Winters coming and need some new flooring

ChilliBob

As above, I'd not dismiss carpet. That's a flipping hard thing to say right now thougu - m daughter covered one of the stairs in waterproof suncream this morning - carpet recently fitted this year, light colour, £80 sqm!.. I digress..

Carpet, often you'll find remnants, which if you can put down gripper rods, you could even lay yourself to a half decent standard - if not, carpet fitting isn't too expensive.

We have these soft cleanable mats from totter and tumble - which work well - they're fairly expensive but there must be alternatives by now.

Also depends on room size. 

I think you need to be thinking along these lines.. 

1. Am I going to be in this house for a good few years? - If so, I'd be saving for decent floor covering

2. Is my main concern winter cold, or appearance? - if it's the former then look at if there are gaps would cause draughts etc. If it's the latter, it's trickier.

3. Don't dismiss how the cost of these hacks/temporary solutions etc could mount up.

If you're gonna stay there for a while perhaps some warm shoes, decent dog bed and draughts elimination is the way forward until you have more cash.

Do think of slippyness for dogs too - some stuff, especially laminate, can be well skiddy and your dogs could hurt themselves. 

jennifernil

My OH did the whole ground floor of our daughter’s house (50 sq m ) in LVT on a concrete floor, but with a good quality click together plank type, which needed a thin underlay.   You certainly do not want any lumps in the floor!   He went over it all very carefully first and found some small imperfections that needed to be removed .
He has also done a living room and hallway in a small flat she used to own, with the same stuff, a kitchen in her husbands former flat, and both her and our current utility rooms with the plank type, but floors there are chipboard.  In 7 bathrooms and a kitchen in 3 various houses he used the tile effect click stuff, again on chipboard.  So no experience with the stick down, but plenty with the click type, which he finds easy to use.

He is about to start on our small cloakroom, and has another bathroom to do, but the stuff for that has a built in underlay.    

bjorn_toby_wilde

jennifernil said:

My OH did the whole ground floor of our daughter’s house (50 sq m ) in LVT on a concrete floor, but with a good quality click together plank type, which needed a thin underlay.   You certainly do not want any lumps in the floor!   He went over it all very carefully first and found some small imperfections that needed to be removed .
He has also done a living room and hallway in a small flat she used to own, with the same stuff, a kitchen in her husbands former flat, and both her and our current utility rooms with the plank type, but floors there are chipboard.  In 7 bathrooms and a kitchen in 3 various houses he used the tile effect click stuff, again on chipboard.  So no experience with the stick down, but plenty with the click type, which he finds easy to use.

He is about to start on our small cloakroom, and has another bathroom to do, but the stuff for that has a built in underlay.    

LVT (luxury vinyl tile) and LVP (luxury vinyl plank) are two totally different products.

You’re mixing the two up. Your OH DIY’d your daughter’s house with LVP which is like fitting laminate.

The OP referenced LVT which is a whole different ballgame.

GDB2222

jennifernil said:

My OH did the whole ground floor of our daughter’s house (50 sq m ) in LVT on a concrete floor, but with a good quality click together plank type, which needed a thin underlay.   You certainly do not want any lumps in the floor!   He went over it all very carefully first and found some small imperfections that needed to be removed .
He has also done a living room and hallway in a small flat she used to own, with the same stuff, a kitchen in her husbands former flat, and both her and our current utility rooms with the plank type, but floors there are chipboard.  In 7 bathrooms and a kitchen in 3 various houses he used the tile effect click stuff, again on chipboard.  So no experience with the stick down, but plenty with the click type, which he finds easy to use.

He is about to start on our small cloakroom, and has another bathroom to do, but the stuff for that has a built in underlay.    

I'd be interested to hear what he used, please.

grumpy_codger

bjorn_toby_wilde said:

jennifernil said:

My OH did the whole ground floor of our daughter’s house (50 sq m ) in LVT on a concrete floor, but with a good quality click together plank type, which needed a thin underlay.   You certainly do not want any lumps in the floor!   He went over it all very carefully first and found some small imperfections that needed to be removed .
He has also done a living room and hallway in a small flat she used to own, with the same stuff, a kitchen in her husbands former flat, and both her and our current utility rooms with the plank type, but floors there are chipboard.  In 7 bathrooms and a kitchen in 3 various houses he used the tile effect click stuff, again on chipboard.  So no experience with the stick down, but plenty with the click type, which he finds easy to use.

He is about to start on our small cloakroom, and has another bathroom to do, but the stuff for that has a built in underlay.    

LVT (luxury vinyl tile) and LVP (luxury vinyl plank) are two totally different products.

You’re mixing the two up. Your OH DIY’d your daughter’s house with LVP which is like fitting laminate.

The OP referenced LVT which is a whole different ballgame.

And what exactly is the essential difference besides the shape (and the look)?

https://www.msisurfaces.com/blogs/post/2020/07/08/what-is-the-difference-between-lvp-and-lvt-flooring.aspx

bjorn_toby_wilde

grumpy_codger said:

bjorn_toby_wilde said:

jennifernil said:

My OH did the whole ground floor of our daughter’s house (50 sq m ) in LVT on a concrete floor, but with a good quality click together plank type, which needed a thin underlay.   You certainly do not want any lumps in the floor!   He went over it all very carefully first and found some small imperfections that needed to be removed .
He has also done a living room and hallway in a small flat she used to own, with the same stuff, a kitchen in her husbands former flat, and both her and our current utility rooms with the plank type, but floors there are chipboard.  In 7 bathrooms and a kitchen in 3 various houses he used the tile effect click stuff, again on chipboard.  So no experience with the stick down, but plenty with the click type, which he finds easy to use.

He is about to start on our small cloakroom, and has another bathroom to do, but the stuff for that has a built in underlay.    

LVT (luxury vinyl tile) and LVP (luxury vinyl plank) are two totally different products.

You’re mixing the two up. Your OH DIY’d your daughter’s house with LVP which is like fitting laminate.

The OP referenced LVT which is a whole different ballgame.

And what exactly is the essential difference besides the shape (and the look)?

https://www.msisurfaces.com/blogs/post/2020/07/08/what-is-the-difference-between-lvp-and-lvt-flooring.aspx

Mmmm.

I’m questioning that myself now having followed your link because the two terms seem to be used almost interchangeably.

I was told that the plank was click lock and easy to DIY fit like laminate whereas the tiles were glued down but it seems that’s not actually the case.  It seems that there are click together or glue down versions of both.

Sorry for the mixup

stuart45

Mix ups and discussions are how we improve our knowledge.

jennifernil

GDB2222 said:

jennifernil said:

My OH did the whole ground floor of our daughter’s house (50 sq m ) in LVT on a concrete floor, but with a good quality click together plank type, which needed a thin underlay.   You certainly do not want any lumps in the floor!   He went over it all very carefully first and found some small imperfections that needed to be removed .
He has also done a living room and hallway in a small flat she used to own, with the same stuff, a kitchen in her husbands former flat, and both her and our current utility rooms with the plank type, but floors there are chipboard.  In 7 bathrooms and a kitchen in 3 various houses he used the tile effect click stuff, again on chipboard.  So no experience with the stick down, but plenty with the click type, which he finds easy to use.

He is about to start on our small cloakroom, and has another bathroom to do, but the stuff for that has a built in underlay.    

I'd be interested to hear what he used, please.

All this was done 2012 onwards, so a variety of stuff used, but mainly purchased from here…..

https://www.factory-direct-flooring.co.uk/aqua-plank-natural-oak-click-vinyl-flooring

The plank is all oak type, and we went for one of a decent thickness that is rated for heavy use.

Tile type also from there, other than the last lot which my daughter found from another on line place as she did not like what FDF had on offer at the time.

I believe the built in underlay is a more recent feature, but is common now.

All suppliers will send you free samples.  The main drawback of buying on line are the delivery costs, so small quantities will work out  expensive, but there are good savings to be made overall.    The last time we purchased, last year, we had a look locally and found everything very expensive, and only small samples to look at anyway, nothing actually in stock ready to take away.
Stuff we were paying maybe  £30 sq m for, was £45 for similar thickness.

NeverTooLate

One of my dogs cannot walk on laminate, her legs go off in different directions which is terrifying for her. We have to take a rug with us if we visit homes with laminate.
Dogs love a carpet.

jennifernil

How about carpet tiles?   You can get ones with a very low pile.  They are easy to lay, easy to pick up to clean too if necessary.   The floor will need to be without lumps of course, but the tiles are used without an underlay.

Keep a few extra to use as spares.