2020: The year of lockdown and DIY

Painting, to gardening to laying down flooring. The UK has taken to DIY to fill the gap of being stuck at home, and to give a helping hand, we've created some top tips to support your home improvement.

Raise your hand if you’ve carried out DIY this year. We bet most of you who are reading this will have done some form of home improvement and chances are, you carried it out during the Coronavirus lockdown.

Recent research carried out shows that 85% of the UK population took to DIY to help fill the boredom of being at home. From painting to gardening to laying new flooring, this year has seen many of you getting handy around the home.

We’ve loved seeing your DIY flooring triumphs from your tags on Social Media. What our customers have achieved has been amazing! Covid doesn't seem to be disappearing as quick as we’d all have liked, and with parts of the country facing more restrictions and local lockdowns, plus with Christmas on the horizon, making further home improvements may still be on the to-do list for some of you.

If you can’t access a professional tradesperson, but still want that bathroom floor replaced or your hallway re-done to match the newly painted walls, here are our top tips to help you achieve a first-class job.

Select the right product for the room

Don’t just get caught up on a pattern or design, yes they are important aesthetically but if they aren’t the right type of flooring for the area you need, you’ll soon be re-doing the job costing extra time, hassle and expense.

If you’re looking at a hallway or an area that might get wet like a bathroom, make sure you choose a water resistant flooring product such as our Berry Alloc Ocean Laminate Flooring Retro Chic Blue Grey.

Areas with a lot of foot traffic like the hallway entrance to your home needs to be durable, easy to clean and maintain. Classic LVT ranges prove popular in these areas as well as sheet vinyl.

Select the right adhesives and tools for the job

What adhesive you use is crucial! The Best4Flooring customer service team can help advise you on which floor adhesive will be best for the product you’ve picked. Whether you use rapid or standard drying adhesive, avoid walking on your floor until the adhesive is completely dry or you risk ending up with an uneven floor!

For porcelain tiles, remember to make sure you use the correct adhesive for the area you're installing. Some areas do require special considerations.

For sheet vinyl, try our vinyl spray adhesive, or for a fully adhered floor - acrylic adhesive will help you achieve the best bonding result.

Check out our wide range of floor adhesives, cleaners, tools and accessories that will help you achieve the best job possible.

Measure twice, cut once

Take your time. Rooms are rarely a perfect square or rectangle. Therefore try to divide your room up into more manageable areas to measure and if that’s still too hard, measure from the longest point in each direction.

Multiply your length and width measurements for each square or rectangle to get the square footage for the area. Simply add these together to work out the total square footage you’ll need.

Make sure you add a little to the final measurement to account for waste, typically 10%.

You will find a floor calculator on the product pages for all our boxed products (LVT, Laminate, Porcelain) but our customer support team would be happy to help you work out how much flooring you need.

By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.

Preparation is key to achieving the perfect end result. Preparing the surface correctly will help your new floor look professional and last. One of the main causes of tiles cracking is down to poor surface preparation.

Make sure your floor is level, clean and dry. Dust, grease or random debris will all hinder the perfect floor.

The Best4Flooring customer service team is ready to support you with any product questions or if you need further advice and help.