Does anyone have a marmoleum or rubber floor? Would you recommend either?

[ColumboGoesBananas]

Thinking of this for when we redo our kitchen (in that imaginary future that makes DH roll his eyes but that provides me with a measure of harmless escapism).

So my question is, is this is good practical hardwearing family floor that scrubs up well, or is it a nightmare for marking etc.

OK Enid - don't get your hopes up about dark long wide boards and underfloor heating. That is what I wanted, but apparently its not good to put a thick solid wood floor on top of underfloor heating (which came with new house) so we had to have an engineered floor. I got the long wide boards I wanted and paid through the nose as they are apprently hard to source. We have the same floor in our kitchen and in our living room - it looks lovely and works well in the living room but in the kitchen it is a nightmare. For eg, DP dropped a beer getting it out of the fridge, the bottle did not break but it did leave a ridged indent on the floor in the shape of a beer bottle. Then children banging toys, throwing things out of playpen etc. Lots of little cuts, nicks and indents which might look good in thick chunky wood as kinda natural wear but this stuff I have it looks crap. I think it is designed for childless people who don't spend much time in their loft appartments.

Steam cleaner - don't use mine on fabrics, have 3 completely tiled wetroom/bathrooms and a limestone hall floor, I use it for mopping those and doing all the tiles. I threw away my mop and bucket, steam cleaner does it instantly and much cleaner. Less hassle. Oh and windows.

We have underfloor heating and oak floor.

We have had marmoleum

We have dalsouple

Marmoleum...another question...at the risk of sounding a snob. OK, it is snobby. But won't it just look like tacky lino? My mum has a royal blue marmoleum in her loo and I always think it looks like the floor of a shared bedsit house or student digs, something left over from the 50's (and not in a good 50's way).

Choose with care

We're just about to have snakeskin Marmoleum in our bathroom.

yes, it sounds tacky but it's not.

It's in a terracotta colour and looks a bit like the pattern on Mulberry handbags.

If you are anywhere near Tenderton in Kent, Avalon flooring are your people. They are the gurus of flooring.

no, no, it is most un-tacky

look at the forbo site

my experience of them is that they are fabuloso, went out of their way to help us. if you hint that you are in the trade [dh is architect] you can get massive discount

important to plan out size of room against size of roll and work out where you want joins if you have to have them

Columbogoesbananas - We have just ripped up our hideously expensive rubber kitchen floor that had only been down for 4 years.

It really hadn't worn well at all. A friend walked on it with high heels and left indents all over it, grease marks wouldn't lift, it only looked clean for about 5 minutes after you washed it, if you dropped anything on it (pan lids, bottles etc), it dented badly.

I was soooooooo disappointed. I absolutely loved the way it looked when it first went down, but it just wasn't up to the wear and tear of a kitchen.

Marmoleum is supposed to be much harder wearing. They have some great new designs as well.

we have a rubber floor in the kitchen and it's great. v hardwearing (we have 3 young children) and french doors at rear of kitchen to outside, so lots of traffic. would def get it again.
it's got the raised circles, v easy to clean. there are a few dents and scratches where things have been dropped, but still looks good (about 4 years old)

What is this daisy rubber flooring. WHAT IS IT...LINK PLEASE I am storing info in my special book (oh yes columbo, harmless escapism in a fab paperchase book form) for WHEN I get to move

ooh i love a rubber floor, me.

We have rubber flooring in the bathroom and cloakroom. ds (ASD) is rather free with smearing toothpaste, shampoo etc and I hoped this was a flooring that could cope with him.

Have to say I have not been pleased with it. I have a light colour that looks dirty most of the time. We bought the special cleaning stuff and gloss protecting product but it is hard work and takes loads of maintaining. I wouldn't want it in the kitchen.

I went for the flat rubber finish as I had read that the textured finish was a dust trap.

Enid - a friend's solid dark oak, 9 inch boards sourced from Normandy have Not Worn Well in her kitchen, although she does not have u/floor heating. They have split so badly they're dangerous to little toes (2 years after laying).

Elsewhere in the house they still look great, though.

Sorry for my ignorance but what is the difference between Marmoleum and Amtico (other than make) - are they the same thing?

Aaaaargh - just realised that I meant to say that I had heard that Amtico has some nice designs and was hard wearing.

I just posted on a karndean thread too. God... flooring is it the new Friday night telly replacement?
dp just shakes with financial fear when I mention something that is not lino...

thanks for the info

slate it is then

at the moment I have brick patterned lino which actually isnt as grim as it sounds

I have no special cleaning stuff for my marmoleum bathroom floor

despite being a bathroom for three kids it still looks fabby

I wipe it over with a hot cloth and hoover up the dusty bits at the sides

i have enjoyed reading this thread... esp the bit where enid and 100x veer off into daydreaming about morning rooms and boudoirs...

Enid I have just read Colombo's post regarding wide solid boards and underfloor heating, you can have solid wood with heating as long as the boards are not too wide, as this encourages contraction and expansion apparently and you might get gaps.

I have just gone for hand scraped oak form B&Q (Once they get round to friggin delivering it) and it looks like a polished, worn old school floor, which is what I want!