How hard is it to lay laminate flooring? Honestly?

[ilikeyoursleeves]

I am considering laying laminate myself (or ourselves if I can trust DH with some DIY..) as I have just found out how much the labour costs are. It would cost us at least £500 for a professional to lay it as we need abourt 50m2.

Has anyone done it and if so is it do-able if you have no previous experience?

Tis easy. Get a leaflet from a diy place.

Really? What about the fiddly door bits and cutting it? Is the labour charge just the time it takes rather than the skill then?

It's really easy - just hire a bench saw (think that's what they are called - scary, circular jobs) and measure very carefully every time you need an offcut. Remember to stagger offcuts so the joins don't align and use a small piece of laminate as a buffer when you tap the newly-laid lengths into place (ie, don't use a hammer against the lengths you have laid, fit a small piece of laminate and tap that then move it to the next bit you want to tap). Doors aren't especially fiddly from what I remember.

Some are easier than others - we had some stuff from Topps Tiles that was a nightmare (something to do with "locking joints"). Wood / bamboo flooring that you use glue with is much easier IME.

It really is easy. Just make sure you get a jigsaw and a bench and you'll be fine.

Some vids on Youtube of people doing it, it is all about measuring carefully for your ends.

A chop saw helps a lot, (that's the bench thing with a circular saw that you pull down to chop through the laminate, ours also slides so you can cut through a wide plank)

We have just had laminate laid, we did about 38m2 when I say we it was the builder who did my garage conversion.

He also used a little cutting saw for going under the architrave, it was angled so that you can get it right down level on the floor. Imagine hair clippers (that small) but with a bent blade. That solves cutting round the architrave. We had skirting laid over the new laminate.

Good luck.

I think it depends very much on the state of the floor underneath (i.e. how flat it is) and how you intend to finish the edges (i.e. will you be fitting new skirting board on top of the laminate to conceal any rough edges or are you hoping to get a close enough fit to just run some silicon round?) It will also depend on whether you want any decorative finishes such as diagonally-laid planks or a boarder round the edge - in both of which cases I'd definitely recommend getting the experts in!

If you do decide to give it a go yourself buy the thickest and best underlay you can afford to prevent that awful 'springy' feeling you sometimes get with poorly laid laminate.

Good luck!

Leave a gap at the edges or apparently it can buckle.

DH and I did it throughout our last flat, twas easy. Get the click-lock stuff, ditto decent waterproof layer and underlay. Leave a gap round the outside and cover with the edging strips.

It's a very satisying job actually!

We used laminate from "Floors 2 Go" and it was a nightmare (not helped by DH being left handed). The lip to connect up the pieces was very fragile and if you got anything slightly out of alignment - easily done if you were sticking several lengths together - it was very difficult to adjust and often ended up with having to discard lengths.

We should have got someone to do it but we had been horrified by the quote. On the other hand my then DP reckoned that if we could survive the horrors of trying to fit the wretched stuff we could work through anything and promptly proposed

Don't forget the comedy value of being able to say "Underlay! Underlay!" in Speedy Gonzales' voice every time it's mentioned.

Get a good quality laminate it is easier to lay. We had Quik step which clicks into place, have had it down for 2 yrs with no issues.

quikstep do a download pdf