Cost of fitting a laminate/ solid/ semi-solid floor in bedroom?

johndaman66

Hi all,

Could somebody possibly advise me on the approximate cost of fitting both a laminate and semi-solid/ solid timber floor in a small bedroom approx 10.5 square yards. pretty tuned into the cost of flooring as have being checking them in the likes of B&Q, McMahons and a few other smaller local suppliers. Really just want to find out the cost of fitting the flooring.

It is a simple rectangular shaped room so no tricky corners to be dealing with or any of kind of messing and will remove all the furniture myself first so carpenter will have a clean run at it so as to speak.

There is one bit of a snag though. There is a rough timber floor down at the moment which I intend to take up. There are battens underneath to raise the floor up to the height of the hall floor. The floor boards are 3/4 of an inch thick while the battens are 1 inch thick. This means that I will need to raise the floor. In a bit of a pickle here. I know that laminate cant be laid on battens and it ain't even ideal to lay a solid floor on battens for that matter although do-able, or so I've being told. So looks like the floor will need to be raised. I was thinking self leveling compound but a few of the hardware stores advised this would be costly and it would be just as effective to lay a few sheets of plywood to bring up the floor the necessary inch and a half or so. Don't think a concrete screed would take to the existing floor. If somebody could advise me on the best / most cost effective course of action here I would be very appreciative.

In a dilemma whether to go for laminate or the real timber. Many suppliers seem to be plugging the laminate and generally you will seem to get a comparable higher end laminate for less than a comparable real timber floor. Half thinking with the cost of raising the floor the laminate will work out just as expensive and then some. Flip side is it would seem that there would be more work in laying the real timber floor as I believe it needs to be glued together.

There wouldn't be too much in the way of traffic in the room but there would be heavy beds and wardrobes pulled across it from time to time. Hence I think the solid timber may be more suspectable to scratching badly...the laminate might hold up better.

So they are my dilemmas folks. Any pointers or advise would be much appreciated.

kilclon

The battens are on a concrete floor? Why is the hall floor level so much higher than the bedroom? Why not lay on top of existing floor and have a slight lip at the door. Wouldn't be anything major.

johndaman66

kilclon wrote: »

The battens are on a concrete floor? Why is the hall floor level so much higher than the bedroom? Why not lay on top of existing floor and have a slight lip at the door. Wouldn't be anything major.

Thanks for your reply kilclon. The battens underneath are nailed down to the concrete floor.

I'm not sure of the exact reason that hall floor is so much higher than bedroom floor but years back my father took up a carpet floor in hall and laid tiles. He changed interior doors and sadels around the same time and the new sadels he put in were higher. Couldn't tell you his logic really, he wouldn't have being doing everything by the book by any means.

Its an idea to lay the new floor on the existing floor but a few problems with it. The bedroom is used by somebody who is almost disabled. She can hobble about on a zimmer frame to a small extent short distances. Just get the impression she might trip on the lip and have a bad accident as a result. It would probably involve planing the bottom of door. Not sure would this have an impact of the strength of the door?...don't want that to fall apart either.

kilclon

In that case it would be prob best to have hall and room at the same level as you have said. It would depend on the type of door whether or not you can plane the bottom of it.

You should be able to get the floor laid for between 8 and 12 euro/yard plus vat depending on the type of flooring. I like the high grade laminates. Very durable and not very expensive. Should get a good one for around 15 euro a yard. Should cost another 50 - 100e to build up the floor with ply. The cost of the ply itself would depend on the build up required, which depends on the thickness of flooring and underlay chosen. http://www.woodworkers.ie/prices/p_sheet_plywood.shtml gives some prices for ply. Not sure exactly how competitive the prices are at the minute but should give you an idea.