Laminate Floor Questions Checklist

Ask what the core of the board is made from, since it is the core rather than the visible surface that decides how the floor behaves around moisture.

Owners choose on the face and live with the core, which is why this is the first question rather than a technical afterthought.

Ask the supplier to explain how this board differs from a vinyl product that looks similar, and write the answer in their words.

Both carry a printed image under a clear wear surface, and the two are constantly confused, so the difference is worth hearing stated.

Ask what is on the underside of the board and what it is there for, and whether anything else has to be laid beneath it.

The back of the board and what sits under it are part of the same decision and are rarely presented as such in a showroom.

Ask how many different printed designs the range carries and how far apart the same board repeats across a floor.

Repetition is inherent to a printed surface, and how noticeable it becomes depends on the range and on the size of the room.

Ask whether the surface texture follows the printed pattern or runs independently of it, and look at a board in daylight rather than under showroom lighting.

This is the single detail that most affects how convincing a printed floor looks, and it is invisible in a photograph.

Ask whether the boards have a bevelled or a square edge and see both laid out, since the two read very differently across a room.

A bevel emphasises each plank and a square edge presents a flatter surface, and neither is a detail you can change afterwards.

Describe to the supplier what the floor will actually take — shoes, pets, chairs on castors, children, a route from an outside door — rather than asking which is hardest wearing.

A specific description produces a specific answer, and it is the only way a supplier can respond to your household rather than to an average one.

Ask what happens to the surface when it is scratched through, and confirm whether it can be refinished or only replaced.

This is the most consequential property of the floor over its life and is rarely volunteered in a showroom conversation.

Ask what grit walked in from outside does to the surface over time, and whether entrance matting is part of what the supplier expects.

Most wear on a hard floor arrives on the soles of shoes, and where that is addressed is a planning decision rather than a housekeeping one.

Note which parts of the room take strong direct sunlight, and ask what that does to the printed surface over time.

A printed decor can change under strong light, and a floor that changes unevenly is far more noticeable than one that changes throughout.

Ask what the supplier says about furniture feet, castors and heavy items standing on the surface, and what protection is expected.

Point loads and rolling chairs are the two things most likely to mark a floor early, and both are avoidable if raised beforehand.

Ask about the sheen level of the surface and look at a sample in the room, since sheen decides how strongly reflections and dust read.

Two floors that look identical in a catalogue can behave quite differently once daylight crosses them at a low angle.

Ask how the boards join to each other, whether anything is glued or fixed, and what holds the floor together as a sheet.

Understanding that the floor is held together by its own joints rather than by fixings explains most of what follows about the base.

Ask what condition the base has to be in before the boards arrive, and who is responsible for bringing it to that condition.

The base is where most laminate installations either succeed or fail, and responsibility for preparing it is frequently unassigned.

Whether a base is flat and stable enough for a floating floor is a determination for a qualified professional on site, not a judgement from a sample or a photograph.

Ask what happens where the base is uneven, and what you would notice underfoot if it had not been prepared properly.

Knowing the symptom in advance means you can raise it early rather than accepting it as how the floor sounds.

Ask what the underlay is doing, how many jobs it is being asked to do, and whether it was chosen or simply included.

The underlay does real work in a floating floor, and it is the component most often treated as an accessory rather than a decision.

Ask what has to be established about moisture in the base before the floor is laid, and who establishes it.

This is a professional determination rather than an owner one, and the point is to know it has to happen and who is doing it.

The moisture condition of any base has to be assessed by a qualified professional for the specific floor; do not rely on how a surface looks or feels.

If the base is an existing timber floor, ask what would have to be checked about it before a floating floor went over the top.

Movement and loose fixings underneath translate directly into a floor that works its joints every time it is crossed.

Walk each room and write down every place water could reach the floor — a door from outside, a dishwasher, a basin, a radiator valve, a pet bowl.

A list of specific places is something a supplier and a fitter can respond to, unlike a general question about water resistance.

Ask what happens where a board has been cut and the cut edge is left at a doorway, an appliance or the perimeter.

Cut edges are made on site and are not the same as factory edges, which is a distinction that rarely comes up before installation.

Ask what the manufacturer information says about water standing at a joint, and how quickly it says a spill should be dealt with.

Take this from the written guidance for the actual range rather than from a general statement about laminate, because it varies.

Ask whether a board that has taken water at a joint recovers when it dries, and what it looks like afterwards if it does not.

This is the question that separates laminate from several products it is compared with, and the honest answer shapes where you use it.

Ask what the guidance says about cleaning with water, what products are ruled out, and whether that changes with the surface texture supplied.

Cleaning instructions for a floor are part of choosing it, particularly if the household already cleans floors a certain way.

Ask the supplier directly whether they would put this floor in each of the rooms on your list, and record what they say about each.

Room by room is a much more useful question than a general one, and the room they hesitate over is the informative answer.

Whether any floor suits a particular room depends on conditions only a qualified professional can establish on site; a supplier's view is not an assessment.

Ask what the gap around the edge of a floating floor is for, and what happens if any part of the perimeter closes it.

Understanding the purpose makes every later decision about skirtings, thresholds and fixed items easier to take.

Ask how the gap will be covered at each wall — new skirting, a beading against the existing skirting, or something else — and see an example.

This detail is what makes a floating floor look considered or improvised, and it is decided quickly on site unless discussed first.

List everything fixed to the floor or standing tight to it in each room — a kitchen unit, a radiator pipe, a fireplace, a built-in wardrobe, a door frame.

Each of these is a place where the perimeter has to be handled, and a list beforehand avoids an improvised answer on the day.

Ask what happens at each doorway, how the floor is finished there, and what that means if the adjoining room has a different floor.

Doorways are where the floor meets everything else in the property, and they are the junctions owners think about last.

Ask whether the size or shape of the area means the floor has to be interrupted anywhere, and where those interruptions would fall.

An interruption in the middle of an open space is a design decision, and it is far better made deliberately than discovered.

Ask what happens if something heavy stands on a floating floor and holds it down, and which items in your rooms that applies to.

Trapping a floating floor is a common cause of trouble and is entirely avoidable if the items are identified in advance.

Ask to walk on the same board laid over the same underlay rather than judging it from a sample held in your hand.

A board in the hand tells you nothing about how a floor sounds, and a laid area tells you almost everything.

Ask what makes a floating floor sound hollow underfoot, what in the build-up changes that, and at which stage that decision is taken.

This is the most common complaint about laminate floors and is largely determined by decisions taken before the boards arrive.

Write down what is directly beneath each room the floor is going in, and who uses it at what times.

Footfall reaching the room below is a different question from how the floor sounds in the room itself, and it needs stating separately.

What any floor build-up achieves between rooms is for a qualified professional to advise on for the specific construction, and requirements must be confirmed locally.

Ask what the underlay contributes to sound, both in the room and below it, and whether a different one was considered.

The underlay is where most of the available difference lies, and it is usually decided without the owner being involved.

If the property shares a floor with anybody, ask what has to be confirmed locally before a floating floor is laid.

Leases and building arrangements frequently say something about floor coverings, and it is much easier to check first.

What a lease, freeholder or building manager requires about floor finishes must be confirmed locally before any floor is ordered.

Note how the room sounds today with its current floor, since that is the comparison everybody in the household will actually make.

People judge a new floor against the one it replaced, not against an ideal, so recording the starting point is worth a minute.

Ask whether a single damaged board can be replaced where it sits, or whether the floor has to be unpicked from an edge to reach it.

The answer varies by joint system and by where the damage is, and it determines what a small accident costs the room.

Ask what would have to be moved to replace a board — skirting, beading, furniture, an appliance — and whether that is a fitter's job.

Replacement often involves more of the room than the damaged area, which is a useful thing to know before choosing.

Ask how many spare boards are being left with you, from the same batch and decor, and agree where they are stored.

Printed decors are frequently discontinued, so spares from the original order may be the only matching boards that ever exist.

Ask how long this particular decor is likely to remain available, and what people do when a range has been discontinued.

Asking the question tells a supplier you are thinking about the life of the floor, and the answer is often candid.

Write down the range, the decor, the batch and the underlay used, and keep that with the property records rather than in an email.

Whoever repairs the floor later has no other way of finding out, and the information is easy to keep and impossible to reconstruct.

Ask what kinds of damage mean the whole floor is relaid rather than repaired, so you know where the line falls.

Knowing that line in advance changes how you respond to a spill or a leak, which is usually when the question first arises.