LVT and LVP

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Wiltshire
I want a wooden looking floor but very hard-wearing as it is a busy family home. I feel that laminate always feel cheap and noisy and so have been looking into luxury vinyl tiles and planks. Whilst these seem to be a better looking, more versatile/robust and quieter option, I am a bit confused about installation.

What types are there and has anyone got experience of installation? Some appear to click together almost like a floating laminate yet others need an expensive sub floor and "professional" installation.

Opinions, tips and experiences greatly appreciated

Many thank in advance
 
I am keen to explore luxury vinyl options for the improved wear and water resistance over real wood. Some of the LVT looks and feels nice too. I am just a little concerned with installation. Hoping to hear from some first hand experienced people.
 
We'll be having the whole of the ground floor covered in vinyl flooring next month. Until then...
 
I have LVT in my lounge and dinning room. Cost £1800 to fit but that included professional fitting.

The whole floor had to be levelled and skimmed with a odd substance think it was a mixture of silicon and something else to make it soft underfoot.

The difference between LVT and hardwood in the rooms was only around £100.

What made me choose LVT is the lack of maintenance tbh.. Didn't want to have to sand it down and polish it etc etc i have a 15 year guarantee with any problems that arise. + its water proof!

I also have a large dog that i think would ruin the hardwood but the LVT has been fine for 12 months now - just mop it now and then and looks new..
 
I have wood and stone effect Karndean in my home, its extremely hard wearing, quieter to walk on and easily cleaned.
Worth a look and to me its very authentic looking.
 
I'm also interested in this topic.

Seems vinyl is the better option from the above and from what I've heard.
 
When I see vinyl I immediately think of that cheap and nasty stuff that was all the rage in the 90's that would never go flat because it was so tightly wrapped on the roll. I assume thats not what people are talking about here?

Oh, and what does LVT and LVP stand for?
 
When I see vinyl I immediately think of that cheap and nasty stuff that was all the rage in the 90's that would never go flat because it was so tightly wrapped on the roll. I assume thats not what people are talking about here?

Oh, and what does LVT and LVP stand for?

Luxury Vinyl Tile and Luxury Vinyl Plank.

Nah this stuff is high quality flooring that replicates wood/stone/tile etc very well whilst being easier to maintain.
 
Thanks, Ive never heard of it! Will there be many places local sell it or is it mainly found online? Will check out a few of the local flooring places but would be interested to see it in the flesh.
 
The company I work for sell it. They are essentially HD photos on a hard vinyl.

Prep would be screeding the floor with a latex compound and making sure its level, priming and then gluing each plank/tile down. Its approx £30psm give or take..... Karndean and Amtico are the 2 we use.

The finished effect is really good but you have to get it laid properly. I'd always recommend a floor fitter and even then not all floor fitters are as good as they think they are.

The vinyl of the 90's was quite thin, now you get an added cushion (approx 3mm) and some have a texture to them. Again, it has to be fitted right.
 
We had a guy around this afternoon going through some more (cheaper) options as his estimate provided earlier in the year has gone up a few hundred quid. Apparently, the cost of ply and the vinyl has gone up considerably. :(

He was saying some manufacturers, e.g. Karndean, are really starting to take the **** with their prices as the flooring becomes more popular. Many of the wood-like vinyls are more expensive than the real thing!

Sorry, I can't remember the manufacturers, but I will ask the wife and come back (I think the one we really like is Amtico); a cheaper alternative has a slightly thinner wear layer (2.5mm vs 3.0mm iirc), but looks just as good and still has a 10 year warranty. So we may save the £350-£400 and go with that.

We're looking at about £2200-£2500 (inc. installation) for the entire ground floor of a regular three-bed semi.
 
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Is the ground floor solid? If so, you don't need ply (and prices haven't changed for either), only screed/latex.

I'd suggest you shop around for a few more quotes.
 
Ground floor all uneven floor-boards, apart from the kitchen which was 1/3 concrete and 2/3 wooden boards; but I've already laid ply down there during the kitchen fit-out.

I appreciate the heads-up and we will look around.
 
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We got another quote and it was £150 more, so we stuck with the original guy.

It was finished yesterday and took 2 days. They worked through the day, with no breaks. It was quoted as a 2.5/3 day job.

There are a couple of tiles with scratches and they're coming back on Monday to replace them. At one point my wife caught them cutting tiles on top of already laid tiles! (Probably explains the scratches.)

We have one box left which we were hoping to return for a refund. However, with a few replacements required, we're wondering if they'll assume they can open the unused box. Personally, I don't think they should. They should replace damaged tiles at their own cost, not ours.

I've taken mucho pictures, but will have to add them later as I'm just popping out. :)
 
I'll start by apologising for the post being continually edited. My laptop keeps freezing, so I'll be hitting the post button frequently to avoid losing my work.

Day 1
Because I'd already laid 9mm plywood in the kitchen and the understairs toilet, they first laid 9mm throughout the lower floor. They said they usually only use 6mm as they can cut it with a knife and it's therefore quicker/easier to do the job. It's also cheaper. But we discussed the options and we preferred to go with 9mm throughout.

They didn't appear to have any problems when it actually came to do the job, though. They used builder's paper to create templates for the tricky bits.

We'd recently decorated the lower floor and the gloss skirting hadn't had a chance to fully harden. (Although it had had a couple of days, I find it takes a few weeks to be proper hard.) Some of the paint was chipped off when they dropped the boards, but I can easily sort it at a later date.

They nailed the boards thoroughly, by hand. This surprised me a little. If I did this day-in, day-out, I'd have a gun! :D

They then applied a screed over everything. I didn't ask what it was called, but they said it was not a cement and it dried within 2 hours. It filled any imperfections: the joins, knocks and nail heads.

Day 2
They started by sanding the whole floor, by hand.

They then started with laying the actual vinyl which is Polyflor Expona 4065 Brown Heritage Cherry.

They opened a few boxes and placed them in the hall, into doorways, etc, apparently calculating the pattern and their cuts.

We're quite impressed with how they've cut around skirting, door frames. It's a nice, neat finish. On the most part.*

Then they troweled on the adhesive in managable sections. Apparently, it remains sticky which allows tiles to be removed and replaced when damaged.

The kitchen floor is sloped. It's part suspended wood and part concrete and you can see some gaps between tiles where they slope in very small, but different, directions. *

It was all done by 1700. So that's 2 days. They quoted 2.5 - 3.

Complaints*

Whether through arrogance, or stupidity, on more than one occasion we saw one of the fitters (did I mention there were two) cutting tiles whilst leaning on top of other, already laid tiles! He also opened the boxes with a knife. Consequently, we have found a few scratches.

An edge in the kitchen could be better. It was the end of the day and I think they were starting to rush.

All these points have been brought to their attention and they have agreed to come back on Monday to sort them.

This leaves us with a prediciment - there was one full, unopened box and one with just a couple of tiles remaining. We thought, great, we can return it for a refund. But we're wondering if they're assuming they can use the tiles from the unopened box to replace the tiles that were damaged during installation. We don't think they should. We think they should bare the cost of their installtion errors, not us. I mean, even I know not to cut a tile on top of another, already laid, tile or open a box with a knife!

One final thought - my word does will it need constant attention! We're used to carpets and admit to sometimes leaving it a day or two between vacuuming. But I vacuumed not 30 minutes ago and already it looks dusty!

I'm also on the lookout for a steam mop. So if anyone has got any recommendations?

I'll sort the pictures out now. :D
 
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They used a quick dry screed, a bit more expensive but it does allow them to get on with things rather than waiting a day for it to dry.

As long as you vacuum and don't mop it for the first few weeks it will be fine.

When we've put it into new houses, the cleaners go in and mop the floor the next day, making any dust wet and it gets into the texture making it look dirty. The water also gets into the adhesive in the cracks between the tiles and ruins it.

Ideally it should be left a week.
We use 4mm ply at work for wooden floors and just screed for hard flooring. This would explain why I thought your quote should have been cheaper.
 
Did you buy the tiles? Who gave you the quantities?

If I were the Contractor and I've given you the quantities I'd just be telling you that the total included waste which included damage and that any left over is just them being less wasteful and not really yours to cash in.
 
indeed, waste is an acceptable cost, and so don't be miserly about the last box.
 
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