Laminate — Continuous vs Door Bars

paperclap

Hi all,

We’ll soon be laying our new laminate flooring.

We’ll be laying the new laminate in both bedrooms, hallway and living room.

Given that we’re doing multiple connected rooms, we really like the idea of having continuous laminate throughout (without door bars). I think door bars just look ugly.

However, is this something that can be done? Does it pose issues with expansion and contraction? Some rooms will be warmer in the morning for example, while others colder. I’ve no doubt these walls are not perfectly true (1955 bungalow).

But, where to start?

1 - In our living room, we’ve a wood burner with surrounding tiles. This is one option.

2 - It would be good to have a plank (or the join of two planks) centred in the hallway, and not offset. Another option.

The longest single run of laminate would be between the hallway and edge of the bottom bedroom. Around 7.7m.

I’ve attached our floor plan to give an indication of the size of rooms. The planks will run parallel to the hallway. The floor plan doesn’t show it, but the hallway is 1m by 5m.

What do you think?

Thanks!

Doozergirl

I would use door bars, primarily to allow expansion and contraction.  

Additionally, if your house is at all wonky (which is very common) and you're trying to lay it all in one piece, you might end up with a slightly wonky room or awkward cuts.  

neilmcl

It's quite a big area for it to be totally continuous, although it does look better, especially if you got open plan areas. I had my lounge, dining room and hallway in one continuous run of engineered wood and it looks great but it was done professionally, definitely not something I'd try myself, especially in an older property where walls and floors are not always straight.

If you're getting someone to do it then I'd go for a single run in the hallway and bedrooms only, then another single run in the lounge/diner and conservatory. I'd put LVT in the kitchen and bathroom.

grumbler

I always prefer continuous if possible. And, when doing this, undercutting the door frames is the only correct way.

IMO, possible expansion is overestimated for indoors, where temperature and humidity variations are small. And if you flood it, you'll have to replace it anyway.

paperclap

Thanks for your input everyone.

neilmcl said:

It's quite a big area for it to be totally continuous, although it does look better, especially if you got open plan areas. I had my lounge, dining room and hallway in one continuous run of engineered wood and it looks great but it was done professionally, definitely not something I'd try myself, especially in an older property where walls and floors are not always straight.

If you're getting someone to do it then I'd go for a single run in the hallway and bedrooms only, then another single run in the lounge/diner and conservatory. I'd put LVT in the kitchen and bathroom.

You touched on laminate in the conservatory. Is this okay to do? We've currently got vinyl tiles in there at the moment. Had thought about laminate in there too, but wasn't sure if it was okay, due to extreme variations in temperature (really cold in winter and really hot in summer). If it could be done, despite there being a drop in floor height (conservatory drops down), it would certainly complete the living room and conservatory look.

grumbler said:

I always prefer continuous if possible. And, when doing this, undercutting the door frames is the only correct way.

IMO, possible expansion is overestimated for indoors, where temperature and humidity variations are small. And if you flood it, you'll have to replace it anyway.

I've not any experience in laying laminate, but I kind of feel this way, too. We've got old laminate down at the moment (in all the same rooms we're replacing), with the 10mm expansion gap under some ugly beading, and have never experienced (from what we've seen) any movement in the flooring.