Rubber. Flooring

[yawningbear]

Has anyone got a rubber floor?

Am thinking of ordering some for new kitchen/diner but am concerned as to how the joins will look. The one I am keen to buy is only 1.22 m wide so there will need to be several joins/seams. I have read that as long as it is professionally fitted the joins should not be particularly visible but I am worried that we are going to end up with a patchwork effect?

[JillyTheDependableBoot]

I had rubber flooring in my previous bathroom - tiles not sheets. I loved it but the joins were very obvious, it was a nightmare to keep clean and it discoloured where a hot water pipe ran under the floor. I wouldn't have it again tbh.

[namechangedtoday15]

We had a cheap version of a rubber floor in our bathroom and would echo what Jilly said. It was a nightmare to keep clean, every tiny bit of fluff / dirt stuck to it and you literally had to be on your hands and knees to clean it. It looked good for about 5 minutes before it looked dirty again.

[Sychnant]

I used to clean in an office with a rubber floor. It was awful. As soon as you'd mopped it and it had dried, it looked dirty again. And it was slippery when wet, even though it was supposed to have good grip.

There's no way I would even consider it in a house, sorry!

[yawningbear]

Thanks very much for your replies, guess that puts that idea firmly to bed so to speak!! DP for some unbeknown reason wants vinyl so rubber felt like the lesser of two evils but it sounds horrendous so back to the drawing board!

[wowfudge]

If you have the budget, what about luxury vinyl tiles instead? Much harder wearing than sheet vinyl and easy to keep clean. Added benefit is that should an area of the flooring get damaged, you can just have the tile replaced. I've never known it get damaged though.

[yawningbear]

Good idea wow, I did order some samples from Harvey Maria a while ago as I really liked the look of some patterned ones but they definitely weren't going to work, too much cream/white that would quickly get dirty. DP is really awkward, would rather have sheet vinyl to avoid any joins as he thinks they will be a nightmare to clean. It's really, really hard to find decent sheet vinyl that doesn't have some hideous pattern on it. Hence the rubber idea but I am now really glad I posted here as that was a potentially disastrous idea of mine! Will look at the tile option again.

[ancientandmodern]

Sheet vinyl with no pattern, just block colour (also rubber, but you can ignore that!)

www.colourflooring.co.uk/

[yawningbear]

Thanks ancient- I got some samples a while ago from them but it only comes in 2m roll & DP has a preference for a 4m roll which I have found but it's still vinyl. New kitchen going in next week so need to make a decision soon. I do like the colours of the Colourflooring vinyl though

[TremoloGreen]

I imagine you can cold weld the seam of the CFC stuff. I am having the same problem at the moment. I'm tarting up my current kitchen but don't want to spend too much as will probably extend in future. Will post back here with some things I found once kids in bed.

[yawningbear]

Excellent, thanks Tremolo, will try & do the same. I had got a couple of vinyl samples that kind of fitted the bill before I went off on the rubber tangent. Will dig them out & try & post the links.

[Sallyhasleftthebuilding]

Have you looked at Cardeen or Amtico - thinks that's the right spelling - we had ours 30 years and still looked new -

[TremoloGreen]

Whatever we get, I will lay it myself and I do not have the skill or the inclination to rescreed the floor as I would have to do to lay Karndean/Amtico. I am only going uo to the edges of the exsiting kitchen as well and may knock it all down in 5-7 years time.

So these are the ranges I am looking at:
True Plains:
Shades
Prism
These are both quite thin and don;t have the best wear layer. V slight orange-peel texture. Cheap as chips.

Almost plains and geometrics (I love geometric patterns!):
Beauflor UltraGrip Project
Beauflor Ultragrip Buzz range has a few
Gerflor Texline However, I cannot track down samples of this anywhere!
These are all trusted brands, you won't go too wrong here.
There is this Cube-It style, but be warned, I have a sample and it has lots of raised lines and texture to it, which I think will be an absolute nightmare to keep clean.

A company called Avenue of Styles also do some geometric and non-tradtional vinyls, they have some quite wacky designs though. I may well end up with plain grey and white checkerboard at this rate. The Avenue floors checkerboard are really shiny and wipeable which appeals. Will probably show every scratch though.

SO let me know if you have any breakthroughs! I have to decide soonish and get it ordered because my existing floor is now covered in Zinsser BIN and other crap so as soon as the plumbing gets finished in April, it's in the skip!

[yawningbear]

Thanks so much Tremelo, some of these look like definite contenders. The two I have been seriously considering are

www.carpetright.co.uk/vinyl/platinum-dj-plain-grey-vinyl-flooring

And a True Colurs Uni, although that is more expensive than the dj plain range which is thicker. Have samples of both and the DJ one seems really good value for money in comparison to the Harvey Maria samples and the True Colours samples that I have.

Am going to order a couple of samples from your links though, I actually like one of the Beaufort patterned ones but not sure how that would look in reality. Am thinking a plain grey might be the best option. Am going to be very happy when all these decisions have been made and the kitchen is in!

[yawningbear]

Am still mightily as to what is the best option. As ancient suggested I am currently thinking of ordering the vinyl from the Colour Flooring company, it is good quality and the colours are lovely but it only comes in a 2 metre roll so we would have at least one large join. Presumably the issues with the seam would be the same as with the rubber in terms of it being visible and hard to keep clean?

Anyone have a vinyl floor with a seam that isn't visible? Find it hard to imagine that it wouldn't be totally obvious but on the other hand the company gets really good reviews and presumably many people would need to have the flooring joined as most rooms would be wider than 2 metres

[Higge]

I got vinyl from the colour flooring company for the kids bedrooms. Joins are obvious. The vinyl marks easily even if furniture is left on in for seconds. It cost a lot more than we had anticipated because of the 2m roll width. The workman they sent to install it, tried to renegotiated the price of installation for no good reason other than we live in a an expensive area. I would not describe it as a top quality product and would not choose it again - you'd be better with Amtico.