Laminate Flooring in Birmingham

Birmingham is a city of houses rather than flats, and a house with three bedrooms, a landing and a lounge is where laminate does its best work: one floor, one look, laid over the inter-war slab of a Hall Green or Kingstanding semi with a moisture-barrier underlay and an expansion gap at every wall. The AC-rated boards from the range take a family’s traffic on the stairs landing and in the hall.

It stays out of the bathroom and the utility room, because the standard that defines its abrasion rating excludes rooms that are wet often; the BML rigid vinyl takes those rooms. Over the suspended timber of an older B12 or B19 terrace the base is levelled before the boards go down, or the click joints will move along the joists. In the new quarters the heated screed suits the boards, which are listed as compatible with underfloor heating.

Semi-detached houses are 36% of the Birmingham stock, and the semi has both bases in one house: timber at the front, concrete at the back. Laminate goes over both, with the underlay chosen per base, a vapour barrier over the slab and none over the timber. The 8 mm AC4 boards in the range are rated for domestic use throughout the house; the expansion gap of 8 to 12 mm at every wall is what lets a whole-floor run move as one.

Terraced houses are 28% of the homes in the Birmingham district, and laminate is the floor most often laid through them: a click floor floats over the old suspended boards on an underlay, and the whole ground floor of a terrace can be done in a weekend. The condition is the base. Loose or springy boards are screwed down first, and the underlay chosen for a timber floor is one without a vapour barrier, so the void beneath can breathe.