Laying wood flooring yourself

[Boo81]

Hi, has anyone laid real wood flooring themselves and how difficult was it? I've picked this one from Homebase www.homebase.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=20001&partNumber=339081&c_2=2%7Ccat_16849237%7CReal+wood+flooring%7C14259290&c_1=1%7Ccategory_root%7CFlooring+and+Tiling%7C16849237
but was wondering if it is really as easy to fit as they suggest?!

Thanks!

we had a man in. how level are your floors? can you cut the fiddly bits round the doors? it took 2-3 people to lay 4 rooms in our house just over a week - and they are very experienced. even then they had to rip 2 areas up because the glue didn't fix properly. masses of dust everywhere - though know thats not answering your question

Thanks dreamingofsun. Do you mind me asking how much they charged to lay? We are only doing one room which is why I was hoping we would be able to do it ourselves. But am worried about things like corners, like you, say which are very tricky.

1,600. ask away - thats one of the great things about MN. we are absolutely useless at DIY and don't have time, so it wasn't really a choice for us. However, unless you know what you are doing i think it could be a false economy to DIY as the woods not cheap. YOu need to leave tiny gaps between planks to allow for expansion, and lay correct way depending on light; and things round raidiator pipes to finish it nicely. my odd job man - who's really good - did his and it expanded and pushed up off floor

We did ours.

Easy peesy lemon squeezy.

I tried to do mine - the underfloor was brand new and completely even - but gave up after a few hours. The wood we chose was extremely hard so driving the nails in was knackering. I thought the nail gun they use to do it would be an electric one but it wasn't, it's one you have to thump with a mallet. It was killing. We got a company to do it in the end - #13 per sq m.

Thanks dreamingofsun and lalalonglegs - would you recommend the people you used? Are they in london by any chance?

Yes, I would and I am in London. It was three years ago though - I will see if I still have the number somewhere and PM you. They were Lithuanian and may have gone back since the downturn.

How good are you at general DIY? My husband did our floors and found it relatively straightforward.

i would def recommend but not in london and doubt they would go that far for 1 room.

driving nails in???? ours was stuck down with massive pots of glue. does it not spoil the effect with loads of nails?

if you know any good carpenters they could prob do it - one of our quotes was from carpenter

No, the nails are hidden because they are in the grooves which the next piece slots into.

lolalong - you can see why we got someone else to do ours! we are clueless. yours is different to ours

Get your flooring a week before the work is going to be done and keep it at room temprature to allow the wood to expand to its finished size, do not bring the wood from a cold temperature and then install right away as it could lift a short time later due to expansion . As to fitting, it all depends on how level and square the room is and also how many awkward corners need to be cut, radiator pipes etc. A good electric chop saw is very useful as would be a power drill incase the wood needs predrilled prior to nailing so its one of those "How long is a piece of string" problems really though certainly not impossible by a good DIY person.