Laminate Flooring Cost
What laminate costs to buy and to fit, what the AC rating changes, and when it is the right economy — and when it is a false one.
Laminate is the cheapest way to floor a whole house without it looking cheap, and the category where the gap between a good decision and a bad one is widest.
On this page
- At a glance
- What our laminate costs
- The AC rating is the whole decision
- The false economy
- When laminate is the right answer
- The lines that decide the real figure
- Where laminate is the wrong saving
- Where it is exactly right
- Two questions to ask before ordering
- Common questions
- Who publishes this guide
- What the published standards say
- Related reading
At a glance
What our laminate costs
Every laminate floor in our range, by board thickness. The figure is the price per square metre for a box, as shown on each product card.
| Thickness | Floors | From | Typical (median) | Up to |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 mm | 5 | £22.50 per m², all 5 | ||
Prices as listed on 10 November 2026, read from the shop whenever this page is built. They cover the floor itself; underlay, adhesive, preparation, fitting and delivery come on top, and the full cost breakdown lists each of them.
The AC rating is the whole decision
The AC rating describes abrasion resistance. Buying one rating for the entire house means overpaying in the bedrooms and underspecifying in the hallway.
Match it room by room. It costs nothing to think about and it is the difference between a floor that looks tired in three years and one that does not.
The false economy
When laminate is the right answer
Bedrooms, whole-house fits on a fixed budget, rentals between tenancies, and any dry room where the money is better spent elsewhere. It is not a compromise in those rooms; it is the correct specification.
The lines that decide the real figure
Laminate has the lowest material cost of the categories on this site and the same preparation costs as all of them. That is the whole reason a laminate quote can come back higher than expected: the board got cheaper, the floor under it did not.
Where laminate is the wrong saving
Two rooms and one habit. Bathrooms, because water stands there rather than passing through, and standing water finds a joint and swells the core beneath the decor. Utility rooms and anywhere an appliance can leak, for the same reason. And one rating for the whole house, which overpays in the bedrooms and underspecifies in the hallway at the same time.
Where it is exactly right
Bedrooms, landings, home offices, a whole-house fit on a fixed budget, and a rental turned around between tenancies. In those rooms laminate is not a compromise on a better floor; it is the correct specification, and the money it releases is better spent on preparation and on the rooms where a harder-wearing floor actually earns the difference.
Two questions to ask before ordering
What the AC rating is for each room rather than for the house, and whether the underlay is included or attached. Both change the figure, and neither is visible in a photograph of the floor.
The bathroom exception is the one worth following up, and what luxury vinyl costs to buy and to lay sets out where each stops being the correct specification. For the dry rooms above, current laminate prices show what a fixed budget actually covers, and where the money goes in a flooring quote explains why the board is only part of the figure.
Common questions
Which AC rating do I need?
Match it to the room rather than to the house. A hallway, a kitchen and a room with a dog take abrasion that a spare bedroom never sees, and buying one rating throughout means overpaying in the quiet rooms and underspecifying in the busy ones. It costs nothing to decide room by room.
Can laminate go in a bathroom?
Choose LVT or porcelain instead. Many current laminate ranges are sealed well enough that a wiped-up spill does no harm, but a bathroom is where water stands rather than passes, and standing water finds a joint and swells the core beneath the decor. In a bathroom, laminate is a replacement waiting for a date.
Is underlay really necessary?
It is the line most often deleted from a quote and the one that does the most work. On a ground floor it carries the damp-proof membrane, it corrects minor variation in the subfloor, and it removes the hollow sound that identifies a cheap laminate floor the moment you walk on it.
What a fixed budget covers depends partly on delivery and access. See the towns and regions we deliver to.
Who publishes this guide
What the published standards say
Related reading
- Samples £1.99 each
- UK-wide delivery
- Advice before you order