.

missile

We installed Quick Step perspective 4 and have been very pleased with it. After 9 years it looked as good as new. Unfortunately we chose ( .... ) another manufacturer's fibre board underlay to save cost. This did not last and after a few years the floor started to creak.

We have just replaced the flooring:
White varnished oak, planks
LPU1283.
This time we have chosen Quickstep underlay.

We negotiated a significant discount from BSP Timber.

The floor looks so much better if you remove the skirting boards to fit.

I use a floor protector from Ikea to protect the floor under my office chair.

tizzle6560

missile wrote: »

We installed Quick Step perspective 4 and have been very pleased with it. After 9 years it looked as good as new. Unfortunately we chose ( .... ) another manufacturer's fibre board underlay to save cost. This did not last and after a few years the floor started to creak.

We have just replaced the flooring:
White varnished oak, planks
LPU1283.
This time we have chosen Quickstep underlay.

We negotiated a significant discount from BSP Timber.

The floor looks so much better if you remove the skirting boards to fit.

I use a floor protector from Ikea to protect the floor under my office chair.

Thanks for the adivce! The floor protector whilst not the prettiest(
!) looks like a good ideas for the office chair.

Now to choose the right colour.

missile

May I suggest you also consider the board dimensions.

Quickstep is now available in wider / longer boards. IMHO the Largo range looks much nicer when laid, particularly so in a larger room.

tizzle6560

missile wrote: »

May I suggest you also consider the board dimensions.

Quickstep is now available in wider / longer boards. IMHO the Largo range looks much nicer when laid, particularly so in a larger room.

Thanks for the tip - the room in question is small double bedroom (now an office) with big desk, futon and storage cupboards so actually not that much floor on show.

getmore4less

people we know in the trade(old building restorations) rate quickstep and have used it in their own homes.

Have you considered LVT?

For the chair you could make a base out of the same flooring and edged a anti slip/protector base glued to finish it off.