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The floor has a big impact on the overall style of a room so changing it makes a massive difference to how it looks and feels and if you do it DIY, you can get the floor you love for less.
Floating floors
These are the most DIY friendly method of changing your floor covering as they simply go straight over the top of the floor you have. There’s no nailing and glueing as the planks just click together to join. Once it’s down you don’t have to coat them with a surface finish either. Just clean up your mess and you’re done. Laminate floors have finishes that imitate a wide range of natural and stained timbers so you’re sure to find one to suit your home.
DIY TIP: If you’re laying down a hallway and into a room, start laying the floor down the centre of the hallway so it looks straight and work out from there. If you start against a wall in the room, it may look crooked by the time you go down the hallway. Use a string line to make sure the first row is straight.
Vinyl flooring
Vinyl has come a long way since the black and white checkers! These days there is vinyl sheet flooring that imitates a wide range of timbers, stone and tiles. As it comes in large sheets, it’s easy to cover a large area in a short period of time.
DIY TIP: you need to thoroughly prepare the floor before you lay the vinyl, as any defects will show through. Cover old timber floors with sheets of Masonite first to create an even surface. Uneven concrete will need to be covered with floor levelling compound and left to dry before laying vinyl.
Tiles
Tiles add a classy, contemporary feel to your home. On the practical side they are very hard-wearing and impervious to water and stains. Large rectified tiles have very straight, sharp edges allowing you to have minimal grout lines and giving the appearance of a solid stone or concrete floor.
DIY TIP: To lay tiles over a timber floor, you must first put down sheets of fibre cement tile underlay fixed to the floor as per instructions. This creates a stable surface for the tiles, which is not affected by movement in the timber, which would otherwise crack the tiles.
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