Porcelain tiles or luxury vinyl in sunny room?

[Thanksforhelp]

Any help or advice would be hugely appreciated. I'm having some house alterations which will include 5 metre bi-folds and 2 velux windows with south facing aspect - the light and sun will come flooding in. It includes a kitchen area so laminate not really an option.

I'm weighing up pro's and cons of porcelain tiles vs loose lay LVP (I like wood effect planks whichever I go for).

I understand the tiles will stand up to the sun better and shouldn't fade but could be cold in autumn/winter (I don't have ufh). The LVP is warmer but I understand won't stand up so well to the sun and have read some horror stories of rapid fading / discolouration.

My local carpet shop recommended Kardean looselay but said I should close blinds when sunny. Have read that Amtico stands up better than Karndean to the sun. Is that right? I obviously don't want to get something where I always feel like I've got to close blinds /draw curtains as soon as the sun makes an appearance, defeats the point of having bi-folds!

All advice and experience of using any of these when getting loads of sun through bi-folds would be hugely appreciated.

Thanks so much🙂

I cant help much other to say I have porcelain tiles outside and they will be cold in winter. I tend to walk barefoot in my garden so I notice the difference.

Can you put ufh in?

I would put in UFH and do tiles; LVT is so plasticky and always looks wrong imo.

Or could you tile the kitchen part and have engineered wood elsewhere?

Make sure the glass is anti UV and triple glazed. Otherwise you will boil! Also will help against fading.

I hate a cold floor so would go for LVT if you’re not having UFH.

I have a south facing glass laden room and have tiles - they are cold in the winter if the UFH isn’t on, even on sunny days. We get warmed patches where the sun hits but that isn’t everywhere. Absolutely bombproof though, no fading or scratching etc.

If you're paying out for all that, get some underfloor heating and then tile it.

I've Karndean in my south facing dining room that the previous owners put in. It's faded horribly and I wouldn't choose it again for this reason.

I have a garden room which gets very sunny. Regardless of the flooring (cheap laminate put down by a property developer), I have to close the blinds on sunny days as the room gets too hot and also my furniture in there will fade. Both wooden furniture, leather and fabric will fade in strong sunlight through glass. As it happens, the cheap laminate has not been noticeably affected by the sun!

Same except we put it in.

I would go tiles and UFH.

A friend of mine has some grey rough looking tiles not porcelain (I think they maybe have subtle fossilised leaf shapes in with under floor heating in her sun garden room.

Her floor always looks clean, its warm, versatile when she changes her decor and they are extremely hard wearing and timeless. She got them put in years ago and has a beautiful home and they haven’t dated.

Tiles without ufh are horrible, they suck warmth from your feet.

I would always choose tiles.

Do you know what is right outside your bi-fold doors? Is it decking? Patio etc. I would want to make sure my internal flooring matched that. I wouldn't want wood effect indoors and a real wood decking outdoors.

My choice would personally be to have the same tile indoor and outdoor to have a seamless look, especially when bi-fold doors are open in summer...

I have ceramic tiles and no UFH. I simply have a fluffy room sized area rug that I put down in cooler months (Oct-Mar) and that keeps our toes from freezing. Like you, mine is a sunny spot and the sun really can make it toasty and warm.

I would not put down LVT they are simply put plastic tiles and are not an environmentally sustainable choice. Also, because they are glued down, you often get condensation mould growing under them (mould eats glue) in areas like unheated conservatories that are toasty by day due to sunshine, but chilly at night and closed off as unheated,

We're doing a similar job and have gone with porcelain wood effect tiles. We are putting UFH in but the flooring would've been the same regardless. We have porcelain tiles in our hall and kitchen diner with radiators and find them fine, although we do tend to wear slippers in the house.

I'd just add a rug at any sofas for softness.

Don't like the plasticky feel of vinyl.

We have gone for porcelain wood effect tiles, but have UFH. I love it, but not sure I'd have done the same if we didn't have UFH. Sorry, that's probably not a very helpful reply!

I wouldn't put down wood affect porcelain tiles. Tiles, fine. Just not wood affect!

I guess it depends on if you are a slippers or barefoot house. We have tiles in the utility, wood in the kitchen. The utility is noticeablly colder - DH wears slippers and doesn't care. The rest of us get cold feet!

We considered getting an indoor outdoor porcelain tile but weren't convinced on durability outdoors. We're going with slate flagstones outside - not exciting but hopefully will never date.

Vinyl
Tiles noisy and cold also the chance of dropping something on them and breaking one
sun can be quite vicious on flooring vinyl very easily replaced tiles major jib and your stuck with them

Tiles

I have LVT in my kitchen and would never choose it again

I have amtico, South facing with bifolds and no fading at all.

Thanks for all the comments so far, it's a real head scratcher. I know a lot is down to personal taste and I think either looks good. I'd probably go for LVT if it wasn't for the concern about the sun. (I've had Karndean glue down in my kitchen for almost 20 years and still ok - but now needs eplacing due to opening things up).

My builder says he has south facing with bi-folds and has porcelain tiles with ufh and works well with no fading. In view of energy costs he hasn't put the ufh on this winter - he and his family wear slippers and he says it's fine.

Have asked him about ufh this morning - he said if I do it then he'd suggest electric mat with insulation layer before tiling. Would add about 20mm to 25mm height to the floor.

If I have tiles and don't use ufh then slippers and rugs sound like the answer. (My parents have ceramic tiles in their kitchen with no ufh and I must admit that with slippers on I never notice it being colder than their dining room which is lvt). They don't notice either.

Still can't decide - thanks so much for comments. Any further thoughts please do share.🙂

We've got LVT in ours. Looked at Karndean and Amtico but heard about the possibility of scratches and fading, so our builder suggested a cheaper LVT which has worked beautifully and was warmer in winter than the porcelain tiles would have been. Got it fromHowdens

Thanks Welfast - do you have south facing bi-folds as well? How long have you had it down? Is it loose lay glue down or click? Any signs of fading yet? Thank you

Just a year. Yes south facing bifolds and a roof lantern. It's really good

It's click

No fading. Two of my builders liked it so much they bought it for their houses too

Thank you, really helpful🙂

Sorry Welfast, could I be really cheeky if you get a mo and ask if you could share a couple of pics of your floor in situ by your bi-folds during the day? Would really help. Thanks so much to you and everyone for your posts - has been really helpful.