Tag Archives: Floors

Laying Laminate Flooring and Underlay in Easy Steps

Posted on by

Why Use Laminate?
Laminate flooring is undeniably one of the most useful inventions. Made to have the appearance of natural stained wood flooring, laminate is more affordable, does not need to be nailed in place, doesn’t need finishing treatments, and is damage resistant. Options in laminate flooring are numerous and vary is design from wood grain replication, to mimicking ceramic tile. Although laminate flooring still contains wood from our natural resources, the majority of the material used in laminate flooring contains no wood and bonds together in several layers in a process using high pressure and heat. The benefit of using laminate over wood flooring is that the various layers of cellulose fibers will allow expansion and contraction during humidity changes. Areas that contain high humidity levels like bathrooms are not suitable for laminate flooring.

Getting Started.
Once you’ve made your choice in what type of laminate design you want to see in your home, you’ll need to pull together some basic tools for the job. Materials needed obviously include your laminate flooring, and if you have chosen a variety that does not come with underlay attached to the planks, you will need to buy some rolls of underlay as well. You’ll also need protective sheeting, laminate adhesive, molding or baseboard, and threshold transitions. Basic hand tools include a hammer, a crow-bar or pull bar, spacers to use between sections of flooring or between walls and flooring, safety glasses, utility knife, gloves, a tape measure, power tools such as saws and drills, and some laminate cleaner. You may not necessarily need all these items, but they are handy to have should the need arise. Most of these tools are available in your local hardware shop, and many shops sell laminate flooring installation kits which include the tools most needed for the job.

Laminate Flooring Installation.
Before you begin to install your laminate flooring, you must ensure your work surface is flat and clean. Remove any uneven areas that will affect your flat surface with a paint scraper, a putty knife, or, for stubborn lumps, a sander or grinder. Divots or dents should be made level with wood filler or crack filler and left the appropriate time to dry. Remove all trim and transitions from walls and doorways.

Underlay First
When you are ready to start putting your floor down, you must first start with the underlay.

Usually purchased in rolls, applying underlay is a very simple task to complete, and is essential in controlling excess noise. Roll the underlay out from one side of the room to the other and secure in place with adhesive strips found on the underlay, or tape. Returning to the starting point with the remainder of the roll, or the next roll of underlay, roll the next piece out across the room beside the last length of underlay and adhere the two pieces together at the seam, making sure to overlap them by approximateky one centimetre. Continue until the floor surface is covered completely with underlay. Any excess can be cut away once the laminate flooring has been installed.

Flooring
To best lay your laminate floor down in evenly, measure your room from one side to the other and divide by the width of one laminate plank. Add the remaining amount to the plank width and divide by two in order to balance to room. Leave a half centimetre or full centimetre gap between the wall and first row of laminate planks for expansion room. Beginning at one side of the room, place spacers along the wall the give you the expansion area. Set the first plank down and then the next, end to end, and secure in place. At the end of the first row you may need to cut the final piece in order to fit it in. Subtract half a centimetre from the measurement of the space between the wall and the end of the last piece laid before cutting your final piece. Use the off-cut to start your next row unless it is shorter that 20 centimetres. Continue in this way until the room is nearly compete. The final row may need to be cut along its length.

The final steps of installing laminate flooring are the ones that demand the most patience. Cut the underlay so that it is even with the laminate flooring. Remove all spacers from the walls and install the molding or baseboard in order to hide the expansion gap. Remember to attach the molding to the walls and not the flooring so that the floor is able to expand and contract as needed. Attach the transition pieces in doorways and level changes. Lastly, give the floor a gentle clean with a damp mop or some laminate cleaner and sit back to enjoy your work.

6 Laminate Floor Underlay Tips

Posted on by

The more you know about the conditions at which your floor is going to operate, the easier you can prolong its life. As floors are affected from two directions, above and underneath, it’s important to provide good conditions on both sides. While you can always look after the surface as long as you follow the right maintenance tips, the underside of the floor is not something you can easily work with once the floor has been installed. That’s why having the best possible laminate floor underlay is essential.

1. Before you go on to look for an underlay for your laminate floor, take your time and observe your sub-floor. Is it concrete slab or timber boards? Find out as much as possible about its structure, any damage that it has or may potentially develop, the moisture level beneath, at and above it.

2. In order for the underlayment to work properly, your sub-floor has to be as level and as clean as possible. If it’s a concrete one, fill in any gaps that exist using a compound mixture and scrape off any adherent carpet and other left-overs. If it’s a timber sub-floor, nail properly all boards and use plywood sheets if necessary to level out the surface.

3. If the level of moisture in your area is high or has the potential to reach high levels over an year, and you have a solid sub-floor (concrete slab, stone, brick), use a damp proof filler compound to fill in any gaps. Make sure to give it enough time to dry out before moving onward with the job.

4. Depending on your budget and personal demands you can choose foam, cork, plywood or a combination of these. Additional layers of sound absorbing materials are also available, either separately or built-in, but might cost you more. Generally you would want to have the latter on upper floors where sound is more of a problem. Ground floors on the other hand are more susceptible to moisture and the aim there is to have good moisture insulation.

5. Before deciding on the type of underlay, check if your laminate flooring doesn’t come with an underlay of its own. Very often Do-It-Yourself laminate floors are pre-finished and don’t require additional custom underlay installation. That said, custom separate layers for shock and sound absorption are always an option. It helps reduce the “hard” feeling and reduce the hollow sound noise that are so typical when walking over laminate.

6. Damp proof membrane (DPM) is necessary when you have a solid sub-floor, especially if it’s a new one. Timber sub-floors on the other hand need to breathe to avoid the build-up of mold in the near future and DPM should be avoided. Installing foam to level out irregularities and create a cushion is often enough in these cases.

The important thing is to know your level of moisture before making any of these decisions.

Epoxy Floor Coatings – Exceptional Flooring Choice

Posted on by

Making over your floor, doesn’t have to be expensive. It just takes Epoxy Floor coatings to refresh your floor. We get sick of looking at the flooring that encloses us and the decor we picked out years ago. It’s time for a change, and it is the perfect time to do it. Epoxy Floor Coating is a revolutionary product that can be applied on to the concrete piece to make it durable, colorful and valuable. Now the product is widely accepted and people know more about it. This is increasingly being used in hotels, showrooms, restaurants, garages, warehouses to color the concrete flooring.

These coatings incredibly facilitate in concealing the rough unattractive surface of the concrete blocks making it look exceptional. These coatings can be very well used in those areas where laying expensive concrete or tile is either not needed or not feasible. The Epoxy Concrete Floor Coating is really an innovative product. This gives the unexciting looking concrete a new lease of life adding a lot of varieties to the flooring. The unique combination of chemicals and the stain react mysteriously with the cement to form a colorful pattern.

A popular floor coating being used today is the epoxy paint. This provides some great benefits to users primarily by improving the strength and durability of the floor and protecting it from chemical spills. Industrial epoxy floor coatings also make the floor slip-free thereby caring for the people that use them. Its low cost is definitely a major advantage especially for homeowners who want to upgrade their floors. Though, there are many concrete coatings available in different colors and finishes. Industrial owners have a lot of option to choose from and they can even incorporate the logo of your industries or organization in the floor for a unique look.

With Industrial Epoxy Floor coatings, business will have floors that not look impressive but are also easy to clean and maintain. You must have been dazzled by the glossy and smooth floor finish of the most places you visit. Going inside an interior space that has an alluring and clean floor makes one feels nice, right? The floor, especially business owners should not overlook a floor when planning the overall design of any building. It has to reflect your style and complement the walls and entire surrounding atmosphere so to create a comfortable atmosphere for your customers and clients.

It is a crucial factor in customer retention and loyalty. Customer satisfaction is the underpinning factor in customer experience. Drivers of satisfaction and loyalty must be looked deeply into by the service providers. Commercial spaces a flooring system that is resilient and practical. Whether the commercial space is to be used for retail outlets, garages, warehouses, art galleries, factories or showrooms it will be sending a strong message to clients and customers as it’s the face of the business/company.