Ideal Flooring Timeline Guide
Undertaking a home renovation project is an exciting venture but it often comes with a lot of moving parts. Whether you are updating a single bedroom or completely transforming your entire ground floor, understanding the timeline of your flooring project is key to a stress free experience. A new floor is a significant investment in your property, impacting both its visual appeal and everyday functionality. Therefore, knowing what happens at each milestone allows you to coordinate other trades, manage your family schedule, and avoid unexpected delays.
From your initial browse to the final plank being laid, every step of the journey requires a bit of foresight and planning. To help you prepare your home and your schedule, we have broken down the entire flooring process into four simple, transparent stages. By understanding these steps, you can transition smoothly from inspiration to installation without any guesswork.
1. Explore Our Range & Chat with Our Team
Timeline: Completely up to you
The first step of your flooring journey is all about discovery, inspiration, and education. Your flooring needs to match your lifestyle, your aesthetic preferences, and the specific demands of your budget. That is why we encourage you to take your time exploring our extensive selection of flooring options both in store and online. We will be here to guide you through our range of colour and pattern options. We always recommend ordering samples so that you can see the flooring in your space. It's important to consider the lighting and furniture in your home.
Understanding Your Options
Every space has different environmental requirements, traffic patterns, and moisture levels. Our collection is curated to cater to all of them:
- Laminate Flooring: A durable, cost effective, and low maintenance option that beautifully mimics natural wood grains. Modern high density laminate features highly realistic textures and protective wear layers, making it perfect for high traffic living areas, hallways, and bedrooms. With the real-wood texture on these floors it is tough to tel them apart from a solid floor.
- Engineered Wood: The pinnacle of luxury, warmth, and longevity. Engineered wood features a premium real timber top layer supported by a highly stable multi layered core. This construction offers the unmatched beauty of natural grain while minimizing the warping or shrinking typically associated with solid wood.
- SPC Vinyl: The ultimate choice for busy households, commercial spaces, kitchens, and bathrooms. Built with an ultra dense limestone stabilized core, Stone Plastic Composite vinyl is 100 percent waterproof, incredibly rigid, and highly resistant to scratches, dents, and heavy impacts.
Lean on Our Experts
You do not have to make these complex technical decisions alone. Our expert team members are on hand to guide you through the pros and cons of each material based on your specific layout and lifestyle needs. For instance, we can advise you on which underlays offer the best sound reduction or acoustic dampening, and which materials are fully compatible with underfloor heating systems. When you speak with us, we do not just look at samples, we help you calculate your required quantities safely.
Simply bring in or send us your room measurements, and we will provide a comprehensive, transparent quotation. This itemized quote includes the net floor coverage plus a standard wastage allowance depending on the pattern you like, the necessary underlayment, and all matching accessories such as scotia, door bars, reducing profiles, and skirting boards. This ensures there are no hidden costs later down the line.
The Stock Factor
This initial design stage takes as long as you need to find the perfect match. The only variable to consider here is product availability. While we maintain high stock levels of our most popular lines, certain premium, European, or specialized custom ranges may have specific lead times. Our team will check live stock levels for your chosen flooring, underlay, and accessories right away. If anything is temporarily out of stock, we will give you a clear timeline of when it is due back in our warehouse so you can plan accordingly.
2. Confirm Your Order
Typical Timeline: 2 to 5 business days
Once you are completely happy with your quotation and we have confirmed that your chosen products are fully available, it is time to finalize your order. As soon as payment is processed, our warehouse team springs into action, carefully picking, wrapping, and preparing your heavy materials for transit. Securing your order promptly guarantees that your materials are locked down and safely stored until they are ready to depart.
Collection vs. Delivery
We want your retail experience to be as convenient as possible, which is why we offer two straightforward options for getting your materials home safely:
- Click & Collect: If you have suitable commercial transport or a large vehicle and want to move at your own pace, you are welcome to collect your order directly from us. You can collect from our warehouse in Swords after calling our team to let them know you're on the way.
- Home Delivery: If you prefer the convenience of having heavy flooring pallets brought straight to your doorstep, we can easily arrange professional delivery. Our standard delivery timelines generally range between 2 to 5 business days. Please note that exact delivery windows can fluctuate depending on our current regional order volume and how far your delivery address is from our central distribution hub. We offer a number of diffferent delivery types depending on your area. Please note, our most common delivery is kerbside so someone will need to be there to receive the delivery.
3. Scheduling Your Installation
Typical Timeline: 3 business days to 2 weeks (Season Dependent)
Getting the right materials is only half the battle, proper, professional installation is what makes a floor truly look stunning and perform reliably over time. To make your life easier, we partner with a network of highly experienced, independent fitting teams who specialize specifically in laying our products. These installers understand the precise expansion gaps required and the exact locking mechanisms of our ranges.
Local Coverage
Our recommended fitting teams facilitate professional, fully insured installation across five key regions:
- Dublin
- Meath
- Kildare
- Wicklow
- Louth
How Booking Works
The coordination process is seamless. The very next working day after you finalise your order with us, a member of the scheduling team will get in touch with you directly. They will discuss your availability, assess the technical scope of the job, verify if subfloor preparation is needed, and book a firm date for your fitting job. This direct communication allows you to ask technical questions regarding the removal of old carpets or the trimming of doors.
Keep the Season in Mind
The time between ordering your floor and having it installed depends heavily on the time of year. The home improvement industry experiences predictable seasonal peaks. For example, the winter run up to Christmas is exceptionally busy as homeowners rush to get their properties ready for holiday guests. During these peak times, fitting availability may stretch out closer to two weeks. Conversely, during quieter summer periods, a team could be at your house in as little as three business days.
We always recommend planning ahead if you have a strict deadline.
Crucial Pre Installation Step: Acclimatization
Before any installation begins, your new flooring needs time to adjust to the specific climate of your home. Wood and laminate are natural, porous materials that expand and contract based on room temperature and humidity levels. Once delivered, your flooring boxes must be stored flat in the target room for a minimum of 48 hours for laminate and luxury vinyl, and up to 72 hours for engineered wood. Skipping this essential step can cause the floor to buckle, warp, or gap after installation, completely voiding your structural warranty.
See our full guide here.
4. Fitting Your Floor (The Big Day)
When the fitting day arrives, the duration of the actual physical installation will depend on a few key variables: the overall square footage, the architectural shape of your rooms (complex angles, alcoves, bay windows, and doorways take longer), the specific floor type, and the size of the fitting team assigned to your project. Ensuring the subfloor is clean, dry, and perfectly level before the team arrives will drastically speed up this process.
To help you manage your expectations, clear your rooms, and plan your week, we use the following daily completion guidelines under normal working conditions:
| Floor Type | Estimated Area Completed Per Day |
|---|---|
| Engineered Herringbone | Up to 20m² |
| Laminate Herringbone | Up to 25m² |
| Engineered Straight Plank | Up to 30m² |
| Laminate Straight Plank | Up to 35m² |
Why Patterns Take Longer
As you can see from the guide above, intricate patterns like herringbone require significantly more precise cuts, complex layout planning, mathematical centering, and geometric tracking. In particular, we recommend gluing the engineered herringbone floors in particular so this can take a lot longer than other floors to install. Additionally, the fitting team must establish a perfectly straight center line down the room before laying a single plank, which means they take slightly longer to install per square meter than standard straight planks.
While it requires patience, the timeless, high end visual result of a herringbone pattern is well worth the extra time invested.
Conclusion: Your Total Project Timeline
Because every home, room shape, and design preference is entirely unique, estimating a universal start to finish timeline is impossible. Your overall project duration is contingent on the specific floor you choose, your geographical location, the readiness of your subfloor, and the seasonal availability of our regional fitting teams. A small straight plank laminate bedroom can often be completed in less than a week from order to final trim, whereas a large multi room engineered herringbone project will naturally require detailed planning.
Our core goal is to eliminate the stress and guesswork from your renovation. From the moment you request a quote, our team will provide a tailored, realistic project estimate based on current warehouse stocks and fitter schedules. We keep communication open and clear at every single step, ensuring your beautiful new floor is installed efficiently, professionally, and with minimal disruption to your daily family life.