Saturday 25th May 2013

Ask the expert

Spiral staircase flooring
Q: Is it possible to lay cushioned lino on a communal spiral staircase?
Fast Fit Peel & Stick installation method
Q: I am installing your solid oak floor on concrete using fast fit peel & stick. It is a floating floor, do I also need to glue the groove of the planks when fitting them together?
Installing Door Bars
Q: How do I afix door bars?
Installing a hardwood floor
Q: I have a solid concrete floor and wish to install solid oak flooring on top. I would prefer to avoid glueing the wood planks down. Can you offer advice on any alternative method? I was considering fixing battons down to nail the boards to or are there any underlays?
Changing to wooden floors
Q: I have small house in London and would like to change from carpet to wooden floor, but I don't have any experience at all about how to choose the best option for my house (but I would prefer to have solid wooden floor) and how to get it installed. My question is: Do you have anyone who can do a survey at a site (measure the rooms, etc) and give a recommendation? Also, do you have anyone who could install a wooden floor in my house? If yes what the cost will be?
Subfloor preparation question
Q: I have just taken up some cushionfloor which has been down for 20 years which leaves a very level floor consisting of thermoplastic tiles and concrete. Do I need to treat the floor in any way before laying new vinyl flooring?
Bamboo flooring installation
Q: The floor we would like to cover is part wood and part concrete. Would we be able to lay a bamboo floor on this base please?
Engineered flooring installation
Q: I have purchased 14 mm click system engineered flooring. This is going over a sub floor of both concrete and wooden floor. How should I level and fix the boards?
Installation query
Q: We have just brought some of your flooring for the room it is to go in as under floor heating and is about 58 square meters do we stick down or use under lay with gaps around all edges
Underlay installation
Q: I have just purchased 10mm engineered wood flooring and silver backed underlay,from you could you inform me does the silver side face the flooring or the concrete(underfloor heating)
Underlay use question
Q: Can I glue your Cushion Premium Black Underlay to a concrete floor and then glue the engineered floorboards to it? The engineered boards are being fitted under existing kitchen units.
Solid wood installation
Q: I am using screws to fit a solid wood floor to a 12mm plywood sub floor. If the solid floor is screwed down how does it expand and contract. Also does the plywood subfloor need a 10mm surround gap?
Flooring installation advice
Q: My choice of kitchen flooring has been limited by the clearance under the outside UPVC back door. I have now arranged for this door to be taken off and re hung, what clearance would you recommend? Currently it just clears a vinyl floor and the company say that they should be able to raise it one inch.
Installing a wooden floor
Q: I have read about self adhesive underlay (Elastilon) for installing a solid wood or engineered wood over a concrete floor. Is this a good method, if not what would you recommend?
Flooring installation difficulties
Q: I want to lay tiles down on kitchen floor but there is a lot of movement on the existing floor what can I do?
Solid oak flooring installation
Q: I purchased a Galleria 150 x 20mm solid Oak floor from you and want to know how to install the oak end stops at doorways for transition from wood to tile. The end stops are not as high as the floor planks, so how (and to what) do you attach them to keep them in place and hide expansion gap?
Under floor heating and underlay
Q: We are laying electric under floor heating. This has insulation between it and the concrete floor below. Do I need to install any material between the heating mat and the engineered flooring as the underfloor heating company says no?
Acclimatising wooden floors
Q: How long should I leave flooring to acclimatise?
Installing vinyl tiles
Q: I need to lay vinyl floor tiles onto existing floorboards. Do I need to prepare the boards before laying the vinyl tiles?
Underlay installation
Q: I recently bought cushion heat flow underlay and was wondering what way up it should be fitted?
Solid wood basement flooring
Q: I want to put solid wood in my basement - previously oak flooring lifted because of damp subflooring (concrete floor: sand, asphelt level, adhesive & oak flooring). What do you suggest?
Ceramic tile to laminate transition
Q: We are in the process of putting down flooring and I have areas of ceramic tile that will meet laminate. I purchased the transition pieces to make this join, however the ceramic tile is taller than the laminate and the track is not tall enough. They do not have a taller size track they tell me but I've spent over £5,000 and can't finish my floor. Can you offer any suggestions?
Installing a new floor
Q: Do you do the fitting too?
Flooring for noise insulation
Q: We are planning to fit a wooden floor - either engineered wood or solid wood (oiled) - in our kitchen over what used to be two rooms. Part of the base is concrete and part wooden floorboards - are there any special considerations? Also can we fit anything that would give us extra sound-proofing? Not because of folks beneath us, but because our children are very noisy and our modern house with plasterboard walls does not damp the sound well? Thanks
Wood flooring and under floor heating
Q: Can I install underfloor heating under wood flooring ? If so how long can I lay the wood floor after the installation of the underfloor heating ? Would you advise installing a wooden floor in a kitchen.
Solid wood flooring installation
Q: Should I use water based flooring adhesive when laying my solid oak floor to ashphalt?
Dispensing with Use of Glue in Flooring Installation
Question: If I set up laminate or vinyl flooring is it necessary to use glue always? Is there any way to dispense with the glues in setting up my home or office floor?
Dispensing with Use of Glue in Flooring Installation
Question: If I set up laminate or vinyl flooring is it necessary to use glue always? Is there any way to dispense with the glues in setting up my home or office floor?
How to Install Concrete Floor
Question: I am planning to renovate my patio, and I was thinking of using concrete floors. However, I want to make this a project of mine, so I do not like anyone to be working on this. Would you help me on how to deal with my concrete floor? How do start and end the installation process? How do I make sure that the concrete floors will last for a very long time?

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