Laminate Flooring into a curved Bay?

Laminate Flooring into a curved Bay?

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Dan_1981

Original Poster:

17,353 posts

198 months

Friday 3rd September 2010
quotequote all
The GF has decided she shall be having a laminate floor in the living room.

Who am I to argue?

Anyway ignoring the pro and cons of laminatehow on earth do you lay it into a curved bay window?

I guess I can trim /cut the actual slats of wood / laminate fake wood to a rough shape that would be covered by the "edging" but how on earth do you make the edging curve round?

Any advice before I bugger it up?

Edited by Dan_1981 on Friday 3rd September 15:02

Piersman2

6,596 posts

198 months

Friday 3rd September 2010
quotequote all
Dependes what the edging is made off. I once had to edge round a curved shower base , the edging wasn't wood it was some kind of plastic.

SO I ended up heating it gently with a blow torch and bending it into position, then fixing it with no-more nails as I obviously could nail into the shower base.

convert

3,747 posts

217 months

Friday 3rd September 2010
quotequote all
Does it have skirting board already in the bay?

If so , why not remove skirting board, trim the bottom so that the laminate will fit under it, and then once the floor is laid re-fit the skirting...

Nevin

2,999 posts

260 months

Friday 3rd September 2010
quotequote all
convert said:
Does it have skirting board already in the bay?

If so , why not remove skirting board, trim the bottom so that the laminate will fit under it, and then once the floor is laid re-fit the skirting...
You also get machines for trimming the bottoms off doors and skirting boards without removing them to allow you to put laminate under them. Presumably some sort of router type device. Remember seeing them a while ago when I was doing laminate into a curved area. I ended up making some pretty sweet hand curved skirting board to go above it, but it was a labour of love and took ages.

5potTurbo

12,483 posts

167 months

Friday 3rd September 2010
quotequote all
Nevin said:
convert said:
Does it have skirting board already in the bay?

If so , why not remove skirting board, trim the bottom so that the laminate will fit under it, and then once the floor is laid re-fit the skirting...
You also get machines for trimming the bottoms off doors and skirting boards without removing them to allow you to put laminate under them. Presumably some sort of router type device. Remember seeing them a while ago when I was doing laminate into a curved area. I ended up making some pretty sweet hand curved skirting board to go above it, but it was a labour of love and took ages.
I saw an oscillating (sp?) cutter advertised on a shopping channel recently, which was used for that purpose (among other things in the advert) ... and was very cheap too.

Dan_1981

Original Poster:

17,353 posts

198 months

Friday 3rd September 2010
quotequote all
Oh dear this sounds complex!

Yes the skirting is down, and I wasn't wanting to take it up.... the arcatrave round the door looks pretty simple, lop a bit of the bottom and slide the laminate under.

Infact actually putting the laminate down into the bay shoudl be ok as long as i can cut a smooth enough curve, its the cover up beading thingy stuff that i'm worrying about....

m4ckg

625 posts

190 months

Friday 3rd September 2010
quotequote all
Mark the laminate on the top, cut from the underside using a jigsaw ( held upside down ) to prevent any spelching of the laminate. Easy wink

Simpo Two

85,150 posts

264 months

Friday 3rd September 2010
quotequote all
It's the trim he's worried about, not the laminate.

Is the trim bendy enough to force in and glue/nail to the wall?

If not how about cutting the laminate to 5mm away and then filling with a large bead of sealant?

Busamav

2,954 posts

207 months

Friday 3rd September 2010
quotequote all
Dan_1981 said:
Oh dear this sounds complex!

Yes the skirting is down, and I wasn't wanting to take it up.... the arcatrave round the door looks pretty simple, lop a bit of the bottom and slide the laminate under.

Infact actually putting the laminate down into the bay shoudl be ok as long as i can cut a smooth enough curve, its the cover up beading thingy stuff that i'm worrying about....
It does sound complex , but if you proceed with the cover trim " solution " you will hate it forever more .

There have been some truly awfull examples of cover trim installs posted on here, I am surprised anyone even considers it an answer.

You know it makes sense smile

m4ckg

625 posts

190 months

Friday 3rd September 2010
quotequote all
Simpo Two said:
It's the trim he's worried about, not the laminate.

Is the trim bendy enough to force in and glue/nail to the wall?

If not how about cutting the laminate to 5mm away and then filling with a large bead of sealant?
Misread the op, just bend the trim to suit, as mentioned the trims are not the best looking option but for a diyer its allot easier than to take the skirting off in a bay.

M3333

2,259 posts

213 months

Friday 3rd September 2010
quotequote all
I had exactly the same problem doing my laminate floor and likewise did not want to lift the skirting away around the bay window area.

I made some cardboard templates of the bay, put a few pieces of the laminate together and cut it to accordingly.

Worked a treat, looks really good

blueg33

35,590 posts

223 months

Friday 3rd September 2010
quotequote all
convert said:
Does it have skirting board already in the bay?

If so , why not remove skirting board, trim the bottom so that the laminate will fit under it, and then once the floor is laid re-fit the skirting...
This is he way I did it. Plus the trim looks tacky like a DIY job, under the skirting is much neater. But beware taking off skirting boards probably means some plastering if its an old house as it will be nailed on with square or rectanhular section nails that like to pull off chunks of plaster.

Was worth doing it well because otherwise you look at it every day and wish you had done it properly

B17NNS

18,506 posts

246 months

Friday 3rd September 2010
quotequote all
ALWAYS remove the skirting.

A cheap and cheerful 'laminate' floor will look like a quality pro job with skirtings on top.

A £100 m2 solid wood floor with trims will look like a bodged DIY disaster.

Yes it takes more time, effort and money but the floor will be there looking st for years.

mgtony

4,014 posts

189 months

Friday 3rd September 2010
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If you're going the beading route, a softwood quadrant about 12mmx12mm will bend round a bay window with no problems. Stain or varnish it first before fitting! smile

993AL

1,936 posts

217 months

Friday 3rd September 2010
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Google 'Exakt saw'. You wont get a better tool for cutting laminate. Remember to leave at least an 8mm gap all round the edge between the laminate and the wall.

Rgee

248 posts

246 months

Friday 3rd September 2010
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Search Worx Sonicrafter for trimming bottom of skirting.

SeeFive

8,280 posts

232 months

Friday 3rd September 2010
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The Fein Multimaster has been the tool of choice for taking off the bottom of skirtings to fit laminate under. Their 25 year patent has run out, so copies are being made - including one by Bosch for about £70.

I haven't tried it, but Bosch make reasonably good tools for hobby usage, and no doubt the accessories will be cheaper than Fein.

gumshoe

824 posts

204 months

Friday 3rd September 2010
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As the poster above said there is a Bosch tool, which is similar to the Fein saw. It's called the PMF 180E. It works extremely well. One thing you need to make sure you do is to leave an expansion gap. Which is why if you do go under the skirting board, you give yourself plenty of room for error and you can (should really, unless you filler the gap between skirting and flooring) still use the beading. Most beading has a good degree of flex in it so you can break the curve up into two or three 'parts'. Also you can try heating or cutting (fine!) lines into the back of the beading.

Simpo Two

85,150 posts

264 months

Friday 3rd September 2010
quotequote all
gumshoe said:
Most beading has a good degree of flex in it so you can break the curve up into two or three 'parts'.
I think that would be a recipe for disaster. One length will hold a curve better than three short bits, as angles will tend to form at the joins.

Sheets Tabuer

18,898 posts

214 months

Friday 3rd September 2010
quotequote all
bosch pmf 180