Flooring replacement

[Ohthepressure]

We've had a leak in our kitchen. The flooring is engineered wood (oak) throughout the ground floor of the house, no door bars just uninterrupted wood. The patch under the washing machine is ruined, and there's an area in the middle of the kitchen which has risen up and warped.
The situation is complicated by the fact that although it's our family home of 10 years it's currently rented out as we're living overseas. Our tenants are mortified. Liability is a grey area, as it was the hose a previous tenant had left behind, attached to the tenant's washing machine which seems to have worked loose. For the sake of keeping good tenants happy, and since the flooring is at least 10 years old, we're prepared to pay the excess and claim on our insurance.
We've spoken to our landlord insurance provider who are sending in an assessor. The insurers have initially said they'd consider replacing all the floor as it flows throughout.
The budget is £5k (that's what the floor covering insurance is capped at) it's a pretty bog standard 4 bed detached ex new build (20 years old) in the North of England. Why sort of flooring can we think about putting in, which would look nice and be resilient, and could we get the whole house done within that budget? We were thinking about Karndean, especially if we end up just getting the kitchen done. We're way out of the loop in terms of home renovations and modern flooring, so any help would be appreciated!

We will hopefully continue to rent for the next couple of years, and then either sell up or (long shot) move back so we don't want to put cheap rubbish in, but also don't have money to burn.
Any ideas?

You could look at putting a door bar in and only doing the kitchen? Engineered wood is going to be the strongest for your money apart from putting tile in. Maybe look at the luxury laminate wood- won't be as strong but will cope with all kitchen stuff unless you have a leak again.

I would go for vinyl planks for that budget

Or door bar and plank shaped ceramic tiles that look like wood.

I would wait for the assessor as the two times I have had to claim there was a big difference to what the company say and what the assessor agrees.

I'd go LVT like Karndean or similar. A flooring company may have a good commercial grade equivalent that's cheaper than Karndean/Amtico. Looks great and will last

Thanks. The engineered wood in the rest of the house is probably a little tired, but we were told when we bought it that it could be (lightly) sanded down and refinished. But that would have to wait until the tenants move out, and that's hopefully not for another 18 months. We'll work out the floor area and email for some quotes, we just weren't sure what the best type of flooring would be to go for, if we have the choice.

The asdesir
assessor has been and indicated to our tenant that the whole ground floor would be replaced. Can anyone advise what flooring we can consider and get quotes (from afar) for, I'm worried Karndean sounds a bit OTT in a (currently) rented house. What can we get c.55sqm for, for £5000, that looks nice and will wear well?

Quickstep. Much cheaper than 5000 even with installation. Choose a design and ring around for best price. Then use an independent installer.

Karndean isn’t OTT. How much is this house worth? If not much, then go for cheap. Wood sounds like it’s a better finish to me and if you wanted to sell, would a cheap floor put people off?

I assume the £5000 includes fitting? What about skirting boards? Are they coming up or are you ok with beading or flooring glued to the skirting boards, rather than underneath it? What about any redecorating? What about getting the old floor up and disposal? What about prep for the new floor?

I’m surprised you are managing this house from abroad. This type of scenario is difficult to manage and an agent would have taken the strain of this. It was up to you, as landlord, to check the suitability of hoses and plumbing if changes were made. Did anyone do a check out with the former tenants and why did they need to change anything?

Good luck with this. I would use a cheaper wood floor throughout but fitting, skirting boards and repainting might be a problem with any floor you choose. If the kitchen is a separate room, just have tiles which are harder wearing. Ditto the hall if that’s a separate area and is no doubt has high use.

Good luck. Get an agent?

Thanks Bubbles. We have an agent. They didn't notice our first tenants had dug up all the plants in the back garden. Or that our second tenants had installed chickens. It took us visiting to notice that. And when the first tenants moved out and their cat had peed on the study floor and ruined it, the agents "fixed" it, but relaying laminate, in a different colour - as it was under £200 they had carte blanche to sort it. They are cheap (10% of the monthly rent) and have cheap tradesmen on tap to reseal the shower, sort out gutters etc. But anything requiring judgment is way beyond them. They left the hose in situ from the previous tenant, so our current tenants thought that's what they had to use to connect their washing machine.

The house is worth £300k. Currently we have white skirtings with narrow "wood" brown beading along the front which doesn't look great now we come to think of it! The underfloor is concrete, as its an ex newbuild so I would hope it wouldn't need much prep. We absolutely don't want to put off future buyers by putting a cheap floor down.

LVT doesn't look cheap, it doesn't have to be Karndean. We were quoted £4k for Amtico for 66sqm and £3.5k for a commercial grade equivalent that looks just as good. That's laid in a herringbone pattern so more expensive to lay, however we're ripping up the skirting and replacing. Your letting agent sounds shit, but I think they all are. We were living abroad when the patio door fell off, the agent quoted 3.5k I got it done for £900

I’ve just had Kardean fitted throughout my whole downstairs (apart from conservatory) I have had a newer version that doesn’t need them to lay a concrete it was laid like laminate called Korlock.

I have a 4 bed so 16 foot lounge, hall, 24 kitchen diner, small utility room, downstairs loo was about £4600 so price wise sounds reasonable.

Oh and definitely doesn’t look cheap and nothing like laminate. Everyone has gone ‘wow’ when they’ve seen it I love it

Oh my goodness me! Your agents are awful! Don’t they check the property regularly? I pay for a regular condition survey. I think if you are under £0.5m, you can get away with a cheaper floor but it’s difficult if you cannot see what quality it feels like.

I know there is engineered wood available for less than Karndean but it depends on what you want. I think I would have a wood look alike in your situation. However it’s a shame that your agents are so useless because you are basing the decision on their ineptitude.

I am sorry if I came across as a bit harsh but I truly thought you didn’t have an agent. 10% is not the going rate here. 12-15% to get a decent service. That can save you money. Pay for a yearly condition survey. Definitely do that when a tenant checks out.

Thanks for the price guides, that's really useful.

Not to bang on about the agents but they do do a six monthly inspection, and they missed everything, and every bloody time they note that the laminate throughout the house is in excellent condition. It's fucking wood you muppets!!

We've got a local firm going round to give us an estimate for engineered wood throughout, Amtico / Karndean everywhere or, maybe, wood everywhere bar the kitchen.
I'm going to send our tenant some flowers as she's liasing with them and letting them in, the agent should do it but that risks them barging in at inconvenient times for her and she seems OK about it. At the end of the day it's not really our fault, but it was just one of those things, nothing deliberate or negligent on their part either and if we can get a flooring refresh for the cost of our excess then it's not too bad.

We've got the quotes back now, finally, and engineered wood is coming in about 500 quid more than Karndean (Van Gogh, apparently mid range) but both in the ballpark for the insurers to pay.

Should we stick with engineered wood throughout? Or have a change with the Karndean? The level will be different, they've warned the doors will have a gap above the Karndean - could they not build up the floor a bit with MDF or something to make it replacing like for like levels? Anyone with experience of flooring?

I would stick with engineered wood, it sounds easier and I think it looks better than LVT.