Laminate flooring in Batumi: subfloor, underlay, gaps

Where we lay laminate and which kind we choose

We lay laminate in bedrooms, the living room and a study, if the apartment is lived in all year round and is aired or dehumidified in winter. For the hallway, the kitchen and by the balcony door we recommend click SPC vinyl or porcelain tiles: the floor there is mopped more often, and water from shoes, from under the dishwasher or from the balcony threshold sooner or later gets into the joints between the boards. If you are deciding what to lay in each room, see our comparison of laminate and SPC vinyl.

We use class 32–33 laminate with impregnated click joints. Before laying, the packs lie unopened for two days in the room where the boards will go down.

Screed for laminate: flatness and moisture

Laminate forgives more than glue-down vinyl, but a level difference of more than 2 mm under a two-metre straightedge we correct before laying. On a bump the board rocks, and the joint clicks with every step. We grind down bumps and fill dips and cracks with repair compound, and if the whole room is uneven, we level all of it. If the screed is being poured from scratch, the order of work and the timings are described on the page about new screed and how it dries.

In a new build, what most often ruins laminate is damp screed. A cement layer several centimetres thick takes weeks to dry, and even longer in a closed apartment in winter. For cement screed, laminate instructions usually allow a moisture content of no more than 2% by the carbide method. We measure it at several points, by the external walls and in the middle of the room, and lay the boards once every point is within the limit. In winter a dehumidifier running with the windows closed helps the screed dry out fully.

Vapour barrier and underlay for laminate

On concrete we first lay polyethylene film, which the instructions for almost every range require. We use 200-micron film, laid with an overlap of about 20 cm, with the joints taped and the edges turned up the wall behind the skirting. If the underlay has its own vapour barrier layer, we don't lay separate film, and we tape the underlay joints with tape from the same system.

The underlay itself is dense: extruded polystyrene, polyurethane with a mineral filler, or cork, usually 2–3 mm, unless the range instructions call for something else. A heavy mineral underlay is better at deadening the sound of heels in the room itself. For the neighbours below, a thin underlay helps only a little: the only thing that noticeably cuts footstep noise for them is floor soundproofing under the screed.

How we lay it: layout, gaps, doorways

We work out the layout before starting. The boards usually run along the light from the window, the last row is no narrower than 5 cm, and the end joints in neighbouring rows are staggered by at least 30 cm. A narrow row at the wall and end joints close to each other weaken the floor and catch the eye.

We take the gap at walls, pipes and door frames from the range instructions, and every brand has its own figures. For Kronotex, for example, it is 10 mm on all sides, and without a dividing profile its laminate may be laid up to 12 m along the boards and up to 8 m across them. This manufacturer also asks for doorways between rooms to be separated with a profile. We undercut the door frames with a saw to the height of the board plus underlay, and the laminate goes under them. Skirting is fixed to the wall only.

Herringbone is assembled from two types of board, left and right, working out from the centre line of the room. There is more cutting, and the base has to be flatter, so the work costs more.

What laying laminate flooring in Batumi costs

Laying laminate costs from 20 to 30 ₾ per m². That is the price of the labour: laying the film and underlay, cutting the boards, working around pipes and undercutting the door frames. Materials are paid for separately, and you can buy them yourself or leave it to us, working from a materials list: in our table, laminate costs from 66 ₾ per m² and underlay from 9 ₾. Herringbone costs from 28 to 42 ₾ per m² in labour, because it takes more time and more cutting. We fit skirting from 13 ₾ per linear metre.

If there is an old floor covering, removing the old floor costs from 12 to 18 ₾ per m², and levelling with a self-levelling layer from 14 to 18 ₾ per m² in labour. Small rooms with niches, many doorways and carrying materials up without a lift push the price towards the upper end. The final cost is set after measuring up and agreeing the estimate.

Laying mistakes you can see at inspection

• the boards were laid on damp screed, and a few weeks later the edges lift, first by the external wall;
• there is no gap at a pipe or under a door frame, and the floor rises in a hump in the middle of the room;
• the end joints in neighbouring rows almost line up, and over time the floor opens along that line;
• the laminate runs tight against the balcony door frame, with no profile and no gap;
• a long apartment has no profiles in the doorways, and the floor by turns buckles and opens up at the ends of the boards.

At inspection we walk through every room, listen to the joints and look at the end joints in the light from the window. You see the gap at the walls in the photos the site foreman takes around the perimeter before the skirting goes on. By then the report already holds photos of the screed with the moisture meter readings and of the underlay before laying.