Please help me understand what kind of flooring I need

[Ketzele]

I don't have a hallway - the front door goes straight into the living room and then onto the kitchen, through a permanently open door. So as soon as you enter the house you see the wooden floor in the living room (which is orangey, full of holes and cracks, also features a large pink cement square where the chimney breast used to be), and then onto the rather nasty terracotta tiles in the kitchen - as well as, of course, the stair carpet.

So I'd like to replace it with one type of flooring running through the ground floor. Carpet is out and I probably can't afford a proper wooden floor (and can't trust my family not to leave water all over it in the kitchen). So I guess that leaves tiles, engineered wood, bamboo, laminate or LVT (Karndean etc).

What would be best? Which is easiest to keep clean? Which will stand up to daily assault from my monstrous kids? I looked at a sample of wood-effect tile and it looked quite nice - am I kidding myself?

Budget is definitely a consideration, but as it's not an urgent job I could just save up for longer if needs be.

Many thanks!

Engineered wood is wood! It is a wood veneer, of varying thickness, so can be spoilt by water. Bear in mind that you need to lift the skirting to fit tiles or wood underneath. If it was down to me I would have engineered wood of a good thickness and teach my family to behave. Laminate is ok in cheaper houses but not more expensive ones. Tiles are cold and fake tiles and wood are - fake. Not so good in a lounge either in my view. You need to get advice on cost of putting new flooring onto mixed surfaces and how you deal with the old wood floor. A new level screed is best and you need to consider the cost of prep or the floor will look dreadful.

My DSis has a house like this and they don't use the front door. They only use the back door. Could you do this to save wear and tear - assuming you have a back door?

We have karndean and love it. 2 years in so far and not a scratch x

bojorojo my family are sadly beyond the reach of mere mortals, and we don't have side access. But yes, wood would be my ideal choice. It sounds as though the prep might be the most expensive part of the exercise...

Jennifaerie, everyone seems to love their karndean! I may well investigate it. Can it be laid on top of tiles, do you know, or will they need to be dug up first?

You need a flat sound surface. There are products to achieve this.