18/08/2026
XYLO WATER-RESISTANT LAMINATE — OLD FARMHOUSE TRANSFORMATION
Another big laminate installation completed by Liam & Scott, this time in an old farmhouse in Lowton.
We fitted Xylo water-resistant laminate across:
• Three bedrooms
• Landing
• Two downstairs lounges
• Ribbed entrance matting at the back door
First, a little bit of honesty about “water-resistant” laminate — because we’re always very clear about this at The Little Carpet Shop.
Water-resistant does NOT mean waterproof.
Think splash-resistant. The boards are treated to help prevent moisture penetrating them, so if you spill something and wipe it up promptly, you’ve got that extra protection. It doesn’t mean you can flood it and expect nothing to happen!
THE PART YOU DON’T SEE IN THE FINISHED PHOTOS…
The downstairs lounges were concrete and needed levelling compound before the laminate could be fitted correctly.
The floors still slope — and that’s absolutely fine.
A laminate floor doesn’t necessarily need to be level. It needs to be FLAT.
There’s an important difference.
We see laminate floors fitted elsewhere where gaps start appearing, the floor creaks when you walk across it, joints begin failing and understandably people think:
“This laminate is rubbish.”
Quite often, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with the laminate. It’s what is underneath it that’s causing the problem.
Imagine putting a perfectly flat board onto an uneven surface. Press one end and the other moves. It rocks.
Now connect hundreds of those boards together and repeatedly walk across them.
If the subfloor isn’t sufficiently flat, those boards are continually flexing and moving. Eventually you’re putting unnecessary stress through the joints and something can give.
That’s why preparation matters.
Being an old farmhouse, there were also considerable differences in floor levels between different areas. Running the laminate continuously through every doorway would have required major additional preparation and significantly increased the customer’s budget.
Instead, we separated the rooms at the doorways.
But look closely at the pictures…
Liam and Scott still lined the planks up through the doorways, so although they’re technically separate floors, everything visually follows through and lines up beautifully.
That’s proper flooring.
Laminate is still a fantastic option — durable, easy to maintain, great looking and considerably more affordable than many alternatives.
But like virtually every floor covering we sell:
The product is only half the job. What it’s fitted onto — and who fits it — matters just as much.
Another one completed by The Little Carpet Shop.
