Is laminate waterproof?

Laminate is so easy to care for! Simply sweep or vacuum your laminate flooring every evening and wipe up any potential spills right away. After your flooring is hoovered and dust-free, you’ll need a cleaning solution if you want to ensure your laminate flooring is spotless. As laminate is wood-based flooring, it doesn't like water or moisture, so avoid using a wet mop or steam cleaner.

We’ve outlined multiple steps you can take to care for your flooring and what solutions you can use on your laminate via our Tapi Laminate Care Guide.

Yes, we do! Fitting laminate or any other type of flooring purchased from Tapi is an additional service we can arrange if you need us to. Our laminate fitting service costs £15.00 per m2 - just let us know if you want fitting included in your quote. We can also arrange to uplift and remove your old flooring at the same time for an additional fee. If you decide you just want to order laminate from us and use your own fitter or install it yourself, that's absolutely fine.

Of course! We'd be happy to supply the full details of the laminate flooring you’re interested in, as it’s important when doing your own home measurements and calculations.

If you’re really eager to know, you can always call your local store and they’d be happy to talk you through the dimensions of the product. Alternatively, you can pop a request via the 'Submit a Request' button and a member of our Customer Support team will get back to you shortly.

Whilst many of the products we sell are available to purchase in square metres, our laminate flooring is purchased by the box. When estimating the appropriate amount of coverage for your installation approximately 5% (rounded up to the nearest box) should be added to your order to allow for colour matching between boxes and wastage during fitting.

If you have any spare boxes of laminate left over, we would suggest these be stored on a flat dry surface for future use as they are often useful should an accident occur, enabling you to swap a couple of damaged planks for new ones. We refresh our ranges on a frequent basis, therefore we can't promise your specific design or colour will be available in the future should a box be needed so we'd always recommend you keep any boxes that might be left over for these reasons. 

If you would like to return your extra box, we can offer a refund for an unopened and undamaged box of 50% of the original order value. This is because we can't return the excess packs to the manufacturers as they won't accept them, and, as these are ordered in specific batches (just like paint is purchased with specific batch numbers). it's important for each customer’s order to be from the same batch. We also don't have sufficient storage space in our stores.

To arrange your refund, simply contact the store where you placed your order. Alternatively, you can contact Customer Support via the ‘Submit a Request’ button and if you supply your order details, they will put you in touch with the right person who can provide further assistance.

Oh no! It’s always a panic-inducing moment when you see that glass of wine tip over in slow motion onto your new laminate floor, but the quicker you act, the less chance there is of it damaging the flooring. Laminate is a wood-based product so therefore doesn't like water, and if wet spills are left for too long, the laminate will start to warp. 

You should have received a Tapi Floor Care Guide by email when you placed your order, and this will tell you exactly how to tackle any stains on your laminate flooring.
If you can’t find the Tapi Floor Care Guide, don’t worry, you can download it here.

Laminate underlay is much thinner than carpet underlay, but it can make a huge difference to the performance of your flooring! Made from PE foam, our laminate underlay is specifically designed to increase airflow under your laminate flooring to reduce the build up of moisture and help to soften the acoustics for a more peaceful home. We also have another laminate underlay for underfloor heating with reflective backing to provide excellent insulation.

We often get asked how much is laminate flooring and the honest answer is that there's no exact figure. We sell a wide range of laminate flooring at different price points to suit all our customers. Our cheapest laminate flooring prices average around £14.99 per m2, while our top of the range, luxury embossed laminate comes in around £32.99 per m2. You also need to factor in the cost of laminate underlay, which ranges from £4 to £7 per m2, as well as other accessories such as edging strips and door bars. 

So, let's do some maths! Based on a 4x4m room and a £17.99 laminate, the cost of a laminate floor would be about £500 plus £228.80 to fit, and that total price of £728.80 for a laminate floor also includes underlay, beading/scotia, door bar, etc. Our flooring experts will be able to talk you through all the costs involved for buying and installing laminate flooring when you visit us in-store or book a home visit, but there's also a handy laminate flooring cost calculator on all of our laminate product pages to give you an estimate of how much your floor will cost (excluding fitting).

Our laminate flooring fitting costs vary as every customer's requirements are different. How much laminate flooring costs to install depends on a multitude of factors including the size of the room(s), the type of laminate, the type of underlay, the location it will be fitted and which accessories you choose, among other things. 

To install laminate flooring with Tapi costs around £14.50 per m2, so that's a fitting cost of £128.90 for a 3x3m room, £229 for a 4x4m room, and £357.70 for a 5x5m room. This cost is just for fitting the laminate flooring, it doesn't include the uplift and removal of your old flooring, which is just one of many additional fitting services that we can arrange for you when you place your order.

As laminate is a wood-based floor, it's not the best choice for wet areas like kitchens because the wood warps when it comes into contact with moisture. Saying that, we do offer a range of water-resistant laminate that would be fine to use in a kitchen. Just take a look at the room suitability icons on each product page to check where in your home that particular style of laminate can be used. If you're looking for a totally water-resistant floor, take a look at our range of LVT flooring.

We recommend that a new kitchen is installed before your laminate floor. The flooring should then be fitted around the kitchen, as there are several good reasons why you shouldn't fit laminate flooring underneath kitchen appliances and units:

1) Kitchen units and appliances can be heavy and it's better for them to sit directly on the subfloor. Sitting them on top of the laminate can lead to damage and buckling over time, and it also prevents some of the natural movement you get with a floating floor like laminate.

2) Installing your laminate flooring last means that you reduce the chances of any potential damage as your new kitchen is installed. We hate seeing a heavy fridge dragged over our beautiful laminate flooring!

3) You're installing laminate flooring in a place that nobody will ever see! Only laying laminate up to the edge of your kitchen units or just slightly underneath at the front will reduce the amount of laminate you need for the room, and therefore reduce the cost of your new floor.

A subfloor is the surface on which flooring is laid. There are lots of different types of subfloors, including wooden floorboards, screed, and concrete, all of which have their pros and cons. If your subfloor is in a poor condition it will need to be repaired or replaced before your new laminate flooring can be installed. A good subfloor should be dry, smooth, structurally sound, and free from debris. If it isn't, any imperfections will be reflected in the flooring laid on top.

At Tapi, we can assess the condition of your subfloor during a home visit or when we pop round to do our measurement checks. Should we discover your subfloor needs repairing, we can provide you with a quote, and if you're happy to go ahead, we'll arrange for our fitting partners to carry out these works prior to installing your new flooring - just ask a member of Team Tapi in-store for details or read our guide on how to prepare your subfloor.