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.