Floating floorboards

T

TMNT

So today I visited ikea and found a few floorboards for 10 to $15 per Sqm

What's everyone's experience with DIY floorboards as opposed to polishing or tiling,

Obviously the bathroom will be tiles, I feel tiles look better , but more time consuming even though the cost is the same

How hard is it to do the fbs DIY? And do I just use underlay?
 
my dad and I laid laminate floor boards in my IP. We had no experience at all, just watched a few videos on youtubes for tips.
Was pretty easy once we got the hang of the things, trickiest bits is cutting around the edges of doors and things.

dont forget to leave an expansion gap of at least 5 to 10mm around all the edges
 
floorboards

I've done real and fake (laminate). I'm not much of a handyman but I managed to do a pretty good job according to my wife.
With the solid boards make sure you have the right tools (as with all jobs) such as the weird thing you use (pinch bar?) to knock the last boards which are up against the wall into place so the tongue and groove are secure. I bought a kit with this tool, a number of wedges to use to make sure you leave the correct expansion gap and some other useful things.
The laminate were a little easier as they are thinner, easier to cut and put together.
Do clear the room out entirely, don't try to work around furniture. If they need glueing don't overdo the glue in the groove. Undercut door frames.
And yes, you do need the correct underlay. You also need to make sure the floor is almost perfectly level. I used a special pour on leveller on our concrete floors.
Plenty of detailed instructions on the net but I think I just used the instructions on the packaging.
 
Tanks everyone

Definitely will give it a shot

Not too sure whether to do the bad rooms with floating boards and leave the good rooms with polishing, or do all them as floating

So for cheap and nasty Ips,does floating ones look better then say tiles? I guess real polished would look better however, they will cost more?
 
You will also need the edging. Is it called beading?

I've laid them in an IP where workmanship was not important. The job was 98%. I made the mistake of cutting around intersecting doors on corners instead of just cutting a space underneath.

When I put them in out PPOR we used workmen.

Floating looks really good- a fair floating job looks far better than a fair polishing job.

In Canberra I do carpets in bedrooms, tiles in wet areas and floating elsewhere.

I wouldn't expect the ones at $10-$15 psm to be great quality, but they will do the job if you just want a cosmetic makeover.
 
Just make sure you buy a Multi Tool when laying floorboards so you can cut into door architraves etc.
I use one everyday and use a Bosch one that cost $149 at Bunnings (I'm a tradie doing robes and kitchens) and they are the best tool I have ever owned.DON'T buy one of the cheap ones, they don't last much longer than 4 minutes in my experience.
I would also invest in a cheap drop saw too (Ozito etc). It will save you loads of time when cutting the boards to length, and you can always use it in the future for other little projects.
PLAN where you want to start laying the boards. There are plenty of video's on Youtube which is what I did when a mate wanted me to do his flooring.
Allow the 10 mm gap for expansion, and buy the lengths of 'Scotia' that you will need to cover the gap. I would recommend at least a minimum width of 15 to 20mm from my experience.
Just make sure you do your homework before you start and buy all the tools you need
 
geoffw said:
I wouldn't expect the ones at $10-$15 psm to be great quality, but they will do the job if you just want a cosmetic makeover.
Click to expand...

My thoughts exactly.

I'd be inclined to splash out a little bit more and buy something that's a bit thicker, durable and also looks a bit nicer (can't hurt for vals and resale).

Cheers

Jamie
 
Plan your job

I went to a lot of effort to make sure I had. Boards even with @ the walls
So you do not have a sliver of a board on any wall
They are not hard to lay at all a good idea of spacing out the joins and plan ahead and it st easy
I finished my entire downstairs of ppor and it came up great
 
I would recommend to thoroughly check the level of your flooring before any work commence.. Otherwise you will get the nasty squeak that will never go away
 
TMNT said:
So today I visited ikea and found a few floorboards for 10 to $15 per Sqm

What's everyone's experience with DIY floorboards as opposed to polishing or tiling,

Obviously the bathroom will be tiles, I feel tiles look better , but more time consuming even though the cost is the same

How hard is it to do the fbs DIY? And do I just use underlay?
Click to expand...
A very simple way is just use carpet tiles,fast easy to lay and they self level out the floors,i have installed them in every property we control and a normal 3 bed room house works out at under $400.00,i have had a look at IKEA'S floors,but the cost factor with install and strip-out is just to high.
imho..
http://www.carpettiles1.com.au/clearance_stock.php

http://www.continentalcarpets.com.au/
 
zapoix. said:
I went to a lot of effort to make sure I had. Boards even with @ the walls
So you do not have a sliver of a board on any wall
They are not hard to lay at all a good idea of spacing out the joins and plan ahead and it st easy
I finished my entire downstairs of ppor and it came up great
Click to expand...

This is what I found most challenging, you have to work out your cuts, where you'll start etc.

I used engeering wooden flooring I bought cheap from eBay, it's quality stuff and can be sanded back and re-laquered down the track. It was left overs from a job.

I just did around 20m2 in an IP, here's what i bought

Floor laying kit - has the pry bar, spacers, plastic block to tap boards together ~ $30 from bunnings i think.

Ozito Drop Saw - this is great if you use quads around skirts as it does the 45 angle cuts too. ~$120

Ozito circular saw - ~$40 had to buy this towards the end as I had to cut the last boards lenght ways.

Ozito multi tool - ~$70 (I think) this was for the undercuts for door trims.

Underlay - this was a foam underlay specifically for the flooring, was very cheap.

PVA Cross bond glue ~ $10, had to use this for the type of flooring I bought.

Quad ~ $15 pre-primed in white, used around the edges to allow expansion.

I had other basic tools, hammer, set square etc.

I watched a few video's on Youtube.

My concrete slab floor wasn't that even, but I went over it anyway figuring the underlay would provide some cushioning. I'd previously had a nightmare attempt at levelling a bathroom floor so didn't want to go through that again!

Some pics



 
Last edited:
Wow, that looks fantastic,

Unfortunately the 10 and 15 at ikea are a very light dull colour, I think the glossy ones, that I doubt are anywhere near as glosssy yours , were 25 per Sqm

Oh, I'm trying to keep away from carpet or carpet tiles , due to maintenance issues
 
Personally I don't like the lighter colours. I see the darker colours as adding just a little more wow factor. Don't be driven just by the cost. You want tenants to see your property as desirable.
 
willair said:
A very simple way is just use carpet tiles,fast easy to lay and they self level out the floors,i have installed them in every property we control and a normal 3 bed room house works out at under $400.00,i have had a look at IKEA'S floors,but the cost factor with install and strip-out is just to high.
imho..
http://www.carpettiles1.com.au/clearance_stock.php

http://www.continentalcarpets.com.au/
Click to expand...

This is quite interesting...can you elaborate on how it does the "self-levelling"??
 
it looks like to get that really glossy look, you need to buy the glossy laminate tiles,

ive found one for $23 per sqm, which is quite more compared to the $10 or $15 per sqm ,

is there really a price difference for gloss vs non gloss (ie is it a marketing gimmick)
 
a former contact of mine told me of a $10 per sqm floating floorbaoard with underlay already attached to it,

has anybody managed to get them this cheap?
 
Levelling pre floating floor

I had fun trying to level my uneven concrete floor before laying the floating boards. Sure the correct underlay will help a bit and also help to avoid squeaks but a level floor is your best bet. If you read all the instructions it tells you how many millimetres of dip you can have over what length for optimum laying!

I tried using a product made here in Australia, who's name completely slips my mind, Vibro or something like that. Basically it is like cement, you mix it with water, quite thinly and pour it on and it finds its own level. You then lay straight over the top. I think I mixed it too thick so it didn't work very well. I think it is polyurethane or something so it also acts as a moisture barrier.

As in all jobs, the preparation is the key to doing a good job.
 
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