ᐅ Flooring. Laminate, engineered hardwood, vinyl? Where is the best place to buy?
Created on: 10 Oct 2016 18:25
A
AndreasPlü
Hello,
for our new single-family home, we are looking for suitable floor coverings. On the ground floor, the choice is fixed with a view to the entrance/terrace to the garden/fireplace: tiles. There will also be tiles in the basement. The house will have underfloor heating with an air-to-water heat pump.
Now we are considering what to put upstairs (children’s bedrooms and ours) as well as in the attic (gallery). Regardless of price, I find parquet problematic in playrooms, but ideally, the flooring should be uniform throughout the floor, look like wood, and be somewhat warm underfoot.
The price should be a maximum of 35 €/sqm (about $37/sqft) and it should be possible to install it ourselves. It should also match the solid walnut staircase.
What would you choose/recommend? Laminate, cheaper engineered wood flooring, or even vinyl? And where is the best place to buy? Which manufacturers have a good reputation?
for our new single-family home, we are looking for suitable floor coverings. On the ground floor, the choice is fixed with a view to the entrance/terrace to the garden/fireplace: tiles. There will also be tiles in the basement. The house will have underfloor heating with an air-to-water heat pump.
Now we are considering what to put upstairs (children’s bedrooms and ours) as well as in the attic (gallery). Regardless of price, I find parquet problematic in playrooms, but ideally, the flooring should be uniform throughout the floor, look like wood, and be somewhat warm underfoot.
The price should be a maximum of 35 €/sqm (about $37/sqft) and it should be possible to install it ourselves. It should also match the solid walnut staircase.
What would you choose/recommend? Laminate, cheaper engineered wood flooring, or even vinyl? And where is the best place to buy? Which manufacturers have a good reputation?
AndreasPlü schrieb:
The price should not exceed 35 €/sqm (35 €/sq ft) and it should be suitable for DIY installation. It should also match the solid walnut staircase.
35 € all-inclusive? That will be tight once you factor in good impact sound insulation and baseboards. Our parquet flooring (oak country plank with a 4 mm (0.16 inch) wear layer) ended up costing around 40 € /sqm (40 €/sq ft) after several negotiation rounds...
If you don’t want country planks, parquet can also be found in the 28-30 € range, which will bring you to about 40 € including impact sound insulation and baseboards.
Good laminate flooring (ideally with an AC32 or even AC33 rating for wear resistance) can be found for under 20 €. We pay 17 € for laminate in a country plank format with AC33 rating.
Honestly, I haven’t seen vinyl flooring under 50 € /sqm (50 €/sq ft) that didn’t look like plastic from 10 meters (33 feet) away. After searching, we concluded that vinyl we liked was considerably more expensive than parquet.
If you want to save money, I would limit tiles in the basement and ground floor to the essentials. Even cheap tiles, plus installation, are more expensive than good parquet (installed yourself)!
We faced similar considerations and ended up with this setup:
Basement: utility room and workshop with the cheapest tiles, the rest laminate
Ground floor: hallway, kitchen, and bathroom tiled, the rest parquet
Upper floor: bathroom tiled, the rest parquet.
Best regards,
Andreas
Our Parador 2030 cost 25€/m² (25€/m²), including baseboards and additional impact sound insulation, we stayed below 35€/m² (35€/m²). It also looks like real wood; no one has recognized it at first glance so far. Of course, when walking barefoot on it, you can feel the difference, but it is really very durable.
B
Bieber081511 Oct 2016 10:33With DIY work, cork (fully glued down) could just about fit the budget. Wonderfully soft and warm...
We have thought a lot about it but keep coming back to the same conclusion. Parquet flooring is more expensive, requires more maintenance, is less durable, and wears out faster compared to good vinyl flooring costing around 30 EUR (about 32 USD) — something like Krono Xonic. The advantage: it’s parquet. Well, not really an advantage. More of a perceived advantage. In practice, vinyl only has benefits. The decision isn’t final for us yet, but so far, I don’t see a case for choosing parquet.
Grym schrieb:
Parquet flooring is more expensive, at the same time more demanding in maintenance, less durable, and wears out faster Wrong
Grym schrieb:
Something like Krono Xonic. Advantage: It’s parquet. Also wrong
Grym schrieb:
So, not really an advantage. A perceived advantage. But in practice, vinyl flooring only has advantages A sentence that doesn’t really have to be understood?
Grym schrieb:
We also thought a lot about it but keep coming back to the following conclusion: Parquet flooring is more expensive, requires more maintenance, is less durable, and wears out faster.If those are your final evaluation criteria, I have to ask what exactly you are looking for. This argument might be valid for a utility area but certainly not for a living space!
What do you actually like? Doesn’t that matter at all?
Furthermore, I don’t fully agree with the content of those statements, in my opinion.
Similar topics