The Flooring Mistakes We See Over and Over in Streatham

Streatham homes stretch out over miles. Georgian terraces close to the common, once-council flats with concrete sub floors, new-build conversions up the high road. No matter what the building is, the same dozen or so mistakes tend to happen time and time again to wood floor fitters london. We’ve arrived at more nightmare jobs than we can remember, and the majority of them could have been prevented.

Let’s have a look what actually can go wrong, and how to avoid it, before your new flooring turns into a nightmare.

Mistake One: Skipping the Acclimatisation Step

Wood (even laminate) needs time to ‘off-gas’ and blend into a room. How warm, how damp all affects it, and it can become slightly volatile (especially as traditional, tongue ‘n’ groove planks are very tight to fit). Some fitters in a hurry will ignore this, and various weeks down the line you’ll find gaps appearing down the middle of the joints or, more alarmingly, the boards cupping as they expand post installation rather than pre.

It stays in the room for at least 48 hours prior to the installations beginning. Such boring details. Makes such a difference though.

Mistake Two: Ignoring the Subfloor

That’s a big one. The old homes in Streatham will often have uneven concrete or timber sub-floors under the new floorboards. Lay the flooring on top without levelling first, and you’ll soon find out.

Creaks.

Hollow echoes. Movements of the floor feel that simply shouldn’t exist.

It’s like painting over a crack in the wall. Everything would seem to work for a week. And then you’d have cracks popping right through. The exact same principle applies to floors.

I’ll come right out with it and state that actually proper fitters routinely check the subfloor before you do. Every.

Single.

Time.

Why DIY and Cheap Fitters Cause More Problems Than They Solve

We know. Laying your own flooring, or paying the cheapest quote you saw flicking through flooring and installation near me one night, seems to make the most logical economy. Sometimes it does. More often it doesn’t.

Another common tale. A Streatham resident decided to lay laminate himself over a prolonged weekend. Nice job on the Friday.

By March, there was a visible crack running along the skirting.

And a curling corner near the radiator. Because they didn’t leave an expansion gap around the edges. Which can be rather expensive.

That expansion gap is more important than you think. Flooring manufactured from wood interacts with temperature and moisture. If it has nowhere to swell, it starts to shove against walls and light fittings, until something gives.

The Underlay Shortcut That Costs You Later

Cheap underlay, or none at all, is another favorit mistake. It looks like an easy option to save a quick pound or two – it isn’t. A thin or absent underlay results in a noisier, colder, firmer-feeling surface and will prematurely age your chosen flooring.

We use the correct underlay on every single job throughout the Streatham area and refuse to cut corners, it makes more sense to do the job correctly to begin with, as opposed to returning later to put it right.

Give us a call on 020 3322 7001 before you settle for a fitter skimping on the basics. We’ll be able to tell you outright if you need your current system redoing.

What Twenty Years of Fitting Floors Has Taught Us

Well, we’ve been in this business for 20 years, so we’ve seen every mistake in the book and probably all of them twice. We’ve been been through it enough times to know a badly laid floor in month 1 will be an owner’s problem for the next 10 years.

Experience manifests itself in the little things most people never think to inquire about. Whether the moisture reading was taken prior to installation. Whether the planks were staggered properly so they didn’t appear as though they were laid in a repeating pattern that looks inexpensive from across the room. Whether the transition strips between rooms were installed flush or left slightly proud and trips you as you venture through.

We’ve laid laminate floors in Streatham flats above shops on the high street, in period conversions close to the green, and in modern developments where the subfloor’s dead flat but the skirting boards could never seem to be. We’ve learned something from every job. Having been doing it for nearly 20 years we know just about most of it already, so you don’t have to.

People Also Ask

What is the most inexpensive way to prevent flooring errors in Streatham?

By getting a fitter who checks your subfloor, provides a decent underlay and allows for acclimatisation, instead of the cheapest quote you can find, you’ll actually reduce your costs over time. A badly installed floor will need to be cut away and replaced after an average of 2 years, and compares to the cost of a good job by twice as much in the long run. We provide a competitively priced way to get your laminate flooring laid in Streatham including comprehensive subfloor checks, quality underlay and correct expansion gaps in the price, not as an upgrade as a lot of cheaper providers will suggest.

This way we keep our prices competitive while avoiding the callbacks that cheaper, rushed installs often incur.

If you want a floor that will still look great in 5 years time, not just 5 months, getting an experienced installation team in right from the start is actually often cheaper.

Book It Right the First Time

Your new floor should become almost invisible in a good way. No squeaks, no uneven gaps, no socks catching on a poorly fitted strip by the door-and all that only happens when you’ve done the basics right.

No matter where you need laminate flooring fitting in Streatham, or if you’re already noticing some quick fixes to your existing floor, don’t let it get worse. Call 020 3322 7001 now or visit flooringfitterslondon.org.uk to book Best Flooring Fitters London. This way, it will be done right first time, and you won’t have to think about your floors for a long while.