Karndean vs wood flooring/tiles

[lizzie]

Karndean is great stuff almost impossible to wear out and it looks really smart. I had it in a bathroom in teak and done like a ships deck it was still perfect after 15 years. 

 

We used it in the commercial grade in light oak at the office in all the corridors and reception area and it looked very smart however stilletto heels caused damage. Some of the girls shoes had the rubber tips missing and the metal piece cut into the Karndean they also tended to lean against the reception counter and balance on their heels and again that caused cuts into the Karndean.

 

Karndean is susceptible to damage from grit carried in on shoes too just like a wooden floor. I would say you need to take the same care of Karndean from foot traffic as you would with a wood floor. Kardean is a dream to clean and much softer and quieter underfoot. If I was having wood floor look  I would choose Karndean in preference to the Oak engineered floor I had  though my ground floor of the last house. I’m having tiles this time though.

 

One good thing about Karndean is that strips can be replaced if damaged. Its all glued down over a levelling compound on a solid floor or over ply on a boarded floor and so easy to lift a strip and replace. I would suggest buying a few extra and keeping them in case you ever need a replacement piece.

 

If you are anywhere near Evesham Worcs Karndean have the most fantastic exhibition area at their hq.  Worth a visit its shows you all sorts of ways to use the product and offer samples of everything they produce. 

[Nickfromwales]

1 hour ago, Ferdinand said:

@Nickfromwales

 

Can the uniclic take stiletto heels?

My old vinyl floor used to get destroyed by my sil's high heel boots. They give ridiculous point pressure

Funny how folk won't wear shoes in their own house but will not take them off in others . 

[RichS]

How does Karndean stand up to dogs, we have a stained floor in the current house, granted only redwood, and the dogs claws have caused lots of scratches.

[Stones]

We had Kardean in a kitchen / dining / family room a few years ago.  Have to say I was very impressed with it.  Looked really good, seemed very hard wearing, but like everything, it does require some maintenance - day to day cleaning, but also stripping back and reapplication of a 'polish' every year (or more depending on traffic).

 

As others have said needs a dead level base to be laid on.  I've seen one installation where the floor beneath clearly hadn't been prepared and it really, really showed through the Kardean.

 

 

[Moira Niedzwiecka]

We have wood effect vinyl in our present house.

It is great, no wear after 6 years & we have animals.

It is warm underfoot, easy to clean & very practical. We are going to have it throughout our new house.

We have a product called Innova at the moment but I think it is discontinued. This time we are going for Moduleo. Very realistic & similar price top Karndean.

[joe90]

Thanks for all your input, we might have a problem though, the liquid screed on the ground floor was laid yesterday and as we told ( a long time ago) the builder we were having engineered timber flooring that is what he measured for and the part m front door may not allow us to have less flooring thickness ?. I went to a flooring show room yesterday and was bowled over by an amigo herringbone sample, although it was £60 PSM. ?. My main problem is that I told my wife when we started this build that I wanted proper wood flooring, not some plastic imitation, oops, she is yet to be convinced.

Edited November 30, 2017 by joe90

[TerryE]

3 hours ago, joe90 said:

what he measured for and the part m front door may not allow us to have less flooring thickness ?

 

Eh?  Sounds like bollocks to me.  We've got engineered floor in our updates and its 15mm+ 3m.  The Karndeen in our bathroom is 7 or 8 + 2mm so the Karndeen is ~8mm lower.  I can't see this being enough to fail some Part M requirement, especially it you put an internal door mat down behind the main access to mask the level shift.

[joe90]

10 minutes ago, TerryE said:

 

Eh?  Sounds like bollocks to me.  We've got engineered floor in our updates and its 15mm+ 3m.  The Karndeen in our bathroom is 7 or 8 + 2mm so the Karndeen is ~8mm lower.  I can't see this being enough to fail some Part M requirement, especially it you put an internal door mat down behind the main access to mask the level shift.

 

Ha, didn’t think of a doormat. I understand that part M states a 15mm threshold maximum. Our Karnean ( for our bathrooms) is only 2 mm plus glue. The floor is 30mm lower than threshold so we are 27 mm ish high which is 12mm too much. Also our internal door linings were based on the same wood flooring, when the screed is dry enough ( tomorrow) I will measure exactly what we have/ can get away with.

[TerryE]

We have the click to lay stuff.  Brilliant.  No glue. It floats over a 2mm backing.  The only thing is that it is best to lay it before you put your skirting down because it needs a 10mm gap at the walls and the skirting covers this.

[joe90]

14 minutes ago, TerryE said:

We have the click to lay stuff.  Brilliant.  No glue. It floats over a 2mm backing.  The only thing is that it is best to lay it before you put your skirting down because it needs a 10mm gap at the walls and the skirting covers this.

 

I must admit to hating floating floors, I have come across so many that sound hollow. Also with UFH I wanted to bond the floor so heat transference is maximised, or am I wrong ?.

[Ferdinand]

Upthread I said I was now going for Livyn Luxury Vinyl tiles from Quick-Step.

 

After a visit to B&Q this morning to buy a pack of "badoingg" door-stops that has now changed back to Quick-Step Uniclic Laminate, as they had a pile of 12 of the 1.7 sqm packs of the Andante Oak high end stuff at £4.00 per pack for clearance, that is about £2.25 per sqm. That was pure luck and going in lots of times, and just the one branch. I think that is a pricing error and they meant £14.00, which is a price I have seen before a couple of times.

 

i think there more opportunities with this B&Q Flash Sale strategy that has been running for about 6 months. I have been playing hide and seek with B&Q flash sales on flooring all summer, and missed at least 3 by a matter of days. Perhaps we need a thread to talk about B&Q a little more  - they seem more competitive more often on more areas than previously (eg sheet materials, flooring), and have a lot more opportunities for good savings than previously.

 

It is interesting to compare the Quick-Step with the equivalent top own brand product. Photos are on a phone, so not quite as clear as could be. QS are far more varied, and even have a cross-ribbed texture which simulates saw-cut feel.From my sample, B&Q still seem to be playing with variable graining.

 

Quick-Step

 

 

B&Q 

 

 

Ferdinand

 

 

 

 

Edited November 30, 2017 by Ferdinand

[joe90]

Right, I was able to walk on my new floor this morning and on very close inspection it has a slight ripple to it, one  mm max, my worry is Kardean ( thin) might not hide this, someone above said the floor must be very flat!. Am I paranoid about hollow sounding floors and will floating floors conduct heat sufficiently. 

 

Just got got on my hands and knees and found I can scrape the floor with a straight edge and flatten the very slight undulation. Guess what I am doing all day ?.

[Nickfromwales]

1 hour ago, joe90 said:

Right, I was able to walk on my new floor this morning and on very close inspection it has a slight ripple to it, one  mm max, my worry is Kardean ( thin) might not hide this, someone above said the floor must be very flat!. Am I paranoid about hollow sounding floors and will floating floors conduct heat sufficiently. 

 

Just got got on my hands and knees and found I can scrape the floor with a straight edge and flatten the very slight undulation. Guess what I am doing all day ?.

Be careful not to gouge it . I think you'd be better off mechanically abrading the floor once dry as you'll have a laitance to remove before bondong anything to it, plus a good douse with a quality flexible primer.

Id hire an upright machine and buff the floor once dry. 

The stuff your able to scrape is probably the problematic laitance layer . Needs to be completely removed before bonding. 

Edited December 1, 2017 by Nickfromwales
Laitance for Laurance ?

[joe90]

Thanks Nick, I was told this “ new” flooring stuff didn’t produce the “scum” that the old stuff did and it’s true, just the very slight undulation  and bubbles produced during its laying. I am using a floor scraper and is doing a great job. The odd pipe clip has floated to the surface which I need to sand off. The jury is still out re luxury vinyl vs real wood/tiles tho I am impressed with Amtico (made in England not Asia like Karndean so I am told).

[nod]

It’s very rare for karndean or simalar to be laid directly into any screed however flat 

Normally a thin screed is spread then rubbed down with a stone the following day to a perfectly smooth finish. 

I wouldn’t worry about a few small imperfections. 

[joe90]

Right, just been to a flooring contractor locally and they won’t guarantee laying “thin” Kardean bonded to a liquid screed, they have had problems in the past with it “ blowing” i.e. not bonding in patches then sounding hollow. Their theory is the flooring acts like polythene on a lawn, it pulls any moisture upwards, ( despite how long it’s slowed to dry) the Kardean acts like a DPC. Wood and tiles ( with grout lines) breath just a tad to stop this.

 

Also measured my part M Front door and the new floor is 30mm below the threshold so 15mm flooring is required to make it pass?.

[Oz07]

17 hours ago, joe90 said:

Right, just been to a flooring contractor locally and they won’t guarantee laying “thin” Kardean bonded to a liquid screed, they have had problems in the past with it “ blowing” i.e. not bonding in patches then sounding hollow. Their theory is the flooring acts like polythene on a lawn, it pulls any moisture upwards, ( despite how long it’s slowed to dry) the Kardean acts like a DPC. Wood and tiles ( with grout lines) breath just a tad to stop this.

 

Also measured my part M Front door and the new floor is 30mm below the threshold so 15mm flooring is required to make it pass?.

Not explicitly ( can't spell nessecarily?!). Most BCO would accept a ramped threshold a bit like a hardwood window board. It could be better practically to have a 200mm wide 25mm ramp in oak say than a 15mm hard step. As ever discuss with BCO as it's their interpretation. 

Edited December 3, 2017 by Oz07