Karndean Flooring Shrinking - HELP

[MandyMoo33]

In May we had Karndean Summer Oak fitted which is wood effect plank tiles.

Since being fitted (it was perfect when first laid) we have noticed how it has shrunk slightly leaving gaps.

The floor layer has gone out of his way to help and try to make it right but in fairness to him we truly believe it is the product and upon searching the Internet there seem to be others who have had similar experiences.

Karndean are due to visit and according to others they go out of their way to point the finger elsewhere.

I would really appreciate any help anyone else can give - I did find an old thread on here with a member saying they actually had a group up and running for people with Karndean issues but this was back in 2009.

Thanks in advance x

[PigletJohn]

I don't know about Karndean, but various other floorings you are advised to loose-lay flat in the room for a few days to settle and acclimatise. Does that apply?

[Theflooringcontractor]

Knight tile for low traffic areas.
Da Vinci and Van Gogh are great for high traffic.

Installing Karndean when it is warm causes it to be expanded or at its larger size. (things expand when are heated) ,then when it gets colder it shrinks or contracts ,leaving gaps. Never install Karndean in the direct hot sun. I have installed it in sun rooms, but only it is cool. I personally don't think acclimation is good for Karndean unless it is hotter that the sub floor. It works Great over radiant heat. Make sure that the heat is very low or even off when installing. And a final word on there adhesive K-91 is great.

[janey1234]

My kitchen tiles have shrunk next to my windows - maybe due to the sun? Gutted. Also getting a rep out soon as I want it throughout my halls too - but only if I know it won't shrink!

[Reastie]

This is a really interesting thread as we are having kardean fitted in a couple of months and now a bit

theflooringcontractor is knight tile really only for low traffic areas? We are looking to have it in our dining room and kitchen - they aren't exactly low traffic areas

[XBenedict]

We've had Kardean for 8 years now in our hallway, so high traffic and has no problems at all. Looks as good as new when it gets polished hope they sort it for you.

[Reastie]

Is yours the knight tile range though xben (the cheapest range)?

[janey1234]

reastie - Just as a slight reassurance... I have had karndean in our main bathroom for about nine years, and it still looks brand new. It's only in the kitchen there's a problem, and the guy from the carpet shop said he'd never seen anything like it in many years of fitting karndean, and that he felt once the rep saw it he would replace it FOC. We will see...

[XBenedict]

I'm not sure what it is tbh but I don't think it's the Knight range. It was already in the house when we bought it.

[ElaineManchester]

I've had a very disappointing experience with Karndean. We chose beautiful tiles from the Opus range (supposedly the commercial range) as we wanted a hard wearing floor. We spent over £1000, it was installed 8 months ago. It started scratching almost as soon as it was laid. It's taken until today for the Karndean rep to come and see the scratches which are so bad now that I expect we will have to replace the floor within the next 12-18 months. Today was extraordinary, he suggested velvet tabs for the bottom of our chairs, that we are using the wrong type of mop and that we should only be using their speciality floor cleaner. This is supposed to be commercial flooring - it's not. It can't handle a family of 4 in their slippers. I was expecting to be told that this was a bad batch of tiles or that they had not been sealed, I had not expected to be told that it's less robust that the cheap laminate that was in our previous kitchen for 6 years with barely a scratch.

Karndeen - I am happy to discuss this with you, your rep came today Elaine & Alan, M16

[hp1965]

elainemanchester,

We chose Opus and experienced exactly the same, interested to know what the outcome was as we are seeking full reimbursement. It seems there are many happy customers of Karndean but Opus has a problem and they just dont seem to want to admit it.

thanks.

[antyant]

Janey1234 and hp1965 I would love to hear what happened next re your Karndean problems. We've had a load put down and haven't yet used the kitchen and the stuff has already shrunk away from the bifold doors. Wish I had seen this thread before I spent a shed load of cash on the stuff.

[Hadron21]

Interesting....

[antyant]

I'm furious, so much so I can't speak about it (apart from ob hear obv)!!

[antyant]

oops! re previous message, great spelling - and thanks to my Samsung for 'correcting' 'here' to 'hear'.

So miserable about my bloody floor...

[Sometimesithinkimbonkers]

Wow set .... Glad we paid the extra for Amtico as we have underfloor heating!

[antyant]

Mmm the karndean we got was the same price as the amtico I also considered!

[teacherwith2kids]

That is really odd. We have Karndean (bathrooms x 2 and downstairs toilet) and it looks as good 7+ years on as it did on the day it was laid :-(

[unhappycustomer72]

Had large loose lay tiles laid 18mths ago cost over $4000, not happy with difference in pattern. Our dealer marvellous and gave us extra tiles to re-arrange.
In winter tiles shrunk after several emails the rep came took two tiles away for testing, could stand a ruler lenthways in the gaps. Yes blame was pointed at the dealer/layer and no way was it their fault. Official report came that the tiles were within normal limits and that's that. Summer the tiles closed up again!!We live on north coast NSW mild climate. Our dealer has been fabulous and has put vynal over the floor looks great.

[antyant]

That's really interesting that they expanded again! What do you mean the dealer has put vinyl over the floor? Has he replaced tiles?

[IloveCheese11]

Oh that's not good! We are planning to have Karndean in our new kitchen diner which will have underfloor heating. It's not ordered yet so might need to reconsider. I understand things go wrong sometimes, but don't want to risk a company that won't take responsibility, especially as it's over £2k!

[Tumfy]

Having had cheap cushioned rhinofloor vinyl and replaced with karndean, partly due to many 'karndean is bombproof' comments on here, I would agree that my 1 year old karndean is clearly not, and urge people not to buy it.

[antyant]

Tumfy, what kind of Karndean did you use? Isn't it heart-breaking? All that money.....

[Tumfy]

It was the cheapest range, Knight Tile.
Still not cheap per se, and you'd expect it to be fit for purpose.
I have found flooring companies to be the pits for poor service though. With companies like Ryanair & Aldi, you know what you're buying, but family owned carpet stores going back several generations, claiming quality of service; the 2 I've gone with in the recent past were both terrible.
I'd have been better off buying cheap on the Internet & figuring out how to lay it with YouTube - that's what the last fitter was doing, I kid you not!

[Tumfy]

So I can't really say if it was fitters or karndean, although the first fitter for the karndean claimed to have decades of karndean experience with the family firm and still left tiles sticking up on corners to catch my feet.

I had the rhino floor for the previous 7 years & it still looked great. Only decided to change as the cushioned element might not have stood upto chairs being pushed back & forth etc in kitchen diner, but was great in bathrooms with fixed furniture.

[antyant]

Yes that sounds Soooo familiar , investing your money and faith in a company whom you have experience and integrity....at least if you DIY then your expectations are alot lower. Karndean should be watching all these conversations.