Laminate Flooring

sansnom

sansnom

sansnom

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Guys,

Could use an urgent bit of advice on laminate flooring (yuk but have no choice as I can't find the shade of colour I want in real wood or engineered)

In terms of quality of laminate, from what I can find online:

Quickstep & Balterio are the top
Krono is rubbish

But what about Hygena or Schreiber?

I saw a lovely looking Hygena one in Homebase yesterday under the name of San Diego (Balterio also do a San Diego which appears to be identical but higher price)

Trying to find reviews online seems to be a futile effort. I need to know quite quickly as well as I have to order it for delivery by Thursday.

Any recommendations?
Quickstep vs Balterio vs Hygena vs Krono

Thanks
 
Have you considered luxury vinyl as an alternative to laminate? It generally seems to be what people go for if they don't want the downsides of real/engineered wood, but it does come at a price. Amtico and Karndean tend to be the recommended brands.

If you definitely want laminate check out Pergo, their stuff looked good when I've seen it in the flesh and lots of choice/designs.
 
Have you considered Krono+? It's 12mm and more durable, I have it in my conservatory and it looks great, the carpenter who fitted it said he was very impressed with it too.

I have another 50m2 sitting in the garage for the hall, lounge and dining room :)
 
I did one of my flats in quick-step and it has been fantastic - been two years now.

Give me a quality laminate over engineered wood any day. The laminate will last longer and can come in many varieties...God knows what percentage of people buy engineered or real wood and then forget about all the scratches. you may think you will sand it down and re-varnish but what a pain.

Laminate exists for a reason.
 
Have looked at krono+ but they dont do the colour i want (grey oak) they have it in the 8mm though. I gave my 2.5 year old son a sample of 8mm laminate he took his toy hammer to it and gave it quite a bashing throwing it round the garden and the result not a scratch!
 
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any opinions on Balterio? They at least have the colour I want (Finesse Grey, same as Hygena San Diego) which I can't find in Quickstep or Krono.
 
I got some laminate a few years ago from Floors2Go and I attacked an offcut with a Stanley knife. Barely any visible marks. I don't know why people stick their noses in the air about laminate unless they are thinking of the super budget stuff which I agree is awful looking.
 
What are people's views on Ikea laminate? In particular the Golv range which appears to be the most expensive type (but still not massively expensive).

Saw some on their site and was surprised by the price (£15 sqm) and when we went to Ikea to look at other furniture it looked (and felt) great in person too. It felt sturdy and had a nice grain effect on the each plank (if my memory serves me). Just wondered if anyone had used it themselves? Or if there is a good alternative?

I've got to fit about 45 sqm of it downstairs in our house so something around the £15 sqm is a good price point. I think I would probably stretch to £20 sqm but at an absolute push! Are there any sites which are considered the best (best vfm/cheapest) to order from?
 
R.O.S.S.I said:
What are people's views on Ikea laminate? In particular the Golv range which appears to be the most expensive type (but still not massively expensive).

Saw some on their site and was surprised by the price (£15 sqm) and when we went to Ikea to look at other furniture it looked (and felt) great in person too. It felt sturdy and had a nice grain effect on the each plank (if my memory serves me). Just wondered if anyone had used it themselves? Or if there is a good alternative?

I've got to fit about 45 sqm of it downstairs in our house so something around the £15 sqm is a good price point. I think I would probably stretch to £20 sqm but at an absolute push! Are there any sites which are considered the best (best vfm/cheapest) to order from?
Click to expand...

At that price you are in Pergo and Quick-step territory - why bother with Ikea? After all, if Golv is better than their other product lines (see below), then they have brought it out to compete with dedicated manufacturers.

I ordered from Floors Online - I was very happy with price and service though you may like to wait for a discount code or sale as i did. never the less the prices are in your area as standard.

http://www.floorsonline.co.uk/c-194-pergo-domestic-extra.aspx

http://www.floorsonline.co.uk/c-174-quick-step-elite.aspx

I can't speak for Golv but i can say that the Tundra range was awful. - EVERY pack had some planks with chips in it it so i had to buy another pack to make up for all the chipped planks and that new pack was the same. So i was left with the smallest room in the flat having visible chipped planks as i wasn't prepared to send them back or forgo the cost.
 
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Superficial said:
At that price you are in Pergo and Quick-step territory - why bother with Ikea? After all, if Golv is better than their other product lines (see below), then they have brought it out to compete with dedicated manufacturers.

I ordered from Floors Online - I was very happy with price and service though you may like to wait for a discount code or sale as i did. never the less the prices are in your area as standard.

http://www.floorsonline.co.uk/c-194-pergo-domestic-extra.aspx

http://www.floorsonline.co.uk/c-174-quick-step-elite.aspx

I can't speak for Golv but i can say that the Tundra range was awful. - EVERY pack had some planks with chips in it it so i had to buy another pack to make up for all the chipped planks and that new pack was the same. So i was left with the smallest room in the flat having visible chipped planks as i wasn't prepared to send them back or forgo the cost.
Click to expand...

I read a few reviews that the Golv is significantly better quality than their Prairie and Tundra ranges hence why I thought it might be worth going for them.

Didn't realise the Pergo or Quick Step could be had for the same price point though, the sites I had seen it on must have been expensive as I remember it being more!

Will check them out.
 
I've got both Quickstep and Homebase (rebranded Krono) in my house. Have to say that they're both looking good and I haven't had any issues with them - if anything the locking mechanism for the Krono boards was easier and more secure than the QS stuff.
 
R.O.S.S.I said:
I read a few reviews that the Golv is significantly better quality than their Prairie and Tundra ranges hence why I thought it might be worth going for them.

Didn't realise the Pergo or Quick Step could be had for the same price point though, the sites I had seen it on must have been expensive as I remember it being more!

Will check them out.
Click to expand...

Couple of things to take into consideration:

1) the 'grain' effect looks and feels good, like real wood, so I got that too BUT the grain attracts dirt so, when cleaning, you have to work harder to get the planks clean. it's not that hard but like a lot of people that buy laminate one of the draws is the easiness of giving it a quick wipe over.

2) Consider 'v-groove' or beveled edge laminate for longevity - most of the issues with laminate come from the edges being kicked up which crates that nasty chipping. if the edges are beveled this is much harder to do and makes the floow look more like real wood flooring too.

3) on the other hand totally flat laminate cleans much easier.
 
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Found a site called Wood2U which appears to stock Quick Step Elite and Impressive for £14.49 + VAT per sqm so I may opt for some of that for not much more than the Ikea stuff.

Hopefully the Mrs will like the colour of the Impressive stuff as it has a guarantee of 10 years when used in a "wet area" and has a better guarantee than the other Quick Step stuff. Don't know if I should be that bothered though about the extra guarantee, its only entered my mind as everyone i've spoken to has winced when I've said we are having the entire downstairs done in laminate, i'm constantly met with "oh you don't want laminate in your kitchen" or "it will be ruined in a couple of weeks if you drop a tiny bit of water on it", starting to get on my **** a bit now as none of them seem to appreciate that laminate's have come on a fair bit since the old turd that used to get thrown down 5-10 years ago.
 
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I think everyone, including me, still thought twice before pressing the buy button even after all the research but I have quick step vogue and have wet mopped it countless times and it's still like new BUT - laminate is not made to be used in the bathroom or Kitchen unless stated so that guarantee you're mentioning is a new one on me but good on you. A great many people have standard laminate in their kitchen and get on fine and good laminate is splash and mop proof but I have no idea how it will react if you kick over a bucket etc. Quick-step make a line called aqua-step - I have a sample and I will be using that in my kitchen. its technically not laminate though as it's totally plastic/composite so no chance of expansion.


It's the cheap stuff that gives it a bad name not necessarily the age - Tundra being a prime example.
 
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Be careful with this kind of stuff. Very few of these online stores actually physically hold stock, they are simply a middle man. They can do very little of the supplier creates a delay in getting it shipped to you.

Make sure you have all the materials before a carpenter is due to start!
 
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