Just finishing a new conservatory (or my mate is), looking at putting in electric underfloor heating and I have to decide on what flooring to lay over this. He’s suggested looking at Amtico or Karndean type flooring, now I can be a bit of a snob, but isn’t this just glorified lino??? Any real world opinions would be gratefully received.

I had my heart set on it and to be honest there were only a handful that didn’t look like vinyl, and it works out about £100 per metre square.

If you’ve got underfloor heating I’d say go for tiles, however the grout always seems to crack on any underfloor heated tiled floors I’ve seen.

I’m renovating a bathroom and all tradesmen of note have advised this is the best option for my floor and they have all had it installed rather than tiled ! .. got some samples and looks flimsy to me but their professional opinion is partially what im paying for right ?

We have amtico in both bathrooms.

Not much to say about it really 😐

It looks nice enough, and it stops your feet touching the floor beneath it. 😉

It is a LOT nicer than Lino though. Not even similar really.

we looked at this and i think saying that it’s just lino is incorrect.

It’s more like laminate flooring.

in the end we went for ceramic tiles.

FIL has it in his kitchen, which is also the centre of their open plan living / dining room so it’s a high traffic area.

It feels ok, looks like tiles and still looks ok after a few years use.

We have considered it for our new extension, but think we will be going engineered wood instead…

Currently be installed on my extension job atm. Customer wanted it down, fitters are here right now doing it. Antico is a better product compared to karndean according to the fitters here. They describe it as being near on indestructible as a floor, it’s only 9mm thick (taking into account a 6mm ply laid down first) and looks much better than vinyl.
You can also get a product called quickstep luxury vinyl floor, very similar product, fair bit cheaper and comes in a range of colours.

Karndean is the name people want but it’s very expensive and no better for home use than a lot of other cheaper alternatives. We’ve just had some TLC LVT flooring put down and it looks amazing, just as good as Karndean but £26 a square meter. We paid £1050 for 27 square meters to be laid down, that included screeding the 9mm ply I had laid first. The fitter my flooring guy used was extremely good – we’ve got a border around the room with the planks at 45 degrees within in and it looks absolutely stunning.

A friend has Karndean all the way through his house apart from stairs nad landing.

Looks good, lasts really well.

Just needs to be fitted properly by someone who knows what they are doing.

interesting to hear feedback as we are trying to decide on our hall floor. really want parquet to match the age of house but looks a nightmare to fit over an old suspended floor

We’re going to be de-doing our hallway and will very likely be going with a wood effect LVT (“luxury vinyl tile” i.e. Amtico/karndean).

Good mate is has a flooring company of very long standing (he could supply us with carpet, engineered wood or LVT) and he says the LVT is the absolute mutts nuts.
Loads of different styles, really good in high traffic areas, warm underfoot, suitable for UFH and thinner than tiles/engineered wood. Some of it is not cheap though.

Edit: DT…. ^ this is for you. There’s stuff that will look just like parquet.

We have Karndean throughout our hallway and into our kitchen/diner. Had a mix of tiles/stripped floorboards in our old house but to be honest I prefer the Karndean. Looks smart, has proved to be really hard wearing and is warmer to walk on than tiles etc.

I like LVT (luxury vinyl tile) generally but I prefer porc or stone tile if on underfloor heat as it retains and transfers the heat better.

If you get LVT be careful with dark colours as it can show scratches in high traffic areas.

It costs about the same or more on the floor as tiles, but can be quicker to lay as you don’t need to wait for it to set and obviously no grouting to do.

Just fitted amtico in my girlfriends new flat.
Its warm under foot and looks good. My folks had it in their house (Busy B&B) and its maintained appearance for 15 years. It would have lasted longer but the house builders were unfortunately not of a similar quality. Needs a nice flat floor which can be achieved with a ply layer. Much better than drafty cold floorboards. They are using it again once the house repairs are complete.

Had Karndean on the kitchen floor for 10 years. Tough as old boots and still looks good. Much nicer underfoot than ceramic tiles and no grout to worry about. Had it installed in the en suite and will do the main bathroom next.

Amtico is great stuff. I spec it for heavy use public exhibition spaces. Lasts really well. There is a huge range of finishes. It’s way more than just lino. I’ve got a small bit in our downstairs loo too.

If you are looking at alternatives the key test is good. Use a house key to try and scratch a sample. Cheap stuff scuffs up straight away, the good stuff will take serious abuse.

really want parquet to match the age of house but looks a nightmare to fit over an old suspended floor

The preparation for LVT, (I like that acronym!) is the most critical part, and probably no easier than Parquet. Can’t remember the exact requirement for wood floors, but it’ll likely be 6 or 9mm ply, a flexible screed and/or something else. A proper fitter would likely want to know the joists were good and tight to prevent movement and cracking too.

Amitico/kardean ….. that’s a bit like asking about cars but only BMW/audi being available …. loads of other companies out there now doing LTV.

Had our LTV down 18 months now .. through hall and into kitchen/dining/seating open plan area… Good stuff, very impressed better than underfloor heated tiles we’ve had before.

Good luck