Hard / wood floor advice for downstairs

[ElderMillennial]

Can I have advice / thoughts on flooring for downstairs please.

Planning hard floors as easier to keep clean than carpet but then may have rug in living room. I wanted the same floor all downstairs (living room, dining room, hall and kitchen) but DH thinks wood in kitchen is risky and likely to get ruined which is probably right.

Is wooden flooring the most hard wearing as compared to engineered wood or laminate? I've had laminate before but it got ruined easily when wet. Tiles are obviously waterproof but not v homely for living room and dining room.

Any advice place on what to go for?

I have this throughout the hall and into the open plan kitchen diner, and absolutely love it. It’s a stone composite and very hard wearing and easy to clean.

thewoodenfloorstore.com/waterproof/balento-islands-vinyl-flooring-anna-maria-island-herringbone-6mm-x-110mm-x-620mm-underlay-attached

I have Amtico Spacia lvt in oak, would definitely have it again, so low maintenance and looks fab.

@SollaSollew beautiful kitchen

Lockdownbear

We have engineered wood, I don't know if it's a quality issue or what but the kitchen has many dinks in it, where stuff has been dropped
I'm not sure I'd have it again

Same here.
We haven’t had the dings but the water marks have stained the floor and it probably needs a sand as it is well worn.
In the bedrooms and living room and hallway it looks still like new. Just the kitchen we have a problem

I just don’t think it’s a product that’s suitable for kitchens. There are some issues with dirt and grit and wet in halls too. I would go Karndean or tiles for those areas.

@Bythemillpond ours only has one water damaged board, I'm not sure how that one board is damaged but lots of dinks where stuff has been dropped.

www.costco.co.uk/Home-Improvement/Flooring-Tiles/Vinyl-Flooring/Golden-Select-Light-Oak-Rigid-Core-SPC-Luxury-Vinyl-Flooring-Planks-with-Foam-Underlay-133-m-Per-Pack/p/slight oak

We have this LVT (not this exact colour though) from Costco and it's brilliant. It's only been down a year, but it's easy to look after and feels warm underfoot.

We have had Kardean throughout our ground floor for the past 25 years. I can't recommend it highly enough, it still looks bloody amazing after all this time.

We will be replacing it this year as we are having a new kitchen and frankly fancy a change after so long. We are going with Amtico oak planks which we have just had fitted upstairs and will also be having down the staircase too.

Only reason for having Amtico not Kardean is that it is taking quite a while to get hold of Kardean at the moment, they seem to have supply issues and Amtico is readily available.

Be sure you get a good fitter - floor preparation and planning the lines of sight for planks are key to a really good quality finish. You need you floor fitter to have an eye for detail and be a perfectionist.

We have terracotta tiles in the kitchen, hall and downstairs loo and engineered wood in the rest of the downstairs.

I love the wood. The tiles are also brilliant in some ways but very unforgiving when things are dropped so if I was starting again I might not do them again!

Try LVT in planks, laid in a herringbone pattern.

@SollaSollew do you mind saying where you got the light fitting above your table from please?

Hi @jerichospenis sure it was from Westelm, it’s this one www.westelm.co.uk/sculptural-glass-globe-pendant-clear-w3679?quantity=1&attribute_1=36%20cm&attribute_2=Brass

And thanks @suzzze it was from Handmade Kitchens of Christchurch which I saw recommended here

@ElderMillennial

I suppose part of the difficulty is it being more difficult to buy things like flooring at the moment as many if the ships are closed unless we can get something in Wickes or B&Q.

Not sure where in the country you are but try local independent shops. We tend to prefer them anyway but in pandemic, have found them to be so accommodating. They open by appointment so you can go view and feel the item, they are so knowledgeable and have delivered promptly with no issues.

We used local independents for our kitchen, LVT floor, doors, tiles, bathrooms and wardrobes. All have allowed us to visit or we have visited them through the lockdowns

Not sure where in the country you are but try local independent shops. We tend to prefer them anyway but in pandemic, have found them to be so accommodating. They open by appointment so you can go view and feel the item, they are so knowledgeable and have delivered promptly with no issues.

That's a good idea. We got our carpets from a local shop and I think they do some hard floorings so we were thinking of calling them.

@ElderMillennial

Does karndeal go down in times or strips? I'm trying to picture it. It's not like Lino is it?

It is posh lino. I know someone with it throughout their downstairs, eye-watering expensive lino, looks great, but feels like lino.

I have bamboo flooring throughout and to be honest yes it's easier to clean but you notice the dust more, especially around the edges, so it's 6 of one half a dozen of the other.
Bamboo is very very tough stuff though and not been damaged in the kitchen and it can also cope with UFH

Hmm the idea of Lino doesn't appeal but I don't know if it's because I'm thinking of the Lino we had when I was a child!

I just spoke to our local carpet shop (who recently fitted carpets for us) and they are coming to measure next week and we can then book a slot to go in. They do engineered wood, laminate, karndean, LVL(?) so hopefully that will be a step forwaes

I have just read through all the comments again

@SollaSollew Your kitchen is lovely

So karndean isn't just for kitchens? I am very intrigued by this.

Sounds like engineered wood might not be a good option

Laminate, maybe, if it's hard wearing

Karndean can be for anywhere. I have it throughout the ground floor and am now having Mitch throughout the upstairs and also on the stairs too.

And please be clear that LVL and Lino are completely different things. Karndean and Amtico are both LVL and can be tiles or planks depending upon the style chosen.

Thanks ChequerBoard

I feel like we are making some steps forward now that we are being measured up next week and should be able to look at some flooring