Polyflor V Amtico kitchen flooring

Louise__3

Hi all
Ive decided on LVT for my kitchen as the room is so cold, so avoiding tiles this time.
I’ve had some samples for Polyflor (Camaro Loc) and decided on a colour, but then when into my local flooring store and saw a nice Amtico Form (same shade). I thought it looked really good in store..until I heard the quote which was double the cost of the Camaro Loc! I’ve heard some stories about the Polyflor lifting after some time..

My kitchen is quite small (I live in a flat), and just me and the cat, so no heavy footfall. 

Anyway, just after some views from anyone who has either brands, and whether the Amtico is worth paying double for? 

Doozergirl

Some Amtico styles are cheaper than others.  The Spacia range is cheaper.  It's basically to compete with the rest of the market because the 'normal' Amtico is so expensive.  I wouldn't bother with the more expensive one as I genuinely don't believe it does a better job, it just has a wider range.  

I've had Polyflor Camaro down in our house for four years. It's perfectly fine.   If something lifts then it's the quality of the glue, surely, not the product?!

What I will say is that I find the grain in it is too deep.  Even when you sweep the floor, you have to sweep with the grain because fine dirt traps.  Dirt gets trapped in it quite easily and so whilst the while the whole floor gets mopped weekly, about every 6 months I take to the entirety of my ground floor and scrub it with a scrubbing brush and then mop, rinse, mop, rinse.  The floor changes colour.  It's not much fun.   

I'm picking Amtico Spacia for our new house, mainly because of the colour and size planks that I want, but the grain isn't so deep.  I've rejected a cheaper product that is quite deep. 

Other people might not lives with dogs and builders and find it easier to keep on top of! 😬

rach_k

We have Amtico Spacia.  I initially wanted Polyflor but our fitter recommended against it - he said he had found it less hard-wearing and told us how he'd happily slide a washing machine forward a bit on Amtico but it would rip with Polyflor (i think he'd just replaced Polyflor where that had happened).  Obviously that isn't something you'd do anyway - I tend to use card under the feet - but I trusted his judgement as he was making the same money whatever we chose.  

fancible

I have had Polyflor Camaro in my front hall for more than 8 years, still ooks like new. Fitters who fitted it said it was as good as Amtico/Karndean, but was cheaper because of the lack of name recognition. Re the deep grain, it depends on which style you go for. Some are smooth, some do have the grain. The fitter also said he had Camaro in his house and they fit all three products so he could use whatever brand he wanted. Make of that what you will 🤷

Slinky

We've got this one in our kitchen. Been down about 6 years, run a mop across it occasionally, a vaccuum occasionally, the pattern hides the grime well.  Haven't had the issue with grain that Doozer has.

https://www.polyflor.com/jh/products.nsf/products!open&family=lux&prodcode=csd&shade=2301

SamCo

I've been doing a bit of reading on this as we were looking for Amtico and Karndean but there are a few reviews on Facebook about Amtico's quality being terrible recently. Polyflor seems like a good alternative. And also a brand called Bentley looks like a good alternative to Amtico. This might help https://storiesflooring.co.uk/blogs/stories/polyflor-vs-amtico

Bendy_House

Been checking out flooring for mil recently, and walked into a local shop which had large display boards of Amtico, including 'Form'. It really stood out for us as being the most striking we'd seen of many makes, with that deep grain texture making quite a visual impact.

We were almost put off by their figure of around £50 or £60 m2, but had them out for a quote in any case - a whole 2-bed bungalow.

Meanwhile, a smaller family outfit - with a glowing reputation - had priced for a different make, and we asked them if they could also do the Amtico. And ditto another established company in the next town.

Bottom line, the Amtico 'authorised' shop gave a quote of around £10k - effectively charging full 'retail' per metre, even for such a large job. The flooring shop in the next town moaned they weren't allowed to get Amtico, as Amtico effectively work a cartel, so control who can - and who can not - sell their flooring. And they couldn't.

Local 'family' fitter came back with a quote which was almost £3k cheaper than 'authorised'; he could get it, but was not authorised. (In fact, anyone can buy Amtico, and for around £30m2)

Amtico push scare stories about some unauthorised outfits selling 'seconds', but the sample provided by the 'authorised' dealer and the 'family' outfit were identical.

(On that point, I was astonished to realise that the Amtico Form grain was not 'registered', like many even much cheaper LVTs are - ie it doesn't accurately follow the printed pattern, but is random.)

Anyhoo, Amtico it is for mil, but not from the - what I would call - somewhat exploitative 'authorised' dealer.

phoebe1989seb

We are looking to buy around 70 sqm of LVT and having previously successfully used karndean, thought we'd also look at polyflor, just for comparison sake.

I can't comment on the quality of the polyflor products themselves, but my experience with the service provided by the polyflor website was awful!

Having filled out the online form with the names of the samples I required, our address and contact details, I was emailed two days later by polyflor asking for our address - which was on the form 🙄

When I responded with our address, polyflor took a further week to come back and ask what samples I wanted...and to confirm our address again!

At that point I gave up and will be again purchasing karndean....who sent their samples out within 24 hours 😉

fenwick458

I find amtico scratches really easily, I can't see it lasting very long before it looks worn

Doozergirl

Fwiw, given that the thread has been resurrected and might be again, we have Amtico in our new house and I'm delighted with it.  People think it's real wood, which is exactly what I wanted.  

It's been down for 16 months now, we've been landscaping front and back gardens, have two dogs, husband refuses to take his shoes off half the time despite promising me otherwise, and it's still perfect.   It's not scratching.  

Bendy_House

Which Amtico flooring do you have, Doozer?