Tiles/wood/vinyl? kitchen/playroom last minute change HELP

[squishysquashy]

Was going to cover my new kitchen/diner/playroom 6mx5.5m, in one colour vinyl (colour flooring company if you're interested, love it).

But the builder prising up the ceramic tiles from the old kitchen says it will end up uneven, even with the plywood underfloor planned because he can't get all the tile adhesive/concrete whatever up.

Part of the room has floorboards but the end which was an old extension has a concrete floor.

So options are:

1. Re-tile kitchen/diner area (L shape running up the left and across back of the room by the french doors, kitchen island in middle of room) and plain vinyl in the playroom area (square area that 'fills in' the L, other side of island). Pros: easy to clean/maintain. Cons: tiles not good for toddler may have to section off playroom with stairgates; two different floor coverings may look odd.

1. Tiles throughout (would be cream, big shiny ones probably), use big rug and/or foam playmats to cover the play room area: is this practical? look odd? still need to section off playroom. Could clear away playmats for parties/guests, and in long term would be ok (planning 1-2 more kids though)

1. Wood flooring throughout. Pros: looks nice; good for toddler, long term. Cons: bit more expensive; high maintenance; will it go with my zebrano laminate worktop (could cancel that it's not being delivered until Tues, but what would I get instead)?

Not even getting into what type of wood.

kitchen is off white shaker doors (Ikea Adel), Zebrano (dark wood/stripy) laminate worktop and white brick tiling. White ceramic sink. White dining table with bright coloured chairs. Will be having lots of bright colours in playroom, storage etc.

Any ideas/views, I have a ripped out kitchen apart from the sink so I haven't got the luxury of time, need to go look at stuff and decide at the weekend latest. Aargh it was so carefully planned!!!!!

I think your builder is being crap. Why on earth can't he prise up all the glue/concrete?

Even if he can't, he could do a levelling screed and a thinner plywood underfloor surely?

I think it's because one part of the floor is concrete so it's concrete on top of concrete IYSWIM, but I will ask. I couldn't work out why it couldn't be done either....

Option 1 doesn't sound good, might look peculiar.

Tiles would be practical and hard-wearing, and I think you can soften it up with rugs etc. as you say. Your DCs won't be young forever, so don't design the whole place around a toddler.

Wood is lovely, and would also work for the whole room - we used it for a similar through-kitchen/payroom. But you have to be very careful about water spillages and pick them up quickly. I also think if you go for wood you should possibly change the worktops. Go for engineered real wood (has a top layer of wood on a pine base); cheaper than solid wood but looks as good.

Or, as discrete says, give your builder a kick up the arse.

Thanks discrete! Ok have spoken to him yes the concrete is ok once they've got the adhesive up they can level it. The issue is the height difference between the concrete and the floorboards (I got the info 2nd hand from DH, he's very crap at DIY...), it may be too much to even out with plywood. Am going to reserve panicking until tomorrow. He's wondering if there's some kind of flexible underfloor options, as the floorboards will move a bit as you walk on them or something. Not sure about what that was about.

But still welcome any ideas in the meantime, he didn't sound too hopeful

Is there underfloor heating in the concrete part? Because if not he can get it off, it may be a bitch of a job but it can be done (I've done similar myself). Would have to get it out with a percussion hammer at worst and repair the resulting holes, but if it makes what you really want possible....

Not sure I would go for cream, big shiny tiles TBH, unless you really really enjoy cleaning floors. But you definitely could soften it with rugs and so on for the dc.

Have you considered another type of flooring like amtico or something like that? Not quite as cold as tiles but equally hard wearing.

x-post, sorry.

that makes more sense. There probably is something you can do, but you may have to put in some reinforcements. Sorry, floorboards not something I have dealt with much.

I've just had bamboo put down in the hall on the recommendation of MN and it looks amazing, am really pleased with it.

Sounds like you have a builder like mine-doesn't plan ahead!.Putting tiles down on a wooden floor can be a problem -even if you put plywood underneath and use special flexible adhesive as the wood will move [as i can tell you from experience in my bathroom where the grout is coming out due to hot water pipes underneath the floor boards!].The best option for you would be engineered wood [can't stick normal wood floorboards on top of wood] or vinyl [if he can level it out.

black slate effect laminate? we are getting our kitchen fitted just now too (IKEA Lidingo, so off-white) with an oak worktop, and the hallway it opens onto has mega-cheap wood laminate which is orangey in hue. So we have gone with the B+Q black slate laminate, which is looking really really good (so far!). I am pleasantly surprised at how much I like it! even though our kitchen is dead small and poky, it hasn't darkened it, but really brings out the creamyness of the units. We're painting the walls PBW and Olive green (crown kitchen paint), so we have some colour in the room.

alternatives might be bamboo or cork, but they would probably clash horribly with your worktops.

We've got karndean ( bit like amtico) and can't rate it highly enough. Both the tiles and the wood effects are fabulous (laid as tiles or planks respectively so look even more real) and withstand everything you throw at them - no worries about water marks etc, and soft enough that I didn't worry about toddlers falling etc (well not any more than normal!) might be worth a look?

Thanks guys. Looking a bit more positive now - and yes it's all taking longer than it should do! Still chipping away at the old adhesive on top on the concrete (they have been doing other things btw not just that!). Once that's off will put down plywood, then cover all with a latex leveller (can be got at Wickes apparently). Yes the issue was mainly that the floorboards will move so would crack a normal leveller/screed thing.

So hopefully my vinyl will go down ok. I will bear in mind the black slate laminate idea though. Sounds very like my old kitchen (which I have almost copied for this one), I had dark slate effect ceramic tiles which looked great with the kitchen but were a bitch to clean. My concern would be although the room is big it is north facing and not as light as you would expect - and I think if big maybe even worse to have a dark floor perhaps, too much black probably.

My main worry with both wood/laminate was the clearing up spillages, I have a lovely SAHP who is not housework-friendly!

Will add a pic to my profile when completed!

the builder has again said to me (which I blocked my ears to last time and went la la la) that he thinks the vinyl will get marked/dented easily, especially as it is one colour and not a pattern so damage will be obvious. Having taken a bit of broken tile to my sample I fear he is right...

Soooo, I am now definitely going to change my plans anyway.
Have just remembered I liked the look of quickstep beige passionata laminate. Think this would look nice, but I haven't seen in the flesh. Would be the price I was planning to spend. www.flooringsupplies.co.uk/laminate/7529/quickstep_vogue_beige_passionata_oak_uvg1395_laminate_flooring

Am a bit concerned about laminate though, it's not exactly in vogue - and I can see why after moving in here with cheapo rubbish everywhere that squeaks...

Noticed your vinyl is Coloured Flooring Company. We've just used them in bathroom, and whilst very pleased it, I did let something wet and pink (oo er) drip dry onto it and it's left a slight stain (sob). Just to let you know...

Thanks said. I am mainly concerned about scratching as it's kitchen/diner/back door/toddler territory, my builder says as soon as we track in some grit it will get damaged. Sob.

Having said that lots of tomato pasta sauce will no doubt get dropped on it too, so staining wouldn't be great either.

Karndean! When they lay it, they even the floor up with a screed which provides a perfectly even surface. Sounds like you need to get a supplier round to take a look. We have it in our kitchen over their screed which is over a screed the builder put down over originally very uneven concrete floor, part old and part new (extension) - he had no problem dealing with all that.

Any floor can be levelled. Our kitchen is 3 rooms all knocked together and the floor was very uneven and is totally level now and tiles. Get someone else to look at it.

If you can't stretch to the £££ per m2 for Karndean or Amtico (we couldn't!) then I would go for good quality 'heavy duty' laminate as that's what we've got in the kitchen/diner. If laid properly it will not creak or squeak. Ours has been down 6 years and still looks good.
HTH and happy shopping.