room planning & preparation
When looking to have new flooring laid it is important to undertake planning and preparation. You will need to consider the space where you wish to lay the new flooring, as well as checking which level of durability is most practical. If you’re looking to combine your new flooring with the luxury of underfloor heating, you’ll need to choose not only a flooring that is suitable, but an underlay too! We’ve included some top tips on measuring up – although we offer a free measuring service should you not feel confident in doing it yourself.
Space
When looking for your new flooring it is important to consider the space that you wish to fill. If you have a small room, it is likely you’ll want to make the room look bigger, however if you have a large room, you may be looking to make it feel cosy and homely. Ensure you choose the right flooring by weighing up all the options.
Our Carpetright Visualiser tool can help you understand which flooring suits certain rooms in your home. Take a photo and experience the magic of changing the floor in your own room or use one of our example rooms for inspiration and guidance!
Your lifestyle and your flooring
The room you are looking to refresh may see daily hustle and bustle, particularly if you have a home that is bursting with life. If this is the case, you’ll need to ensure you choose a durable and hardwearing flooring type, fear not, this does not mean you need to compromise on style!
Throughout our flooring offering we have huge variety, suitable for various different lifestyles. It is important to consider the practicality of your new flooring – look out for the room suitability symbols that will help you with your decision making.
Opting for the luxury of underfloor heating?
If you choose to purchase hard flooring, you may opt for underflooring heating. If this is the case you should check the suitability of the product for this prior to purchase. When buying underlay you’ll also need to bear in mind not all underlay is suitable to be used if underfloor heating is being installed.
The specialist underlay has a low tog rating, it is designed to allow air to circulate letting heat penetrate through the floor. If you’re unsure, why not speak with one of our Carpetright flooring experts? You can book a free no obligation home consultation online today by clicking here.
A little help on measuring up
The preparations of having new flooring laid holds great importance. The key part is measuring the room accurately to ensure you have the right amount of flooring delivered to install. We advise that you measure your room twice to be certain.
- Draw a simple diagram of the room in which you are choosing flooring for. These drawings do not need to be perfect, the importance lies with the measurements – ensure they’re correct! We have printable graph paper available for this exercise.
- For simple rooms that are square or rectangle, multiply the width by the length, an example of this would be a room that is 3m x 5m would require 15m² of flooring.
- You must ensure you add an additional 50-100mm to each edge.
- If your room includes recesses or chimney breasts you will still need to measure the complete surface area as your new flooring will need to be cut around them. If this is not easy to work out, work out individual areas and write these onto the diagram, you can add them all together at the end to work out the total area.
- Remember to measure to the back of any doorframes or trims.
For more helpful advice on measuring a room accurately, visit our fitting guides.
Sub Flooring, preparations required ahead of laying your new flooring
You’ll need to clear your room of all furniture, however, if you opt for the fitting service your fitter will move up to five items of furniture for you (ensure your furniture is empty).
Before laying your new flooring it is important you have a fully prepared sub flooring. If the sub flooring is not correctly prepared this will affect the finish of your flooring. Ensure your sub flooring is smooth, even and dry. It may need screeding or hardboard to achieve the correct finish. If you have opted for our fitting service, choosing to use Which? approved fitters, they will offer guidance as to whether or not this is required and will be able to carry out the service for you at a small fee.
Should you see signs of damp on either your flooring or sub flooring it is important to treat this prior to having your new flooring laid. Preventative measures should be taken to ensure it does not return.
Helpful planning applications
To get a feel for how different flooring types could look in a room in your home, you can use our fabulous room visualiser tool. Upload a picture of your room and change your flooring selection to see how each could look. This great tool allows you to see what impact flooring can have within your home and helps ensure you make the right choice.
