Is vinyl flooring a false economy?

[BewareTheBeardedDragon]

Need some new flooring and weighing up paying less for vinyl or more for LVT. In general I prefer to buy longer lasting home stuff, and I'm fairly sure LVT will last far longer than vinyl - am I right? Is vinyl a false economy because in the end you end up paying as much through replacing it more often?

This is the forever home. I'm wavering partly because it seem that nicer designs are available in vinyl. I don't want 'wood' design because it will sit next to some solid oak floor and I doubt it wouldn't look rubbish in comparison - or at least just weird because it would either not quite match, or be wildly different 'woods', one real and one not.

I'd really like to hear that there are decent quality vinyls which will properly last...?

LVT is vinyl. Just luxury vinyl tile. I’m assuming you mean vinyl sheet flooring as the alternative. LVT comes in a huge array of finishes from stone to plains. It really isn’t all wood. I wouldn’t put two woods together either. Stone and wood is great together. So I would pay more. We have Amtico and there are so many options. Sheet vinyl can tear. I wouldn’t expect it to last as long.,

The huge advantage of LVT is that you can peel the strips up & relay them should you need to. This happened to me with a water leak in the floor void. I really thought there's no way it'd go back down perfectly but it did! You'd never know those tiles had been taken up. In my experience vinyl on a roll doesn't last long but go with whatever makes your heart sing. Life's too short.

I had stained & polished wood floorboards in the bathroom of my flat when I moved in. Over time the varnish went and it looked bad, so I replaced it with vinyl (on top of plywood). But the vinyl looks dirty all the time unless I wash it every day. I honestly preferred the skanky old floorboards. So yes vinyl feels like a false economy for me and I'd have been better off paying more for ceramic tiles.

We've got karndean

Had it....5? 6? Years, still looks brand new

I've got lvt, I love it, looks brand new after 5 years. Vinyl will indent where heavy furniture sits, and has the potential to rip.

Vinyl doesn't work well for bigger spaces it's great for a small bathroom or kitchen but lvt works better over a larger space as vinyl is vulnerable to damage and is hard to lay well.

I have vinyl in my bathroom and have no regrets.

But I'd be wary of using in the kitchen or utility as I believe there is a risk if you move a heavy appliance, e.g. washing machine, that it will rip or dislodge the vinyl.

Thank you all - you've confirmed my feeling. I did indeed mean roll vinyl vs LVT and ripping/indenting was my main worry.

Does anyone know of anyone that does LVT in coloured tile like patterns rather than plain wood or stone?

Does anyone know of anyone that does LVT in coloured tile like patterns rather than plain wood or stone?

OP, for example, look at Karndean "abstract" patterns for inspiration. I'm sure other LVT brands do something similar as well

www.karndean.com/en-gb/floors/products/abstract/

We're having Parquet LVT from Harvey Maria fitted this Wednesday.

www.harveymaria.com

B and q do lvt in Victorian cement tile patterns

We have amtico but I’ve found it scratches way easier than the laminate flooring we had down before (and cost more than double!) if I was to do it again I would get high quality laminate.

My OH runs a flooring business. I believe he would say that it completely depends.

LVT can be amazing, but it depends on the brand, the quality and what you want to use it for. On the other hand, just because it's your forever house doesn't mean it is your forever floor. Vinyl can be amazing, hard wearing and long lasting. However it can rip or dent if it's a high traffic area or you intend to have heavy furniture moving on it.

Marmoleum is another, far underused but incredible product. It is made of natural ingredients and has been around for a very long time. They have all kinds of colours and patterns and it is also hard wearing and long lasting. But more environmentally friendly apparently.

My recommendation is to ask a local flooring firm (not a National chain) to advise you based on your budget and requirements.

Our karndean went down in a herringbone pattern. They left us lots of pieces in case of disasters. It's so pale I thought it would show dirt but our hall is dark. With opaque glass doors and the floors it's much improved. And it doesn't show the dirt. It's much warmer than the tiled kitchen floor too

Thank you all. Harvey Maria has some really nice designs.

@snowdropsandcrocuses any chance you oh could say which LVT brands are good and which to avoid? This will be laid in a kitchen and dining area, both with direct access to outside and lots of kids so scratching is a big concern.

I know it doesn't have to be a forever floor - but id rather it was 😆

We have a huge kitchen diner (think 25ft long ish) and we have roll vinyl. We went with a cheap option because the water pipes for the house run underneath the floor and we worried if we needed access to them tiles etc would be a nightmare. We went for the best, hardest wearing vinyl we could afford and it’s still looking immaculate nearly 15 years on!

We've just gone for decent sheet vinyl in our kitchen extension and I love it! We had ceramic tiles before that which were unforgiving, cold and slippy, the new floor is great as it's warm, wipe clean and apparently bounces as I dropped a wine glass the other day and it didn't break!! I considered engineered wood, laminate and LVT but eventually went with sheet vinyl not only because it's cheaper but with 2 small children etc it is the best and more hard wearing option. Its probably down to your circumstances (and budget!) as to what works for you.

As @snowdropsandcrocuses said. Check out marloleum. It is plastic free, made of linseed oil and sawdust, and can be sanded lightly if it gets damaged. Comes in loads of beautiful colours and patterns.

I have fake wood LVT next to a real wood floor and it doesn’t look bad at all. It doesn’t look the same, they’re different colours but it doesn’t look out of place.
Maybe get a few samples before you rule out wood pattern LVT?

Is vinyl the new word to describe lino?

We've got Harvey Maria, had it about a year. It has got a couple of deep scratches which happened early on, no one has owned up to how this happened but must have dragged something heavy across it. It also has some very slight scratches from stool legs under the breakfast bar. Oh and it shows every speck of dirt. I love it though.

Our fitter gave us a tip for moving appliances etc on it, which is to use some spare tiles face down under the feet, the two surfaces glide over one another.

I had mormoleum in a previous place and I absolutely despised it. I got it for the eco credentials but I found it scratched really easily and never looked clean. Even when it was freshly washed it just looked grubby all the time and I found it profoundly depressing.

I love that design @EspeciallyDeIighted

As soon as I saw it I knew I wanted it, I didn't want ceramic tiles as they are cold underfoot and things break if dropped, we also thought they might be echoey and slippery when wet.