Flooring for Bedroom

jos_kel

Hi,

Looking at replacing carpet in 4 bedrooms with wooden floors.

Is there a significant difference between laminate and semi-solid?

Thinking laminate will be sufficient.

Is 8mm or 12mm a significant difference or is it minimal?

Also we are getting quoted for new skirting boards.

The existing skirting looks fine. Is the cost very small anyway for new skirting?

Just looking for independent advice.

Sorry a bit of a novice on all this.

TIA

ted1

They need to take off the skirting to leave an expansion gap otherwise you’ll need bearing which doesn’t look aswell

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058302514/flooring-for-bedroom

IMO laminate is easier to clean as it doesn't have grooves for dirt to get stuck in

To give you an idea of the difference, laminate is thin layers of wood glued together with a sort of printed display layer on top to give the wood effect (or tiles, it can be anything really)

Semi solid is kind of the same thing but with an actual piece of wood as the top layer

Semi solid is generally closer looking to an actual wooden floor, whereas laminate is pretty obviously not wood when you look at it

There's an argument that semi solid is longer lasting because you can sand and refinish the wood layer on top. The flip side is you also have to regularly maintain the wood (although I wonder if anyone actually does this)

Laminate on the other hand is basically maintenance free beyond cleaning it. It's pretty hard to replace a cracked board however, and if you chip the surface you can see the laminate underneath

We've had laminate flooring in the hallway, living room and bedrooms for 6 years now. They've gotten a few chips and scratches over the years but nothing really noticeable, despite my kids banging toys and whatever on them

As a general rule I suggest not throwing hammers or other sharp heavy objects at your floor and it'll be fine

We got 12mm because it seemed better, although I'd be tempted to go with 8mm if doing it again. There's apparently no real difference in durability, but the 12mm supposedly feels more like walking on real wood

I've no basis for comparison so can't confirm that. However I will say the boards can be a little tricky to get to click together if they're slightly bent. I think the more flexible 8mm boards might be easier to lay down

However if someone else is doing the job then feel free to make them suffer 😁

It's actually a relatively easy job to do DIY, the process is fairly simple. Once the carpet and underlay are other junk are up, and skirting boards are off, you just put the new underlay down and then start putting the boards down

You don't HAVE to remove the skirting boards, but you need a 10-15mm gap around the edges of the flooring to allow for expansion. If you leave the skirting boards on then you'll need wooden beading around the edges which looks kinda crap IMO

You could reuse the existing skirting boards, that's what I did, but it's an absolute pain because the builders generally glue them on and you need to remove the old glue spots with a hammer and chisel before putting them back on

Also if doing it DIY, be aware the laminate boards don't click together quite as easily as they do in the videos, there's often a bit of work to get them to click in properly. Once you've got the hang of it it's quite straightforward however