Karndean alternatives

Wife is set on karndean, it’s a bit pricey

Are there alternatives that are of similar standard but without the brand price tag?

Or can karndean be diy laid?

Ideally I would like looselay lvt.

Needs to be oak effect, parquet

Freshly laid floor, approx 7x5m

I would think most cost is in the labour, having good materials helps, unless you plan to move soon. Also freshly laid floor, is this timber or screed, if a wet floor make sure to follow times to allow floor to dry for your finish, basically to get rid of moisture, else may effect floor finish. Other people who know more may comment on material options. Sorry also depends of location if a main living space then you see if all the time, so worth the effort, plus revert to your first line, well actually first 5 words!

Yes you could diy Karndean, I used it on the floor of our old van as we had spare.
Karndean is usually glued down, often onto a layer of ply that is fixed down first.
Had the better quality ‘De Vinci’ wood effect Karndean in the hallway of our old house.
The laminate I laid in the new house was much cheaper, harder wearing and more scratch resistant. The Karndean was fairly scratched after 5 years of puchchairs, small kids and feet. The laminate looks like new after 4 years and is loose laid.
Is a compromise the clip together loose lay vinyl floor tiles from Quick Step (them of the cycling team).
Amtico was in my parents old house. Think it’s pricier than Karndean but wore much better.

We have equivalent lvt from Polyflor (have previously had good experiences with their vinyl). On the recommendation of someone on here (who worked for Tarkett I think) we went for the thicker commercial grade which wasn’t much dearer and has a much thicker wear layer.

Very happy so far and Polyflor are great for quickly sending loads of samples foc (which we now use as supersize beermats). They also have a pretty accurate room visualiser where you upload photos and it automatically superimposes the various floors.

I’d happily lay it myself but not confident with the levelling compound so got a local place to do it all.

And don’t get hung up on it must be Karndean / Amtico. They are just brand names heavily pushed at the retail market. Plenty of equal or better products exist from many other manufacturers.

Thanks will take a look at the recommdations,

Floor is a concrete slab over 100mm kingspan. Technically only half of its laid so far. Probably won’t be laying the flooring until Nov so fingers crossed it will be dry enough.

Levelling wise I’ve done small rooms but not one this size.

Personally I’d prefer to tile, which I know I can do, but missus says no!

It wearing and looking crap quickly worries me. Presume you just dig out a tile and glue a new one down to repair, like you would a cracked tile?

Based on my BILs new Karndean flooring being scratched by chair legs with plastic bungs in the feet, I’d give it a miss. He’s had to buy some knitted chair feet condoms to reduce the scratching!

Consider recycled wooden parquet flooring, although it might mess with your levels if you’ve already laid the floor. Not a dig, but you seem to be leaving decisions on the build a bit late

I went to a local flooring shop, they had a load of old season karndean at a reduced price. It would have been possible to DIY lay it, but I’d spent ages scraping the floorboards and just didn’t want to, so paid a local chippy to do it for me.

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Based on my BILs new Karndean flooring being scratched by chair legs with plastic bungs in the feet, I’d give it a miss. He’s had to buy some knitted chair feet condoms to reduce the scratching!”
Interested in this thread as I had never heard of Karndean until we moved to this house six years ago. The Karndean flooring – hall, kitchen, dining room, utility room has been down twelve years and looks brand new. It’s a woodgrain textured finish and I am amazed how it feels underfoot (I go barefoot all the time here, we had tiles in the old place which I found cold and unyielding) easy to clean and dropped crockery/glasses etc do not automatically smash to smithereens. A large extending dining table is always being pulled out /put in , kids and dogs rampage around on it constantly and everyday I thank the previous owners who fitted it, I’m sure it was expensive , and I love it.

everyday I thank the previous owners who fitted it,

Are you sure it’s not Amtico, which is very hard-wearing?

I could be wrong , at the viewing we were told Karndean but I have no proof, is Amtico better? This floor is absolutely fabulous I have never known anything like it. I never thought I would say this but, it’s better than the real thing (timber) and I have never seen a laminate floor that comes anywhere near .

As with everything there are various grades. Karndean, Amtico, Polyflor etc are all just brand names and manufacturers of LVT, so it isn’t just a case of picking a brand. I fit a lot of Polyflor, there’s various grades within their range from light domestic to heavy commercial, some obviously harder wearing and more scratch resistant.

You need to allow at least 1 day for every mm thickness of your slab for a drying time (this applies for tile as well). You then will need a skim of 2part latex smoothing compound at minimum 3mm thickness.

LVT can be DIY’d but has a few skills and special tools required for a nice job, a roller being one most don’t both with! Rough estimates are usually about £100/m2, 1/3 for flooring, 1/3 for floor prep/materials and 1/3 labour.

FWIW we had some Karndean fitted in the previous house. It wasn’t the top-of-the-range stuff but still looked new when we moved out eight years later. It was in the hall, kitchen and dining/family room so got a lot of wear.

We fitted ‘genuine’ Karndean flooring 15 years ago to a new build. It’s still going strong (two kids and a dog have grown up in the house). Flooring covers close to 80m2.
It does have the odd scratch – however we fitted little felt feet protectors to the bottom of all furniture…
It is very slidey for kids and dogs though.

We fitted a cheaper version upstairs (ran out of money during the build 😀) – the upstairs looks far worse (but not terrible) in a much lower footfall area.

Based on my BILs new Karndean flooring being scratched by chair legs with plastic bungs in the feet

Those plastic feet are fitted with particularly nasty nails – if exposed then can damage almost anything.
I removed them from my chairs and replaced them with 3M adhesive felt pads.

Useful to have a rom on the flooring, had no idea on fitting costs,

Decisions are a little last minute as this is a change in plan, we were going electric underfloor and karndean. Had a change of mind and trying to find the budget for wet ufh.

If the floor is wood or tile I can definitely diy. I’m not confident levelling approx 35m2. Though the first slab seems pretty flat and level to me.

Ours is not at all ‘slidey’, it has a very grainy surface, that’s why I like it so much. I hate that slippery laminate , always cringe when I see kids and dogs crashing about on it, dogs doing the splits is a particular nerve jangler.
Interestingly the large kitchen and dining room have been fitted at 45′ which must have been a bugger for the fitters, but gives a very pleasing effect whilst the hall and utility room are fitted longitudinally , also aesthetically pleasing as it draws the eye along.

Had a single speeding mtber supply & fit our karndean floor at a good price, prob still got his contact details if you are anywhere nr aylesbury/wycombe.

If the floor is wood or tile I can definitely diy. I’m not confident levelling approx 35m2. Though the first slab seems pretty flat and level to me.

You’re not trying to level it per se, you’re trying to smooth it. A good leveling compound is a must, Ardex NA or I use Tilemaster TradeFlow. The floor needs to be primed 1st to seal and kill suction. You can then trowel it out, you’re not trying to 100% finish it, just an even coat, poking it into the corners/edges. It then needs going over with a spiked roller to help smooth it and get rid of air bubbles. If you’re good, this should do it, if not a feather compound might be needed once it’s dry to fill any small dents, holes or irregularities as anything in the screed will show through to the face.

Don’t get caught up in brand names. There are many different quality grades from many manufacturers.

Go for a commercial grade product with at least a 0.55mm wear layer. Most residential products are only 0.3mm therefore not as hard wearing.

I work for Tarkett so I have their stuff in my house it’s been down 4 years and there isn’t a mark on it. Tarkett or Polyflor from a flooring distributor will be better priced than Amtico and Karndean as they focus on the residential retail market.

Also don’t DIY especially if you are laying on the angle.

so still going round and round on this one.

had a approx quote of £130 m2 for the karndean parquet the missus liked. that is just too over budget

been looking at lvt click together, the manufacturers state ok with heat / fading etc… then you go on line and see horror reviews on trustpilot with floors fading badly and lifting when jn in front of bifolds. ours are a good size and west facing so will get evening sun.

we were set on polyflor Camero till I read the reviews…same with moduleo

honestly wondering whether a simple engineered solid wood is the way forward but wifey says no

You don’t see many bad reviews of the glue down lvt planks, but so many £££

I looked at reclaimed parquet and it was really expensive too.