Best flooring for a sun room/dining room?

[firesidechat]

We are having an extension built soon which is replacing an old and unloved conservatory and will be using it as a dining room. It will have a vaulted ceiling with 4 velux windows, 1 plastered wall with no windows, one wall with mid height windows along it's length and one wall with french doors and glass side panels along almost it's entire width. At the moment we are thinking of extending the heating into the new part via a radiator.

It will open onto the garden, so carpet is probably a no no, but what flooring would you go with? A Karndean floor will cost about £1,000 and I'm not sure if it's worth the money and as problem free as I would like. I quite like the idea of ceramic tiles, but they may be too cold and hard. Is laminate flooring desperately out of favour these days? Any ideas?

Oh and it needs to be as low maintenance as possible. Intentions may be good at the start, but I just know that we won't have the time or inclination to do much work after the flooring is down.

I'd go for tiles, possibly with UFH.

I just looked at the cost of underfloor heating and it is probably too expensive for us. I don't mind the coldness of ceramic floors, but I suppose we need to think about potential buyers in the future.

Has anyone used Karndean or similar in a room like the one I describe? It shouldn't get too hot in there.

If you aren't bothered by ceramic tiles being cold (and I'm not either), then I think you should go with those. When you decide to sell, whoever buys can put wood/vinyl/laminate/whatever down, you shouldn't overthink it.

Great advice lala, but you're talking to someone who overthinks everything.

Hi, I'm interested so just going to follow your thread. Hope that's ok.

Of course.

My parents have had wood effect amtico in their sun room for 17 years now and it still looks amazing. They have had three kids, always had pets and it hasn't scratched or faded at all. It is their main living room in summer.

I wanted similar for my dining room but opted for a brand called Harvey Maria because it was on super sale.

Was the Harvey Maria as good as you hoped? I think we probably will end up with Karndean or similar.

It looks fab and was super easy to fit. It's only been down for a few months though, so I can't comment on its durability.

Thanks for that. I think John Lewis may do the HM and Karndean, so we might compare them.

I've been quoted £25 a metre for amtico and £25 a metre to fit. Is that the going rate ?

That's incredibly cheap for Amtico.

Thanks fireside - good to know !

crosses off amtico after calculating what £50 x 45 metres comes to

I have seen some Amtico cheaper than that online, but no idea what grade it is and most Amtico is around the £40 per m mark before fitting.

Engineered wood flooring maybe? We have just completed an extension kitchen come dining/garden room, we have a wide oak planks looks lovely very easy to keep clean, you can have it re-sanded a couple of times if you wanted it to look pristine in the future.

Hi Fireside...we are buying a south facing end terrace (first time buyers) and I have been thinking about doing exactly what you described!

Unfortunately I can't find a pic to show my DH...have you found any pics or drawings online to illustrate what you want to do? Would br great if you can send me a link please. Where will your kitchen ve? Thanks

I don't have time just now to hunt for a photo, but will have a look tomorrow.

The kitchen is at the front of the house and is a kitchen/diner at the moment. We will make this into a kitchen/breakfast room with more worktops and a smaller table which will give us a lovely space to cook in. The new extension and dining room will be at the back and will be partially knocked thought to the living room. We will have to walk through the living room to get to the dining bit, but there are lovely views at the rear of the house and we wanted to make the most of them.

The extension will only be about 4 m x 3 m, but will give us space for a dining table and a sofa and maybe a small sideboard or bookcase.

It will be a bit like this one - 3rd row down, 2 middle photos:

www.dawsonbuilding.co.uk/gallery/

A bit wider and with the old house and new extension opened up with no connecting doors.