So then, what is the truth? How long does wood flooring actually take to fit? It will depend on a number of factors: How big the room is, what state the existing floor is in and to what finish you want the wood laid and sanded. Then it is down to choosing the right amount of time to get it right.

Everyone asks this first before they ask about price. Fair enough, you have a life to factor in around the builders’ wake through your living room. The blunt yes/no answer: it depends, not the dodgy trader way of answering.

For a typical Kennington flat, one or two rooms, simple laminate over a good sub-floor, we tend to be finished within a day. Sometimes day and a half. Larger jobs, a full-flat fit in a three bed conversion near the Oval, would take two to three days. That’s the min. No one’s fitting a whole 20sqm in an hour, and if someone is, you need to be suspicious.

The Variables That Actually Change the Timeline

The subfloor condition is the one. Kennington’s full of converted period properties and you really can never tell what you’re going to get beneath an old carpet. Occasionally it’s flat dry timber and good to go.

There’s often something uneven, damp here and there or lying in wait with some old glue from the last three times you laid a floor.

Levelling it all takes time. Not a huge amount, generally a half day but it’s a factor.

Room form is another factor. An easily-smoothed rectangular sitting room is fairly fast. A corridor with six doors, an awkward side-turned bay, and a stairwell-up takes more time, since the smoothing cuts have to be exact and the edges tidied up.

So the other is furniture. If a room is completely stripped before we get there, we can knock out an hour or two of delivery time. If not it is added into the schedule, though it does take away from the day.

What a Typical Fitting Day Looks Like

Imagine this. Our installers arrive about 8:30, arrive with kit in, dust sheets laid. We spend an hour doing prep work, inspecting subfloor, noting moisture content, working out where do put the planks so they look laid-out empty-space-ware. It might sound a bit fussy. It isn’t, it’s just the difference between a laid-out appearance and a shambolic one.

After that, the actual cutting and fitting begins. For a medium-sized room, the planks are laid on at a steady pace, one every two or three hours depending on the difficulty in cutting around corners. Skirting boards, transitional strips and final trims are completed late in the day after everything has settled.

Most one-room jobs are finished by late afternoon. Multi-room jobs begin day 2, exactly as we left off.

Why Rushing a Wood Floor Installation Backfires

Certain fitters claim they’ll do everything in the same day-even if it’s a large room on an uneven sub floor. Tempting? Yes, but rushing things leading to settling gaps, squeaky boards or lifting laminate round the edge of the radiator in under twelve months.

We prefer to spend an extra few hours ensuring all is in order with the acclimatisation and subfloor checks rather than deliver a floor that on day one passes the visual test but fails during the winter. That’s not us being slow. That’s us being the wood floor fitters london you don’t need to call back.

Get quotes for flooring installation contractors near me, and you’ll find the quickest quote often isn’t the best. Get clarification on what will be covered during that period.

Subfloor preparation?

Underlay?

Correct expansion joints?

Lack of clarity is a red flag.

Kennington-Specific Factors Worth Knowing

Parking and access really impact on time here. Roads around the Oval and along Kennington Road can be really tight and if our van is sat in traffic looking for a parking space we are not earning during those minutes. Booking a job with good access or giving us a heads up on parking restrictions keeps things efficient.

Older Kennington buildings (yes I’m looking at you Victorian terraces) often have uneven joists under their wood subfloors. We do check for this prior to providing a time frame as it’s pointless guessing and nobody want a surprise on day 2.

Call us on 020 3322 7001 and give us your size rooms and type of construction. We will provide an accurate timescale over the phone and not a wild stab in the dark.

People Also Ask

Are laminate floors faster and cheaper to lay than solid wood in Kennington property?

Answers…yes, by a lot. Laminate sits in a floating layer over the top of the subfloor or existing boards, instead of being nailed down in each individual board. So no long and laborious fitting process here.

A Kennington living room, hallway or most bedrooms can be done in a Friday without a loud sawing zooms overwhelming the neighbours in their block of flats.

Our low cost but professional laminate flooring fitting service capitalizes on the time saving implications here, but without skipping the priming of the subfloor or the quality of the underlay. I love real solid wood floors, but to be quick and inexpensive without settling for a less than perfect final image, for most average homes laminate, by an experienced fitting team, really is the best option. Usually, once people have a rough idea about real time and price, they book laminate.

Ready to Get a Date in the Diary?

No need to guess about time. One quick call and you’ll get an honest answer based on your room, not some figure pulled from the digital ether.

We’ve been fitting laminate in Kennington and the local neighborhoods for more than twenty years, in fact I don’t know of a time when we’ve not been able to meet the time frames. Call 020 3322 7001 today, or visit flooringfitterslondon.org.uk to book Best Flooring Fitters London for a fitting that’s speedy, clean and perfect on the first visit.