I trained as a singer and actor, and currently teach singing as a specialist teacher at primary scho...
I trained as a singer and actor, and currently teach singing as a specialist teacher at primary school level, as well as for Stagecoach Theatre Arts. I'm also doing up a flat that I bought with my Fiancee in March and pontificating at my leisure...
Member since:17.02.2003
Reviews:35
Members who trust:11
---------- Update ----------
Well the floor has been down for some time now and I am very pleased with it. It's very easy to clean, even paint spills come off easily as long as you dont get stuff in the interlock.
It seems to be wearing well, and it looks pretty good!!
--------------------------------------------------------------- I bought a flat recently with my finaceé and am presently in the process of turning it into a mini palace.
Having done the ceiling, the coving, the rubbing down, the ripping up, the filling in, the knocking down of walls and building of new ones (with a little help from future pa-in-law) it was time to approach the floor.
Now, we had intended to go for laminate, and we discovered that B&Q had a new product, "Floormaster Loc laminate flooring" which was REALLY CHEAP. Only £11.99 per pack. Darn good value when everything else was in the £20-£30 league. We got underlay and 8 boxes of the stuff and took it home.
There was still lots to do, so the laminate sat there acclimatising and being flat until it became time for laying.
------------------- The process -------------------
Floormaster Loc Laminate is a glueless floating laminate floor. This means that it slots together with a minimum of effort. Apparently.
Now we had already decided on new skirting board and removed the old stuff from the walls so all we had to do was the laying
- wall to wall.
An expansion gap of 5-10mm is required around the edge of the laminate. I made it closer to the 5ml mark as I was laying the boards on one of the hottest days of the summer. The expansion gap would be covered by the new skirting board and all would be lovely.
I used fibreboard underlay which was easy to lay, although it doesn't cut brilliantly without leaving lots of green dust everywhere.
Then it came to the laminate. The first row was easy. Put down the spacers and lay the planks end to end. Each plank is joined onto the end of the plank before at an angle of about 45 degrees (it says 30 degrees ha ha ha). Then onto the workmate to chop the last plank in half, remembering to turn it wrong way round to mark the cutting point :-).
The next and subsequent rows became trickier. you join the first plank of the row tot the exisiting planks and lay it down. Then you join the second plank to the end of the fist plank and then lift the two planks in the other direction to slot the second plank in to the planks which have already been laid (still with me?). At this point the first plank which you have just linked to and are now lifting up, tries to detach itself.
This continues as you go down the row, neccessitating lots of running up and down like a demented frog, trying to keep all the boards locked in until the row is complete. Then a bit of pushing and knocking and you have a new row down.
-------------- Problems --------------
Quality --------- The first problem, and indeed main problem, is that of quality control. Out of 8 boxes of planks, I have had to return half of them. Yes 50%. Many planks are not finished properly with white spotting in the veneer. Others are not cut properly with lots of chips down the edge. Others had broken interlocking tongues.
B&Q were very good about exchanging them, but I had to make far too many visits. On the first visit I returned a single box. On the next visit I returned two more boxes. Out of these boxes there were enough duff planks to make up yet another box. Which was swapped.
In fact, people had clearly been opening packs in the store on my last visit and taking good planks to make up a whole pack of quality floor.
Doorways --------------
The second problem is that the planks must be lifted quite high to get them to interlock, and they are quite easy to damage. When I got to the doorway, this presented a problem. The plank must slide under the door frame. It can only slide at an angle of about 30 degrees minimum - which doesn't fit under the frame.
My teeth were gnashed furiously.
In the end the solution was to lay the plank flat and then get a piece of wood the width of the plank and tap it underneath using a hammer. I tried with a piece of wood somewhat short the first time and ended up bashing off the top of the laminate. I swore a bit and cut a new piece.
My father in law had even more difficulty with his living room as he has a stone fireplace with a lip. It proved impossible to lay this flooring under the lip effectively, and in the end improvisation with oak beading was needed.
Bits ------
A third problem was with the interlocking stuff breaking, or bits being stuck in the grooves. The boards do not knit together if anything bigger than a microbe has got in the grooves.
----------- Cutting -----------
This was relatively easy until I got to the end strip. Cutting the length of a plank takes an extremely long time. I bought a saw to do the floor with and it took forever to get through a plank. I have to concede that by the end of the floor, the saw was pretty blunt though. Also, I slipped at the end and wrecked the entire plank. I plan to buy a jigsaw today to finish the job as I cannot face any more sawing! You need a really good saw as the flooring will soon blunt a standard one.
The Jigsaw was effective but did make the edge of the laminate chip a lot more.
------------------ Accessories ------------------
The next problem I had was accessories. Despite the huge amount of the stuff B&Q has, it was very hard to find joining strips. We chose the Beech colour, and while there was a wide variety of wooden strips, there were very few beech. There were only laminate to laminate strips or laminate to tile strips too. No laminate to carpet unless we wanted metal strips (not in Beech anyway)
A solution was found by using a wooden baton carpet gripper and putting a laminate to laminate joining strip over the top.
-------------- Summary --------------
It certainly looks effective once laid, and despite the difficulties, I am pleased with it. There is no excuse for the extreme poor quality however.
As long as you don't mind lots of trips to B&Q and don't have a room with lots of pipes and awkward places to lay floor, this stuff is OK. just remember to try not to swear too loud when you destroy a plank with a teensy tiny mistake.
Oh and check the plank quality before you cut them, and not after, to save your blushes at B&Q :-)
----------- Nutshell -----------
Floormaster Loc Laminate Flooring is available from B&Q warehouse (www.diy.co.uk). It is available in pine, beach, maple and possibly a few other colours. It's £11.99 for about 2.5 square yards. (8 planks)
You need to buy underlay and rip out the skirtingboards or buy natty little filing things that look frankly a bit crap.
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My husband and so laid B & Q flooring in my fathers kitchen, hall, conservatory and my mother's downstairs bedroom. They complained bitterly about ahow much hard work it was. I thought they were just looking for sympathy - now I know why. The effect does look really good though. Maureen
niplig68 13.08.2004 15:36
My husband fitted the same b&q flooring into our hallway yesterday and im glad to say we didnt have the poor quality you had so it looks like b&q may have taken note and improved the quality of their laminate flooring.Liz
motherjoanb 04.07.2004 03:18
A great review, I still can't decide between this type of flooring or carpeting. Joan
Advantages: easy to clean, looks good, can be cheaper than carpeting, great if you have children or pets running in and out Disadvantages: difficult to put together
ginger59 14.03.2004 ·
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of B&Q Flooring
Advantages: easy to wipe clean, better for asthmatic children and more hygienic than carpet Disadvantages: shows dirt quicker than carpet and can be noisier
di-buzz 04.10.2001 ·
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of B&Q Flooring
Jun 11th, 2003
(Feb 5th, 2004)
exceptional by (3%):
very helpful by (92%):
helpful by (5%):
