I hate my LVT floor

While we are talking about floors, has anyone any feedback on Tapi? Are they a franchise ? I’ve seen them all over the place and have noticed they are now in John Lewis as well. Does anyone know if they employ their fitters (it used to be that self employed fitters were better but it’s a long time since I bought flooring).

Indeed, it was standard to provide a bottler of stripper, cleaner and dresser to the customer when the stuff was laid.
you're supposed to do the same with marmoleum and one reason it was so shiny in hospitals is the regular buffing with those big machines.
my marmoleum has had nothing more sophisticated than hot water, and a bit of fairly liquid once a week and isn’t in the slightest bit shiny, but if I was to spend the time like the other poster, it would probably look amazing, however I am far too lazy.
decent quality cushion vinyl is wonderful stuff - but not that durable in terms of dents and scratches, but with the right underfloor prep it can look amazing (think 4mm ply, well fixed on firm floorboards, or screed on concrete) and lasts for years if you treat it well.

Amtico used to be the best of this type of thing, Karndean was considered a cheap substitute, but I think the quality of amtico isn’t what it used to be (I could be wrong but they were going in the direction of cheapening the brand about 15 years ago and quality normally suffers in this situation)
If you want truly bombproof hard flooring then Marmoleum is amazing stuff and properly laid and looked after will easily outlive you. This is why they lay it in hospitals and the like.
It will cost an arm and a leg, but you will likely never need to buy hard flooring again. I’ve even repaired a massive dent in ours that happened the week after we moved in when I dropped a sharp lump of concrete on it. (Ground up a spare piece as it’s basically chalk, dye and linseed oil, then mixed it with epoxy to fill in the dent. You can’t even see where it is and it’s right in front of the sink. The only thing about is that it will eventually fade in bright sunshine, so the darker the colour the more you may notice it, although we are only aware of it when we lift the rug. Also does smell weird for a good few years when you mop it, due to the linseed oil it’s made with.

Yes when I had my Karndean laid they sold me the same stuff. Any decent fitter should know about this.

OP, I was in despair of my LVT (Amtico) which was a huge amount of money and constantly dirty/couldn't get it clean/scratched. I became obsessed with it. And then I discovered that Amtico sell a restorer product and a maintenance product. I spent one day last year stripping it with their specific stripper, and then coating in their maintenance product. It transformed it. I did immediately scratch it with a chair, but I am confident that when i do this again next summer, the scratch will come out. Honestly, I fell in love with my floor all over again and it cost me about £30 an a day's hard graft. It is so easy to clean now and looks like new. Interestigly I visited an Amtico showroom and the sales guy didn't know what I was talking about, but I got the stuff from Amazon. Amtico brand. Good luck!

I had Pergo laminate put all over my ground floor 29 years ago. It was sold with a lifetime guarantee and I can see why, not a scratch or chip on it, could have been put down yesterday. I've had children, grandchildren and cats and I'm a shoes on household. It wasn't cheap but was so worth it.

I've had the second cheapest Karndean down for six years. Not a mark on it anywhere, even in the hall, and I don't make any effort to look after it particularly. Having said that, I wouldn't drag a box from outside over it!

Flotex. It’s what we have, easy to clean, looks smart, ideal with dogs, cats and kids. Long lasting, gets heavy use. We had tiles, but I got fed up with heaving to get on my hands and knees to clean them, they were cold to walk on, hurt if you slipped on them, things broke if you dropped anything by mistake, bloody stupid having tiles or flagstones on a kitchen floor…just my personal and lived experience!

I have no foot pads on furniture and four cats. Still not a mark. I don't understand how pps are living to get proper LVT in such a state, unless they're also dragging heavy things across the floor like OP?

Absolutely. I cannot imagine to compare a click together version with what we have. It would just be expensive laminate. Ours took 2 days for someone to scree and then sand to make it perfect. Then another 2 days to glue each separate tile.

It hasnt even aged a day. We have felt pads on the feet of all furniture which we renew every 6 months but we also have 2 dogs running about on it. Its in our utility room too and that has golf clubs, dirty shoes etc in there sometimes. Not a mark on it.

Not really related to scratches, but for some other comments on this thread, I think there needs to be a distinction made between "floating, click together LVT", which is basically crap and barely different to old style laminate, and the the proper good stuff which is "glue down LVT". Glue down will last properly without moving or warping. But it does mean the sub floor has to be properly prepped and as flat as possible - which is why it is more £££ for installation.

I love these threads they’re so useful. But I’m non the wiser what would last in my household. I think I need bombproof.

I have commercial grade lvt on my kitchen floor. Practically indestructible although I do still try to treat it nicely.
Also agree with whoever said Karndean. I had it put in my bathroom about 20 years ago. Would love an excuse to change it but it still looks like new.

Yep, plastic floors scratch easily and look like shit once they are. I’d always recommend wood floorboards over any type of vinyl, you can sand/fill/repair/repaint.

Thanks! I will look into it. Part of the problem is the space is too large now it’s open plan and anything that is ‘floating’ like click together laminate or LVT is going to buckle even if it’s properly levelled.

Honestly we have Karndean and it's scratched to buggery by the dogs.

Sorry to hear this, that sounds really, really frustrating.

I have to admit, I tend to only have 'real' materials for my flooring - real wood (usually proper planks rather than engineered), limestone, quarry tiles etc. Then I find any marks just give more character to the floor. But I also quite like a non-perfect looking floor, so probably not really the same thing.

Our Amtico has been down throughout most of downstairs for about 4 years, not a careful household and we have multiple dogs - still looks like new. I love it.

I have Pergo laminate flooring in my living room and dining room. It’s been down for 10 years and honestly looks like new and we’re not a particularly careful household. It wasn’t cheap but it’s lasted so well.

Yes it’s rubbish. I have amtico and have felt pads on furniture but it just isn’t practical for day to day living and there are scratches. We didn’t pay for it as new build included it but once we decide it’s time for new flooring it’s being replaced by real wood (scratches are so easy to rectify and it still looks good) or tiles.

I got Amtico and I've never noticed any scratches.

LVT in our kitchen. Been down nearly 5 years. Not a mark on it. Wouldn’t have it through the downstairs tho. It’s too much of a “lino-y” feel to it

We had Invictus put down just over a year ago and within a month or two it was full of scratches! Been so disappointed with it. We have felt etc on the bottom of all furniture but if the tiniest piece of grit gets between that and the floor it causes a scratch.

Ive only noticed less scratches appearing since we got the robot hoover and have it running every day!

Gutted to hear this! Our grown floor is laminate in the living and dining room and then tiles in the kitchen (big open plan space) and the laminate is not fairing well due to being cheap, laid on uneven wooden floors and in too large an open plan space. I was putting all my eggs in the basket of LVT. I like carpet but I don’t think it works well for the space (food dropping off the dining table and the transition into the kitchen) and I’m desperate for one flooring option for the entire open plan space. Tiles feel too cold for me for a living room.

Not sure what brand ours is but its LVT type flooring. When we moved in 4 years ago we went for understated cream'ish colour without any of the fake grout look or herringbone designs even though they had so much impact. We just felt the grout 'gaps' would make cleaning a PITA and the more intricate the design the more chance of issues.

Its worked out that way. The floor is wearing brilliantly and the spare tiles we have are sitting in the loft unused.

My partner wants to lift it all up again and spend thousands on a new herringbone design one.