Homebase DIY Flooring > Reviews (7)

**Warning it's a long one!

With three messy children and one on the way our not so old carpet was looking a little worn out and well fed by our toddler John who like to feed everything but his mouth. When the over stopped doing it's job on John's ground in waffles it was time to find the perfect solution, no not evict the children, evict the carpet.

After browsing through some of the DIY stores online we found it 'laminate flooring'.

It met all the criteria for our needs on those of our children.

Cost:
Carpet: When pricing up carpet at today's prices for our room (13ft x 15ft) it would have cost around £130.

Laminate floor: Laminate floor cost us just under £120 including the laminate planks, wood adhesive, plank floor kit and the foam underlay. All these were found very easily at Homebase, the laminate planks were on special offer at the time and I beleive that the offer remains as it is so popular.

Wear and tear:
Carpet: Our original carpet lived a sad 16 months, it started to get bald from the wheels on our sofa and chair's, fray on the edges, fade where it was in view of sun light and food well it loved it and was a pain to clean.

Laminate floor: The packs of laminate floor that we brought are guaranteed for 10 years (you can get others that are guaranteed for less 5 years or more up to 25 years). It is very had wearing John loves to throw his toys around and we have yet to see any scratches or dents. As for food getting ground in, no problems just simply wipe.

Ease of laying:
Carpet: With carpet you have this large piece to deal with which can be awkward especially if your room is not square and you can get a lot a waste. For example if your room is 12ft 4ins x 14ft 2ins you would need to buy a 13ft x 15ft, so you have had to pay for the extra feet all because of a few inches.

Laminate floor: Laminate floor comes in packs, usually consisting of 8 planks that covers 2 square metres, which makes it easier to work with rather than one large piece. You get far less waste compared to carpet and any un-used can usually be returned to the shop where you got them for a full refund.

Comfort:
Carpet: I agree carpet is warm and not so hard on your bottom but over a period of time can lose it's feel, become thin an feel rough.

Laminate floor: It is a little hard on the bottom but not much more than carpet and for what it is does feel pretty warm but obviously not as much as carpet.

*Given all the factors above it was a winner with comfort being the slight draw back but easily remedied with a nice shaggy rug in the centre of the room. Ooolala!

What do you need to lay laminate floor:

You will need your packs of laminate flooring, which are you planks that come in various wood finishes (we choose beach finish as it is light and matches up with many decorating taste) most DIY stores have tables for you to calculate how many packs you would need. Our room in 13ft x 15ft, I worked out that we would need just over 8 packs but got 10 to be on the safe side.

You would need a bottle of plank adhesive, this is to glue down the tongue edges to the grooved edges of the joining plank.

Our bottle cost us £6.99 and we have well over half a bottle left, normal wood glue would also do the job.

You will need foam underlay these come in various size packs costing from £6 - £15. This is placed on the surface that you intend to lay your laminate floor and the planks are placed on top. It's purpose is to insulate for warmth and against noise.

Another item needed is a plank installation kit, this kit consist of a block for tapping your planks together with out damaging them, a jemmy for when you need to pull planks together and spacers as you need to leave a expansion gap because of the organic material used to make the planks are prone to expanding and shrinking depending on room temperature and atmosphere.

Tools needed:

A hammer that weighs at least 16oz to tap the laminate planks together combined with the block or to hit jemmy with to pull planks together.

A pencil to mark the blanks to be cut as you will in some cases need to cut when you get to the edges of the room.

A ruler, or something with a straight edge to mark a straight line on the pieces that will need cutting.

A tape measure, not really necessary but does come in handy when laying the last row of planks, if not an off cut of plank will do the same job.

A coping saw to cut the planks with, we found this type of saw easier to use rather than a tenon saw that tended to be a little harsh on our planks.

A workmate bench, this was an absolute must, it made cutting the planks so much easier than trying to hold the plank and saw at the same time. A normal table can be used with clamps instead as a cheap alternative if you don't have a workmate kicking about in the shed or can't borrow one from a friend.

Last but not least an old rag, this is to wipe any excess glue that accidentally get on to the surface of your planks.

How to lay laminate floor:

Before you proceed to lay your laminate floor you need to store your unopened packs of laminate floor in the room you intend to lay it for 48 hours, but keep away from heaters and radiators. This is to acclimatise the planks. (Times vary from different manufacturers)

Clear the room as much as you can allowing you enough room to work in. Give the floor a good sweep up so that it is clear of any lose bumps.

Check that the surface of the floor is level, it doesn't really matter if the floor slopes a little but if you have dips and bumps then you will need to fill in the dips and smooth down the bumps. If you live in a council property then you can ask them to level of the floor but it may take a while for them to get around to it.

You can if you desire remove the skirting boards and then put them back after you have finished or if you wish you can leave the skirting boards where they are and cover the expansion gaps with beading which is really cheap to buy from most DIY stores.

You may need to shorten doors if the laminate floor will raise the surface much more then your existing floor covering, laminate floor is usually 6mm thick.

Okie dokie, all the checks done, got your tools and you have prepared all the necessaries.

Now it time for the fun part or rather the curse and swear a lot part.

To start cover the floor with the foam underlay by laying it down in strips, over lap any edges of foam with at least 2cm.

Then start with your first plank tongue facing you and groove to the wall cut of the tongue that is on the end if it is to meet the wall. Place it down with the spacers in between the edges of the plank that meets the walls. Repeat the same with the next piece but this time slot the tongue end into the grooved end of the first plank (no glue is need for the first row. When you get to the last piece to fit in the first row you may need to saw a bit off the end. To do this lay the plank on top of the last bit you have just laid wood side up but put it the opposite way round so that the groove faces the grooved end of the last laid plank. Slide the lose bit to the edge of the wall but remember to put a spacer in between, then mark the plank where the last laid plank ends against the lose plank cut and then lay. You may need to pull it in a bit so that the joints are hidden, use the jemmy from your kit to place in between the wall and the last plank tap with hammer hitting away from the end until they are pulled together.

On with the second row, take the off cut from the last laid piece and glue the groove, lay it down net to the first row starting the same end that you did on the first row. Put a spacer where the end meets the wall and tap together using the block and hammer. Do the same with the next pieces for that row but this time you won't need any more spacers until you get to the last piece for the row. When you get to the last piece for this row do as you did on the first row to measure where to cut then lay and pull together with jemmy as in first row remembering to glue the grooved edges.

You will need to follow these steps until you get to the last row.

To lay the last row you may find that the width of the plank may need to be reduced. Take a plank that you will be using for this and lay it down on top of the last row, take an off cut and put it to the wall with spacer in between an over lap the excess width of the off cut on to the lose plank, you will find then how much needs to be taken off, mark the lose plank all the way down the length then cut. (you will not need to turn it around and will need to keep in the same direction as you intend to lay it, it's only the end that need turning not sides) Repeat these steps until the last piece. When you get to the last piece you may find that as well as the width you may need to take some off the end too. To do the first mark what needs to be taken off the width by following the previous steps then turn plank around so groove meets groove and marks of as told how to with row one or two.

Around door edges etc, combine the steps for the last row and first row using an off cut with plank on top off laid plank, no need to turn plank around as the right ends will meet.

Once you have laid the floor you can put your furniture back on to it, but avoid mopping the floor for the first few days, this allows time for the glue to seal all the joins.

I will warn you, it does take a long time to lay. If you have any small children that require a lot of attention it would be best to ask a family member or some one you trust to look after them as it would be almost impossible to get the job done. You probably won't feel much like cooking by the time you finish so prepare some snacks and if you have a flask rather then make a cuppa every half an hour make a flask up so that you have it handy and more time to get the job dome quicker.

When we laid our floor it took us till gone midnight and was eventful to say the least.

We started around 10am by removing the carpet only to find to our horror that the floor had tiles on, many were cracked had bits missing and in some cases were different heights. We had no choice but to remove theses tiles, luckily the floor was nice and smooth underneath the tiles. On the wall we had a storage heater that needed to be removed for use to remove the remaining tiles.

Must husband went and got his trusty screw driver and removed the bracket that was holding the heater to the wall. A few seconds later he read the heater instructions for removing from the wall, it said before removing this bracket remove the bricks from the heater. He just uttered those words to me when we heard the most loudest crash ever, yep the heater hit the deck and was knackard. We then had to phone the council to inform them, then wait for the electrician to call out. We had to tell him a little fib and said it fell off the wall or we may have been charged for a new heater. The wall was in such a state and the bracket was not secured into the beams of the hollow wall that he believed us.

To cut a long story short it was past midnight has we had so many events to over come, the heater, the carpet, the tiles and ditching the tiles in our bin.

It was well worth the hassle.

It is very hard wearing against knocks, bangs, cigarette burns and stilettos. It is so easy to clean just a quick mop or wipe with a damp cloth. It looks very modern and fits in well with any colour scheme or decor. The ideal flooring when you have children who like to make a mess. My hoover has been made semi redundant now.

When you cost it up compared to carpet it does save you money and last far longer.

Apparently you can lay the floor and re-lay it up to three times but whether this is true and easy to do I have yet to find out. I guess that is why the first row is laid with no gluing.

I believe that there is a new type of laminate flooring on the market where it doesn't require plank adhesive where it just locks into place and would imagine that it may cost a little more.