Is Karndean worth it?

[andynarwhal]

Morning,

I need to cover the floor living, dining, kitchen in an L shape. At present living and dining is (threadbare) carpet and kitchen is very cold and partly smashed ceramic tiles.

I've fallen down an internet rabbit hole of LVT and, honestly, I'm not sure how to decide.

We're a big messy family of cats and children and I'd say the most important feature has to be hard wearing.

Would love to hear anyone else's experiences of floor coverings please?
Should say im looking at wood-a-like.

I haven't used the stuff personally, but work for a renovations company. We tend to use a lot of karndean, or take a look at moduleo... they're also very good

No.
dont believe the no scratch hype either and waiting for the levelling layer to dry out was a pita

I have Karndean in my kitchen, hall, loo and both upstairs bathrooms. Been down a year, I have a dog who loves mud - and the floor is fab!

No scratches, easy to clean and looks great.

Thank you moduleo is one I've been looking at.

How long did it take? And how easily scratched do you think? That's my worry, we're such a clumsy family and usually in the past just gone with cheapo laminate from wickes. It is at least replaceable without too much faff and expense.

@PicpoulDeMeNay (great name btw I love a Picpoul) did you fit it yourself and how did you find it to fit?

We have Karndean through our hall, downstairs loo, kitchen, utility and dining room. Ours is oak-effect.
It wasn't all laid at the same time but matches perfectly and has been brilliant: looks good, easy to clean, warm underfoot and not as hard as ceramic tile if you drop stuff on it.
I sweep it, or hoover, to pick up the loose crud and crumbs and then go over it with a spray of dilute floor-wash detergent and a Ecocloth mop. Every so often I do go down on my hands and knees and thoroughly scrub it in the kitchen.
I've used disinfectant on it after a dog has visited us.
I have one tiny 'scar' in it where a knife went point-down in the kitchen. I think you can have individual strips replaced if you have a major mark, we were warned about scratches from bits of stone caught in shoe treads.
It's a big thumbs-up from me!

I've got Polyflor Camaro.
My fitter said the only real difference was a lower price.
Hall floor has been down 10+ years, and kitchen, conservatory & utility 3+ years with the same.
Family life, dogs, kids.
No scratches and still looks as good as new.

We have it in one of our kitchens. Put in 2 owners before us, I wasn't sure about it but we had awful tenants a few years ago and it is unblemished (the only thing that was, thwe awful tenants had a dog too so every other bit of flooring got destroyed!) So although I have gone for tiles this time round I would definitely consider it again in a future property, I've been really impressed at how resilient it is.

We've had ours down for 6 years. Busy house with careless teens and dogs. Ours has not scratched and still looks great, so easy to clean too.

We have it all through downstairs - 15 years of cats, big dogs, foster puppies, shoes on (lots of mud!), and total lack of care in proper cleaning of it etc and although it has faded by the patio doors you only notice that compared to the corner behind the curtains. Some scratches, but if you clean it properly and then put some polish on they can't be seen. Nowhere near the visible damage we had in our previous house with engineered wood after only a year
We're just about to do a big extension, and will put Karndean in there

I’ve got Polyflor oak parquet LVT all downstairs. I live on a single track, ride bikes, hike, and have an allotment so needed something extremely hardwearing! It’s been down 2.5 years and looks like it was laid yesterday. Like a previous poster said, my fitter (who fits Polyflor, Amtico and Karndean) said that although Amtico is a slightly better quality generally, the only difference between Karndean and Polyflor is that Karndean have a wider range. I paid £3k for hallway, dining room and kitchen and that included labour and self-levelling screed which was dry in about six hours.

Ha - I love a Picpoul too!

I had it profesionally fitted. Local carpet shop supplied and fitted (registered Karndean agents). Kitchen was very uneven due to an old wall being taken out, but floor levelled fine and went off quickly too.

Cost was just over £2500 for L shaped kitchen/breakfast room, hall and loo plus 2 bathrooms (I had the same floor in all) - for supply and fit.

Amtico here with kids and dog. I haven't noticed any scratches but it does get grubby like anything else. I use the special recommended Amtico treatments.

Had it for 15 years in old house all through downstairs

Got it again here a few years ago as it's fantastic

We were given a reproofing type of kit but have never needed to use it - I think we should do our porch way area sometime but you have to look close

Warm underfoot looks good easy to keep clean

Ours is ace, wouldn’t consider anything else.

We had it in a former house, loved it. We had tile effect and people were always amazed that it wasn’t. It’s easy to clean and lasts well (we had one of the higher grades). The thing that makes or breaks Karndean is fitting. Depending on what’s below, the fitting may well cost more than the floor itself. Our karndean was to replace a builder f*ck up in prepping for an engineered wood floor, the floor bowed and warped within weeks, and so we had to have that removed and then a liquid DPC, and several layers of renovation screed to help smooth a terrible surface. We didn’t have it in this house because of logistical issues with timing and needing a separate contractor and not being able to find a tile we wanted (other end of the room is parquet so couldn’t have wood effect which is my fave). But it’s a great product and I’d have it again.

Yes. Agree with all the other posts.

We’ve had it in the kitchen for 10 years. Not a scratch or mark. Feels warn underfoot.
Definitely worth it!

We priced amtico, karendean and moduleo when renovating. We went for moduleo which was the cheapest and have no issues at all. Had it down two years in the porch, hallway, wc, kitchen/diner and sunroom so high traffic areas. We still have a few strips left so if any damage did occur we could fairly easily spot replace.

Amtico here, with big hairy dogs that carry a lot of mud. We have it everywhere downstairs bar the living room. (All poured at once, that was fun!😆Took me a while to build myself up to doing it, and we did it in good weather where we could put stuff out in garden.)

It is immaculate and very easy to clean. Much warmer underfoot than any of the tile/wood/laminate options we've had elsewhere too.

We hated it. Scratched and looked fake.

We have amtico in our kitchen diner.
I we t with amtico as it is (mostly) manufactured in UK, locally to us.
It's been great.

Thanks all this is interesting. I'm going to have a look at stuff in person today. My only worry about getting it fitted is that it's most of the downstairs of the house and I can't wrap my head around how / where we would put everything.

If we do it ourselves I know it would take longer but we could shift stuff about to do half room at a time. If our floor is flat enough, I guess. I should add DH is very handy, measuring and being practical is his job so I'm sure he could do a decent fit.

I'd considered engineered wood but comments on here and in RL definitely clear that up, we're not careful enough and need to be able to live in the house!

I really wouldn't lay it half a room at a time, yih need to screed it flat and then let it dry. You want to screed it flat as a whole.

We have it (due to previous owners choices). Honestly, I really dislike it. The “tile effect” in the hallway looks very plastic and has that anti-slip orange-peel type surface which gets completely filthy and can only be cleaned by scrubbing with a brush on hands and knees. It also shows every mark.
The wood effect is better - more forgiving and less obviously plastic. But still very obviously not real wood, and has faded where sunlight has hit it.