Laminate quality compared (Quickstep vs Wickes vs B&Q)

rapidnailer07 · Post by **rapidnailer07** » Mon Dec 28, 2020 12:33 pm

I need to purchase flooring for a few bedrooms. Budget is a bit tight so I've decided to use laminate. The cheapest of the cheap laminate is very thin around 6 to 7mm, I feel buying this is false economy as the quality will be really poor and I'll end up having to redo the floor far sooner than ideal. I'm looking at some of the 12mm laminate boards which seem much better quality. However, all the 12mm offerings have bevelled edges which I'm not keen on. I really like the square edging as this doesn't have the dirt trap of the bevelled edge (I'm not even keen on the micro-bevelled edges ones). From what I can see, it looks like square edging isn't an option until you get to 6 to 7mm thin which is far too thin.

Wickes has a really nice 12mm laminate (https://www.wickes.co.uk/Wickes-Arreton ... k/p/148268) for just £10 per sq m which is a great price but it has bevels.

I'm happy to stretch my budget a bit to get something equivalent with square edging. Is there anywhere I can get good quality 12mm laminate with square edging?

rapidnailer07 · Post by **rapidnailer07** » Mon Dec 28, 2020 2:13 pm

Just spoke a friend and they suggested (without any experience of whether it is a good idea or not) maybe I can use the a think layer of cheap MDF (or other appropriate wood) underneath the thin laminate that has square edge. So I have the normal underlay, a thin layer of cheap MDF wood and then laminate on top. The MDF layer is just to increase the thickness of the thin laminate to make it equivalent to the thicker laminate. Thoughts on whether this would work and whether it is a good idea or not?

fin · Post by **fin** » Mon Dec 28, 2020 3:01 pm

nope deffo not a good idea. your better off with the correct underlay and laminate. you will end up with a bouncy poorly laid floor that will not be covered by any warranties from any manufacturer.

out of interest why do you beleive the thicker is better? honestly the quickstep and other makes are on the 6-7mm sort of thickness. its decent stuff in laminate if not one of the best. i actually have it in my own house and its been down some 7 or 8 years now

the thinner again stuff like the b&q value range is more like 5mm and is absolutely hopeless. infact if i was asked to fit that ever again id increase the price per sq meter to fit it as its such a faff on and id tell them the guarantee is up when i get back in my van.

i dont think ive ever fitted a thicker laminate than the standard quickstep/krono/howdens own brand etc etc that is all in the 7mm thick sort of range. i assumed that the thick stuff had fallen by the wayside over the years in favour of the seemingly standardised 7mm stuff.

fin · Post by **fin** » Mon Dec 28, 2020 3:08 pm

this stuff from howdens is the last lot of laminate i fitted. i laid it in a friends hallway and he then subsequently laid it in the upstairs bedrooms. its the standard 7mm ish thickness and it came in at approximately £11 per sq meter with the vat. obviously you need an account to trade with howdens so youd need to know someone with one of you havent got one yourself (this price was from my account so you may find it differs from branch to branch)
https://www.howdens.com/joinery/floors/ ... ck-sdh3578

this flooring lays very well and if your going onto timber floors then all you need is the green or grey i dont remember now.... foam underlay. it does however have the bevelled edges which nearly every single decent quality laminate actually has. the square edge stuff is usually the cheap budget stuff which ends up getting chipped etc after a few months.

fin · Post by **fin** » Mon Dec 28, 2020 3:10 pm

if you plan to lay laminate on a concrete floor as i said before you need to ensure the floor is flat. if its not a smoothing compound is needed. it also needs to be free of damp. it is advisable/essential to use a vapour barrier on concrete floors.

rapidnailer07 · Post by **rapidnailer07** » Tue Dec 29, 2020 5:30 pm

Short summary:

Need new flooring
Budget is tight so going with laminate
Keener on square edging (don't like the dirt trap that groove edging has)
Keener on thicker boards (ideally 10 or 12mm) for great quality/stability

At Wickes I saw a 12mm laminate for £10 per sq m but it has bevelled edging (https://www.wickes.co.uk/Wickes-Arreton ... k/p/148268).
At B&Q I saw 8mm laminate with square edging for £10 per sq m (https://www.diy.com/departments/goodhom ... 649_BQ.prd)

I'm not sure which of the above 2 is going to be better for me but I have read plenty of people who warn against Wickes/B&Q due to tiles being warped, not manufactured to the same spec, chipping on the edges and overall just being a pig to install. A lot of people have mentioned the brand Quickstep but I've looked online and they seem very expensive (around £20 per sq m for most). They do offer square edging but the max thickness is 8mm.

I then found a website with 7mm Quickstep boards with square edging for less than £12 per sq m (with bulk buy discount): https://www.wood2u.co.uk/laminate/by-br ... oring.html

My question is, of the 3 options, which will be better quality:

Wickes 12mm with bevels
B&Q 8mm with square edging
Quickstep 7mm with square edging

Obviously, I'm making a stretch to get Quickstep but it feels worthwhile if it's going to be better quality. However, I'm worried about the board being only 7mm thick. Or is there a better quality product I can get for under £13 per sq m (this is about the max I can stretch)?

moderator2 · Post by **moderator2** » Tue Dec 29, 2020 6:29 pm

Same question new topic. Threads merged.

fin · Post by **fin** » Tue Dec 29, 2020 7:01 pm

all of the higher end quality laminates are in the 7mm sort of size. the thicker stuff is no good. it covers less area per pack ive never ever ever laid any thick stuff. once its down you will not notice the extra thickness.

if you have any undulations in the sub floor then that will show up on any laminate wether it is 5mm or 15mm the sub floor needs to be reasonably flat

its up to you but the bevel edged laminates are better to lay, and less easily damaged. and basically a better product. trust me ive laid both types.

for your budget the howdens laminate i linked up is a good product. im sure its made by krono.... someone else may know better though.

b&q if its the colours range i tink.... that stuff is alreet. the b&q value stuff is absolutely attrocious.

if its quickstep itll be decent quality.

rapidnailer07 · Post by **rapidnailer07** » Tue Dec 29, 2020 7:15 pm

fin wrote: ↑Tue Dec 29, 2020 7:01 pm all of the higher end quality laminates are in the 7mm sort of size. the thicker stuff is no good. it covers less area per pack ive never ever ever laid any thick stuff. once its down you will not notice the extra thickness.

if you have any undulations in the sub floor then that will show up on any laminate wether it is 5mm or 15mm the sub floor needs to be reasonably flat

its up to you but the <a href="http://www.getbevel.com" class="skimwords-link" target="_blank" data-skimwords-id="2151750" data-skimwords-word="Bevel" data-group-id="0" data-skim-creative="300001" title="" occurrence="1" data-skim-node-id="149:itsuptoyoubutthebeve_1" style="">bevel</a><span style="position: absolute;"></span><span style="position: absolute;"></span> edged laminates are better to lay, and less easily damaged. and basically a better product. trust me ive laid both types.

for your budget the howdens laminate i linked up is a good product. im sure its made by krono.... someone else may know better though.

b&q if its the colours range i tink.... that stuff is alreet. the b&q value stuff is absolutely attrocious.

if its quickstep itll be decent quality.

I've got a renovation company who will be doing the fitting so it won't be DIY. So, any slight differences in fitting hassle won't be my problem. I'm more concerned with the quality after if its fitted.

So Quick Step will still be decent even though Creo is one of their cheapest ranges?

Grumps · Post by **Grumps** » Tue Dec 29, 2020 8:58 pm

The one thing that I noticed with the bevel edged was that, if you laid one row and then used the offcut to start the next row, then there would be a distinct 'angled' line when viewing the finished floor.

Where I have used it, I have set the start of the 2nd row at a random/half overlap of the 1st row and then used the 1st row offcut to commence the 3rd row. The 4th row is then commenced with the offcut from the 2nd row, etc.

This then 'randomises' the lengthwise joints.