Amtico flooring

[Liz38]

We are putting down a new floor, trying to decide between Amtico and porcelain/ ceramic tiles. It will be in the kitchen, hall and downstairs loo/shower.

Does anyone have experience of Amtico? Is it hard wearing? Current laminate is rubbish and looks knackered after 7 years, I'm hoping to get a bit longer out of the next floor!

It's fab. It appears to be completely indestructible.

thecat that's what I need to know! Thank you! It seems we work the kitchen floor fairly hard

We had Karndean (the poor mans Amtico) in our last last house. It was much better than the ceramic floor in our current kitchen which is impossible to keep clean looking.

If you're looking for indestructable, look at linoleum - the proper old fashioned linseed oil stuff, not the plastic crap that everyone calls lino. The brand is Forbo and it comes in hundreds of colours. You DO need a qualified fitter, and it has to be done properly or it'll be crap, but if done well, it'll outlast you and your kids. It's environmentally friendly too, unlike any of the laminates and vinyls you can buy.

I used to work with it as an interior designer and we found linoleum that was over 100 years old in a building we were renovating, and it was still good. A carpet had been laid over it in the 70s so there was some glue to come off it, but after a bit of a clean and polish, it's still there.

The problem with indestructible is that, if you fancy a change in 15 years, you won't be able to justify ripping up a perfectly good floor (at least, if you're like me you won't!)

If you have small children and they fall on a tiled floor there is more risk of injury such a broken arm.

Amtico offers the same look but a softer fall.

I’ve been thinking about Amtico too for our hallway as currently have carpet and it’s really badly worn and I hate the beige colour.

The Forbo sounds interesting, thanks @Jamsangwich

We have Amtico in the hall, cloakroom, kitchen/dining/ living room. Very pleased with it.

Would think it’s warmer than ceramic tile

We have Amtico in the kitchen. It is great. I think it was laid about 7 or 8 years ago and it has worn very well. I'm getting it fitted in another room in the house next month.

I'm eyeing up the Amtico Decor range at the moment (looks like period tiles). Would anyone be willing to say how much they paid per sq meter, including installation?

@AwkwardPaws27 not the same style, but to give you a ballpark I have oak effect amtico in a herringbone parquet in my hallway that I had from John Lewis last year. It cost £1000 for all materials and installation, my hallway is approx 8 square metres.

Thanks Regina - bit more saving for me then I think! I want to do the kitchen, utility and downstairs loo which is about 20sqm...

I have karndean which is the cheaper version of Amtico, I’ve had it in 3 houses now and couldn’t be happier with it. Huge range of designs and colours. Comes with a great guarantee as long as it’s installed by a certified Karndean installer (the guy from our local carpet shop is!) my best friend has Amtico and I think our karndean has lasted better. Their Amtico appears to be very scratched whereas there’s not a mark on ours

Moduleo is along the same lines and on a par with Kardean price wise. Its OK....two years down its wearing ok but has scratched a bit (hard wear area) I wish I'd bitten the bullet, ignored OH's tight arsedness and not allowed myself to be disuaded from going for wood

The people who lived in our house before us managed to put huge scores in the Karndean in the living room. The man who fitted it originally was measuring up for new flooring and said it should have been impossible to do what they did.

But apart from that, the Karndean is pretty good. We also have Amtico in the bathroom and its wearing brilliantly, despite the best efforts of small children. We previously had Amtico in the living room of our old flat. I agree it felt warmer underfoot than tile and was a softer fall.

My dad is a floor layer and does plenty of Karndean/Amtico floors. He’s always laid ours. We’ve had both but currently have Amtico. It’s ok, hard wearing but It’s not completely indestructible though - He was amazed that we got a hole in it! (He did change the piece easily enough for us). And the surface does scratch easily (you notice it in certain lights) but that’s the extra thick protective layer. You also have to watch out for discolouration and shrinkage from sunlight. If I had to choose again I personally would save the pennies and actually go with the Karndean.

Oh, meant to say we have it throughout downstairs and it is easy enough to clean but don’t use a steam cleaner on it! It could ruin it.

Sorry, also forgot to say that it was for the wood effect planks. We have Amtico bathroom tiles and they’re great.

Amtico is more expensive because it's made in the UK - higher labour costs, etc. It's marketed as though it's better, higher quality, etc. I'm not sure it is. There are lots of other brands too. There's usually a percentage of recycled material in LVT, it was something like 25% in our Polyflor kitchen floor. The important think to look for in the technical info is the thickness of the wear layer, which is the clear layer over the pattern. The thicker that is, the harder wearing the floor will be. Some of the commercial grade stuff is a lot thicker than the domestic. Less choice in patterns, etc but worth considering for high traffic areas with kids and pets.

The Amtico Decor is lovely. I got some samples this week. Very expensive though at £150psm! Ouch. I believe it's bespoke to your measurements. I'm looking at Neisha Crossland Harvey Maria for a more modern take on a similar look at £33psm. This will be for our bathroom. LVT parquet is lovely too. I'm think of a tile look area in the middle with a border of parquet perhaps.

Thank you everyone, lots to think about. Karndean is throwing an extra variable into the mix! No small children, only child is 9 so hopefully through the falling over stage! It's scratching that worries me, we've got gouges out of the current floor where we've dropped sharp knives. DH took a knife to the Amtico sample and scratched it up and you can see it, but if anyone does that to my new floor they'll be sitting in the shed in a long term basis.

It needs to carry on looking good, I won't get a new floor through the budget just because I don't like this one any more. Not in 5 years, 15 or 25!

Thank you, hive mind.

What about real wood as an option? We put in reclaimed wood floors in our bathroom and dining room. Bought from a reclaim yard who estimated the number of planks we'd need on the basis that they'd buy unused flooring back of us for the same price, and fitted by our builder. Both used to be shop floors in Habitat's store in Glasgow and were an absolute steal for oak. They just needed a good sanding and a coat of sealant and they're lovely floors.

We had Amtico laid in our kitchen and utility room 14 years ago and it is still perfect. No noticeable wear or discolouration. Much more comfortable than the previous tiles

We had Karndean (tile effect) in the last house (still looking good after 8 years) and put it in kitchen, utility and bathrooms here and still going strong after 10 years. We have also had Amtico Spacia (wood effect) for 8 years - the cheaper Amtico range similar to Karndean in price - and seems more scratched but think that might be due to being more obvious on the wood effect as plainer and also more furniture in that room that tends to get moved around. Would recommend both. The Amtico was a compromise as DH really wanted real wood but I wanted something easily wipeable as kids young then.