Installing a floor myself!

[aweirdtopic]

We can't afford to re do the kitchen in our new house straight away. Currently it has hideous Mexican tiles which are cold and ugly. I thought I could temporary install some cheap but easy to clean and warmer laminate/lino floor?! Is that what it's called? I have done a bit of research and I am aware I will probably have to fill in the cracks and smooth out between the tiles... that's all I really know.. I'm a diy novice!

Is it hard to install yourself? It will only be for a couple of years max so I don't want to spend much. Would really appreciate any tips.

Thanks!

Look at some self levelling compound, might make crack filling easier.

you tube is your friend or pinterest
wicks do some advice on line too
in fact do a google!
(I love a good google!! )

Really easy

@notagainmummy have you installed it? If it's a big piece of material how do you find space to cut it out properly? In the garden?!

@notdaddycool thanks will check it out

@mumwon definitely have done some Googling! I just get a bit confused about what type of floor to use!?

I just put down some grey laminate flooring in the study. I cut the pieces outside, but you don’t need to cut that many. You can get these quite cheaply so it was only around £50 to do a small study. Large vinyl is actually harder to put down in a small space if you can’t move everything.

Yep, Laminate is much easier than vinyl, use decent underlay and you might get away with simply covering the tiles with it.
You can also get stick down vinyl tiles but ideally you need a flat and level floor so by the time you’ve put down sheets of hardboard it will double the work.

Have you just moved in? When we moved into our fixer upper we did the kitchen right away but couldn’t afford the awful bathrooms and I kept meaning to at least paint temporarily but two years in, it doesn’t bother me as much as I’m just waiting to have them done instead.

We did do our own laminate floor and it was hard work but saved a lot of money. We have vinyl in the kitchen but vinyl planks rather than one big piece. It was installed and there was self leveling compound in first. Our kitchen is on two levels so it was the best option to not need to build half the floor up.

If you're using vinyl planks you must use self levelling compound first. You use an underlay so you can't bond the planks to the floor.
We didn't use slc and have had the floor up twice since last August. Nightmare.
I'd advise laminate as you can bond it to the ground so less bother if your floor is wonky.
Ours is so bloody unlevel. Numerous sacks of slc used.

Easy, as long as the floor is perfectly level. If it's not you'll have problems very quickly (speaking from experience!)

Lino would be more forgiving or lino tiles.

Or a nice big rug!

We've just put down vinyl planks in bathroom, we had ceramic cold tiles. I filled in the grout to make the tiles level, didnt apply any under lay and theyve stuck down a treat, and easy to cut with scissors. Is your kitchen floor level?.

@QuentininQuarantino I would love to just do the kitchen but the whole back of the house needs the wrap around side return doing and then we would do the kitchen. No point doing it now until we can afford to that in a year or so

@Andthenanothercupoftea it's not level. The tiles are Mexican tiles so uneven themselves and then obviously where the grouting is... not sure it will be too tricky.

These are the tiles. How do I cover them? Fill in grout, then laminate? I need it to be cheap and cheerful as it will only be for a year or two. Hopefully not much longer.
I can't stand these tiles as they are feeding, look so ugly and are extremely hard for DC if they fall...

^^ that was meant to say freezing not feeling!

God they are ugly

You need to fill in the grout to make the tile flush, i used ready made poly filler because i already had a tub in! - lightly sand it when its set so you have a smooth surface. If you are using laminate then youll put down underlay, then lay the laminate. How level is the floor, slightly uneven will be okay but not big dips because the laminate wont lay flat.

@Ilikewinter how long does it take to fill in the grout in a fairly large kitchen... worried it will take me a week!

Not that long i wouldn't have thought, i did a fairly small bathroom in about 30 mins, left couple of hours to dry then a light sand.

We used polyflor vinyl tiles (LVT) which are plank shaped with a click system. Were really easy to lay and cut and no need to glue down so would be easy to take up again. They are quite thick so don’t need underlay.

Is lifting the tiles an option? Or else you might get away with going straight over with click fit planks and thick ish underlay.

Get a spirit level and lay it across the floor at various points. If it’s not level, lift one end until it is, and measure the gap at the other end (of that makes sense - if not, check you tube). As long as the gap is less than a few mm (exactly how many mm depends on the manufacturer of your laminate), it’ll probably be ok.

Tbh, if it’s only going down for a couple of years, it doesn’t really matter. You might have places it is a bit bouncey, but who cares?

I laid engineered wood in a massive and very wonky space and it was relatively easy (we did level the floor, though, as it wasn’t going to be a temp job!).

Don’t forget your expansion gaps and factor in the cost of beads / scotia to hide the joins (I wouldn’t bother taking off the skirting if it’s going to be redone soon).

Good luck!

Iv just layed laminate over kitchen floor tiles, it was really easy and I only used the thin membrane.
If you use lino you'll need a bag of self levelling compound.
Ask for advice in B&Q or YouTube it.
To lay lino, lay it out and start cutting but leave it bigger an inch all round, when it's down, peal it back and use spray adhesive, when you've stuck it down and the adhesive is dry trim the edges

We used these

www.oakleighflooring.co.uk/polyflor-camaro-loc-pur-1115-c.asp

You don’t need to fill in the grout - laminate can be laid across floorboards, and you don’t need to fill the gaps between them. The most important thing is that the floor is roughly level. Forget self leveller - it’s a faff to use without blocking all escape routes and costs a fortune.