Home DIY project

mickman

Hi guys

I want to take up tiles in hallway and two rooms, level the floor and then lay laminate timber flooring

I want to do this myself

Firstly , is it achievable to do myself ?

Secondly is there any kind of training you would recommend online / work shop that would help me ? I'm in no rush to do this and want to do it right

I have only done basic DIY up until now

Tokyo

mickman wrote: »

Hi guys

I want to take up tiles in hallway and two rooms, level the floor and then lay laminate timber flooring

I want to do this myself

Firstly , is it achievable to do myself ?

Absolutely. Pulling up tiles can be a pain in the arse, but it's certainly within the skillset of the average DIY-er.

Secondly is there any kind of training you would recommend online / work shop that would help me ? I'm in no rush to do this and want to do it right

I have only done basic DIY up until now

Pulling up the tiles is straightforward, pair of goggles, a hammer and bolster is all you really need. If you have skirting boards down and overlapping the tiles, remove them first. The time consuming part will be scraping back all the old tile adhesive to get a level surface again to work with.

Laying laminate is straightforward - depending on the type, it wither clicks together, or you glue the joint and tap it together. The only real tricky part is cutting the boards to fit around tricky corners and such. Wherever you buy your flooring will advise you on the underlay you'll need, and the only real thing to be aware of is that you need to leave a gap between the floor and the wall to allow the floor to expand and contract without buckling, but not so wide that the new skirting board doesn't hide the gap.

Honestly, youtube is your friend here - there are countless instructional videos on how to lay the stuff, quite a few professional videos by DIY stores too...

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=laying+laminate+flooring&oq=laying+laminate+flooring&gs_l=youtube.3..0l10.33.3519.0.3830.23.9.0.9.9.2.302.1333.3j4j1j1.9.0...0.0...1ac.1.11.youtube.HW1XtmzGobk

Tokyo

Here's a nice video on the prep work you should do before you start cutting boards...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jvAV5TanIM

mickman

Thanks guys

I'm a little nervous to be honest. The floors underneath are not level and there was no levelling compound used on them , hence the problem with the porcelain tiles

If I take up the tiles , will I have to use levelling compound first or will laminate floors go down ok ?

I have a built in press under the stairs abd the tiles go under this so how would I tackle this tile ?

I'd love an area to practise on first

Tokyo

mickman wrote: »

Thanks guys

I'm a little nervous to be honest. The floors underneath are not level and there was no levelling compound used on them , hence the problem with the porcelain tiles

If I take up the tiles , will I have to use levelling compound first or will laminate floors go down ok ?

It really depends on how rough the floor underneath is that you'll be working with. If your tiles don't sit flat then it's a sign that you might need to run some self levelling compound over the floor before you install laminate. Easiest way to check is, once you have the tiles up and adhesive removed, run a straight edge across it. You'll soon see the dips and hollows in the floor. The underlay will absorb a certain amount, but not much. The flooring supplier should be able to give you some decent advice regarding the tolerances, and what levelling compound to use.

I have a built in press under the stairs abd the tiles go under this so how would I tackle this tile ?

I'd just run a small angle grinder with suitable ceramic blade along the edge of the press and lift the tiles up as far as the cut, then take the laminate flooring up to it. A photo would be helpful to give you a bit more advice on this one.

mickman

Thanks again

Does anything exist for tile like wooden floor beading? Something to cover gaps between skirting board and tile

Tokyo

mickman wrote: »

Thanks again

Does anything exist for tile like wooden floor beading? Something to cover gaps between skirting board and tile

Usually you'd just tile up to the wall and put down skirting board - tiles don't need an expansion gap like floating wooden floors do, so I'm not sure why yours would have a gap - it should be either tiled to the wall or grouted. But there's nothing to stop you running a piece of beading along the base of the skirting board to cover any unsightly gaps I guess...

mickman

mike_ie wrote: »

Usually you'd just tile up to the wall and put down skirting board - tiles don't need an expansion gap like floating wooden floors do, so I'm not sure why yours would have a gap - it should be either tiled to the wall or grouted. But there's nothing to stop you running a piece of beading along the base of the skirting board to cover any unsightly gaps I guess...

Cos it was put down by a cowboy

There are large gaps between the porcelain tiles and the skirting boards and tiles are all uneven at the wall

Lots of spiders come through these large gaps :-) . In some places they are half an inch

Tokyo

A length of beading along the base of the skirting board then, on a bead of sealant to stop bugs going under any gaps that remain, will do the job. Paint it to match the skirting and you won't even know that it's there.

mickman

Any particular beading ? Not sure how it will look with tiles

Tokyo

Ordinary sealant will do just fine. You're not going to see it either way, unless there are waves and troughs in the tiles like the ocean. Put a light bead of sealant on the beading edge that will be pressed down onto the tiles - this will take up any small gaps, such as in the grout lines between tiles, or where tiles at slightly different levels meet. It's not even a necessary step, but you are concerned about insects, so....

mickman

mike_ie wrote: »

Ordinary sealant will do just fine. You're not going to see it either way, unless there are waves and troughs in the tiles like the ocean. Put a light bead of sealant on the beading edge that will be pressed down onto the tiles - this will take up any small gaps, such as in the grout lines between tiles, or where tiles at slightly different levels meet. It's not even a necessary step, but you are concerned about insects, so....

I'm not that concerned , it's just the big gaps I want to cover so the beading will suffice

Would you only use it on the wall where the gaps are or would it look better on all the walls ?

Can you get a nice small beading that's not very noticeable ? And lastly how does it stick to floor / wall ?

Sorry for being a pain , thanks for your help

Tokyo

mickman wrote: »

I'm not that concerned , it's just the big gaps I want to cover so the beading will suffice

Would you only use it on the wall where the gaps are or would it look better on all the walls ?

Can you get a nice small beading that's not very noticeable ? And lastly how does it stick to floor / wall ?

Sorry for being a pain , thanks for your help

No worries, glad to help.

Now you're talking aesthetics, so it's really up to what you think would look good. However, if it were me, I'd run beading along all the skirting in the room, to make everything look even all the way round. You can get beading in any size you want really - 10mm or so bullnose or something similar with a chamfered edge wouldn't even be noticeable, it's cheap, and it's the usual approach with laminate floor, rather than ripping out all the old skirting board.

Google "laminate floor beading" and click on "images" to get an idea of what it looks like.

mickman

Ok thanks

Will give it a go