Flooring guides
Practical, no-fluff guides to planning a floor: working out how much to buy, choosing a laying pattern, and cutting with as little waste as possible.
Measuring & quantities
What flooring really costs per square metre, once waste and underlay are included
The advertised price per m² is not what you pay. How waste, underlay, trims and delivery change the real cost of a floor, with worked examples.
Flooring waste percentage: how much extra to buy for every pattern
Waste percentages for every flooring pattern, from 5% for a straight lay to 20% for herringbone, and why offcut reusability decides the number.
How many packs of laminate do I need? Worked examples by room size
Worked examples converting room size to packs of laminate: 3×4 m bedroom, 5×4 m living room, L-shaped hall, plus a quick table for common rooms.
How much flooring do I need? Working out m², waste and packs
How to measure your room, pick the right waste percentage for your laying pattern, and convert square metres into packs of flooring.
How to measure a room for flooring (including L-shapes and alcoves)
How to measure any room for flooring: split irregular shapes into rectangles, measure walls twice to catch out-of-square rooms, and what to skip.
Laying patterns
Brick bond (half-offset) flooring: when to use it and how to plan it
Running bond shifts every row by a fixed fraction of the board, half, third or quarter. When the deliberate rhythm works, and how to stop it colliding with your walls.
Chevron vs herringbone flooring: differences, cuts and cost
Chevron meets in continuous points from mitred boards; herringbone zigzags with rectangular boards. How the two patterns differ in looks, boards, difficulty and waste.
Wood flooring patterns compared: waste, difficulty and looks
Every classic laying pattern side by side (straight lay, running bond, random stagger, herringbone, chevron, basketweave, windmill) with waste percentages and skill levels.
Herringbone flooring layout: planning, starting point, cuts and waste
How to plan a herringbone floor: where the spine goes, how the first rows work, what the angled wall cuts cost, and why 15% to 20% waste is realistic.
Random ashlar / staggered flooring: stagger rules and avoiding H-joints
How a properly random stagger works: minimum joint offsets, why offcut-started rows save the most material, and the H-joints and staircases to avoid.
Which direction should you lay flooring? Light, room shape and joists
The rule of thumb (boards along the longest wall, towards the main light) and the exceptions that override it: narrow rooms, hallways, joists and doorways.
Installation how-to
Laminate flooring in a hallway: which way to lay it and how to make it last
Run the boards along the hall, not across it. Direction, doorway thresholds, starting line and durability for laminate in the busiest floor in the house.
Laminate flooring transition between rooms (strips, doorways and running it through)
Use a T-bar where two floors meet at a doorway, or run one continuous floor through and skip the strip. How to pick the profile and plan the transition.
How long does laminate need to acclimatise? (48 hours, and when you need longer)
Leave laminate flat and unopened in the room it will be laid for at least 48 hours at 18 to 25°C. When concrete, screed or a cold delivery means you need longer.
Skirting boards or laminate flooring first? (and what to do when the skirting is already on)
Flooring first, skirting on top, so the skirting hides the 8 to 12 mm expansion gap. When beading is the better call, and how to undercut fitted skirting.
Where to start laying laminate flooring (and why the first wall decides everything)
Start against the longest, straightest wall, after checking the last row won't be a sliver. How to pick the starting wall, corner and working direction.
Expansion gaps for laminate and LVT: how much, where, and how to hide them
Floating floors need 8 to 12 mm expansion gaps at every wall and fixed object. Where the gaps go, when a room needs mid-floor breaks, and how skirting and trims hide them.
Planning the first and last row: how to avoid sliver cuts
The first row's width decides the last row's width. How to balance the two before laying, why sliver rows fail, and the simple arithmetic that prevents them.
Flooring around doorways, radiator pipes and awkward corners
How to fit boards under door frames, around radiator pipes and past awkward corners: undercutting architraves, drilling pipe holes, and when to use a threshold.
Laying flooring in an L-shaped or irregular room
L-shaped rooms have two widths, two last rows and a corner where rows change length. How to pick the direction, plan both legs, and measure irregular shapes.
Laminate joints lining up? Fixing staircases and H-joints
Spotted a staircase of joints or an H-pattern in your laminate? What counts as a defect, when to relay, and how to plan starters so it can't happen.
Last row of laminate too thin? How to fix it, and the rule that prevents it
Facing a 30 mm sliver at the final wall? Your options mid-job, why thin rips fail, and the first-row arithmetic that prevents the problem entirely.
Ran out of flooring mid-job? What to do (and how to avoid a shade mismatch)
Ran out of laminate or LVT halfway through? How to buy more without a visible batch line, what to do if the range is discontinued, and how to never repeat this.
How to stagger laminate flooring correctly (minimum offsets)
The minimum stagger for laminate is 200 to 300 mm between end joints in neighbouring rows. How to hit it consistently, what patterns satisfy it, and the joints to avoid.
Cutting & waste
Flooring waste by pattern: what 2,250 simulated floors actually measured
We ran a layout optimizer over 250 simulated rooms in 9 laying patterns. Real waste numbers per pattern and room size, measured, not copied from folklore tables.
What a flooring cut list is and why it saves you a pack or more
A cut list tells you which board gets which cut, in laying order, so offcuts get reused instead of binned. What one looks like and why it beats cutting as you go.
How to reduce flooring waste: reusing offcuts as row starters
Six ways to cut flooring waste: offcut-started rows, matching stagger to board length, avoiding sliver rows, and planning the layout before buying.
Tools for cutting laminate, LVT and engineered wood
Which saw for which cut and material: laminate cutters vs jigsaws vs circular saws, what handles rips and pipe holes, and the minimal kit for one room.
Materials
Flooring batch shade mismatch: why boards differ and how to blend them
Two packs of the same decor can differ in shade if the batches differ. How to check batch numbers, blend mixed batches invisibly, and buy so it never matters.
Standard flooring plank sizes and how they change your layout
Common laminate, LVT and engineered board dimensions, and how length and width drive row counts, last-row width, stagger options and waste.
Laminate vs LVT vs engineered wood: layout and cutting differences
The three main click floorings compared from the fitter's side: how they cut, what patterns they support, waste behaviour, and where each wins.