What flooring for hallway?

[StripeyKnickersSpottySocks]

We're doing up out hallway and am about to rip out the 20 year old, manky carpet. There is no way I'm having another carpet.

I'd got my heart set on wood or nice laminate but DH has put his foot down and said that my incontinent dog would ruin it. He says I have to have lino as he isn't prepared to put slate tiles or similar down either.

I'm not sold on the idea of lino in the hall at all. Is there anything else that anyone can think of which might do?

How about wood effect Karndean? It looks really quite realistic and is really hard wearing.

Never heard of it before but have googled and it looks really good. Only thing that worried me is that it comes in "tiles" and if the dog wee gets down any cracks then would the tiles lift up. Though looking at the pictures online there don't seem to be any noticable cracks. Do you have it, is it waterproof?

Thanks.

We have Karndean. Tis fab; very hardwearing and waterproof as it's bonded to the floor. We have American oak. I suppose it is a little bit scratched after 5 years but I've got 3 teens and it's the main thoroughfare into the house. We have it in the kitchen too. I'd certainly recommend it.

We have wood which goes through into the kitchen and has had all sorts spilt on it and dog vomit (the most caustic substance known to man). It is amazingly resilient and stains seem to just fasde away over time.

We've got it in our bathroom and have just had it installed in the kitchen too. There are miniscule gaps between tiles but it doesn't seem to have caused any problems so far and obviously the bathroom gets fairly wet. We also have a new puppy so are cleaning up lots of puddles in the kitchen too! The fitter said that you shouldn't get heaps of water on it - you couldn't have it in a wet room for instance - but it's fine for spills etc.

BTW we bought ours on the internet and it was about half the retail price. We also managed to track down a Karndean approved fitter direct and did a deal with him, so it ended up being significantly cheaper than if we'd bought in from John Lewis or another big company.

That sounds good, what was the website you bought it from?

place www.directflooring2u.co.uk/cart.php We were pleased with them.

Sorry, mucked that link up karndean

Thanks, have ordered a Karndean brochure. Just need to hunt a fitter down now and get it done while DH is at work and tell him when he comes home.

He won't like the idea of spending money on a fitter but it looks like the sort of stuff you need to know what you're doing to fit it. DH wouldn't have the time anyway and would rather just bung down a sheet of lino in 30 minutes.

You can get free samples on the Karndean website too. It's definitely a specialist job and besides you invalidate the warrantee if you don't get an approved fitter to do it.

The floors could be good, BUT BEWARE: the sample you see in the retailer may not be what you actually get fitted. Karndean change the finish and coatings on their products which causes the floors to have very different textures and appearances from the samples you used to choose your floor.

We ordered a Karndean floor after trying various samples in the room first. When the floor was fitted it had a dull finish and a "grainy" texture. It marks easily and quickly shows signs of use. It looks like the floor hasn't been finished properly. We raised the issue with Karndean, who refused to even acknowledge any issue, but simply informed us that a new PU coating had been applied that was not on the sample we had seen and that they "reserve the right to change patterns/textures without prior notification"!!!

So, if you want to guarantee that the floor you get is anything like the one you order, don't buy Karndean.