Flooring help. Getting desperate!!!

[PollyPolo]

Hi,

I have had an extension built, so we have a large kitchen diner area. All great but I am really struggling with flooring.

With two young children, and dogs it needs to be robust and I am after a wood look.

I have looked at Amtico, I have samples coming out of my ears, it looks great in some light but when the sun hits it, it looks like shiny plastic.

I'm now at a loss. I have been advised against engineered wood as it will just get ruined.

Does anyone know of a product that looks as close to wood as possible, but without the shine?

Thanks

Thanks so much.

I like the laminate, as you can see the plank lines. The other issue with LVT and some laminate is that is ends up looking like one massive floor, you don't see the planks as you do with wood.

The other problem I have, is that the door people fitting the big patio doors measured them wrong, leaving me a 11mm threshold instead of a 25mm one. So not only do I need to decide on a floor, I need to find a decent solution to a floor that is potentially higher than the door threshold.

Amtico is luxury vinyl, there is plenty of luxury vinyl that isn’t shiny, and is much cheaper

@Hoppinggreen

Amtico is luxury vinyl, there is plenty of luxury vinyl that isn’t shiny, and is much cheaper

I thought that too and have so many samples now of Amtico, it looks great but when the sun hits it from my doors you can see the plastic shine and the embossed part looks really fake.

There is one that doesn't look so bad from a company called Project-Flooring with a grout line but the planks are really wide, great if you own a huge commercial space but not so great in my house.

I also love the bamboo suggested on this thread. I never thought of tiles that look like wood, perhaps that is an option.

[quote Muststopeating]I had exactly the same dilemma as you, big extension, same flooring all through, not a fan of LVT, love engineered wood.

Think we're probably going to go Quickstep Laminate Impressive... but I've got a while to think about it.

Below is a thread I started with lots of engineered wood feedback and pics of samples that I 'stress tested'. Would recommend going to a quickstep installer so you can see the bigger boards.

Would love to know what you choose in the end.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/property/4158712-Please-can-I-see-pictures-of-your-engineered-wood-floors-especially-the-scratches?msgid=104723527#104723527[/quote]
Thanks.

I did see a laminate I liked, it's by V4 Flooring, it did look like wood but I am waiting for the shops to open again as I only have a sample of it.

www.v4woodflooring.co.uk/product/nehe50-shortbread-oak/

Howdens actually let me in to sit in their backroom and look through all the Quickstep range they offer but I didn't like it. But they have a limited range I think.

It's really hard, such an expensive thing to get wrong.

I love wood, but I am really concerned my dogs will ruin it. They ruined my sanded floorboards, but they were pine. So maybe a hard wood.

Someone mentioned Bamboo, I like this idea, I have found suppliers but not fitters. Due to the door threshold being so low , I need someone who knows what they are doing.

[quote Muststopeating]I had exactly the same dilemma as you, big extension, same flooring all through, not a fan of LVT, love engineered wood.

Think we're probably going to go Quickstep Laminate Impressive... but I've got a while to think about it.

Below is a thread I started with lots of engineered wood feedback and pics of samples that I 'stress tested'. Would recommend going to a quickstep installer so you can see the bigger boards.

Would love to know what you choose in the end.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/property/4158712-Please-can-I-see-pictures-of-your-engineered-wood-floors-especially-the-scratches?msgid=104723527#104723527[/quote]
Thanks.

I did see a laminate I liked, it's by V4 Flooring, it did look like wood but I am waiting for the shops to open again as I only have a sample of it.

www.v4woodflooring.co.uk/product/nehe50-shortbread-oak/

Howdens actually let me in to sit in their backroom and look through all the Quickstep range they offer but I didn't like it. But they have a limited range I think.

It's really hard, such an expensive thing to get wrong.

I love wood, but I am really concerned my dogs will ruin it. They ruined my sanded floorboards, but they were pine. So maybe a hard wood.

@Ismellphantoms I like the idea of Bamboo, seems it is more robust than wood. I can find lots of suppliers, but not anyone who fits it.

Have you thought about tiled floor with wood effect? Some friends fitted it in their whole downstairs and it looks really good....

Our porcelain tiles have been amazing. Through the hall, study and dining room. They are so easy to look after. There's a huge range of colours and styles. Ours are laid straight, mid size planks.

We've got LVT, Sierra exempla in character lined oak. Really textured and grained. Non slip and not at all shiny. It was sold as suitable for commercial use so pretty tough!

@PollyPolo I got quotes from several flooring fitters. I bought the sort that clicks together. Nobody said they couldn't do it. In the end my son in law did it and we bought it. It's no different to a wooden floor. One did supply and fit and others were happy for us to supply, which is cheaper.

We are about to go with strand woven bamboo since I want to avoid scratching as much as possible (big dog). Don't do laminate with dogs, its slippery for them, it scratches and since its just a photo of wood on particle board you can't easily repair it.

[quote Iwantcauliflowercheese]@PollyPolo I got quotes from several flooring fitters. I bought the sort that clicks together. Nobody said they couldn't do it. In the end my son in law did it and we bought it. It's no different to a wooden floor. One did supply and fit and others were happy for us to supply, which is cheaper. [/quote]
Thanks.

The problem we have is that the patio door fitters measured the opening wrong, leaving us with a small threshold of around 11mm

So potentially the floor would be higher than the door, so I need someone who knows what they are doing to make it look right.

@amyboo Thanks, I have seen these and they do look nice, especially in a Herringbone style.

I will explore this option again but they might be a problem due to the threshold issue I mentioned.

I am in the same position as you OP, so this is really useful. I was leaning towards engineered (I can go 14mm) but some of the laminates look good - going to get samples.

We have bamboo in a living room, and I have to be honest and say it looks lovely initially but it scratches REALLY easily. We've had it down for about six years and it's already got to go.

Well worth going through @Muststopeating's other thread linked above. The stress tests and Flora oil solutions are really useful!!

Thanks, I just checked out @Muststopeating's thread and it was really helpful.

The stress tests are really helpful. I never thought of that with my samples.

Today I received samples of bamboo and engineered wood.

I put them all out with the Amtico LVF and V4 Laminate and got my kids to guess the wood.

The Amtico they guessed straight away but they thought the laminate was real wood.

Ok not the most scientific test but I think I must now have about 40 samples of various kinds and got my head into a complete spin.

I really don't know what to do now. But confusion is good, it's a path to somewhere. That's what I'm telling myself.

Don't know if it's any help but we had the same problem. Initially convinced we'd go for Amtico or similar but really disliked the samples.

In the end we laid Porcelanosa wood effect tiles. They are perfect with the dog, he doesn't slip and they are so easy to keep clean. Guests regularly mistake them for real wood. We have underfloor heating so they stay warm.

Only negative is if you are very clumsy and drop things they are more likely to break on the tiles.

Have you looked at Karndean? I have heard it is very good.

@alpinia They look great, I just looked them up and they do look classy
www.porcelanosa.com/en/floor-tiles/wood-effect/

I think I prefer them to LVF. I decided not to have uf heating, so do you think they would be cold?

@Meredusoleil I have samples and they have quite a shiny look in the sun. The best LVF I have seen is Project Flooring. It is more of a matt, still embossed and it has groutline.

www.bodenfuchs24.de/media/image/product/18616/lg/project-floors-pw3021-gl-groutline-floors-work-vinylboden~2.jpg

I honestly can't get on with Amtico or Kardean. They look nice enough, they are probably more robust than wood and are definitely low maintenance. But whilst in photos they can easily pass for wood, close up - they're clearly just 'posh lino'.

I have gone full circle from Engineered Oak to Kardean to V4 laminate and am now back at Engineered Oak. Would love to know where you are mostly getting your samples from OP? I want a fairly wide board, natural colour and the most robust finish possible - can't quite understand if this means oiled or lacquered.... ?

I don't think they are warm like a carpet is, but we have them throughout the house and even in places without the heating on like the front hall and spare bedroom I don't find them particularly cold to walk on in winter.

It is a well insulated house though, a freezing childhood home had tiles over concrete and you practically needed hot water bottles strapped to your feet in the winter.

I would choose them again and multiple friends have done since they saw ours. A neighbour has them laid in a herringbone pattern too.

@SheenMcQueen Most of the samples came directly from the manufacturers or I found an online company sending out free samples.

Today I received engineered oak and its already ruined. I dropped it and a deny appeared and a scratch.

But saying that I am sure it depends o the coating and quality.

The other samples are from stores who have them all laid put nicely on boards.

But I have a really reputable company who just do wood coming out this week, so I am looking forward to seeing what they have to say.

@alpinia That's good to know. Maybe they will work in my kitchen and in the hall I can have hard wood.

My in laws have wood effect tiles in their kitchen and they are lovely. The rest of their house has sanded floor boards and whilst they don't look the same, they don't jar either.

I looked at them, but we needed a much larger square footage done and were on a v tight budget, so ended up with tile effect karndean, which I am very happy with.

Our laminate looked great, when it was laid, 4 years ago, now it’s awful in places. Huge regret. Would probably tile if we did again, maybe wood effect tiles.

Have a look at Quickstep Livyn or Quickstep Pulse LVT

Has a few that are less shiny.

@alpinia Were those tiles from Porcelanosa really expensive? I have seen over £120 per m2 but wasn't sure if that was an inflated price or what they actually cost.