Laminate Floors

mileycactus

Looking to put down laminate floor in living room & hallway & found one we liked in woodies. We also had shopped around a bit & someone had mentioned what ever we do stay away from B&Q laminate!.

The floor we liked was Atlantic Wallnut in woodies.. 10mm laminate HDF..

I'm no expert so looking for opinions on what to avoid / look out for?

Cheers

ART6

mileycactus wrote: »

Looking to put down laminate floor in living room & hallway & found one we liked in woodies. We also had shopped around a bit & someone had mentioned what ever we do stay away from B&Q laminate!.

The floor we liked was Atlantic Wallnut in woodies.. 10mm laminate HDF..

I'm no expert so looking for opinions on what to avoid / look out for?

Cheers

Her indoors demanded laminate flooring in our hall and dining room some years ago to replace the perfectly good carpets that had stood the test of time. The first and immediate problem was that the laminate was damned cold to walk barefoot on, and was very slippery -- our dog was unable to walk for more than six feet without all four legs going in different directions. The solution to that was to lay rugs along the hall, which seemed to me to defeat the object of the laminate in the first pace!

The largest problem, however, is that when it gets dirty it cannot be simply mopped. If water gets between the panels of laminate they absorb it and swell up around the edges to a point that is beyond repair. That meant that we had to cover it with mats and rugs inside the front door, otherwise anyone entering with wet shoes could damage the laminate.

It is quite durable otherwise, but if any part of it needs replacing then getting it up is a devil of a job because it is glued down. It is not just a case of pulling it up and laying down a complete new area as one would do with a carpet.

Personally, the product is to me one of the worst ever inflicted upon the public, and if I had my way (I don't!) it would have gone into the bin years ago. Sorry to sound negative, but that's my opinion based upon experience!

cheif kaiser

Totally disagree with above poster. I only recently had a living room and hall done and no problems with it whatsoever, don't find it at all slippery and neither does the dog I think it depends on the laminate and mine is actually very similar to the one you chose, 10mm with a bevel and the bevel in my opinion makes the floor. It can also be mopped, just ring the mop out really well and use a laminate floor cleaner. My last laminate floor lasted years so hopefully this one will too.

Staplor

cheif kaiser wrote: »

Totally disagree with above poster. I only recently had a living room and hall done and no problems with it whatsoever, don't find it at all slippery and neither does the dog I think it depends on the laminate and mine is actually very similar to the one you chose, 10mm with a bevel and the bevel in my opinion makes the floor. It can also be mopped, just ring the mop out really well and use a laminate floor cleaner. My last laminate floor lasted years so hopefully this one will too.

Agree with all of this, I've a b and q laminate down over 5 years, still looks like new, always get compliments on it. My bro even attempted to copy but got a really cheap one, he then changed that floor for one the same as mine.

woodturner

I'd avoid laminate flooring in an area that sees heavy traffic such as the hall.

emo72

the balterio stuff is top notch. very resilient and it looks like genuine timber flooring, if you get the stuff with tongue and groove all round and also the stuff with the texture showing.

slimjimmc

woodturner wrote: »

I'd avoid laminate flooring in an area that sees heavy traffic such as the hall.

It's widely used in large stores such as Woodies and Heatons without looking shabby. Choose the appropriate grade of good quality laminate and it will last ages.

dodzy

woodturner wrote: »

I'd avoid laminate flooring in an area that sees heavy traffic such as the hall.

Its for this very reason that I would endorse a good laminate. They are pretty much bullet proof. The above post relating to warped boards would require a lot of water over an extended period to cause any issues. In this day and age, the choices & styles are plentiful and typically cost a fraction of their richer, far less durable semi/semi-soild neighbour.

tenbob1

Learn about your AC ratings, the higher the rating the better the floor.

To the poster that had issues with the floor swelling. Sounds to me like a product fault, I have replaced several floors over the years with the exact same issue. Its usually high gloss floors, and cheap Chineeses imports that we have had that issue with.

Good quality laminate (AC4 or higher) will easily take the traffic in a BUSY hallway, much much better than any engineered floor will.

mileycactus

tenbob1 wrote: »

Learn about your AC ratings, the higher the rating the better the floor.

To the poster that had issues with the floor swelling. Sounds to me like a product fault, I have replaced several floors over the years with the exact same issue. Its usually high gloss floors, and cheap Chineeses imports that we have had that issue with.

Good quality laminate (AC4 or higher) will easily take the traffic in a BUSY hallway, much much better than any engineered floor will.

Thats not something i spotted.. the floor i'm looking at is AC4 in woodies but never thought to see what that meant..

e.r

slimjimmc wrote: »

It's widely used in large stores such as Woodies and Heatons without looking shabby. Choose the appropriate grade of good quality laminate and it will last ages.

This is untrue as big department stores use luxury vinyl tiles. It looks very similar to wood and ceramic tiles but it is very durable