Laminate before kitchen installation?

Richard Roma

We’re in the process of renovating our house.

We’ll be putting down a 14mm laminate in the kitchen. The flooring company maintain we should install the floor before the kitchen.

The kitchen company state the opposite.

The Builder was adamant we should do the floor first, but is now saying the opposite (we suspect so that he can buy some time while the kitchen’s being installed). Any views?

colm_mcm

I’d prefer the floor being done first anyway.

kuang1

I'll be putting my floor down first. Both builder and kitchen installer said same.

J.R.

Not sure if you have a concrete floor or timber floorboards (suspended floor)

We put the kitchen in first in a room with wooden floorboards.
When the kitchen was finished the laminate floor was then fitted.

The problem is we have some draughts coming out from under the kickerboards.
The floorboards under the kitchen units had been lifted to allow new plumbing, wiring etc for kitchen fit.

When the boards were screwed back down there was a slight gap between boards - where the tongue was broken during lifting.
This now allows draughts into the kitchen and it is very awkward to try seal every one...if you can find them all.

willmc83

When I was getting my house done I did the floors last. My logic was that there was so many tradesmen and material being brought around the house that I was worried they might get damaged so thought it was best off doing them last.

seamus

There doesn't seem to be any consensus on this tbh. Our builder and the floor fitter both recommended kitchen first, then floors. Builder's logic was that once the kickboards go down over the floor you can't tell the difference, and you're more likely to replace (or repair) your floor before you replace your kitchen. Any leaks from appliances will destroy the boards underneath, requiring everything to be pulled up, floor & kitchen.

Floor fitter's argument was that putting the kitchen on the boards will make it harder to get a level kitchen than if you put them on the concrete.

The flooring company have a vested interest in laying the floor first - it means a lot less cutting and an extra box or two of planks.

tenbob1

A laminate floor is a floating product, it floats because it will expand and contract depending on conditions in the room, this is why we need to use expansion gaps. Once a kitchen is put on top of it, it becomes fixed and can no longer expand and contract. Get the kitchen fitted, get them to leave the kickers off, this is the correct way to do it.

I run a flooring company for clarity.

~tb

JimmyMW

tenbob1 wrote: »

A laminate floor is a floating product, it floats because it will expand and contract depending on conditions in the room, this is why we need to use expansion gaps. Once a kitchen is put on top of it, it becomes fixed and can no longer expand and contract. Get the kitchen fitted, get them to leave the kickers off, this is the correct way to do it.

I run a flooring company for clarity.

~tb

How do you deal with expansion at the gable ends of kitchen units?

tenbob1

If there is no kicker, then you have to use a piece of scotia or similar. Usually we supply white primed, and the kitchen guys can spray them to the same colour as the unit.

JimmyMW

tenbob1 wrote: »

If there is no kicker, then you have to use a piece of scotia or similar. Usually we supply white primed, and the kitchen guys can spray them to the same colour as the unit.

I would suggest given the expansion issues you highlighted above, only the kitchen carcasses should be fitted and then the flooring followed by the kickboards and the side gables etc, this should avoid any unsightly joints at areas other than kickboards.

tenbob1

That's the ideal Jimmy. In the real world though, it never quite seems so simple lol