Nimbus

I want to take up the carpet and lay a nice clean, fresh laminate wood floor in the bathroom. I've already done this in the kitchen and looks great. Are there any issues with laying this stuff onto floorboards? I'm not too worried about damp/moister. The on in the kitchen was covered in water the whole day once due to a water leak and it's still in perfect condition. Just wanted to know what I needed to do about laying onto floorboards...

Any experience / advice ?

Cheers

MrDBM

just done this myself nimbus, and was advised to lay a sheet of thin plywood first - not sure why, but is does look the dees bees

Toplift

Yes 3mm plywood underneath is the way to go. It smooths out the wavy floor boards. One thing to consider though is that once you have done the job you will no longer have easy access to any radiator piping or ring main wiring under the floor boards in you bathroom.

Nimbus

Thanks guys. I assume you just lay the plywood sheets across the floorboards (rather than a long them). How wide were the plywood strips you used?

Looking to sell the house anyway, so not too worried about access to pipes etc . We just think that the current floor is letting the room down. Hopfully a bit of investment here will do the job.

Toplift

Yep that's right across. But as 'plywood' is made up of alternating grain it doesn't matter too much. Buy the largest pieces you can (as this works out cheaper) usually 8' x 4' (2.44 x 1.22m).

Nimbus

Thanks. Size might be limited to what I can fit in the scoob though..

Cheers for the help.

Toplift

That's why I got a Landy as well. No worries

Richard Simpson

My girlfriend is on a me to sort out the flooring in our bathroom, how do you go about cutting round the toilet/sink stand for the plywood/flooring - are you able to easily remove these whilst laying the floor?

Cheers

Richard

DJ Dunk

iTrader: (5)

I had a laminate-look spongy lino fitted recently.

Looks just like the real thing, but is totally waterproof and fits snugly to every corner of the bathroom

Toplift

If the sink pedestal is sitting on a carpet or other flooring you may be able to remove it temorarily and lay the new flooring under it. It will usually however be fixed to the floor boards. In which case you need to cut round it. Use card, scraps of ply and a bit of time and make a template for the shapes you need.

Cutting slots for pipes and all the bits directly behind the sink/toilet can be a b@stid. One thing to remember though is you can get away with a certain amount of untidiness where joints are concerned behind the toilet, because even the most snoopy of mother-in-laws rarely get on their hands and knees and inspect behind a toilet bowl!

Richard Simpson

Cheers for that I'll give it a go....I knew it wasn't going to be easy!

Richard

chiark

I used under laminate boarding. It's 6mm thick fibreboard and, like plywood, sorts out the unevenness.

Dream Weaver

I agree with DJ Dunk here - the laminate look vinyl is unreal - just about to get some in half of the kitchen and hopefully some for the bathroom as well. Works out cheap enough, easy to lay, and you can include mini border inserts such as mosaic, darker wood etc.

Really great stuff

DW

Homer Simpson

Read somewhere that you will need to glue the boards together, even if it is the glueless stuff.

It prevents the water from seeping between the boards and warping them.

IanWatson

The hardboard is, as already stated, simply there to even out the floorboards. I've always laid onto closed cell foam underlay, with a layer of hardboard as well only if the boards are bad.

Standard wood laminate isn't the best solution for bathroom use - water damage could be a major issue if you aim to stay for more than a couple of years. It's not the occasional big flood that does the damage, it's the general humidity and continual dampness.

As mentioned above, make sure the flooring and gaps between are totally sealed, if you're not laying the flooring under the WC and sink, pay special attention to the edges - avoids the floor lifting up when damp starts to seep through.


I'd be inclined to go for either laminate designed for higher moisture environments, or more likely slap some nice lino down instead!!

Have fun!



[Edited by IanWatson - 5/16/2002 5:31:54 PM]