DIY advice... kitchen flooring

[TheDoctor]

When NT and I were debating the flooring in our new bedroom and bathroom, and quailing at the cost, I joked "All I need to do is find 40 square metres of laminate flooring in the recycling" - it's funny how often little things we need do turn up*.

A few weeks later, I found a marketing folder from a flooring manufacturer, which had a couple of dozen little samples stuck to it, each a couple of square inches. I took it over at the weekend and said "Well, it's a start!"

You've got the start of a chessboard then?

 

[Aperitif]

that's good advice.


Regarding rearranging the units.... I'll be left with a half inch* gap between the oven and units on either side. Is this enough?

*that's around 12.7mm to those born after 1980.

Nail some puff pastry to either kitchen unit and slide the oven into place. The residual heat will cook the pastry and complete the perfect seal. Don't go paying Archie for shoddy advice now...

 

[Archie_tect]

If you buy a packet of chocolate 'animal-shaped' biscuits, never eat them if the seal is broken.

 

[Arch]

You've got the start of a chessboard then?

Well, except they are all slightly different shades of brown...

 

[Trembler49]

Trembler... you can't lay ceramic tiles onto timber joist floors... well, you can but you'd need to stiffen the structure up and ideally lay 22mm chipboard or 18mm ply sheets down in lieu of hacked about softwood T+G boards, rigid tiles will crack and lift with the movement...

OK, you know what you need to do, now get on with it!

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

care to elaborate chaps?

I've had cork tiles before with no issues, apart from my shoddy application of the sealant.

Nice and thick so great insulation on my concrete floor. Hard wearing too. We've had ours down for 23+ years and still going pretty strong. Over the years it has taken a lot of hammer. It's time to replace it now tho' as it is showing it's age. I'll go that vinyl route again

 

[Archie_tect]

OK, you know what you need to do, now get on with it!

Monty, I think you'd better just get on with it... Trembler's had enough- and would like less thought and more deed- don't give him problems, give him solutions. He didn't get where he is today by thinking about things too much. Super. Great.

 

[MontyVeda]

Monty, I think you'd better just get on with it... .

I've made a plan... on graph paper!

but there's an order of play which starts with stripping the 6 drawer chest and varnishing it before it moves to the bedroom. Building a unit for the new sink, rearrange existing units and fit new worktops. Then painting walls and ceiling, and add splashbacks. Then put a load of shelves up... then i can start on the floor.

 

[slowmotion]

One of my favourite books from 70s/80s times. I used to steal the metal bread 'crates' in order to pose my socks and pants etc in proper fashion of the time. Decking plate was de rigeur... Great pointer to style that changed a lot of things...should you get the chance to peruse a copy of this book.

A book much loved by people who like to use a manhole cover as a butter dish. It think that's what Sir Leslie Patterson said.

 

[dellzeqq]

http://www.forbo-flooring.com/Commercial-flooring/Products/Linoleum/

or, if you can bear the step at the edge.....bamboo. Check it out.

for general interior design advice one should go here.........
http://unhappyhipsters.com/

 

[MontyVeda]

Not a flooring question... but a stupid one no doubt.

Kitchen worktops... am I a fool thinking i can cut it with a hand saw?

I've got a jig saw, but not a good one, and they're crap for straight lines.
I've got a scroll saw, but the throat ain't a meter deep and it's not really built for 40mm stuff... plus it's also crap for straight lines.
I've got a hand saw... a good one... well several, Stanley jet cut and fat max, not those £3.99 wilko jobbies and can confidently cut long and straight by hand.

I know a circular saw is best... but i don't have one and don't really want to buy a cheap one for just three cuts.

I don't mind sweating and spending half an hour on each cut... and i'm prepared for the saw to be blunt after the event... am i being unrealistic thinking i can do it with a handsaw?

 

[Fnaar]

[QUOTE 2766313, member: 259"]Well, if you want to combine the two, I'm sure I've got a couple of orange 12 inch records. Take Me I'm Yours by Squeeze, and another one which I think must have been so embarrassingly awful that my mind has blanked all memories of it out apart from the colour.[/quote]
I've got a pink 12 incher which I'll happily decorate your kitchen with
'Miss You' by the Rolling Stones.

 

[MontyVeda]

what about a chopper?

 

[asterix]

hmmm... I do have about 1500 of those and could do with a cull.

Lay on floor, pour on resin, polish.... would certainly be a talking point.

What if you mistakenly culled a fabulously rare pressing and for years after it would be there, staring up at you through the resin? That would be a good talking point.. In fact you should do that.

But yes, proper vinyl has been a good choice for us. We also have the textured stuff in the bathroom that is perfectly skid-proof. Don't recall it was labelled as such.