Amtico or Karndean vinyl

2smiggy

any one have any views or experience on this lino as an alternative to tiles or laminate ? for a new build house.

sydthebeat

personally i have a real issue with one material pretending to be another. I feel once its "copped" it just brings a real element of disappointment.

lino can do great things with a 'tonal' finish rather than an 'effect' finish.

Lumen

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119103829#Comment_119103829

I agree in principle but I have a mix of solid wood and old wood-effect vinyl flooring in my dining room/kitchen area (vinyl in the kitchen) and I really don't prefer one over the other. The vinyl is a bit less "authentic" looking, but the wood has aged badly with moisture (dog piss mostly) damaging the joints.

If you need water resistance and don't want mineral tiles, what are the alternative? Laminate? That's plasticky too. I recently put down some high end walnut-ish laminate in a living room and whilst it looks OK, it's still obviously laminate. There's a kind of satin sheen in natural daylight that looks unreal, and this wasn't something I could detect in the showroom laid next to solid walnut.

Even real wood needs to be coated with a layer of polymer/wax to protect from water, so in terms of what your bare feet touch it's all the same.

Shopping for flooring is a pain in the hole.

edit: my weird rant aside, I agree that avoiding the wood or tile-effect linos and going with a nice tone/pattern is better. And more interesting!

hesker

I put some down in a hallway a couple of years ago and think it looks well.

My dislikes are

1) Don’t ever get paint on it. I got a drop of water based paint on one board and it was hell to remove. I got to it before it dried but was still a nightmare. I ended up scrubbing with a sponge which got it off but left a dull spot. I ended up replacing the board and that is not easy as you have to be extremely careful due to delicate T&G edges

2) Replacing boards is a pita

3) I’d be fairly sure if you drop something hard on it you will get a chip exposing lighter colour underneath. Then see 2)

4) It will fade in sunlight. One shop told me this and showed me proof. But then lots of materials change in sunlight

2smiggy

thanks, my sister has a fairly new built house, and is sorry she put tiles in instead of the 'posh lino' as she calls it. I have a small bit of time to make up my mind !!

kieran.

Recent used about 100m2 of Amtico "vinyl" in a commerical project it worked out at 100/m2 and the finish is excellent.