Hello,
I need help choosing the right flooring.
We are looking for the right flooring for our new build, for the upper floor and attic.
We will have underfloor heating installed throughout the ground floor, upper floor, and attic.
On the ground floor, we will have tiles laid everywhere.
What flooring would you recommend for the upper floor and attic?
We definitely want to install the flooring ourselves (to save costs).
Our budget is around 35€/m² (approximately $37/m²).
I have researched but got overwhelmed by the wide range of flooring types available.
Laminate and vinyl are the classic options for affordable flooring.
Hardwood flooring is probably too expensive for us; we won’t manage with a maximum of 35€/m².
What are bio-based floors, luxury vinyl tiles/planks (LVT), or cork flooring?
Which wear rating should we choose if the floor needs to be as durable as possible?
Should you always go for the highest wear rating?
We also have a dog (in case that’s relevant for the selection).
I hope you can help me.
I need help choosing the right flooring.
We are looking for the right flooring for our new build, for the upper floor and attic.
We will have underfloor heating installed throughout the ground floor, upper floor, and attic.
On the ground floor, we will have tiles laid everywhere.
What flooring would you recommend for the upper floor and attic?
We definitely want to install the flooring ourselves (to save costs).
Our budget is around 35€/m² (approximately $37/m²).
I have researched but got overwhelmed by the wide range of flooring types available.
Laminate and vinyl are the classic options for affordable flooring.
Hardwood flooring is probably too expensive for us; we won’t manage with a maximum of 35€/m².
What are bio-based floors, luxury vinyl tiles/planks (LVT), or cork flooring?
Which wear rating should we choose if the floor needs to be as durable as possible?
Should you always go for the highest wear rating?
We also have a dog (in case that’s relevant for the selection).
I hope you can help me.
C
Costruttrice8 Nov 2022 18:26Taitv789 schrieb:
@Costruttrice can you explain exactly what a design floor is?
Is it just vinyl flooring under a different name?Unfortunately, I can't tell you, as we didn't look into it. It only came up during the conversation as an example of price trends.
Luxury vinyl flooring is a general term for PVC or vinyl floors that, for example, have a wood or tile appearance. They do not offer much in terms of natural feel. I would recommend cork or parquet flooring, or possibly (natural) hardwood floors – all of which can be installed as a floating floor by yourself. Linoleum sheet flooring is also not bad, but its installation is quite demanding and should therefore be done by a professional.
However, not all parquet flooring is the same, and cork flooring also varies greatly. There are many differences: lacquered, oiled, stained, smoked, planed, brushed, country-style planks ranging from XXL to small sizes, ship flooring patterns, 2-layer, 3-layer constructions, and more. Take a few hours or days to research, and you’ll become much more knowledgeable...
Hi,
For parquet, I would always recommend oiled rather than lacquered. With lacquered parquet, every scratch is visible and very difficult to repair. Oiled parquet is much easier to maintain.
But: forget about floating parquet! Unlike laminate, parquet reacts quite strongly to changes in humidity (summer vs. winter) and will expand and contract accordingly. This causes creaking floors, and in large rooms (room width more than 6 m (20 feet)) you might find that in summer the parquet planks are already touching the walls and lifting, even though in winter you leave a 15-20 mm (0.6-0.8 inch) gap from the wall (which the baseboard nearly can’t cover anymore). We have this issue in our living room (7.5 m (25 feet) width) and at some point we’ll have to lift the floor and glue it down properly.
At the time, I insisted on installing it myself, so I did a floating installation. Upstairs it was even worse; we installed it without transition strips (which was explicitly approved by the manufacturer), and in summer it expanded so much it creaked like in a 500-year-old castle. All it was missing was a ghost! When the parquet had to be replaced after water damage, I had it fully glued down.
Also, floating installation is not necessarily cheap. _Good_ impact sound insulation can easily cost 8-12 €/m² (about the same as parquet adhesive), plus you need many finishing profiles and transition strips, which can become quite expensive if you go for high quality.
In the basement, we installed good laminate as a floating floor, which has been completely trouble-free.
So, my advice:
You can safely install laminate as a floating floor, there are some really good products out there.
Parquet should always be fully glued down. Having seen how it’s done, I would trust myself to do it too; it’s not rocket science.
Best regards,
Andreas
Taitv789 schrieb:
What type of parquet would you recommend? We would like to install the floor as a floating floor with a click mechanism; is that also advisable for parquet?
For parquet, I would always recommend oiled rather than lacquered. With lacquered parquet, every scratch is visible and very difficult to repair. Oiled parquet is much easier to maintain.
But: forget about floating parquet! Unlike laminate, parquet reacts quite strongly to changes in humidity (summer vs. winter) and will expand and contract accordingly. This causes creaking floors, and in large rooms (room width more than 6 m (20 feet)) you might find that in summer the parquet planks are already touching the walls and lifting, even though in winter you leave a 15-20 mm (0.6-0.8 inch) gap from the wall (which the baseboard nearly can’t cover anymore). We have this issue in our living room (7.5 m (25 feet) width) and at some point we’ll have to lift the floor and glue it down properly.
At the time, I insisted on installing it myself, so I did a floating installation. Upstairs it was even worse; we installed it without transition strips (which was explicitly approved by the manufacturer), and in summer it expanded so much it creaked like in a 500-year-old castle. All it was missing was a ghost! When the parquet had to be replaced after water damage, I had it fully glued down.
Also, floating installation is not necessarily cheap. _Good_ impact sound insulation can easily cost 8-12 €/m² (about the same as parquet adhesive), plus you need many finishing profiles and transition strips, which can become quite expensive if you go for high quality.
In the basement, we installed good laminate as a floating floor, which has been completely trouble-free.
So, my advice:
You can safely install laminate as a floating floor, there are some really good products out there.
Parquet should always be fully glued down. Having seen how it’s done, I would trust myself to do it too; it’s not rocket science.
Best regards,
Andreas
Whenever I’m asked about a flooring option that you can install yourself and that isn’t too expensive, I mention bamboo parquet.
Strangely, none of the questioners appreciate this suggestion. Most of them, because they actually want an answer about oak parquet.
And why not you?
Strangely, none of the questioners appreciate this suggestion. Most of them, because they actually want an answer about oak parquet.
And why not you?
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