Hard flooring fitted with minimum disruption

bib1

Can anyone offer advice on flooring that can be fitted with minimum disruption?

I want to replace my carpets with solid flooring.
The carpets have to go because the dust they create is making my wife's medical condition worse.

We live in a bungalow with concrete floors.
We currently have fitted carpets over thermoplastic tiles dating from the 1960's.

I like the idea of the solid vinyl tiles like Amtico :cool:
The salesman tells me the floor will need to be prepared with a quick-drying, self-levelling screed.

Now here's the problem:

Due to my wife's health, I'm gonna find it very difficult to have parts of the house out-of-bounds while they do the preparation.
We only have one loo and one bedroom.

Anyone have experience of what it's like to have this done? Please note that, apart from my wife's poor health, I'm 66 now and getting a bit of a delicate sad old git ...:eek:... We really do need a quick and easy process with the minimum of disruption.

Are there any types of hard-flooring that cope with an uneven surface better than the Amtico type vinyl tiles?

phill99

If you want amtico etc, then relevelling the floor is the only option and it needs to be done through the bungalow at the same time which means all furniture out.

You would be easier with laminate or wood where they can do half a room at a time and move furniture around accordingly.

zaax

Did that a few years ago the old tiles are brittle and will break when the Carpet Grippers are removed.

I used http://www.tradepriced.co.uk/techni-board_underlayment.html for an underlayment, which 'Eliminates considerable unevenness in the subfloor', and then your amtico on top.

cyclonebri1

Yes, I've had that too, but to be honest given it's only right at the edges it isn't usually much of a problem provided it's laminate or eng/solid wood flooring that's going down.

Given your circumstances I'd go for a dry method and flooring.

getmore4less

I think it will depend how good a job you want doing and quality of finish and your budget for the area you want to cover.

If you go laminate/hardwood, expansion gaps, will the skirting need to be taken off just have an alternative solution like a bead or cover strip.

For the LVT(amtico etc) I think it is a strip back to base floor and screed to make sure it's a good job.

Not sure you can lay LVT onto laminate underlay.

LTV will be around £60-£70+ sqm fitted.

a link on another thread for bathroom wall panels had this

http://www.multipanel.co.uk/twinFloorclick/twinfloorclick.asp#

We are currently looking for our ground floor probably 50sq mtr so the costs add up.

Given the desire to have the job done quickly could you budget for a week away or even a few overnights in a local hotel(health conditions permitting).

bib1

Thanks for the replies :beer:
From what's been said, I'll try Amtico-type stick down tiles (on screed) for the wet rooms and laminate (over a sound-proofing underlay) for the hall and other rooms.

As long as the screed dries in half-a-day, I can plan for the toilet being out of bounds (I won't disturb you with the gruesome details ... :eek:

Owain_Moneysaver

You can hire a chemical toilet for a couple of days.

andyhop

bib1 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies :beer:
From what's been said, I'll try Amtico-type stick down tiles (on screed) for the wet rooms and laminate (over a sound-proofing underlay) for the hall and other rooms.

As long as the screed dries in half-a-day, I can plan for the toilet being out of bounds (I won't disturb you with the gruesome details ... :eek:

You can't use LVT on a wet floor

Most screeds set within 3hrs from 3mm to 50mm depths, rooms can be done separately as any edges/ joints could be rubbed back with a carabana stone

Other LVT options are Polyfloor camaro, less than half the price of amtico and looks just as good, same wear layer etc

bib1

andyhop wrote: »

You can't use LVT on a wet floor

Andyhop, thanks for the advice.

By 'wet rooms', I meant kitchen and bathroom - I didn't mean a shower room that is regularly flooded.

Is it ok to use LVT in a bathroom?