Flooring Accessories

Whether you're laying carpet, vinyl, stone or pavement there will naturally be a number of materials that you’ll need to go alongside them. Whilst invisible to the eye, they play a vital role not just in ensuring a clean installation but also in ensuring that your new floor can stand the test of time.

Picking & Laying Underlay

To understand what an underlay is we first need to consider the difference between your floor and sub-floor. As you might have guessed, a sub-floor is just another layer, typically made of plywood, particle boards or (in the case of pavement), a sub-base mixture of crushed limestone or granite. It’s this base your underlay is put over to ensure that your final floor is completely level and stable. It can also serve to cover any bumps in the subfloor as well as act as additional insulation.

Now, when it comes to picking out your underlay it all comes down to the materials that will be lain atop it. Laminate or vinyl flooring, for example, will require a different set of properties from their underlays than carpet and can be made from different materials. That being said, many still offer similar benefits. That being improved noise reduction and minimising drafts.

You may also need a damp proof membrane to keep your flooring safe from rot and mould. If you are unsure whether or not this is needed for your project, we recommend consulting with a professional.

Sealers, Coatings & Other Treatments

Whether it’s a fresh covering or one lain a decade ago, proper maintenance is key to a long-lasting and, most importantly, beautiful-looking floor. For carpet, this means regular vacuuming and treating, if the carpet is suitable, with a diluted bleach solution or specialised formula to clear any stains.

Vinyl, wood, stone and laminate flooring, on the other hand, can require more in-depth treatments. This can include sealing wooden floors, to both protect them from harm and enhance their finish, as well as waxing – a great step not just for wood but stone, tiles and slates which can improve their natural colour. These materials also tend to have dedicated cleaning solutions available to help with removing grime and dirt with reliable results.

Levelling Compounds, Adhesives & Additives

Whilst not a treatment per se, these compounds are every bit as important to the look of your final floor. Particularly when tiling kitchens and bathrooms. Levelling compounds, like sub-bases for pavements, are designed to make your floors perfectly level and suitable for regular foot traffic. Many can be used on a variety of subfloors, including concrete, vinyl and even other tiles.

Adhesives are much simpler to understand. Designed primarily for affixing tiles, preventing them from slipping over the long term. When shopping it’s important to remember to keep an eye on set and cure times to make sure it doesn’t try too quickly or too slowly based on how long you believe your job will take.

Other compounds, called additives, can also be added to these mixtures to introduce different properties. For example, improving the movement capability of your subfloor so that it can be more forgiving of mistakes.

Cleaning Carpet

1. Carpet should be vacuumed once to twice a week depending on how much traffic it experiences. Remember to make sure your vacuum is on the correct setting for your carpet.
2. Once every few months run a carpet cleaner across your floor. These can be rented or purchased and make use of cleaning solutions to restore carpets to their original look as well as tackle any musty smells
3. For stains, it's best to act quickly with a carpet cleaning solution. Make sure to work from the outside in to avoid spreading and avoid using too much water which may damage the fibres in your floor.

Cleaning Vinyl

1. As with carpet, the very first thing to do is vacuum up all the loose dust and debris. Seeing as dust and dirt shows very clearly on vinyl this should be a quick job.
2. If you are dealing with stains, start by cleaning the surface with warm water. Next, you can apply a specialised cleaner (make sure it is pet/child friendly if in family homes).

Carpet grippers are a vital piece of kit when installing your own carpet. Whilst a simple design, these plywood strips help to avoid wrinkles and create a professional, smooth finish. Fortunately, their installation is quite simple with a little bit of patience needing only a hacksaw, vice and thick pair of gloves.

After calculating how many you need (and ordering extra for redundancies sake), you can start laying the strips roughly 10mm away from your skirting. This allows adequate room for you to tuck your carpet around them and prevent gaps. When dealing with corners and curves, the grippers can be simply cut to size and positioned around the room’s dimensions, however, working with obstructions can be a tad more complex.

Take radiators for example. Whilst in an ideal world you would remove the whole thing and re-fit it after the carpet has been lain this is rarely possible – particularly in a DIY installation. The best solution then is the positions your grippers as close to that 10mm mark as possible without risking damage to whatever is obstructing them. In the case of a radiator, this will may also mean cutting your carpet to allow space for the pipes to run into the floor.

Scotias & Trims

An important finishing touch for vinyl, laminate and wooden flooring scotias and trims are installed around the edge of your rooms to cover up any harsh cuts or gaps. When ordering it is important to find colours that match your floor and, as with grippers, order more than you need to account for any breakages. Apart from the finish, there are typically quite a few options when it comes to material as well. From MDF to wood and even aluminium to suit both classic and contemporary styles.