You shouldn't be cutting the door frames to fit laminate flooring - just cut the laminate for a snug fit. You should undercut the architrave and the skirting board (if you're not going to remove and refit it) which allows for movement of the flooring and looks best. Beading is the most common solution but doesn't look so good. You might want to undercut planted doorstop depending on whether the flooring continues through the doorway into another room. Just my opinion of course but based on that I would be disappointed with the work carried out so far. If the doors don't open freely any more they need easing/trimming to suit. That often means removing the door but not always.
My misunderstanding, yes I did mean architrave and not the actual door frames (you can tell I don't fit flooring!)
When looking at the job, they should have told you that the doors would possibly need trimming. You can more or less tell this just by looking and not even needing to measure. They should then have given you a price to trim each door that needed trimming, if saying they did not trim doors this would start alarm bells ringing with me.
Often the case when you have new carpets fitted that the doors will need trimming afterwards Now if you’ve had in carpet fitters, fair enough, they ain’t gonna trim the doors and it’s left down to the homeowner to then source someone else to carry out this task - that’s acceptable But you’ve used this firm for painting and decorating and now laminate floor fitting. So you would assume some degree of woodworking / carpentry skills would be evident and even required Same as if you’ve laid laminate yourself as a diyer. Takes some degree of skill to pull of a neat job. The bulk of the floor is easy, it’s the fiddly bits around skirtings, doorframes, pipes, etc that really separates the good from the bad If this outfit has taken on a professional paid job to lay laminate, then they ‘should’ be able to trim down a few doors Yes I agree this should be charged as an extra per door, possibly a better rate if there’s 5/6/7 or so doors that all need trimming But this should be made clear at the first site visit and put down in writing in their estimate / quote To leave you on the lurch and say we don’t trim doors is rather unprofessional and clearly shows them as chancers If your happy with their previous decorating jobs, then that’s great and hopefully they do a good job Sounds like they’re trying to cover all bases and be multi trade when really they should stick to what they know Again, those nails in Scotia trim tell you all you need to know about these guys Good luck
It would have rung alarm bells, but we didn't know that they didn't trim doors until we came home and the doors were scuffing against the new laminate floor :-(
What I was trying to say was, when they were initially looking at the job they should have informed you that the doors would possibly need trimming. If they had done this and said they do not trim them, it would have made you wonder about their capabilities, which you know now are non existent.
I'm a bit late to this one and after reading others polite replies i think the only other thing to add is why have they used trims between the doors when the flooring is passing straight through? It looks terrible, IMHO. Admittedly thats a very minor point considering the total shambles they've left you with. If they think this standard of work is acceptable on any job I'd be having a closer inspection of their previous decorating attempts.
While the work done for the OP is unacceptable it is not as bad as the person I know who offered to fit a laminate floor for someone he knew. As there was a slight hump in the floor he decided that rather than stagger the joints he would line the joints up across the hump! I never heard how unsatisfied the customer was but I can imagine.
Evening all, Thank you for your help today. Well, we've come home tonight and I've attached pictures of what we've walked into. It's tidier than it was but it's really not good enough. Thanks.
That is a lot better. Unless you have all the skirting removed and all the architraves undercut and the old flooring removed and the existing floor levelled then it is never going to be a good job. Laminate is what it is. At least it no longer looks like your rabbit was used for the cutting
What do you mean 'the existing floor levelled'? This was never something that was discussed. Is this something that could have been done?
We just feel like we got a cheap job and we didn't want a cheap job. We're only planning on doing this job once and we would rather have paid more to get someone who could do the undercuts. It never crossed our mind that we would be left like this :-(
On the straight sections of trim that stop and start at the doors, it’s usual to finish the trim with a return So instead of just a blunt cut to finish, you mitre at 45 degrees and run a short trim (also cut at 45) back to wall Surely anyone laying a floor in a professional capacity knows this ?
Whenever I've quoted for laminate flooring i always make it clear that the skirting must be removed and either re-fitted or, replaced with new boards. Most skirting is cheaper and looks a whole lot better than that nasty tacky, fall-offy scotia trim anyway
It is an improvement and the results reflects the skill level of the guys I suspect. Based on what you've said, and what we've seen, I honestly don't think that they've set out to rip you off (unlike some charlatans) but they've reached the limits of their abilities. Tries hard, could do better...