Mrs D28 is loking for some new flooring in the bathroom & downstairs loo. Have been recommended an installer who fits Karndean. Is it likely to be very expensive and does it wear well?
it is fairly expensive and wears very well.
it is fairly expensive and wears very well
+1
+1
Our house had Karndean in when we moved in 9 years ago. Our house still has Karndean in (under carpets in some rooms now) and it looks as good now as it did the day we moved in.
If you like laminate it's badass. We're more carpet people, but god knows how we'd go about getting it up without wrecking the floorboards upstairs
Amtico is cheaper and is just as good.
+1 for amtico karndean very very good stuff but floor prep and pressure sensitive adhisive, detail strips etc can be expensive and fitter MUST be good at fitting it. Look at polyflor too they do some karndean copy stuff still just as hard wearing.
Have a look at marmoleum as well.
Cheaper, but virtually as good as the other brands mentioned here.
we have karndean as do my parents - recommended.
you need a good fitter though !
Marmoleum a solid floor not the plank style I think the op after correct me if im wrong but thats what we used to fit in prisons as its so thick and super tough. Remember whatever floor you choose make sure you leave the flooring and adhisive in the room your fitting to acclimatise before fitting. 48hrs should suffice.
We had some Karndean in the last house and it was excellent. The new house has a carpeted hallway and we'll be replacing that with Karndean soon enough.
It's an excellent product and does what it says on the tin ie a convincing, at times, imitation of wood or stone. As is Amtico. It's very hard wearing. As mentioned above, get someone who knows what he's doing and can provide references. If the sub-floor isn't prepared properly and/or it starts to lift, you'll never put it right.
Good points to look for. Subfloor must be clean and solid ie thickest ply you can get away with slow grown uk ply not fast grown forigen ply (if on floorboards) screwed evenly in a grid format then a primer ie a f ball one looks green and gloopy. Then a very good bag and bottle latex screed then the pressure sensitive adhisive spread combed left slightly to go off then the planks get laid. If concrete floor (in good shape) use primer then the screed to level off.
Good fitters should be proud of the fact they can fit karndean and may be registerd and carry the logo on their van. There are national fitters who work with karndean and have the branded vans and uniform look online to find them. Average joe floorlayer who fits hard floors or vinyl ie polyflor or gerflor etc may think they can manage but they cant. Believe me I have seen first hand over 5k worth of materials been ripped up as the fit was terrible and lifting.
Ensure the batch numbers match as the colors do vary and never buy end of line as you wont be able to find any replacements witb matching batches, keep a spare box incase of repairs.
Look after the floor as karndean do a strip and clean/protect products first you mop on the stripper to de grease then the cleaner goes on then the protect layer. Youl be amazed at what the cleaner protect can do and how well it performs.
My folks have Amtico, 13 years old and still looks great. Fully tested by a grandson who loves being dragged round in a cardboard box.
Amtico is [s]cheaper[/s] more expensive and is [s]just as good[/s] has better designs.
Unless there is a new cheap Amtico range and an expensive Karndean one. The Amtico woods are way more convincing than the Karndean
They're a doddle to fit - way easier than ceramic, stone or rolled lino. Lightweight and easy to cut. On old Victorian floorboards we used 6mm ply with feather finish over the screwheads which worked fine. You could use thicker ply but really no need to latex screed over the top. We used a latex screed when we laid it on a concrete floor. We got a perfect finish and it lasted well and looked good after 10 years.
We started off using the strip and protect etc but in the end just used normal supermarket floor cleaner and didn't notice any difference.
Whole ground floor of my house is karndean it's great...
This thread has come at an ideal time... can anyone recommend a good fitter who is Nottinghamshire based?
Id love to know what blades you use to make it "easy cut" ive tried irwin fatmax sweeny tod and even some ones imported from germany that would stay sharp after cutting marmo all day long
Id love to know what blades you use to make it "easy cut"
Cheap blades in a stanley knife. Steel rule, run knife down a few times to score, bend to break, trim by hand if necessary (rarely) - the bottom layer is very soft. It's really not hard to get a very good finish with Karndean/Amtico - I struggle to see how a fitter could screw it up so badly.
One of the big benefits (over wood/tile/etc) is that it's flexible enough to cope with a bit of movement in the floor. In an old victorian house with undersized joists you end up needing massively thick ply to stop any movement at all (ie enough to stop grout or tiles cracking with 'hard' floor) but these floors are fine.
Now you *do* need some skill to get a latex screed flat - we royally screwed that up - but the Karndean over the top, bumpy as hell, coped with 10 years of wear without a problem. On the wooden floors we've done since we didn't have the same problem. If I was doing a concrete floor again I'd have someone properly lay the screed/latex flat but wouldn't pay someone to lay Karndean