Laminate floor fitting in Smethwick, Bearwood and Cape Hill. Subfloors levelled first, expansion gaps done properly, doors trimmed, old floor taken away.
Laminate is easy to buy and easy to fit badly. In the Smethwick terraces the floorboards underneath are rarely flat. A laminate laid straight onto them will creak and lift at the joints inside a year. The levelling is the job. The clicking together is the quick part.
The back of a Smethwick terrace is often a different floor altogether. The old scullery or a later kitchen extension usually sits on concrete, sometimes with quarry tiles still underneath, while the front rooms are timber. A laminate run from front to back has to cope with both. The change is planned at the doorway rather than discovered halfway across the room.
Usually yes, once they are screwed down and any high spots dealt with. In the older Smethwick terraces the boards have often cupped, and laying over that without preparation is what makes a laminate creak.
Almost always, by a few millimetres. It is part of the job, not an extra, and we take them off and cut them properly rather than forcing them.
A bedroom is a day including preparation. A through-lounge is usually a day and a half. If the subfloor needs levelling compound we tell you before we start, because it has to dry.
Yes. It is hard wearing, easy to clean between tenants and quick to fit. A mid-range board on a proper underlay outlasts a cheap one by years, which matters when the house turns over.
It can be, which is why the underlay matters so much on a timber floor in a terrace. An acoustic underlay takes most of the sound out, and it is worth having in a bedroom over a room people use downstairs.
The area, how much levelling the floor needs, how many doors need trimming and what the old floor is. A flat floor is quick. Old, cupped boards need more preparation.
01Subfloor levelled first | Old boards screwed down, hardboard or ply where needed, self-levelling compound on solid floors. Nothing goes down onto a floor that moves. |
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02Expansion gaps done right | Laminate moves with the seasons. Gaps at every wall, hidden under the beading, so it does not buckle in July. |
03Doors trimmed, thresholds fitted | Internal doors eased to clear the new height and proper thresholds at every change of floor. |
04Old floor lifted and taken away | Carpet, underlay, gripper rods and the skip run are part of the price. |
05Front to back in one run | Where the front rooms are timber and the back kitchen is concrete, the change is made at the doorway. The right threshold keeps the floor looking continuous without forcing it across two different bases. |
06Send these first | Photos of each room, and of the floor under the carpet if you can lift a corner. Tell us if any room is a kitchen extension on concrete. That decides the underlay and the levelling. |
Send a photo or a quick video of the room on WhatsApp and we'll see if we can quote you over the phone, or fill in the form and it opens your email ready to send.
