At first glance, it can sometimes be difficult to spot the difference between hardwoods and laminate flooring. The Laminate Flooring takes on the look of traditional floors while offering you easy installation and lasting durability. The look that appears to be a natural wood grain design is actually a thin layer (a photographic image) of decor paper under the resilience of a tough protective film that is glued and pressed to a high-density backing board. Laminate Flooring comes in an assortment of wood effect styles and shades, as well as ceramic and stone options.

Laminate flooring advantages are the easy installation, as well as its versatility easy maintenance and hardwearing layers, it also makes this floor an inexpensive option to give you the look and surface feel of the real wooden floors

Majority of Laminate Floors fit together with a clicking system. This is an extremely easy and fast way to fit. Also this makes it an easy option for the D I Y fan. Once the floor is correctly fitted you are able to walk on it straight away.

When you are laying Laminate Flooring over a concrete sub-floor you will first be required to lay down a (DPM) Damp Proof Membrane. This helps protects your Laminate Boards from moisture, and is usually around 5mm in thickness. Over the top of this you need to lay a foam underlay that helps even out any minor irregularities in the sub-floor, also it will act as a sound absorption.

Laminate Flooring has seen a massive growth in the past few years. Laminate has been around Europe for around 15 years.

How Laminate is graded.
Apart from the different warrantees that the manufacturers offer the other details to look for are the standard load and traffic categories. These are broken into two different categories and are as follows:-

Residential

Class 21 – Moderate loads, ideal for bedrooms etc.

Class 22 – Normal loads, ideal for living rooms etc.

Class 23 – Heavy loads, ideal for anywhere in the house (Bathrooms will be stated on individual products)

Commercial

Class 31 – Moderate loads. Hotel Rooms. Meeting Rooms, etc.

Class 32 – Normal loads. Offices, Waiting Rooms, etc.

Class 33 – Heavy loads. Large Offices, Shops, Public Buildings.

Connect Flooring Maintenance
Connect flooring is ready to use as supplied with a hard surface. You should not apply or use wax, polish or varnish. Do not clean the floor with impregnated clothes as these contain oil-based products, which will leave a residue on the floor. This residue will allow dirt to stick to it and make cleaning of the floor very difficult if not impossible.

Regular Dry Maintenance
You can clean the floor as often as you want with a soft brush and pan and the Richard Burbidge Active Dry Fibre mop. Connect flooring is manufactured specifically with this in mind, regular wet cleaning is totally unnecessary and can make cleaning harder and damage the floor.

Occasional Wet Cleaning
Depending on the degree of dirt and dust and the area of use your floor can be cleaned once a month or as little as once a year. Before wet cleaning remove as much dirt and dust as possible as described for regular dry cleaning. Use the Richard Burbidge floor cleaner dissolving 1 cap of cleaner with 5 litres of cold water. Always use a well wrung out cloth out even if you think there will not be enough water. Start at one end of the floor and once finished start from this opposite end and clean a second time, finishing in the original starting spot. By mopping a second time you will achieve a better distribution of cleaner as your mop or cloth may have had too little moisture towards the end of the floor during the first application. Rinse the floor by using a mop or cloth in cold water only again making sure the cloth or mop is well wrung out. Finish by wiping the floor with a clean dry cloth. Do not use other cleaners as these may contain abrasives, which can damage the floor.

Maintaining The floor
To keep the floor looking its best relative humidity should be between 55 to 60% and room temperature between 15 to 20°. Always remove liquids from the floor as quickly as possible, never use too much water during occasional wet cleaning and use effective doormats at all external doors to remove dirt, sand and water from shoes. Protect the floor form impact and scratching by using felt pads on the bottom of all furniture and chair legs. Never use wax, polish or other on Connect flooring and clean only with Richard Burbidge Floor cleaner, do not use other cleaners that may contain abrasives. Wheelchairs and castors should be made of soft rubber suitable for laminate floor use, if they are hard rubber do not use as thy will damage the floor.

What underlays do l need?
For all ground floor installations including both concrete and timber floorboard subfloors use the Richard Burbidge Polythene underlay and Richard Burbidge Connect foam underlay. The polythene underlay acts as a vapour barrier and prevents moisture from penetrating the backface of the flooring. Connect foam underlay helps level out the subfloor, reduces levels of sound, aids impact resistance and takes stress off the joints during and after installation. For first floor installations such as bedrooms over normal domestic areas such as living rooms and kitchens use the Connect foam underlay. For rooms over ground floor garages use both underlays, polythene first followed by the foam underlay. Woodfibre underlay is normally only necessary to level uneven wooden subfloors and should be used inconjunction with polythene and foam underlays.

How soon after purchase can l install the flooring?
Before installing Connect flooring it must be acclimatised for 48 hours in it’s original packing in the room it is to be installed. Stack the flooring flat in the centre of the room. Never stack the flooring on it’s edge or in the corner of a room or against an outside wall.

Can l fix Connect flooring directly to the subfloor?
No. Connect flooring should only ever be installed as a floating floor. It should never be fixed to the subfloor by fixing onto battens or gluing.

Why do l need an expansion gap?
Connect flooring is manufactured mainly from natural materials such as wood fibres. Because the humidity of the room can vary, it is essential that the floor has an expansion gap of at least 9mm around the full perimeter of the floor. The floor must be able to freely expand and contract on ALL sides. If the floor is installed against a restriction such as a door-frame, hearth or staircase riser, when it expands it will do so back on itself leading to ‘peaking’ joints and in extreme cases a bouncy effect as if there is a volume of air beneath the floor.

Do l need to have an expansion gap between rooms?
Yes, it essential that you leave an expansion gap across a door threshold/archway. Each room can have it’s own humidity and temperature that can differ from room to room. Never continue the flooring through doors and room thresholds. When installing in more than one room leave an 18mm expansion gap between the two floors (9mm for each floor) and cover the gap using the floor to floor threshold.

Can l use flooring in a bathroom?
Some of our Connect ranges can be used for bathroom installations. Extra care must be taken when using due to the increased risk of water damage. Make sure the bathroon has adequate ventilation and a relative humidity of 50 to 60% and a temperature of 15 to 20°C. The floor should be installed as normal, with both polythene and foam underlays and a minimum expansion gap of 9mm. All expansion gaps should be filled with a flexible bathroom silicone sealant which can then be covered with skirting or suitable coverstrip. To protect the floor from water damage use a drip mat when getting in and out of the bath and wipe up any water immediately. Under no circumstances should the toilet, bath or sink pedestal ever be screwed directly through the laminate flooring to the subfloor. As the floor must be able to expand and contract freely correct installation is to fix the pedestals to the subfloor and then install the flooring. The expansion gap around the pedestals can be covered using a coloured flexible bathroom silicone sealant.

Quick step laminate flooring is the market leader in laminate flooring and the brand name that we all know, let’s take time out to compare quick step and Richard Burbidge connect laminate flooring.

Quick Step laminate flooring comes in various thicknesses and in many styles to suite your room. They offer a guarantee with all their laminate flooring but do not recommend there laminate for use in any wet areas such as the kitchen or bathroom and guarantees range from 10 years to 25 years.

Do not be fooled into thinking that they are the only ones with a unique clic system even though their laminate clic system is of good quality, the market is exhausted with it and now people are looking for, and want a change.

Richard Burbidge is a manufacturer and supplier of high quality multi range laminate flooring equal to any of the top names on the market. They do not believe in flooding the market with their ranges as the proof is in their product so only so many suppliers are handpicked to retail this high quality beautifully made Clic Connecting laminate flooring.

From the 7mm, 8mm 9mm and 12mm the quality stays the same, Oaks, Walnuts, Maple, Beech, Cherry and tile effects are all made with the same high quality finish that gives the impression of owning a real solid floor. They have laminate flooring for bathrooms and kitchens which is a rarity as most manufacturers tend to shy away from these areas; all but one of their products comes with a LIFETIME GUARANTEE. The laminate boards are made the same way as the quick step brand, but have the added advantage of being able to use most of the ranges in known wet areas. The Clic Connecting system is easy and versatile for use of D.I.Y. Fitting. Some of the Connect laminate flooring ranges also have a built in sound absorbing system for use in bedrooms and apartments.

Connect Laminate flooring gives you the chance of all the looks and textures available, Modern, Authentic, Rustic, Textured, 3 and 2 Strip and Plank finishes. Grooves on two sides and four sides are available which gives the definition of the floor, impersonating the look of spending a fortune where instead you have paid an inexpensive price for an expensive look that you get with solid or engineered wood flooring. All Accessories are available for all Connect laminate flooring to give you the final touches of making a room look special. Pack sizes in the Connect laminate flooring ranges are bigger and the price slightly cheaper and the look FABULOUS.

Underfloor Heating General Information

Richard Burbidge Connect flooring can be installed on top of ‘low temperature hot water’ underfloor heating systems only. It cannot be installed with electric floor heating or storage heaters. If you are in any doubt as to the suitability and compatibility of your underfloor heating system with laminated flooring please check with you underfloor heating supplier and/or manufacturer.

Richard Burbidge Lifestyle flooring is not recommended as suitable for underfloor heating installations.
Connect flooring should be installed as normal, as a floating floor with a minimum 9mm expansion gap around the full perimeter of the floor using the appropriate Richard Burbidge polythene and foam underlays with the exception of wood-fibre underlay which is unsuitable for use with underfloor heating.

Installation instructions for Connect are detailed on the back of flooring labels contained in every pack of Richard Burbidge flooring and must be used in conjunction with these instructions.

The subfloor must be structurally sound, clean, level and thoroughly dry. Boards should be left for a minimum of 2 days to acclimatise.
Concrete base floors

The type of concrete floor and the method by which it was installed when combined with the floor heating, must comply with the instructions of the suppliers of both the concrete and underfloor heating.
To obtain an even temperature over the whole floor area, the maximum distance between the heating elements must not exceed 30cm. The depth of the pipes should be defined by the underfloor heating suppliers.

The concrete must be sufficiently dry, maximum 1.5 % CM method, before the laminate flooring is installed. Wait a minimum of 21 days after the concrete floor has been laid before switching on the floor heating, and run the floor heating for at least 14 days before installing the laminated flooring, in temperature increments of max 5oC. Run the heating at 50 % capacity for 14 days and 100 % for the last 2 days.

Underfloor Heating

The heating system should be switched off before installing the flooring. The maximum floor temperature should be 18oC. After installation, wait at least 24 hrs before switching the heating back on. This should be done in increments of 5oC daily, to a maximum contact temperature of 28oC. Please note that the maximum hot water temperature should not exceed 50oC.

Always reduce and increase the temperature in increments at the end and beginning of the heating season/period.

It is important that the relative air humidity is not too dry during the heating period/season. At 18-22oC (64-71oF) there should be a guaranteed relative humidity of 50%. If necessary a humidifier should be installed.

A pre-heating report should be drawn up, following the advice and instructions of the system/heating installer. This should be kept for future reference. During the heating season open joints between panels can occur and this must be accepted.