Karndean vs Amtico - aargh

on_the_run

We are having the whole of our downstairs (140m2) fitted out with....either amtico or karndean, but as its such a large area we are paranoid about getting it wrong and cant decide!


I've heard great things about both.


I prefer the smooth feel of karndean over the amitco, but the fitter says he would go for amtico over karndean.


Why would this be?
Its the opus range of karndean aurum wood plank (opus - mid range I believe) or amtico French oak (signature range) we are deciding between.


Anyone with any knowledge of both would be great.
Thanks

Marktheshark

Both "domestic grade" extremely over priced materials.
Polyfloor do ranges of similar "contract quality" LVT tiles for around a third of the cost.
Google polyfloor LVT products.
A third of the cost and about 10x the quality.

Kardean is very difficult to stick down and make stay down and many contract fitters wont touch it with a pole.

The polyfloor wood lvt is known as Colonia and is suitable quality for restaurants, shops and things like walkways in high traffic areas.

kardean and Amtico are light use domestic products with massive mark ups available to suppliers, hence why they get pushed, the fitter wont want to use Kardean as he will be more than aware its a pig to get to stay stuck down.

Look at this stuff from the contact flooring champs polyfloor :
Ranges from smooth to textured LVT in contract quality standard.
http://www.polyflor.com/jh/products.nsf/products!open&family=lux&prodcode=bv2

on_the_run

Thanks. Ive just ordered some samples.
Its a case of going with what is well known to minimise the risk.
Its the whole of our downstairs so dont want to get it wrong. Also its to go with ufh and partly in a sunny area (which polyfloor sounds like it may fade)

Marktheshark

Dont think you understand the difference between contact quality and domestic.

The "well known" products are stuff sold to the public by the likes of carpet shops.
The contract quality material is sold by trade suppliers to trade users where performance is upmost importance and a failed floor costs thousands a day to put right.

Polyfloor is British made make hundreds of thousands of square meters of flooring a week and export worldwide from safety flooring to LVT tilers, they are a brand leader in contract flooring.
The other two are made in the far east and hugely marked up and are not even remotely suitable for a contract installation where the floor has to be durable, at best they are good enough for a lightly used home, even then they can wear if its in area walked heavily such as a entrance.
They can look nice, but on the whole they are something sold to the public.

The contract quality materials are also contract price, £12-20 per m2 not £60m2 like the top range of the domestic market.

Finding a fitter to fit kardean will be the issue, since it was moved production to the far east, nobody can get the stuff to stick down long enough to change their phone number and do one.

ryder72

I am no expert at vinyl flooring but I just wanted to point out that Poly Floor is as good if not better than Karndean or Amtico. We have about 75m2 down in a high traffic showroom environment without any problem.

Another point is Karndean and/or Amtico are British brands too and British manufactured. Its not their place of manufacture but the type of application that dictates what quality needs to be built into the product.

firefox1956

Both extremely overpriced.........

Doozergirl

Polyflor is what is specified on H's job for a commercial showroom as well.

They know that showroom is worth thousands a day if not operational.

andyhop

Camaro is a relatively new product /branding to polyflor . Similar wear thickness to the others and you stand little chance of wearing it in domestic situations, as with everything its only as good as the fit so make sure the substrate is smooth before laying

pollypenny

Is this sort of flooring preferable to thick laminate in a domestic setting?

I'm thinking about warmth as well as durability.

benson1980

Polyflor and Karndean were happy to send me loads of samples when I was deciding which to go for. The polyflor looked fine to me- just went for the karndean as the pattern was a bit more what we were after. There was around a 40% price difference between the two although this was DIY install so overall cost wasn't so much of an issue.

Artytarty

I've had Karndean laminate stops in my kitchen for over fifteen years.
It's has doors to three other room so there is a lot of foot traffic and I can only say that it's been great. Not terribly shiny now but I can't really complain. My only worry is how to get it lifted when we need to change, it's so well stuck down.