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So, Had a kitchen fitted and a large 45 Sq m open plan kitchen/ living area, but ran out of money to finish the flooring.
So a few months of saving mean I now have the cash to buy the flooring so figured I'd have a crack myself.
Pretty confident in most bits, the skirting is off and the plinths have been cut to allow the floor to fit under so no issue at the edges, but want to avoid nasty trim bits which is where I have an issue.
the breakfast bar has nice gloss white backs on the units that go all the way to the chipboard floor. How do I lay up against this or do I have no choice but to use a scotia trim?
kitchen is from Howdens if that makes a difference...
Advice and tips appreciated...
Boringly I can answer all you're questions.
I take it the floor is a click system. You'll need some wood glue, ideally MDF specific. A square tapping block, if you can find a bespoke one a square wood block half the height of a house brick will do. A stanley knife. Ideally a table saw but if not a jigsaw with laminate blades.
Usually start on the longest wall. Remove the rear tounge from floor where it backs against the wall and allow 6mm minimum expansion gap and add spacers or weges to maintain the gap. With regard to the breakfast bar you'll have to leave a gap that'll need covering. Too risky to go tight in a high moisture content area like kitchen. If you want something contemporary looking maybe use square section MDF, prime it and spray it gloss white.
Going under the plinths with the floor will require you to remove the ridge from the tounge side/end (Stanley) of the floor and gently tap it together (tapping block). Use glue on the removed tounge. You'll have to do this as the click system of the floor requires a 15 degree tilt to engage.
Anyway enough of that. Good luck!
Edit: take your time! Can't stress that enough. It's a big puzzle and the time taken to think what is going to happen two rows of floor over is key.
save more and buy a decent floor. cheap laminate is crap and the decent stuff is only slightly cheaper than an alternative
OKay thanks for the tips, looking at it all again, some of the units, where the washing machine and oven are, have a solid side that goes all the way to the floor about 10-12mm thick. These are proud of the plinths so will need to be floored up to. Not described very well but as can be seen at the end of the unit in the pic below and below the drawers in the far run..
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DO i go tight here or amd i bext cutting the bottoms off carefully and laying the floor under...
they'll just be scrwed to the units - best bet is to take them off and trim off the thickness of the flooring and underlay (this is what fitters will have done when fitting), floor underneath and refit the panels - you have to allow for the flooring to move so butting right upto stuff is a bit of a no-no.
with the end panels see if you can take them off and refit on top of the floor the ones by the drawers you should be able to undercut
do not go Tight up to anything solid if needs a gap for expansion / contraction
[hijack]
trout can you check email from me a week or two back re: passubio please? Cheers Luke
[/hijack]
Checked and can`t find owt Luke ??
I'll resend
any tips for the undercutting bit, its laminated gloss stuff.
Was thinkung trim the tops of the end panels to get a nicer finish at the bottom and run a thin bead of sealent round the top to tidy it up..
but the undercutting sonds frought with danger...hire a door bottom saw??
take the panel off (there'll be a few screw heads int he cupbaord it's attached to and use a fine bladed jig saw with a guide or a guided circular saw with a blade designed for laminate.
As you say, a bead of sealant will hide any slight variation in the saw cut/slight splintering.
[trout ygm]
was thinking more of the leg type thing between units that cannot come off (the bit under the drawers in the pic)
the plinth at the bottom?
they're normally just clipped to the legs on the cabinets - once you have a side off you should be able to see this and there's often a few mm of adjustment - it's possible they won;t meet the bottom of the cabinets themselves so you can just raise them up a bit.
Don't be using a circular on the face side, it'll spelch the lamination to ****. Personally as there's not a lot of cutting I'd use a nice fine toothed handsaw. You can cut it pretty damn tight to the floor on the vertical as it won't expand that way as much as it needs to laterally! Then mask either side and seal with a flexible product of the correct colour.
Just read your last post, are you referring to the mid panel on the right of the drawers on the main run of units and not the island?
yes the vertical mid panel that runs to the floor thqat the plinth either side buts up to
you can undercut the panels using a std fine tooth saw 20" handsaw.
Remove the plinths and fix a couple of offcuts of laminate or similar thickness ply to the floor either side of the panel as a guide. Apply a bit of pressure to the side of the saw blade with one hand approx half way along the blade - there will be enough flex in the saw blade to allow it to bend slightly and give a horizontal cut.
Or lay the floor first. Sorry. Igmc
The middle panels will probably be full depth, as a few above have said, flip a piece of laminate onto the floor and use a fine pull saw or panel saw across the top of it to notch the panel as far as the cabonet legs then chisel out the scrap. slide floor under panel, hey presto!
And on the Seventh Day, He created the Multitool and laminate fitters the world over rejoiced! 😀