Karndean/Amtico - anyone got it?

deejaybee

redmalc: Thanks for confirming that !

Thinking about it, floorboards have gaps so obviously plywood needed..

Don't think I was thinking straight last night

Newly_retired

Sorry to pick up on an old thread but it is pretty timeless. I am trying to decide what floor covering to put down in our kitchen diner. They are two quite distinct areas, and I have started a thread on this, but reading this thread, I now realise that as well as appearance I need to consider what goes underneath.
The kitchen has an old cushion floor type of covering. But underneath are Marley tiles. The dining area currently has carpet tiles on top if a concrete floor.
Will I have any problems covering the two surfaces with the same product?

Many thanks for advice/experiences.

judith00001

We had karndean fitted in our new build 3 years ago, now about half the kitchen area is loose. please be warned, karndean may well offer a 15 year guarantee with their products but will not be interested if you have these sort of issues. the floor started lifting 18 months after moving in but it appears fitters only guarantee their work for 1 year. karndean would not even offer any sort of discount on replacing the floor even though we have spent thousands on it and will be paying for it for another 16 years! we have had advice from separate sub-floor product manufacturers and both of those say the fitters have not applied a primer between the liquid dpm and the levelling screed, and that the entire floor will need replacing the fitter says his business went into liquidation 3 months after we had the work done and in any case work is only guaranteed for 12 months. we did pay the builder for the work who then paid the contractor and it appears this may implicate the builder but he says he only invoiced us for vat purposes. the bottom line though is that we have paid a lot of money for a premium product and when we have had issues no one is interested and say "it's just one of those things". we are now trying to get quotes for replacing the entire floor but so far no-one will touch it as it then becomes their problem! good luck if you do choose karndean, ours looked great for 18 months although you do have to strip then reseal it regularly, however if you get problems you will be on your own.

davilown

judith00001 wrote: »

We had karndean fitted in our new build 3 years ago, now about half the kitchen area is loose. please be warned, karndean may well offer a 15 year guarantee with their products but will not be interested if you have these sort of issues. the floor started lifting 18 months after moving in but it appears fitters only guarantee their work for 1 year. karndean would not even offer any sort of discount on replacing the floor even though we have spent thousands on it and will be paying for it for another 16 years! we have had advice from separate sub-floor product manufacturers and both of those say the fitters have not applied a primer between the liquid dpm and the levelling screed, and that the entire floor will need replacing the fitter says his business went into liquidation 3 months after we had the work done and in any case work is only guaranteed for 12 months. we did pay the builder for the work who then paid the contractor and it appears this may implicate the builder but he says he only invoiced us for vat purposes. the bottom line though is that we have paid a lot of money for a premium product and when we have had issues no one is interested and say "it's just one of those things". we are now trying to get quotes for replacing the entire floor but so far no-one will touch it as it then becomes their problem! good luck if you do choose karndean, ours looked great for 18 months although you do have to strip then reseal it regularly, however if you get problems you will be on your own.

But that's nothing to do with Karndean - its the installation thats gone wrong so of course they won't be accountable.

judith00001

Yes i agree not the products fault, what i would say though is its pointless having a 15 year guarantee if no one will give more than one year fitting guarantee. Its a very expensive product and a lot can go wrong.its amazing how much help you get when your buying but everyone washes their hands of it when you have a problem. I would expect however considering the thousands we spent in the first place some measure of goodwill from karndean to replace the floor but in reality if we can find someone willing to take the job on we will have to pay far more this time as it wont be vat exempt and we have to clear the area to start work.

davilown

judith00001 wrote: »

Yes i agree not the products fault, what i would say though is its pointless having a 15 year guarantee if no one will give more than one year fitting guarantee. Its a very expensive product and a lot can go wrong.its amazing how much help you get when your buying but everyone washes their hands of it when you have a problem. I would expect however considering the thousands we spent in the first place some measure of goodwill from karndean to replace the floor but in reality if we can find someone willing to take the job on we will have to pay far more this time as it wont be vat exempt and we have to clear the area to start work.

I think you're getting confused slightly about who is responsible for the fitting. Karndean provide a 15 year warranty with their products. You chose who was going to install it, you paid the installers for installing it therefore you, and ultimately only you are responsible if it wasn't installed to karndeans specification and subsequently failed.

If you bought a new car, got the local garage to service it, they failed to use genuine parts and the engine failed. Who is responsible? Ultimately you are as you didn't undertake the servicing as required by the car manufacturer.

I know this may sound harsh but you do get what you pay for. I know, I had a poor fit for karndean 4 years ago but that was my fault for using a recommendation from checkatrade and not a karndean recommended fitter. An extra £200 would have saved me a lot of hassle.

davilown

And in addition, the warranty is for the product, not the fitting.

Marktheshark

It is a domestic grade product and no longer has a good reputation in the flooring trade as it has issues staying stuck down at the best of times, manufacture was moved "far east" and since many fitters do not like putting their name to it .
It would never be used in any contract environment as it is domestic quality.

Higher specification and more stable products are available for a fraction of the "household name" priced LVT
TLC Massimo and Polyfloor do contract grade LVT, Exponia, calonia, camero to name a few.
Fraction of the price and many many times the quality.

lolly5648

I am thinking of replacing the carpet in the hall with Amtico type flooring (I don't know the difference between laminate and LVT) but want something in oak effect that looks good.

Is it better to go to a local shop and get them to do everything or buy from the internet and try to find a local fitter.

Having read through this long thread it seems that if you have a fitter his work might not be guaranteed for more than a year.

Margaret_Quinn

Installer is priority. But I used a Amtico 1 Excellant Retail Partner from Amitco's Website after three months notice strange markings on flooring. Informed from company that it had been due to faulty screed no one from the screed supplier has been to check the flooring. Twelve month's down the line no further forward and planning to take legal action. Also not the only one who has had an even worse experience with the same company. So be very careful