The Streatham housing stock is a complicated beast. Old Edwardian terraces with original joists and all the quirks that come with them. Ex-council flats sitting on concrete slabs and ghosted chipboard in conversions that’s already warped. Three different subfloors, three different battles.
We’re Best Flooring Fitters London, and subfloor prep is the difference between a laminate floor you love and one you hate. Not the boards themselves. What’s under them.
What Is Actually Under Your Floor
Rip up an old carpet in a Streatham Victorian terrace and you’ll usually find timber joists with boards nailed directly across. Small gaps between boards. The reason your last installer had squeaks in the hallway from the get-go.
Larger gaps. Dips you never notice until you’re standing on a tilt in the new kitchen. That sort of thing. It’s not the end of the world; it’s just how old floors are sometimes.
Newer flats nearby on the High Road sit on a concrete slab instead. More trouble. Concrete takes longer to release moisture than most people imagine. And laminate laid on damp concrete warps and lifts within weeks.
Skip a subfloor prep in a situation like that and your new floor is a ticking clock. We don’t gamble. We test, we level, we fit.
Moisture Is the Unknown Enemy
Most homeowners never find out that laminate boards aren’t the problem. The real problem is moisture. In the floor or subfloor it was trapped underneath, and nobody took a moment to test for it first.
We bring a moisture meter to every job, concrete or timber. Anything above the safe threshold gets a damp-proof membrane first. Skip that step and a bubble will form in your new floor a year from installation, usually under the radiator.
The commonest issue with many of Streatham’s older housing stock, especially around the Common, is holding onto groundwater after a year in winter. We take that into account before giving a quote, not after the problem has already happened.
Leveling Out the Unevenness
The single thing that’s sure to ruin a laminate is an uneven subfloor. One step across the room and you feel every high spot, every lousy bit where a previous fitter left a crack and old boards banged over it.
Self-levelling compound will level concrete floors with dips or slopes in the middle. Plywood sheets will go over tired old floors to smooth out pitted old floors. Either way, the aim is the same: a laminal floor you walk across that feels solid underfoot, not springy or soft.
Worst-case scenario we’ve fixed in Streatham: a floor and installation that had one or more subfloors that didn’t get covered in leveling compound. A flawless-looking laminate on installation day. A month later the gaps are growing between boards as the floor settles unevenly.
Getting the Boards Ready Beforehand
Laminate boards need acclimatising to the room before fitting, not hours but days if possible. Wood and wood-effect products expand and contract with humidity, and a board fitted straight into a cold van will move once it’s warmed up.
Other outfits skip this step to make a quick turnaround. We don’t, because a floor that shifts within a few weeks simply costs us money to fix, and it’s a headache for you.
The Underlay Matters
Underlay is often an afterthought, sometimes a mandatory element of a job for soundproofing purposes. Not the right underlay for the job and it’ll not absorb sounds, not level out tiny imperfections in the subfloor, not provide extra insulation against the cold slab below.
Sometimes those cheap standard underlays let the neighbours below hear every footstep. Other times a thicker underlay helps you up against the Common banish cold in the winter. We bring matching underlay to the actual building, not a default that suits all needs.
Skirting and Transition Strips
Here’s another part of subfloor prep everyone tends to forget about. When you install new flooring the new height sometimes needs a little lifting in the skirting boards, and transitioning between rooms where the floors aren’t the same height requires transition strips at the thresholds.
Particularly important between rooms where furniture will be moving through the doorway. Particularly difficult in places where the job isn’t straight flooring, but correct overall finishing. We do both as part of the job, rather than leave you with a botched job and a second tradesperson in a few years.
Frequently Asked Questions: Should You Replace the Subfloor Before Laminate?
In most cases no, which is good news if you’re concerned about spending time and money in the old things that have been there since the industry was invented.
Most homes in Streatham just need levelling, moisture testing and the right underlay. Only a hole in a joist or a sinking concrete slab should require subfloor replacement, and even then only in part. Planning a visit is worth the cost in the long run.
What Experienced Fitters Bring to the Job
Twenty years of working in homes from the time our grandparents raised us means that we’ve encountered every old and new subfloor. Each fitter has a moisture meter as standard, not a luxury accessory to bring out when you get to the end of a job and you’re feeling lucky.
We have full public liability insurance. Each fitter is DBS checked before entering your home. Everything we do comes with a written guarantee for both materials and fitting, so you can rest assured that your subfloor will be correct and well-fitted in the long-term.
Subfloor Preparation for Local Landlords
We’ve handled subfloor prep in most Streatham properties, particularly in the multiple-occupancy flats for landlords and property managers. Those jobs get checked by the local agents and staffing agencies and often require the same attention to detail and sealing of subfloor and joists as a good residential fit-out.
It’s all handled to our own high standards, so you never have to add the cost of a missing subfloor or incorrect leveling to your list of surprise bills.
Get the Prep Right the First Time
Call Wood Floor Fitters London before you buy a single plank. A simple survey will tell us whether you need levelling, testing for damp, or just a quick clean to prepare the subfloor before ordering in the materials.
Book early if you want your new floor installed before winter. Your slots start filling as soon as the nights get longer and everyone needs a new floor before they go full-on family-hosting mode again in December.
Get a quote or book a visit today on 020 3322 7001 or from our site at flooringfitterslondon.org.uk. We take care of the subfloor work that nobody notices until it goes wrong, and that nobody has time for in the normal run of things. A good floor starts underneath, not on top.