How hard is it to lay laminate flooring?

[Monkeymummy1]

As I've posted before, we've recently bought a house that needs work. The bathroom refit is way down our list of priorities, but the seperate toilet has carpet, and for the zillionth time yesterday, DD didn't sit properly on the toilet and managed to get wee all over the floor. So I really want to replace this carpet with something cheap and easier to clean (eventually we'll knock through into the bathroom). DH recons it's a tiny area, we can put down laminate ourselves. Should we be calling in the professionals or is this do-able for a couple of completely clueless inexperienced DYI-ers? And is laminate to best solution as a temporary measure? It would probably need to last a couple of years before we get round to refitting the bathroom properly.

It's really really easy to fit, the pieces just slot together. In a toilet I'd be a bit concerned that any accidents on the floor might soak in, especially in the joins between "planks", but if it's cleaned up quickly it should be ok, especially if it's only a short term thing until you do the whole bathroom. And it won't cost much either so not the end if the world if it gets ruined.

absolutely piss easy (not a pun!)

If you have a builder's providers nearby, and take careful measurements, you may be able to get them to cut any fiddly pieces to your exact specifications for a few quid (that's the worst part of the job in my experience). Measure the floor and round the bowl of the loo carefully, and perhaps make a paper template and bring it with you.

I put down laminate about 10 years ago in my sitting room and hall - the only issues I have is where I nicked it myself with a stiletto heel!

If you are laying directly onto concrete, it might be an idea to double up on the underlay (which is v cheap - but for insulation get the one that is foil on one side). This will keep the floor a bit warmer for little feet.

Have you thought about vinyl floor covering. You can get cut offs from places like Carpetright. Its easier to cut and should last a couple of years.

Laminate flooring is not an easy option in a small toilet, and not worth bothering for a short time. Because you need a gap round the edges for expansion it would ideally have to go underneath the actually lavatory. A piece of vinyl would be much simpler and will last for years.

same as Bruins laminate is not a good option for a quick and easy temporary flood in small loo room.
I would go for vinyl - you may even find a really cheap end of roll. That is easy to fit yourself, or you might get a fitter to do it for a small fee.

temp floor not flood
(freudian slip?)

We have plenty of floods! I thought it was only boys that had this issue! Thanks for the tips on the vinyl. It's such a small space that we might get away with some kind of off cut. I think we'll give it a go fitting it (I so want to be less useless at this kind of thing!). If it's a disaster, we can call in the professionals!

I agree with those others who said that laminate is not a good choice for a small toilet. Vinyl would be much more particle, or even a tiled floor.

If you do laminate you will need to take off all the skirting boards, raise the toilet pan so the laminate slips underneath (which may not be an easy job) then lay the underlay, lay the laminate, remix the skirting board and seal around the toilet pan.
You could do it without removing the skirting board but it will lok messy when you use the angled strips around the edge of a small room and will be difficult to keep clean in a bathroom.

Wood effect vinyl is a much cheaper and better solution

argh! PRACTICAL. Not particle. This tablet has a mind if it's own

Argh. It put that apostrophe into the last post too. I hate the thing!

Vinyl tiles are easy to lay and buy in small quantities. And if you feck up the cutting on one, it's not the end of the world. You may well want to shuffle the loo to go under it, but it's not particularly difficult to do.