Vinyl vs Lino vs Laminate on a Wooden Floor

[Ferdinand]

Does anyone have any views of less fashionable different types of floors for rooms that may get messy - kitchens, bathrooms, utilities, boot rooms etc.

 

I am quite partial to vinyl off a roll, as it is inexpensive, warm underfoot, can be soft with underlay, and for many rooms it can come in a single piece, and can be selaed round the edge with a bead of appropriately coloured silicon. And it is cheap enough (£6-£15 per sqm) to be almost disposable.

 

Click fit vinyl tiles seem to be an excuse to treble or more the price while losing the benefits.

 

Has anyone used Lino recently? What do you think? That seems to be even harder wearing than Vinyl.

 

I am considering options for the kitchen and bathroom of my Little Brown Bungalow, which has suspended floors throughout.

 

Another possibility would be click fit Bamboo laminate, as I want to be able to get under it easily for maintenance.

 

The sub floor will either be floating, or the suspended floor with a void filled with EPS beads or LECA, air sealed in each case.

 

Thoughts welcome.

 

Ferdinand

 

 

 

 

Edited April 12, 2017 by Ferdinand

[AliG]

I was against vinyl/Lino from experiences of it in my parents' house as a child. However recently I spent some time looking in to it and it's all in the fitting. Vinyl floor that is stuck down correctly so that it doesn't wrinkle can create a very nice finish. In a bathroom you can fit it slightly up on to the wall to get a clean and waterproof fit. Do you really think you'll need to be able to take it up to get into the floor? It can be secured with double sided tape which should allow this unlike tiles or Amtico type flooring.

 

My brother has supposedly waterproof click laminate in his kitchen and bathroom. It looks awful after a few years although he is probably pretty hard on it.

 

The big advantage of vinyl is no joins for water to get into which could damage the subfloor and no grout which is harder to clean. You can also get some pretty snazzy modern effects.

Edited April 12, 2017 by AliG

[jamiehamy]

My other half is keen on Vinyl/Lino - but I was against because of how/where I've seen it before. 

 

I like the idea of it being softer underfoot and also no grouting and no joins - so we may well deploy it in some areas, likely the kitchen. As you say @Ferdinandit's not bank breaking if it doesn't work out. 

[Ian]

@Ferdinand

From my experience Marmoleum (modern rebranded version of Lino) is more environmentally friendly than vinyl based flooring but it is not as resistant to point loads as vinyl - e.g. Stiletto heels.

 

Marmoleum doesn't have the long term shrinkage issues that vinyl flooring can have if it is cleaned with the wrong products such as bleach based cleaners.

 

Although not really the best choice for a bathroom there are also some nice click fit vinyl planks on the market that are a lot cheaper than Amtico. Luvanto is a good alternative to Amtico and a fraction of the price. They are much harder wearing than the laminated timber click fit alternatives.

 

 

[Declan52]

I have lino in my upstairs toilet and my ensuite downstairs. It's cheap easy put down, easy to clean and as had been said above it comes in all sorts of really nice designs miles away from the fake wooden floor look. 

It's also the first place you feel the heat when the ufh is on due to it being only a few mm thick.

[ragg987]

Went down a similar route and looked at Marmoleum and rubber options in wet areas before settling on Amtico. Price per m2 was not going to be too different (we paid £20 per m2 for the Amtico), we did not like the colour choices with the other two - seemed like we would end up with a 1970s office space.

 

We had Amtico in our previous house and after 10 years of hard use in the kitchen (2 pre-teen boys) it always came out like new after a good mopping.