Hi All Not sure if this question is ok for this forum. If not, please move to the right forum please. I am about to lay wooden flooring to our one of the bedroom, and this will be my first ever wooden flooring job, so I am not sure what to expect now. The room used to have carpet before, but when the walls were plastered and painted, the carpet was soiled beyond rescue. So we are planning to put down laminate wooden floor. I had to also pull out all the skirting boards because they looked rotted in many places. 1. Which one to put down first - skirting board? or laminate flooring? 2. What is the best underflooring options? 3. What tools do I need for this job? 4. Anything particularly to look for before and during the work? Thanks in advance.
1. Always put flooring down first and then skirting. The skirting will cover the expansion gap and make the job look professional. 2. My preference is ply to level the floor and then glue the floor down. Most laminate floors are designed to be 'floating' but this gives a spongy feel, especially upstairs on a timber floor. Using glue isn't difficult and gives you a nice solid feel. Alternative is fibre board underlay and click together flooring. 3. Lots if you want to do it right 4. Height of adjacent floor finishes, what is below the existing floor (e.g. pipes, electrics), how to finish the floor round the door frame (looks best when undercut)
If the floorboards are reasonably level, then just put down a decent underlay for the laminate. The 'slab' underlay is much better than the cheap foam you get on a roll and is easier to work with. Undercut door frame and architrave (check on YouTube) and finish off by putting skirting back on. Don't glue laminate down, it should 'float'. Good luck
Before you put the floor down you need to work out why your skirting "looked rotted" it is very unusual to get rot these days especially in an upstairs bedroom. Before you add anything else in check and treat the cause the last thing you want to do is seal in something like dry rot or any other fungal deterioration.
Sure. The room is in downstairs. It used to be a large dinningroom and had been converted to a bedroom. The house had been built in 1950s and never been upgraded, so all in poor condition. We started working on the house from last year. The skirtings looked like rotted but actually they were chipped n gauged badly and covered in timely dirt. Not damp rots.
Thank you for the feedbacks, very useful advices. Just wondering what tools are Musts and which are the Usefuls for the job.
No problem. What a lot of us do when we refit flooring is apply a dusting of insect powder at the wall edges before fitting the skirting. This will prevent any mites, silverfish etc. from establishing themselves
You are going to need something to cut the ends of each run - either a small chop saw, B&Q do a specialist one which is ok if you are going to do several rooms or cut by hand. Depending on the laminate flooring you may need a mallet to persuade them in to place or flat but be carefull some laminate chip very easily.
A jigsaw will cover most of it but you have have to decide what to do at the door, undercut or fill and how you manage the change in levels.
A multi tool can be useful for undercutting door frames but a handsaw and a chisel does the job just as well. Doing this will create a 'seamless look', especially if you're fitting skirting after. If you've never fitted laminate before, then you might find it easier to start at the door and work away towards the other side of the room.
Got a Mitre and Chop saw (Evolution Rage 3 & 4 from Screwfix), jigsaw (cheap one from Argos), Multitool, handsaw and chisels, and rubber mallet. I was wondering if knee pads and 5mm spacers are needed too.
Sorry, my multi tool is a SWISS Army Knives type with a plier and a few blades and screwdriver. I think what you meant was the Electrical multi tool with changeable bits - no I don't have it. I have a circular saw though. Great advice - thank you.
A big thing with lam flooring is where you start also don't expect all rooms to be square. Turn lam board upside down then just a regular saw on top as a guide to cut the arches etc.
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