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If you are thinking of laying your own laminate flooring then we have a few pointers for you to get you on your way, there are five hints and tips and five pitfall you should avoid, follow our If you are thinking of laying your own laminate flooring then we have a few pointers for you to get you on your way, there are five hints and tips and five pitfall you should avoid, follow our guide and you should have no trouble.

1. Once you have measured the floor to be fitted it is always wise to buy extra laminate to make up for the wastage when you cut your board to size, industry recommendation say that you should buy an extra 10% bigger than the area to be covered.
2. Laminate is an unforgiving floor covering, if the level of the floor is not perfect you might find the quality of the finish is what you want it to be, your floor might bounce in places unless you take measures to avoid it. The options you have would be to lay some self-levelling floor compound to level the floor or you can buy specialised underlay at a higher cost which helps negate undulating surfaces.
3. This leads onto the next point, even if the floor looks fine it is always good practice to use a quality underlay, it helps even out bumps, protects against damp and even helps stop the floor from getting so cold, this is particularly helpful on concrete floors.
4. When you a laying the laminate it is important to leave an expansion gap between the edge of the laminate and the wall, when board get warm and cold they can expand and contract which can cause bowing, a gap of between five and ten centimetres is advised.
5. Once you have fitted the floor with an expansion gap, you will want to finish the edges of with something to improve the aesthetics, you can get laminate trim to match your laminate though we thing skirting board is a better looking option.

Whilst you are laying your floor, be on the lookout for the following pitfalls

1. Never lay on a damp floor or an area that is susceptible to leaks, water coming into contact with your boards will cause them to bow and cause damage very quickly.
2. Don`t buy cheap laminate! Cheap laminate is thinner and won`t last very long or even look as good as other better quality laminates, it can be harder to fit and the wood grains don’t look as good, with this type of flooring you very often get what you pay for.
3. Don`t spend all day cutting boards with a handsaw, it makes the process much more labour intensive an takes much longer, use a jigsaw or even better a specialised laminate cutter to make the job much easier.
4. Get it right first time. Taking up and re-laying the laminate can cause breakages to the tongue and groove and can cause cracks and separation between planks.
5. Don’t rush the job, plan it out and be methodical, mistakes are easily made but not easily rectified.

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