About Laminate flooring

The laminate flooring is a high-density fibreboard core that is covered with a thin strip of material that perfectly simulates a wide range of softwoods and hardwoods. This decorative layer is sealed with a clear protective coating that is highly resistant to abrasion and spillages. Laminates are also available with a moisture-resistant core for use in bathrooms, kitchens and utility rooms. As well as simulated wood effects, you can buy laminates that resemble ceramic tiles, slate, marble and other natural-stone flooring, complete with convincing joists and grouting, ready to be laid by our flooring fitters.

About Real-wood flooring

 
The real-wood flooring can come as tongued and grooved wood strips that can be glued together to form a floating floor, or nailed down to the wooden subfloor. You can choose from  a selection of European and American hardwoods, such as, beech, oak, walnut and cherry, as well as a few tropical hardwoods. But, before buying hardwood flooring, it is important to check that the timber comes from sustainable sources. A responsible supplier will be able to give you this information.

About Engineered boarding

This type of flooring provides the beauty and warmth of a real hardwood surface, but is cheaper than the solid wood boards. A softwood core is sandwiched between a thick veneer of decorative hardwood and a balancing veneer of softwood on the underside. The hardwood surface comes ready-finished with a durable coating of lacquer. Engineered boarding is manufactured as snap-together strips that make real-wood flooring as easy to be laid as laminate.

We are specialists in laying new wood flooring, like laminate flooring, engineered boarding, bamboo flooring and real-wood flooring, starting with the subfloor preparation and the fitting the underlay, by cleaning the subfloor surface and level it accordingly.If the old floorboards are not flat or are damaged, they will be replaced with new ones as well as the the nails will be driven below the surface. Before our flooring fitters starts to lay the flooring, they ask your opinion about the expansion gaps, between the wall and floor covering an expansion gap has to be left all round. This can be left by removing the skirtingboard and take the boarding up to within 10mm of the wall (and then to replace the skirting at a higher level to cover the gap) or they can leave the skirting in place and when the flooring has been laid, a narrow wood moulding will be glued or pinned to the skirting to hide the gap (of course the moulding can match the colour of the flooring, or it can be painted with the same colour as the skirting). We take in consideration the level of detail of the finish we leave, by cutting precisely around the pipes where’s necessary (or drilling) as well when our floor fitters reach a door way they will cut off the bottom of the doorframe, so the flooring will fit neatly under the frame. The floor fitting job ends with the threshold bar that will be fitted across the door opening to cover the edge of the laminate if the fitting ends at the edge of the door.

We highly advise to store the laminates (and solid-wood flooring) in the same room where it will be laid to acclimatise to the ambient temperature and humidity.

Applying undercoat plaster, one-coat and topcoat

Internal masonry walls usually need plastering before decorating, though natural stone or brick can be left exposed. Finishing (topcoat) plaster cannot be applied directly to masonry: it requires a “background” of cement-based render, undercoat or bonding plaster.

We use the traditional way of covering the walls, plastering is useful for large repairs or when matching existing plastered walls. It can be also cost-effective than buying large quantities of plasterboard. Covering  a whole room? Then consider dry lining, whereby plasterboard itself is used as the decorative surface and we fill the joints between boards with jointing compound and smooth sanding after.

Bonding coat is an undercoat plaster that we use for nun-porous background and, patching old masonry, engineering bricks or patching old laths, but not before applying a consistent coat of PVA to the surface.

Undercoat plaster we use it for semi-porous background such as bricks and building blocks and as a complete base coat for finishing plaster.

The render, a mix of sand and cement, we use it for internal masonry as an alternative to undercoat plaster, despite the fact that is difficult to apply, we use it when waterproofing is necessary, mixed with additives that increase this capability.

We use the one-coat plaster to internal walls and ceilings, over the undercoat plaster or plasterboards.

The finishing plaster is the topcoat plaster that we use it to form the final surface to be decorated. We usually apply 2 coat of 2mm to achieve the best finish.

Lime plaster is the most common wall plaster covering before the advent of gypsum-based plaster. We use it for repairs in period properties as the lime plaster allows the wall to “breath” more than a gypsum-based plaster.

We also use textured coating, which is not a plaster in the traditional sense, but has similarities in that it is a commonly used ceiling and occasionally wall covering. We use it as a topcoat in a such way that it creates textures rather than a smooth finish.

The decorative plaster is the top professional finish plaster, made from ground marble, it provides a matt, coloured finish which ends with a polish.

Tackling damp

We know that the term “damp” strikes fear into most homeowners. Left untreated, a small, easily fixed problem can become much larges and considerably more expensive to repair. The presence of damp is usually signalled by obvious visual clues such as discolouration of surfaces, mould, peeling paper, or crystallised salts on plaster. Surfaces may be damp to the touch and the smell of a damp room is always obvious on entry. There are 3 main types of damp: condensation, penetrating damp and rising damp.

Mould in bathrooms and kitchens (and sometimes in other rooms) is often result of condensation. If there is a lot of moisture in the air, droplets will form on cold windows, cold water pipes and cold external walls. We can prevent mould by improving the ventilation in the room and removing the mould stains with a fungicide or bleach solution.

The penetrating damp, which penetrates the house from the outside, can show itself anywhere on an internal wall after wet weather. As this takes a long time to dry out, the penetrating damp causes staining and damages to the surfaces. A well known issue for penetrating damp is a leaking guttering which can saturate a wall that is not designed to withstand (soil piled up against a wall is another cause). We fix this using 2 solutions:

– Applying an epoxy damp-proof membrane, or

– Fitting a polypropylene membrane.

Rising damp enters the house from the ground and is generally caused by the damp-proof course or damp-proof membrane falling. If the floor has been damaged by rising damp, a new one will have to be fitted in which will include a damp-proof membrane too.

But, the most often, the problem is in the walls, where we install a new damp-proof course, which is best achieved using a chemical-injection system:

1). Non-presurized injection of DPC;

2). Pressurised injection of DPC.