Kitchen floor advice please!

jimi_man

Hi

I had a wooden floor in my kitchen, which was 18mm solid oak. I varnished it with about 7 coats when I put it down, then redid it every few years, however my view is that it's just not suitable. It wears so much, partly because you tend to stand in the same place all the time and use it so much. Water doesn't do it any good either.

I've got ceramic tiles down now which are better. I would go for that myself, though you can always go for both in different areas.

I don't actually know what an engineered floor is, my one was just individual tongue and groove planks?

cddc

I have done as an earlier poster suggested and put tiles in the kitchen area and solid oak flooring in the dining/living area of an open plan extension. Am very pleased with the result. Would never, ever put solid wood flooring in a kitchen. It really is asking for trouble.

Karndean/Amtico is a good compromise if you really want a single floor throughout without the coolness underfoot of tiles. It is not, by any stretch of the imagination a cheap option though! Not sure how you make that the cheapest of the three baring in mind the sqm cost of it and the fact you almost certainly need to latex your floor before you start!

sg0102

Our layout is a little strange which is why I think we want the same throughout. As the dining area leads to the kitchen which leads to a small patio space with sofas. Hard to break up with different flooring.

Interesting comments on karndean - that's my point really if the fitting cost is significant I guess it is more than a mid price ceramic tiling??

cddc

It is cheaper to fit than tiles as adhesive is cheaper and, obviously, cutting it is much easier and less time consuming than for tiles. But for a good finish, because it is so thin, you need a billiard table smooth floor to begin with. So you usually have to put levelling compound down before you start. Whereas with tiles, any minor variations in floor level can be taken up by varying the bedding depth of adhesive.

So sometimes, the difference in fitting costs is not as much as you may think. This depends on how level your floor is to start with.

sg0102

Thanks all for your advice and comments.

We are making progress...we are now choosing between Karndean (Luna) and engineeered oak flooring.

There is currently laminate on concrete flooring.

Two remaining questions - any top tips on where to get either of these supplier? And again, any ideas, broadly, on what the respective costs would be (assuming worst case of prep required for the karndean).

Many thanks
Steve

redmalc

Steve
We are in a similar situation to yourself and decided on Karndean Opus range and the quote per square metre range from £32,50 to £20.80,i have sourced mine of line

sg0102

Thanks RedMalc.

I have found a price at £25 sq/m for supply - but struggling to get a feel for fitting costs.

Bit of internet searching has landed me on £30 sq/m as a good guide, so £55 sq/m total.

That sound right to you?