We are mid way through doing the technical plans for an extension which we hope to get under way later in the summer. Essentially its a couple of bedrooms on the back of the house along with a sunroom build tacked onto the side meeting up with the kitchen / dining room area.

The sunroom / kitchen / dining room are going to share the same flooring. One of the things that's come up is the flooring we are going to use. It needs to be hard wearing, so carpets and wood laminate flooring is out, leaving tiles ( ceramic / natural stone ) or vinyl tiles. The area will not have underfloor heating.

People say that the vinyl tiles from the likes of Amtico and Karndean are very good, but does anyone have a room(s) done with such stuff and how to do you find it. Would you get it again?

My kitchen has Amtico – was put in by the previous owners. I think you're meant to look after it but we don't and not had any problems with it. Looks good. We've been here 3 years and the extension was done in the 90s so guess it's been there for over 10 years.

justed ordered some Gerflor Senso vinyl flooring- the free samples they sent seemed good..

as for kardean, my other halfs parents had this professionally fitted in kitchen and bathroom – seems excellent and has been fine for 3 years so far

We've got a large kitchen/diner/hallway covered in Karndean(and two bathrooms). Good stuff, hard wearing, doesn't get cold, less chance of dropped things breaking. Absolutely crucial you get the floor well prepped first though, needs to be very flat for proper installation. Expensive as hell too. I'd get it again, if I had the dosh.

Karndean here too. I had it fitted in 2005 and it's still looking good. In fact the Mother in Law recently had it done in her kitchen too because she was impressed by ours.

I just went for the cheapest variety (Knight Tile?) and I think I might be tempted to go for the next one up if I did it again.

Keep it plainish though. There are all sorts of fancy borders and features that will turn your place into a Museum of Bad Taste if you're not careful.

Agreed about the plain design … defo nothing fancy. Plain floor to the edges and be done.

I think the missus is the one that would need convinced. I think she just hears the word vinyl and instantly thinks no-chance. Do you reckon its definetely warmer than tiles?

Sorry, another Q:

Do people have the tiles fitted flush to each other, or do you have a thin border between each.

Do you reckon its definetely warmer than tiles?

If you mean ceramic tiles, absolutely. Even when the room is quite cold in the middle of winter, the floor isn't too bad.

Do people have the tiles fitted flush to each other, or do you have a thin border between each.

In one of our bathrooms, we have trim strips between the tiles, which looks ok but I wouldn't use them in a big space as it could easily look a bit crap/busy. Would add a lot to the cost as well.

We have Amtico in the hallway.

Had it fitted 4 years and it is wearing well.

IIRC Amtico is cheaper than Karndean and wears just as well.

Mrs Ho hum and I would use it again.

Amtico will last for ages and comes with a very long guarantee if laid properly with their adhesives. The top flight, made in Coventry, Amtico is the best Vinyl tile you can buy and with a price to match.

Karndean and the Amtico Spacia range both use a thinner tile, are made in China and are about half the price. The Spacia has something like a ten year guarantee.

Both my Mum and my Nan have had Amtico in the past and it does seem to last extremely well. It looks fantastic, but some of their designs are an acquired taste!

I laid some amtico last year, seems good quality, if expensive (I got mine cheap and made a bit of a balls of laying it). Looks great otherwise.

Amtico v expensive get what you pay for. Worked for a company that used to install it, too rich for me though.

Have had Karndean in the kitchen since 1999 and its still as good as new. Definitely would buy again.

I have Amitco in the bathroom it has discoloured badly nr the rad pipes and is lifting behind the bog

I'll be making good use of the 25yrs guarantee when I redecorate…….TBF the fitters were sh1te. 🙁

Thanks for the comments so far. Amtico and Karndean were just 2 names the architect threw at me and I had a look at on the web.

I've no plans to put vinyl in the bathroom. Its going to be tiles as I want the unquestionable resistance of them… somehow I just dont quite trust vinyl in a room that regularly going to be dripping wet. Interesting to hear about the discolouration near the radiator pipe.

The sun room will be our main entrance to the house on a day to day basis, and not likely to get the soakings that the bathroom will get. ( but it will need to be able to have a bike sit on it when I get home from the commute and simply cant be bothered to move a car to stick the bike in the garage 🙂 )

Got Karndean in my kitchen and two bathrooms.

Regularly clean it by mopping over, as recommended, so getting it wet is totally not an issue.

The karndean website is excellent in helping you pick a colour scheme and you can order samples online, which show up very quickly. All of mine has had the thin strips inbetween the tiles (on the recommendation of the installer. kitchens been down about 7 or 8 years and still looks great, and definately not busy, but then we had black tiles with black strips, guess if we'd chosen pink or flourescent green it might have looked a bastard. There is a technical reason for using them, but frankly I have no idea what it is, because thats why I employed a guy to both advise me and to install it, because he knows what hes at and I don't.

We've got Amtico in the kitchen.

I think the design is some type of bleached Elm. It certainly looks good.

It's been down about 6 years so far with no problems. The key is getting a good fitter.

And get some samples. Amtico send them out for free.

I've asked for samples from karndean, and will peruse the amtico site shortly.

We have Karndean throughout our downstairs over the concrete floor.
feels a bit cold under foot in winter. Very hard wearing.
Had it put into our bathrooms as well but had a leak which warped the hardboard underneath, so I had to rip it all up. Probably just go the quality vinyl route if I had to do it all again.

We had Amtico flooring fitted to both en-suite and bathroom when we moved into our current house. The fitters were first rate, and it looks just as good now as it did when it was fitted 14 years ago! The missus and I have remarked quite often that it was one of the best decisions we've made … generally after one or other of the kids has splashed an entire bathfull of water over the floor (so once a week then!)

Had our kitchen refitted last year and went for Amtico there as well … of course.

It's basically bomb-proof IME and will probably outlive me! Highly recommended. Make sure you get a good fitter, as stated above. We've heard of flooring problems with all of these products, but I understand that the issues are almost always the fitting.

Amtico is the tops (its how I earn my crusts by the way ) but yes it does pay to use an approved fitter .

Karndean OK but not half the product Amtico is but lots cheaper

the floor prep is the same for both product , skimp on that and it will show in the finished product .

My best job to date was this conservatory all hand cut from 1 metre square slabs of Amtico the Conservatory is 10 metres across
10 days work in that

We've just had Karndean fitted in one bathroom & Project Flooring (German; similar to the other two) in the other. It's very nice, & not nearly as expensive as we thought (Amtron Flooring in Rammy if anyone's interested who fitted it – the proprietor is a lapsed roadie, it turns out)

Already had Karndean in the kitchen as fitted by the previous owner – must be about 5y old & wearing well, though I could do with putting some of the special polish down.

Andy

Karndean in our kitchen and one bathroom, Amtico in another. 5 years old in the kitchen and no signs of wear. We've laid with 'grout' strips and most people have mistaken it for stone.

Some of the designs are not great so choose carefully – I've seen Karndean wood effect somewhere that looked very obviously fake whereas our wood Amtico is really nice.

Prep is important but apart from that it's very easy to lay yourself if you're just doing simple tiles. Cut with a stanley knife and the glue cleans off with water. We used 5mm ply on top of floorboards but if you're on concrete you need it properly levelled.

Thank you very much for all the comments. O so much to think about. 🙂

Probably just go the quality vinyl route if I had to do it all again

Upstairs bathrooms that is. Downstairs, I've been happy with the Karndean.

We have Karndean in the hall and kitchen. It's a light wood effect and has fooled some folk into thinking it's real wood. Has lasted around 5 years so far and we don't really look after it.

karndean in my kitchen. managed to buy a load half price in the local shop in cheltenham. My dad mainly laid it. knight tile with a thin strip in the middle. the separating border strip is a real pain to lay but it looks so much better.

How many of you have used the knight lite tiles?

I used Karndean Knight Tile as above, and am pleased.

I have knight lites from Lumicycle and DX but I wouldn't recommend them for kitchen and bathroom use.

I used knight tiles and they're alright, my situation is not exactly show room though!