Karndean Herringbone or similar

[croon979]

Is anyone willing to share pictures of your Karndean (or similar - Amtico, Moduleo etc) herringbone floors? I am looking for a warm mid-colour oak. Not too light or dark. Something like morning oak parquet in Karndean but would love to see some actual pictures of luxury vinyl tiles in a mid tone. Thanks!

Watching with interest although I have nothing to add - OP, can I ask why you are looking at LVT and not real wood? I am currently trying to choose a flooring.

To be honest I would consider real wood too and will get quotes for both. I have just heard some great things about the durability of Karndean and luxury vinyl that it appeals.

Yes, that's what I've heard too. I've looked at reviews and websites till my head is spinning, can't make my mind up.

We have a Karndean herringbone pattern kitchen floor and I would never buy Karndean again. It scratches very easily and where the kitchen chairs are thete are marks all over it- scratches. We put felt on all the feet of the furniture as recommended and renew it every 6 months or so.
It looks grotty considering it cost a lot of money- it was their most expensive LVT. Supposedly guaranteed for 20+ years but not, it turns out, against wear and tear. It had scratches within weeks.

Maybe not warm enough? It's called something like rosewashed oak. Karndean. New, but no issues so far. I love how it looks.

@LuluBlakey1

We have a Karndean herringbone pattern kitchen floor and I would never buy Karndean again. It scratches very easily and where the kitchen chairs are thete are marks all over it- scratches. We put felt on all the feet of the furniture as recommended and renew it every 6 months or so. It looks grotty considering it cost a lot of money- it was their most expensive LVT. Supposedly guaranteed for 20+ years but not, it turns out, against wear and tear. It had scratches within weeks.

That's a pretty worthless guarantee.

You could try searching #karndean etc. on Instagram. It will doubtless bring up lots of photos of peoples homes with that type of flooring. I find Instagram great for inspiration and / or confirming my opinion of decor ideas.

Thanks lashy- will do that!

Eeek Lulu that is not good. Weirdly I only hear glowing reports or damning reports about Karndean there doesn’t seem to be anything inbetween….

Ours is Amtico Spacia New England Oak. Had it six months and v happy so far. We are going to have it the entire ground floor but this is the only bit we have done so far. My advice would be to find a good fitter - our actually came back to re-lay two bits (fascinating, yet quite simple looking process) after they had set as they had a minuscule hairline gap. Apparently it is possible to replace individual scratched pieces down the line if you need to.

That looks really lovely ‘Twas- so looking at your picture you have gone for a bigger plank?? Looks really good as your hallway is nice and wide. Hadn’t even considered plank size yet - so much to think about! 😩

Also lovely HedyPrism - yes I think i am going to go for something a little warmer - good to see as a comparison though

@Twasacceptableinthe80s
I totally love your front door! Do you mind me asking - did you have that put in and if so which company?

@croon979

That looks really lovely ‘Twas- so looking at your picture you have gone for a bigger plank?? Looks really good as your hallway is nice and wide. Hadn’t even considered plank size yet - so much to think about! 😩

Thanks. Actually wanted to have smaller planks, but I think we explained it wrong! All of the sample sizes are tiny so I didn’t actually realise until it was all delivered and then they laid a couple and I was won over - on reflection the smaller size might have looked a bit busy.

@Twasacceptableinthe80s Very, very nice! These are just the kind of photos that I pour over on Insta. Seeing things in situ (and on a larger scale/ as opposed to 1x small sample piece) makes it so much easier decide if it's something worth splashing out on.

How on earth do do you kmow if your getting a good fitter though

[quote Fazabulous]@Twasacceptableinthe80s
I totally love your front door! Do you mind me asking - did you have that put in and if so which company?[/quote]
Thanks! Yes, we had it made bespoke by www.countythehomeimprovers.co.uk/showrooms/tunbridge-wells-showroom/. We actually wanted it in wrought iron, but apparently it wouldn’t have met building regs for insurance purposes (which seems crazy but there you go) 🤷🏻‍♀️ So this is wood. It was pretty expensive, but I had seen a similar door on a house in the States that I had fallen in love with, but we couldn’t find that style anywhere in this country…

We have Amtico and won’t be doing it again. Our house is south facing and in the heat, the floor rises up and creates bubbles as it expands/contracts. It has worn and cracked in patches not in the sun, but where wear is heaviest (by the sink / food prep areas). The colour change where the sun hits it was to be expected.

We’ll be replacing after 4 years which is horrifying when you think about the environmental impact but the kids catch their feet on the cracked bits and it’s not fit for purpose.

DH did fit it himself but we spoke to a professional floor fitter who said that he’d done nothing wrong, it’s just the way it is. Our neighbours (also south facing) have LVT and they have the same issues. Ours was the click system so whatever you do, don’t let them fit that!

@LooksLikeImStuckHere can I ask what you will replace it with? Engineered wood instead? I am looking at all options so interested in what material you think would better avoid those problems in the future….

@LooksLikeImStuckHere why don’t you call out the Amtico guys who sold it to you as this will definitely be under guarantee and will be replaced for free?

I’ve had experience of Amtico with an amazing fitter - it was down at least 18 years and looked brand new. I’ve also had Karndean with a terrible fitter who laid it on a non-flat surface and it cracked over time.

It is worth paying for a really good fitter and making 100% sure they are Karndean/Amtico fitters, not moonlighting wooden floor fitters as it’s very different. When I went back to the shop regarding the badly fitted Karndean, it turned out they were registered resellers but not installers. So I learned a hard lesson basically.

@Naughtynovembertree

How on earth do do you kmow if your getting a good fitter though

We used them for a couple of other smaller projects (we have karndean and I think moduleo in our bathrooms) and were pleased with results. Plus looked for recommendations on local FB pages…

I don't have the pattern you're asking for, but am another here to say don't go for Karndean!

We have it in our house and it scratches so, so easily. The maintenanceit needs every year is a pain in the arse to fit in, too. We've only had the house 4 years and the flooring was new then, but lots of it needs replacing already. There's scratches all over the kitchen floor from chairs being pulled in and out, scratches where I moved the fridge one time, a couple of big chunks missing where I've dropped things (nothing heavy, a single plate in one case), it melted when I dropped a slightly hot oven tray on it. (Yes, I'm very clumsy). The Karndean in the hallway dented and chipped when we had a bookcase brought into the house and it was put down slightly too hard.

The only good thing about it is that you can replace damaged tiles rather than the entirety of the flooring, but with the rate it gets damaged it'll cost about the same as getting the entire floor done by the time we've replaced all the tiles, so I think we're just going to replace it all at some point.

I love our karndean and ours isn’t scratched at all. The 17 year old karndean we replaced was a bit scratched but that was very dark wood style. I have put pads on the chairs so they don’t scrape. With a dog and 3 dc we have it through 90% of the house and it’s fab.

@LooksLikeImStuckHere

In filled with horror.
I thought I had found the perfext flooring for us, amtico will go in our kitchen which does get the sun!!

I have V4 engineered wood herringbone in my open plan kitchen and I love it.

X3 kids and looks like new.

I had Polyflor Georgian Oak LVT laid in my hallway, dining room and kitchen a year ago. I have bicycles, walking gear, allotment stuff, climbing equipment in and out of the house and it still looks perfect.