Flooring for kitchen & hallway - Tile? LVT? Something else?

Haggisman

Haggisman

Haggisman

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We're wanting to redecorate/tidy up downstairs, and one of the main things is the floor in our hallway which leads through to the kitchen (full length of house from front to back door).

We currently have laminate in the hall, and vinyl/lino in the kitchen.

The laminate was here when we moved in, and seems decent stuff, but after 20 years of kids and cats, it's starting to swell at the joins by the front door where it's gotten damp.

The lino in the kitchen was replaced a couple of years ago in an "emergency" after the washing machine broke and dumped several gallons of water all over (and under) the previous lino (which was already in a bit of a **** condition). The current stuff has already picked up quite a few dings/cuts/holes from things being dropped on it, and doesn't seem to resist dirt very well (the high usage areas are definitely grey rather than white). However, as mentioned, this was done as quickly and cheaply as possible, so the lino we put down wasn't the best quality.

So, on to the replacement:

We're thinking it would be nice if we kept the same flooring throughout. We're hesitant to use either laminate or lino again due to the experiences above (although obviously any kind of flooring is going to have down sides).

Tiles could be nice (possibly with electric underfloor heating), but this brings the question of how to lay it whilst still needing to use the space - do we go live in an airbnb for a week? :p

Also problems with being slippy (not great with kids running around with wet feet!), and potentially cracking when they inevitability manage to drop something on it.

Alternatively, there's LVT, but how does this wear when compared to lino? Obviously would be easier to replace individual tiles if they get damaged, but if it's going to look crap again after 6 months then there seems little point in doing it in the first place!

Would welcome feedback from anyone who has LVT in their hallway/kitchen and how it stands up to family abuse, and anyone who has installed a tile floor whilst the room(s) are in regular use? Also any suggestions on an option I might have overlooked?

Edit: as far as I can tell, the floor underneath is solid concrete, so a decent substrate for tiling, assuming we level it properly
 
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Haggisman said:
When you say "a pain", do you mean you're constantly having to do it, or that it doesn't actually get clean?
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It needs to be done daily as ours is a dark colour. Sometimes multiple times a day if it’s raining outside (we have a dog). Last house had decent laminate and we’d sooner have that again. Lighter colour tiles might be better I guess.
 
Interesting, I would have thought that darker would be better for hiding dirt, we quite like the look of the wooden plank effect tiles (the pattern will help hide some of the dirt :p)
 
I can't imagine any kind of wood finish is going to be great with spills, both due to damp and potentially staining, e.g. from tomato & curry sauces etc?
 
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Haggisman said:
Interesting, I would have thought that darker would be better for hiding dirt, we quite like the look of the wooden plank effect tiles (the pattern will help hide some of the dirt :p)
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This was cleaned yesterday.


KW8UOjh.jpg

Not our choice, it was already fitted before we bought the place. We may have a new kitchen and if we do we’re going to get the flooring ripped out too and live at her mums for a few weeks.
 
That looks nice, I expect it cleans up pretty easily with just a mop over it? Unfortunately we don't have family nearby to stay with, so it would either be a case of living around it, or airbnb/hotel :s
 
Haggisman said:
That looks nice, I expect it cleans up pretty easily with just a mop over it? Unfortunately we don't have family nearby to stay with, so it would either be a case of living around it, or airbnb/hotel :s
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It does but getting it streak free is a challenge. And anything you drop on it that’s breakable is nearly always going to break.
 
We're having our kitchen extension floor levelled at the moment, floorer recommends glue down lvt.
I wouldn't put laminate in a kitchen due to it not being water proof as opposed to lvt which is 100% water proof.
 
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I think major flooding could also ruin LVT as well, wouldn't like to chance it anyway!

Tiling is probably the most hard-wearing option, but it will definitely be cold in the winter unless you have UFH.
 
These off-cuts have been outside all Winter, I was skeptical what would happen if we had a flood.
Turns out we had nothing nothing to worry about with LVT, we used Novacore easy to take back none used boxes to Wickes.
The Floor needs to be 100% Level for click-together. Also The recomended glue down stuff is replaceable as well.

Search Novacore | Wickes.co.uk

Search results for Novacore on Wickes.co.uk
www.wickes.co.uk www.wickes.co.uk



 
HungryHippos said:
I think major flooding could also ruin LVT as well, wouldn't like to chance it anyway!

Tiling is probably the most hard-wearing option, but it will definitely be cold in the winter unless you have UFH.
Click to expand...

I'm hoping for no more flooding as the washing machine has since been replaced!

It would still need pulling up in a flood I think, as water could get underneath, but unlike laminate would maybe be able to be laid back down after drying out? (assuming it was removed carefully).
 
danoliver1 said:
We're having our kitchen extension floor levelled at the moment, floorer recommends glue down lvt.
I wouldn't put laminate in a kitchen due to it not being water proof as opposed to lvt which is 100% water proof.
Click to expand...
We had LVT installed last summer, kitchen through to the living room. Installer advised glue down was the better choice should a plank become damaged. if a plank of LVT click does become damaged you can’t just replace the plank.
 
Had Amtico LVT in my last place, really good stuff I thought.

One day I may replace my entire downstairs floor with something like it again. Probably some distance away though want to get some good use out of the existing stuff.
 
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