Just how easy are Karndean’s Loose Lay and Palio Click to lay? Roger Bisby finds out…..
It seems to me that once you see Karndean flooring, and recognised its unique look, you just never stop seeing it. Undoubtedly it is the floor to be seen with.
The company is clearly on a mission, and part of that agenda is to involve general builders in the laying of its products, and to that end it will be coming to a builders’ merchant near you.
The company has introduced two easy-to-lay products – one is Palio Click and the other is Loose Lay.
To prove just how easy these products are to use Karndean invited me to its training school, presumably thinking that if I could do it then anyone can. The trouble is that I am bit over-run with training school days at the moment so I prefer to find live jobs, which are more likely to throw up challenges that aren’t on the script.
So Richard Daniels, the head honcho technical man, came to me and gave me a quick master class in how to lay Loose Lay or lay loose.
I had already had a telephone conversation with him about the sub-floor, and the best way to get it pan flat. It involved putting a Fibre Flex reinforced self-levelling compound on top of the timber flooring, having first gone round and screwed down any loose boards.
I could have done it with plywood, but the trouble with ply is it tends to ride the contours of the floor, and you end up having to put self-leveller over the ply. No matter how you do it you need it flat.
The next bit is easy because the precision cut planks are simply placed down on the floor butted together. My brain kept telling me it shouldn’t work, but it actually works brilliantly. Provided the floor is flat, with no ridges or embarrassing dips, the grp reinforced vinyl planks go down like a dream.
As with most flooring you need to establish a crown row and make sure you get two or three straight rows down with the joints very tight, then you can start to cut to a wall.
I had considered removing the skirting to save having to cut the flooring but I am very glad I didn’t, because I soon found out that having a nice straight solid edge to work to is very helpful. If you have laid vinyl tiles in the past you will know the trick.
Simply lay the tile to be cut on top of the last complete tile and use another tile to place against the wall so you can scribe to it. Don’t cut to that tile though, because you need the blade to be on the outside of the line, so use another bit up against it so you can take the scribe piece away.
The final trick is to shave off a chamfer on the back edge where it meets the wall. Not only does it help overcome any thickening of the screed edge, it provides a slight amount of compression at the edge so you can squeeze it in. Once you get the hang of it you will find you can achieve very tight joints.
Once you have the floor all cut in and tight you can then go around and lift the edge planks with a window sucker and apply some Tackifier. This helps to keep the whole thing tight and right. If you have an area subjected to hot sun, 
such as the light fall from a roof window, then a little tackifier around that area will help keep the floor from riding up.
It might sound a little strange but I really enjoyed myself laying this floor. I completed two rooms in about half a day each, and I am sure that a floor layer would put it down in an hour or so, but it isn’t about rushing, it is about getting it right.
It is a forgiving product and if there is an area of damage or heavy wear in the future it can be lifted and renewed. Compare that to click together systems and you can see the advantages.
The other great advantage in a loft conversion is that any squeaky floors that emerge as the timbers dry out can be screwed down by lifting a section of Loose Lay. Try that with interlocking planks.
For more information on Karndean click here.
