Laminate flooring fitting cost: what you are paying for

Subfloor levelling comes first

Laminate floats over the floor beneath it, clicking together rather than being glued down. That makes it forgiving of small marks, but not of dips and humps. If the subfloor is uneven, the joints flex every time you walk over them, they creak, and eventually the locking edges break.

On concrete we level low spots with a compound. On timber, loose boards are screwed down and very uneven floors are overboarded with ply. Our guide on uneven subfloors explains how we decide which.

Underlay choice

The underlay sits between the subfloor and the laminate. On concrete it needs a damp proof layer. Upstairs, an acoustic underlay reduces the hollow sound of footsteps for the room below. Over underfloor heating it needs to let heat through. The right underlay is a small part of the cost but makes a large difference to how the floor sounds and lasts.

• Damp proof underlay over concrete
• Acoustic underlay upstairs
• Low resistance underlay over underfloor heating

Door trimming and architraves

New flooring raises the floor level slightly, so internal doors often need trimming at the bottom to clear it. Door linings and architraves are undercut so the laminate slides beneath them, rather than being cut around with a gap that needs filling. Each doorway adds time, so a hallway with five doors takes longer than a living room with one.

Scotia beading or lifting the skirting

Laminate needs an expansion gap at every wall so it can move with the seasons. That gap is hidden in one of two ways. Scotia or beading is fixed along the bottom of the existing skirting, which is quicker. Lifting the skirting, laying the floor and refitting it gives a cleaner finish with no beading, but takes longer and may need the skirting redecorating afterwards.

If you are planning new skirting anyway, lifting it first is usually the better choice.

Thresholds and transitions

Where laminate meets carpet, tile or another floor, a threshold strip finishes the edge and allows for movement. A continuous floor through several rooms needs fewer thresholds but may need movement breaks in long runs. Planning where these go before fitting keeps them tidy and lined up with door positions.

Room shape, waste and removal

Square rooms produce little waste. Bay windows, chimney breasts, alcoves and long hallways produce more, and take longer to cut. Lifting the old floor, especially glued carpet or old tiles, also adds time before the new floor goes down. We include removal and disposal in the written itemised quote so nothing is a surprise.

How long fitting laminate takes

A single bedroom or living room is often laid in a day once the subfloor is ready, while a whole ground floor with a hallway and several doorways takes longer. The time goes on preparation, cutting around door linings, and finishing the edges. Laminate should be left in the room it is going into for a period before fitting so it settles to the temperature and humidity of the house, which avoids gaps or lifting later on. We plan that into the programme.

Furniture also needs moving out before we start and back once the floor is down. If you are having the room decorated as well, decorating the walls and skirting first and laying the floor last keeps paint off the new surface.