How to buy wooden flooring

How do I work out how much flooring I need?

One of the benefits to having wooden flooring installed over carpet is that there is very little wastage. In fact, with professional fitters you can keep wastage down to as little as 2%.

To work out how much flooring you’ll need, measure your room with a tape measure and round up to the nearest sq metre. Wooden flooring packs tend to come with 2 square metres apiece. You’ll can work out how many packs you need on these measurements.

It’s always advised to buy an extra pack, in case damage is caused to some of the planks (especially when laying yourself). By ‘buying as you need’ you risk turning up to the home store and finding the product out of stock or no longer being sold. Remember, if you buy too much, the chances are you’ll be able to reclaim your money if unopened.

Fitting wooden flooring

There are typically two types of wooden flooring in the UK, based on the way planks will fit together: Tongue and grove flooring and click-lock flooring. The former is much more difficult to fit and it’s always advised to bring in a reputable professional, whilst the latter could be completed DIY. Find out more about both varieties below:

Tongue-and-groove flooring

With tongue and groove flooring, there will be a tongue that sticks out of one plank, slotting into a groove on the adjacent plank.

Once the tongue and groove are connected you have to knock it firmly in place. A mistake can dislodge planks you’ve already fitted. As a result, tongue and groove flooring installations can be quite difficult so it’s always best to get an expert in to do the fitting for you.

Planks will also need gluing together and using an insufficient amount can lead to gaps appearing.
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Click-lock flooring

With click-lock flooring it’s much easier to be installed with DIY and less is likely to go wrong. Click-lock requires a certain action to lock the planks in place and then it won’t move or dislodge.

Click-lock flooring also reduces the chance of gaps appearing because it’s manufactured by machines, so is always very tight fitting.

Another advantage to choosing click-lock flooring over tongue and groove is that they can be unclicked if needed in the future, in case you need to get under the floor.

Tom Crosswell

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