laminate flooring

Serious reservations about fitting my own laminate flooring

@Asylum (47893)

Manchester, England

April 1, 2016 2:44am CST

I have spent a lot of time checking out online videos on how to lay a laminate floor. There are a fair amount of good videos available and in most cases it does seem a fairly simple task. I have also been down to B&Q and looked at the product along with chatting to a few helpful staff there. However, my biggest concern now is the door frame, which like most door frames is not rectangular but has a series of vertical notches. One set of advice suggests using paper to draw a template around before cutting the board, which would create a rather shabby looking result. Another approach seems to be to cut away a portion of the base of the door frame so that the laminate will slide underneath and look tidy. The problem is that I will not be going all the way through the door and will need to remove just part of the base. This is a definite deterrent because I would hate to buy the materials and almost complete the job, then encounter a problem with the door and need to employ someone after all.

11 people like this

11 responses

ElusiveButterfly

@ElusiveButterfly (45941)

• United States

1 Apr 16

Are you purchasing the flooring at a store or online? Often times there are people at the store that can advise you on how to lay the flooring so it will look professionally done.

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@Asylum (47893)

• Manchester, England

1 Apr 16

@ElusiveButterfly I have already had someone round to price up the job, which is a tempting price and would eliminate any chance of making a mess of the job.

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@Asylum (47893)

• Manchester, England

1 Apr 16

I have already visited B&Q and chatted to someone there, plus watched a few good video tutorials as well. The problem is that there are still a few points that seem dubious.

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ElusiveButterfly

@ElusiveButterfly (45941)

• United States

1 Apr 16

@Asylum Maybe you should just bite the bullet and hire someone. It would end your worries. Just make sure you check references.

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@marlina (154103)

• Canada

1 Apr 16

Give up the idea of doing it yourself. Life is too short to put so much pressure on you.

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@Asylum (47893)

• Manchester, England

1 Apr 16

@marlina That remains to be seen. Naturally I expect that they will have to make a profit, but hopefully it will still be a realistic price.

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@Asylum (47893)

• Manchester, England

1 Apr 16

I have someone coming to look at the rooms tonight and give me a quote, so it is still undecided.

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@marlina (154103)

• Canada

1 Apr 16

@Asylum It will be a shock when you hear the quote!

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@kaka135 (14994)

• Malaysia

4 Apr 16

Glad that you have found this out before you actually start working on it. It sounds like it's quite challenging, and perhaps it's good to just let someone do it for you and save you all the hassles. Hope it will not be too costly to employ someone to do it.

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@Asylum (47893)

• Manchester, England

4 Apr 16

It may well have turned out less formidable than it appeared to be, but it would have been a little late to find out when the job was almost done.

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@allknowing (153529)

• India

1 Apr 16

I have responded to you in your previous post and I had suggested that you get it done.

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@Asylum (47893)

• Manchester, England

1 Apr 16

It is always tempting to try myself, but it may be too much of a risk.

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@allknowing (153529)

• India

1 Apr 16

@Asylum It indeed is a risk and earlier you decide to hand over the better it will be for you to live in peace. and in one pieice

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@jaboUK (64346)

• United Kingdom

1 Apr 16

I'd take the easy way out and get someone else to do it.

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@Asylum (47893)

• Manchester, England

1 Apr 16

He has just been round and measured rooms and the price is acceptable.

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@Asylum (47893)

• Manchester, England

1 Apr 16

@jaboUK It seems more than likely that I have the job done in both bedrooms, after which will be the never ending job of bringing furniture back upstairs.

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@jaboUK (64346)

• United Kingdom

1 Apr 16

@Asylum Go for it then.

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@Inlemay (17712)

• South Africa

1 Apr 16

I am glad that you are looking at the floor placing from all angels - doors can be a problem to cut shorter or hang again

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@Asylum (47893)

• Manchester, England

1 Apr 16

The last thing that I want to end up doing is trying to rehang a door.

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@WorDazza (15826)

• Manchester, England

1 Apr 16

@Asylum Rehanging doors is a pain!! I had to take a bit off one of our bedroom doors when we had new carpet fitted. Mrs WorDazza insisted I planed it outside so I had to take it downstairs, plane a bit off, lug it back up, check to see if it was the right size, find it wasn't then repeat. As I didn't want to take too much off I was very careful to only take a tiny amount off each time. Took me about 6 goes to get it right!!!

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@Asylum (47893)

• Manchester, England

1 Apr 16

@WorDazza I remember my parents moving into a bungalow many years ago and my brother and I went over to help out. My brother had the job of removing the door, planning it down and rehanging it. Since he was dubious about how uniform the screws and holes were, he took then out carefully and stood them up in order on the doorstep so that he could place them back in the same order. I could not stop laughing when my mother came along with a sweeping brush and swept them all away.

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@AmbiePam (120908)

• United States

3 Apr 16

Too bad I am not near my dad's house right now. He laid laminate wood flooring in his entire house. I remember it was so stinking loud! I'm sure you'll do well! You've prepared yourself very well.

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@Asylum (47893)

• Manchester, England

3 Apr 16

The door frames are my biggest concern because they are not even uniform shapes.

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Arthur Chappell

@arthurchappell (44941)

• Preston, England

1 Apr 16

I'd always hire someone in to do such work - hope it goes alright

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@Asylum (47893)

• Manchester, England

1 Apr 16

I will find out in a couple of hours because someone is coming around to check the room and make a quote.

@Marilynda1225 (91126)

• United States

1 Apr 16

In the long run it's probably worth hiring someone to do the job and not run into any problems midway

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@Asylum (47893)

• Manchester, England

1 Apr 16

It is definitely favourite now because I have been given a reasonable price.

@shshiju (10342)

• Cochin, India

2 Apr 16

That's a nice idea and great effort. Wish you a beautiful floor soon.

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@Asylum (47893)

• Manchester, England

2 Apr 16

That is what I am expecting to have. I have just arranged for someone to come and fit the floor in the small bedroom on Thursday, then the large bedroom the following Monday. I have chosen a heavy duty dark brown wood which looks excellent.

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@JudyEv (382259)

• Rockingham, Australia

1 Apr 16

It sounds a bit tricky. We have laminate flooring but as it goes throughout the house we had professionals lay it for us.

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@Asylum (47893)

• Manchester, England

1 Apr 16

It would not be too bad if |I was to go straight through the doorway, but partial door frames are likely to be dodgy to cut away.

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