I’m replacing all of the flooring in my house. Discounted engineered wood and struggling to decide between good quality Vinyl plan and decent laminate. Will definitely use the vinyl for bathrooms but not sure about hallway, living room, kitchen etc. It needs to be hard wearing, easily cleaned, nice under foot and last forever. It will have to put up with kids, dog, dropped stuff and general abuse. Part of the house will have underfloor heating. Both options seem to fit the bill. Looking at a dark grey oak and been checking Howdens. Anywhere else I should be looking and any real world experience of comparing both?

I wouldn’t put vinyl in anything other than a kitchen / bathroom.

It’d be like living in a municipal building

Is that not a bit of a dated view though? The LVP stuff I have seen is hard to tell apart form decent laminate.

edit: that is partly my concern, will it feel too commercial?

I get confused between some types of flooring, but I am having my kitchen done shortly with Karndean flooring, I was considering laminate but the Karndean comes with a guarantee up to 35years depending on what you go with. My chippy mate had laminate which didnt last 10years and he wasnt impressed with in general.

Is that not a bit of a dated view though?

Maybe.

It’s your floor…..do what ever makes you happy.

Perchy, not vinyl like your thinking of. There’s now stuff like a different type of laminate, some of it even has middle-class names like “Spacia” and is actually quite nice.

Unfortunately switching from “plank” in the title to “plan” in the OP wont have helped

Any particular reason you have discounted engineered wood? Laminate would be my last choice by a mile but it all comes down to personal preference.

We used Karndean throughout our kitchen/diner and hallway. Wonderful stuff – yes it doesn’t look like real wood, but it doesn’t look like cheap vinyl either. It has withstood lots over the last four years (ie, rollerskating children on Christmas day and a scatty dog that likes to run everywhere) and still looks almost like new.

We had engineered oak finished with Osmo HardWax Oil (PolyX) in our last place and it started to age much more quickly.

Obviously it depends on the age of the house and the design of the interiors, but I would go for Karndean again.

Any particular reason you have discounted engineered wood?

Cost, wear and maintenance.

I’ve got vinyl plank down from howdens in my kitchen. Looks really good, it’s not lasted superbly well scratches a bit easily. All looks fine but it’s just me, if I had 3 kids and 2 dogs I’d probably think twice.

Cost, wear and maintenance.

Have you considered bamboo? We had it in our last place from here – https://simplybamboo.co.uk/collections/strand-woven-series

High traffic open plan kitchen, diner, living space with 2 small kids and all the dirt associates with running a wood burner as your primary heating / hot water supply.

It was down 8 years when we moved and looked as good as the day it was laid. Tough, didn’t scratch and didn’t need any treatment. Brilliant stuff.

I’ve got vinyl plank down from howdens in my kitchen. Looks really good, it’s not lasted superbly well scratches a bit easily. All looks fine but it’s just me, if I had 3 kids and 2 dogs I’d probably think twice.

That is interesting as wear is meant to be one of the major selling points.

Oldtennis,I’ll check out the bamboo. Ta

What are you covering concrete or suspended? Don’t think jar dean and the like are recommended for suspended floors

What are you covering concrete or suspended? Don’t think jar dean and the like are recommended for suspended floors

Ours is on a suspended floor and it is fine (apart from one tiny spot where the floor below creaks slightly). We did prep. it very carefully though (as mentioned in a recent thread on here – 6mm ply and pinned at 15cm centres).

It’d be like living in a municipal building

I assume the OP means Amtico, Karndean, Polyflor etc. In which case, sensibly selected and designed its nothing like living in a municipal building!

What does matter with these though is the quality of the fitting/fitter.

I’ve never known anyone (even with pets) have an issue with professionally laid products from the above. It gets expensive if you want in lays – like “black caulk effect” to run around the perimeter, fancy shapes etc.

That is interesting as wear is meant to be one of the major selling points.

I was surprised to see that too. Mine has been getting attacked by tiny kids and high chairs for the last few years. Any time I think it’s scratched/worn a damp cloth makes it back to normal again

Our laminate is certainly wearing better than my BILs engineered wood flooring over the same 5 year period. However, it is not faring too well against dropped/thrown toys. The chips are easily touched in with a repair kit though.

As an aligned question – how do these various flooring types hold up to abuse from shoe cleats – both SPD and road type?

Our previous house we had bare planks in the hall, which cut up very quick. Current place came with pale gold carpets throughout which we’re gradually replacing, but the hall is not really a place for carpet at all, seeing as the commuter bikes live there and we’re constantly in and out in bike shoes in all weathers. Can cope with the idea of spending on the right thing, but it needs to not dent the first time I walk across it in SPD-SLs