Laminate Flooring in Cardiff

Ely, Fairwater and Llanrumney are post-war estates on a slab, and a laminate floor there runs through the lounge, the hall and three bedrooms in one AC-rated board with the underlay’s moisture barrier facing the concrete and a gap at every wall. For a Cathays landlord the scratch resistance of the wear layer is the point: it survives the furniture of a student year better than a lacquered timber would.

A Canton or Roath terrace asks more of the fitter: the Victorian boards sag between the joists, and a floating floor laid over that sag clicks apart along the joist lines within a season, so a levelling compound goes down first. Laminate stops at the kitchen door in these houses, since its abrasion standard is written for dry rooms and the extended scullery is not one; the BML rigid vinyl continues from there. On the heated screed at the Lisvane schemes the boards are listed as compatible with the heating.

Semi-detached houses are 30% of the Cardiff 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 30% of the homes in the Cardiff 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.