Kitchen floor

[whisky-dave]

Going to replace my kitchen floor as the B&Q Vinyl stick on tiles about 1 foot square are starting to come up and break off in to pieces after about 10 years... so doen quite well I think.

So any thoughts on advantages /disadvantages between laminate flooring , or the newish type of vinyl.

Should I lay hardboard down first or just the insulation foam the products suggest.

Sort of options I've been looking at are ...

but don't want real wood.

Kitchen is 1st floor and about 2.5M X 3.5M

[Peter Johnson]

I had this

down in my kitchen about ten years ago. Laid on the insulation panels, on concrete, I've had no problems with it.

[whisky-dave]

So is it wood laminate , as it doesn't look like the vinyl tile type

[Andy Burns]

Maybe it's the so-called "Luxury Vinyl Plank" ?

[Jim GM4DHJ ...]

lammy floor finish will be destroyed the first time you drag a fridge or other appliance accross it ....

[Andrew]

If you don't have an incontinent dog (or whatever) then there are (or used to be) Nairn lino tiles that come in a variety of colours and are 300x300 or 300x600. They click together just like laminated but you need a perfectly flat and resilient floor.

[John Rumm]

Laminate, noisy underfoot, and always looks a bit dodgy IMHO (the joins never look "right").

The top end vinyl planks like Karndean are very good IME (and contrary to popular wisdom, quite DIYable if just doing a basic floor).

This was a wood effect Karndean plank:

For click together floors, then the fibreboard panels are quite good.

For the vinyl plank floors, thin ply well screwed down at regular intervals, then finished with self levelling compound.

Do you include engineered wood in that?

I used some 21mm thick engineered oak planks on the fibreboard underlay over floorboards:

That has worn very well and shows no damage from having chairs being slid over it...

[Brian Gaff (Sofa]

I think a couple of questions come to mind. Being first floor, is the floor wooden boards Do you also have a washing machine in the kitchen. I do and the vibration makes most fancy floors fall to bits, so I had put down good old non slip vinyl or something similar cut and fitted. Brian

[alan_m]

A kitchen is one place where the floor may get wet. Avoid anything that may swell or delaminate if water gets in.

Don't forget that if the flooring stops at the front of kitchen units then water running under the kick boards may then find an easy passage to the underside of your replacement floor.

Be careful with vinyl "cushion" flooring which has a tough vinyl layer on top of a thin "foam" type layer. The tough layer may not stand up too well to point loads, such as stiletto heels :)

[Andy Burns]

Whoever renovates my kitchen next, will discover that the nice tiles with mosiac border inset around the walls and cupboards, stops 1" behind the kickboards to be replaced with whatever cheapest nastiest tiles the supplier had in stock that day!

[Steve Walker]

Here, I have a ground floor kitchen, but the floor is a suspended wooden one.

Our old washing machine regularly shook madly (even denting its side and breaking suspension springs on a couple of occasions), but the click-fit laminate was unaffected.

We have recently replaced our washing machine with a direct-drive version and that runs incredibly smoothly and so quietly that you don't notice when it has gone to spin if the tumble dryer is running.

[Mike Rogers]

Our kitchen flooring is quarry tiles that despite being over 100 years old are perfectly serviceable!

Mike

[John Rumm]

For the engineered floors you can get adhesive vapour membranes. They are laid out on the floor underlay with the adhesive facing *up* (but protected by the backing paper). You then lay the floor onto it, and after you have laid a few planks you pull out the backing paper to allow the boards to stick to the membrane.

The final result is a fully floating floor (no pun intended!) that is also moisture proof.

In wet service areas I tend to seal the floor to the skirting to try and prevent that.

Yup, something good to be said for traditional lino.

[Peter Johnson]

Yes, wood laminate. Branded but colour exclusive to B&Q. I have it in the adjoining utility, where it has not suffered from the presence of the washing machine, and in the hall.

[Andrew]

Or even placing something like a recently boiled kettle on it, or anything that is above its thermoplastic setting point.