First time laying laminate flooring.

Take a screen shot of your photo then you can upload

 

Any pattern / grain to the boards you are laying???

 

Are you using mobile? If so which?

 

Screenshot may be to briefly press power and either vol up or down. Come back to this thread, click upload file then choose "files"

From here navigate to screenshot and choose correct file

 

As the saying goes, if I were you I wouldnt start with that room. Would be easier if you could lift the toilet and cistern and install beneath that otherwise you have the faff of cutting around it. In any event I would start the run along the bath, across the existing boards. Would be better if you could whip the skirting off too and resit on top of the floating floor otherwise youll need beading all round. Im sure youll make agood job of it with a bit of care

 

My tip would be to make absolutely sure the edges are undamaged and clear of any debris before you close the joint

 

Will you be ‘undercutting’ the door frame and then sliding flooring under ?

Read up on it / YouTube videos / (as you probably know) !

Saves the faff of cutting around frame and if using trim/bead at edges (?), always looks weird (to me) when trim stops and starts at door frames

Much neater finish to undercut at frames

Also work out layout and width of boards across floor so you don't end up with a sliver of board at one side - may be better to equally cut first and last boards for a symmetrical layout - just depends really how it works out

Also staggered, random board length joints or using same spacing across the floor ?

Random for me, looks more natural

And pipe collars for radiator pipes - white or chrome - your choice !

Good luck with the project

 

Another wee tip is to buy one of the fitting kits. The block and hook for tapping the joints together is very useful. Also, don't tap it too hard when joining or you can chip the laminate or deform the joint - stop as soon as the joint closes. Apart from cutting around awkward shapes it is a fairly easy, and satisfying, DiY job.

 

If it was me I would lay the boards the same way as the floorboards - easier to fit in the doorway, easier to fit around the rad pipes. As others have said, lift the toilet and remove the skirtings. It's a horrible little room for a first go at laminate - all fiddling and fettling, so the devil is going to be in the detail. You definitely need a hook.

When fitting around radiator pipes, you can use collars, but it is possible to make a neat job without - drill a hole in the board where the pipes will come through just slightly oversize - say 16mm for 15mm pipe, and then cut a wedge shape from the hole to the board edge, so you end up with a narrow cheese shape. This wedge will then push in tight to the wedge shaped hole closing up the saw cut width - you will need to trim the hole end very slightly as the wedge will push in further than it was cut - glue the wedge. you can make it almost invisible. The trickiest part is cutting the last piece into the doorway - you just have to work out the easiest way to get it in and not leave ugly gaps. Thresholds can cover some gaps.

Also, what @stevie22 says - the boards won't click together properly if the slot has carp in it.