Amtico - real world experience

[SuperJohnG]

I wanted to add some info about Amtico/LVT as I couldn't locate much when I was searching previously. 

 

We are going to specify Amtico for our whole house downstairs (130Sq.m) however had never actually had any so wanted to ensure we liked it before committing to FFL's to suit this as it is considerably thinner than tiles and has a big impact as we are doing an insulated foundation and no screed to pour at a later date. 

 

The reason we were veering towards this is, we didn't want engineered wood as it will mark - I know you can rub it down etc. But I have two young kids and we are in the country etc. We didn't want tiles throughout either just as it's cold underfoot, albeit we have UFH, but we still preferred not to have it. Hence Amtico fitted the bill on paper being warm, high wear layer etc. 

 

I wanted to try it out for 4-6 months before finally committing. I bought a box of White Oak, Spacia to fit in my current porch. £70 quid off ebay, with another 30-40 in levelling compound and adhesive. 

 

I levelled the floor which was about 9mm out in places with Mapei renovating self levelling from Screwfix. Worked really well and easy to use. I then spent an hour drawing up the design in ACAD just to make sure it was all correctly laid out. I was doing a parquet style. 

 

Originally I wasn't going to add a border, but after laying it out for a test. The fact that two of my walls ran off, made it look bad. So i added a border which finishes it off  better. It took me ages to to lay it out, I must have quadruple checked the measurements to get it right, making sure cuts were in the right places and would look good etc.  Measure twice..cut once all that Jazz. 

 

I was using the smallest size (76 x 228mm). I laid out the border first, lots of cuts here and tapers as my walls are off. But allows you to then start with an inner square where you have fixed all the running off issues. Then I laid the parquet effect. The main planks are easy, but if you get out of shape butting them up it can run off a little so be mindful of this.

 

My first few cuts were a little shabby, and left spaces. However once I got going I could cut them to match perfectly with no spaces. There was a trillion cuts to take......around the edges as I had the parquet effect, but finished up really well. I'll see how it fairs over the next 2-3 months with the abuse of being the porch (dirty, wet, stones etc.)

 

When I was laying, I put some extra glue in the shoddy cuts to fill the holes but it looked rubbish and just made all the dirt stick there. So after a couple of days I used Colorfill (for kitchen worktop sealing) in grey in any tiny spaces. Worked really well and fill them perfectly to cover up my initial amateur-ish cuts. All in it took me 2 full days to lay that floor (not including self levelling), my knees were dead (no pads). 

 

I'm no stranger to DIY, and very practically minded but it's the first time I've laid a floor that's stuck down with adhesive (I've never tiled). It has told me to add a cost in for supply and fit in our main house budget now as I think 130 sq.m might break me....this was only 2!  

 

If anyone is looking for costs it's 50-80/m^2 supplied and fitted for Spacia or signature series (that is the final price with zero VAT) 50 being simple plank laying, with 80 being basket weave, parquet etc. Which for me seems to be reasonable. This is Glasgow area

 

Some pictures below. Ill try and update in a few months with my experience. 

 

 

[Dreadnaught]

Great advice and tips. Thanks! Looking forward to hearing how it holds up over time.

 

Considering LVT for my build.

Edited July 6, 2020 by Dreadnaught

[pepelepeu]

yes I will be interested to see your comments in 2/3 months, as I want put this down in our entrance hall.

[newhome]

I didn’t use Amtico but I used Karndean throughout the ground floor in my previous house. We used the range with the best wear layer and had it professionally laid. It still looked amazing after nearly 10 years when we moved, and we had a number of dogs walking / doing handbrake turns on it. I wanted it here but the OH wanted tiles / engineered oak instead. I would certainly choose it again when I move. 

[Mandana]

Thanks for your post. We are considering Amtico for our build. It was laid in our last house in 1990 and still looks amazing to this day. 

[hallega]

We are a flooring company, we lay thousands of meters everyday, now mostly in Europe. 

I also had Amtico in my kitchen, it lasted 33 years, well actually it was still looking good when I knocked the house down!

 I think the product has changed, I don't believe it's quite as good as it used to be. 

In the new silo's we have used Spacia, probably the same colour as you SuperJohn G, (well done by the way, excellent job) herringbone style.

All the chairs have  buffers on the bottom of the legs and I try not to drag stuff over the floors (it will scratch) worse if you use a dark Amtico.

I've used ceramics (dangerous if shiny and wet) cold underfoot unless UFH, things definately break if you drop them on this. Bit cold looking.

Laminate flooring, used this on a refurb, scratches, squeeks in places, won't last the test.

Daughter going for concrete in her Cow Shed, should be interesting, although large store went for this and then changed back to Amtico!

Everything scratches.....but you can live with scatches on a light coloured floor...NOT on a dark one!

 

[Carrerahill]

On 06/07/2020 at 16:57, SuperJohnG said:

I wanted to add some info about Amtico/LVT as I couldn't locate much when I was searching previously. 

 

We are going to specify Amtico for our whole house downstairs (130Sq.m) however had never actually had any so wanted to ensure we liked it before committing to FFL's to suit this as it is considerably thinner than tiles and has a big impact as we are doing an insulated foundation and no screed to pour at a later date. 

 

The reason we were veering towards this is, we didn't want engineered wood as it will mark - I know you can rub it down etc. But I have two young kids and we are in the country etc. We didn't want tiles throughout either just as it's cold underfoot, albeit we have UFH, but we still preferred not to have it. Hence Amtico fitted the bill on paper being warm, high wear layer etc. 

 

I wanted to try it out for 4-6 months before finally committing. I bought a box of White Oak, Spacia to fit in my current porch. £70 quid off ebay, with another 30-40 in levelling compound and adhesive. 

 

I levelled the floor which was about 9mm out in places with Mapei renovating self levelling from Screwfix. Worked really well and easy to use. I then spent an hour drawing up the design in ACAD just to make sure it was all correctly laid out. I was doing a parquet style. 

 

Originally I wasn't going to add a border, but after laying it out for a test. The fact that two of my walls ran off, made it look bad. So i added a border which finishes it off  better. It took me ages to to lay it out, I must have quadruple checked the measurements to get it right, making sure cuts were in the right places and would look good etc.  Measure twice..cut once all that Jazz. 

 

I was using the smallest size (76 x 228mm). I laid out the border first, lots of cuts here and tapers as my walls are off. But allows you to then start with an inner square where you have fixed all the running off issues. Then I laid the parquet effect. The main planks are easy, but if you get out of shape butting them up it can run off a little so be mindful of this.

 

My first few cuts were a little shabby, and left spaces. However once I got going I could cut them to match perfectly with no spaces. There was a trillion cuts to take......around the edges as I had the parquet effect, but finished up really well. I'll see how it fairs over the next 2-3 months with the abuse of being the porch (dirty, wet, stones etc.)

 

When I was laying, I put some extra glue in the shoddy cuts to fill the holes but it looked rubbish and just made all the dirt stick there. So after a couple of days I used Colorfill (for kitchen worktop sealing) in grey in any tiny spaces. Worked really well and fill them perfectly to cover up my initial amateur-ish cuts. All in it took me 2 full days to lay that floor (not including self levelling), my knees were dead (no pads). 

 

I'm no stranger to DIY, and very practically minded but it's the first time I've laid a floor that's stuck down with adhesive (I've never tiled). It has told me to add a cost in for supply and fit in our main house budget now as I think 130 sq.m might break me....this was only 2!  

 

If anyone is looking for costs it's 50-80/m^2 supplied and fitted for Spacia or signature series (that is the final price with zero VAT) 50 being simple plank laying, with 80 being basket weave, parquet etc. Which for me seems to be reasonable. This is Glasgow area

 

Some pictures below. Ill try and update in a few months with my experience. 

 

 

Looks good John.

 

I did a post on Amtico at the beginning of the year, for me it was about dispelling the myth that it is a "specialist" fit only but I would say you need to have some good abilities at working with your hands and understand the process well. We are happy with it, been down since about late March now, there are a few marks on it already but you only see them if you look across the floor with your eyes near the floor scanning across, so I can live with that and having a building site the room over doesn't help!

 

We will be continuing it across to the next room too. 

 

My experience of Amtico previous relates to a 28 year old floor that still looks good, I think the stuff is different now though. As with anything these days, little is made as well.

 

What I need to do is clean the Ardex adhesive off some of the joints as I never did it at the time! I am thinking a light solvent of some sort will work but I will need to investigate on a sample before I go for it!

[SuperJohnG]

2 hours ago, Carrerahill said:

Looks good John.

 

I did a post on Amtico at the beginning of the year, for me it was about dispelling the myth that it is a "specialist" fit only but I would say you need to have some good abilities at working with your hands and understand the process well. We are happy with it, been down since about late March now, there are a few marks on it already but you only see them if you look across the floor with your eyes near the floor scanning across, so I can live with that and having a building site the room over doesn't help!

 

We will be continuing it across to the next room too. 

 

My experience of Amtico previous relates to a 28 year old floor that still looks good, I think the stuff is different now though. As with anything these days, little is made as well.

 

What I need to do is clean the Ardex adhesive off some of the joints as I never did it at the time! I am thinking a light solvent of some sort will work but I will need to investigate on a sample before I go for it!

 @Carrerahill thanks. I'll have a wee look for your post and have a read. 

 

IPA works well for removing any marks and glue etc, I usually have a bottle of this lying around for various jobs and its cheap if you get it off ebay. Once I ran out of that I used my wife's nail polish remover which I then finished and had to get more...?