B&Q Wickes are a no no right?

[D1nhs]

Hey guys,

Im in the market for new flooring, been reading posts on here, most on here rightly slag of B&Q Wickes and homebase etc.

However there are no suggestion on where is a good place to buy?

Where do the pros get their materials? Websites?

Its difficult for the average DIYer to know, and easy to get trapped into your usual high street retailer.

Any suggestions please?

Thanks






Keyword search: Buying laminate, where to buy, best place to buy

 

[WoodYouLike]

Best places to buy: local professionals.

A) they will have quality products
B) they will give you straight forward advice - even if you DIY
C) will know what other materials you'll need in your circumstances (every house/underfloor/situation is different)
D) give advice on how best to care for your floor
etc, etc, etc

 

[D1nhs]

Thanks for the reply

I didnt realise how difficult this could be, maybe im just fussy.

We dont have many options (Croydon) just B&Q Floors 2 go etc all crap.


Saw a few on google, just that they dont sell to the public.

The hunt continues!

Oh im looking to spend about £20 per m2, seen a few engineered oak at that price. Am i dreaming, will i only get rubbish at that price?

 

[WoodYouLike]

Thanks for the reply

Oh im looking to spend about £20 per m2, seen a few engineered oak at that price. Am i dreaming, will i only get rubbish at that price?

Hmm, depends - our lowest in price simple basic Oak rustic 3-strip with normal T&G construction (3.6mm solid top layer, total thickness 15mm) is higher than that (28.95 ex vat).

Thinner top layer (what we would call veneer) is sold for lower prices. Best is to compare like for like - price for price.

 

[D1nhs]

Ah i see yes the stuff we have been seeing is about 1-2mm.

Would you bother with a veneer? With just a thin layer on top i guess this stuff dents really easily?

Had some Bamboo out in ikea (told you i was desperate) girfriend walked over it once and left dents!

Thanks again

 

[JohnD]

get a thinner girlfiend

 

[D1nhs]

Hahahaa!

I should have seen that one coming! heheheh


We were both shocked, shes only small and walked over it normally. I feel sorry for anyone that buys that flooring.

 

[mattysupra]

any real wood flooring will dent and scratch easy. You need to treat it with care. Tell the mrs to remove her shoes next time!

 

[breezer]

agrre with that.

do you not remeber you school main hall? (most had genuine wood block flooring)

in my travels i have noticed a lot of this "lamiante flooring" most, if not all of it has dents.

i think its just a fad, and it also makes the room sound more "hollow" and once fitted, you can't get under the floor (assuminging its got an under floor)

 

[Richard C]

Hey guys,

Im in the market for new flooring, been reading posts on here, most on here rightly slag of B&Q Wickes and homebase etc.

However there are no suggestion on where is a good place to buy?

Where do the pros get their materials? Websites?

Its difficult for the average DIYer to know, and easy to get trapped into your usual high street retailer.

Any suggestions please?

Thanks






Keyword search: Buying laminate, where to buy, best place to buy

I don’t understand this downer on the sheds! Example from my local (3), so called, builders merchants who are large nationals; buying a truck load of 110mm drain, I refuse to pay their stupid prices for fittings (£24 for bends & tees etc.) so am immediately offered a 60% discount on the lot; when I point out I can buy the same from B&Q trade for around 6 quid each they shuffle & say “can’t match that” so I leave empty handed & drive straight to B&Q! A lot of other stuff is the same here; plaster, cement, sand, blocks, timber, electric/plumbing fittings; I admit I live rural but I won’t be ripped off because of it & I can only think that all the local jobbing builders don’t really care as they just pass on the cost.

Regarding the oak flooring; today I started laying over 30sq/m of 12mm engineered oak boards with a full 3mm oak veneer over 3 interconnecting rooms. I bought this lot from Homebase a few months ago with a 20% discount voucher @ £13.95/m (do a Google search to see what comes up). I’ve laid 70% today & it looks fabulous!

Don’t dismiss the sheds, particularly the large B&Q trade centres; you just have to know what you want, look at the quality & be selective. Depending on where you live, they may well be your best option; as it is mostly in my case!

 

[Deluks]

Thanks for the reply

I didnt realise how difficult this could be, maybe im just fussy.

We dont have many options (Croydon) just B&Q Floors 2 go etc all rubbish.


Saw a few on google, just that they dont sell to the public.

The hunt continues!

Oh im looking to spend about £20 per m2, seen a few engineered oak at that price. Am i dreaming, will i only get rubbish at that price?

There's a small indie wood flooring place on Purley Way, opposite Curry's. Slap bang next to that new whatever-it-is site next to Sainsbury's/TK Maxx/Argos etc.

 

[WoodYouLike]

Don’t dismiss the sheds, particularly the large B&Q trade centres; you just have to know what you want, look at the quality & be selective. Depending on where you live, they may well be your best option; as it is mostly in my case!

I'm not dismissing the the sheds straight away - but the selection of good quality they have is: limited and local independent retailers can do that for the same price; it's only 'handy' for DIY-ers who don't need extra info etc because sheds just sell - no proper advice per situations available - which a local independent retailer does have (and comes included in the price )

 

[andywatson]

Got to agree with Richard above.

Done loads of work on my last house, and starting again on the new. Almost everything has come from B&Q, and it's never given me any problems. My solid wood floor is B&Q. £30 m2 (got some discount) and it looks great. My last kitchen cost me under £1k and looked great. Certainly added far more than that in value. As for prices, when I have followed the professionals advice and searched out plambers/builders merchants etc they almost invariably are more expensive, and even when they are not they are not cheap enough to justify the longer trip to get stuff from different places because I need to do some plumbing and some electrics.

Now Focus ........that's a different story.

 

[WoodYouLike]

Now Focus ........that's a different story.

Now, Timberland as wooden floor supplier and installation service..... that's a completely different story!

Stay away from them - this year we had already 4 clients who had 'them' in for a quote (one clients had to send her husband to the garden to prevent him 'hitting' the rep). Toooooo expensive, tooo pushy, tooo rubbish (value for money I mean), and main issue our new clients had: tooo aggressive.

The last client we had, thanks to Timberland, had the rep in to discuss two rooms (£ 5000.00) but if he did a third room too he would get 3 for the price of 2 (£ 7000.00)??????? and sign now or your floor can't be installed for Christmas. After calling his 'boss' the rep could do the 3 rooms for £ 6000,00) Eh????
(We installed a higher quality floor in two rooms for this client this week for less than the £5000.00)

The Timberland kind of companies are giving the honest and professional wood flooring trade a bad name!

 

[D1nhs]

Thanks guys for your useful comments, i really appreciate it

Deluks i think i know the one your talking about, amoung a small parade of shops, ill check them out this weekend, thanks for the prompt.

Richard C/Andy, thanks for the tip, yes i see homebase has a few Engineered oak, and ive seen some 20% vouchers on ebay, thanks for the heads up Good luck with the install.

WYL Thanks for all the input