ᐅ Buying Guide: Vinyl Flooring for New Construction

Created on: 1 Dec 2022 12:50
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Gooosee159
Hello,

we will soon receive the handover of our new build and want to install vinyl flooring on the upper floors.

We plan to install the vinyl flooring ourselves and want to lay it as a floating floor (on the new screed).
We do not want to glue it down.

Unfortunately, it is not easy to find the right vinyl flooring.

What types of vinyl flooring are there and how do they differ? (I’m a bit lost here)

Rigid vinyl
Solid vinyl
Click vinyl
Rigid core vinyl
Are there any others?

(I will exclude the types that require gluing.)

Impact sound insulation:

All types of vinyl flooring are available with or without integrated impact sound insulation.
Vinyl with integrated impact sound insulation is easier to install, but what is really better?

Manufacturers:

Which manufacturers would you recommend?

In my search, I came across the following manufacturers:

HORI
Parador
Wineo

Are there other top vinyl manufacturers? What do you think of the brands mentioned? Is vinyl from these manufacturers reliable?
Please feel free to share more recommendations.

What else should be considered when buying vinyl flooring?

What should you look for in the locking system?

Thank you very much for your help.
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WilderSueden
9 Mar 2023 08:51
Don’t overthink it. Basically, the width of the floorboards doesn’t really matter. Just lay them perpendicular to the main direction of the room, and it will work out. Choose whatever you prefer.
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Gooosee159
9 Mar 2023 15:11
WilderSueden schrieb:

Don’t overthink it. Basically, it doesn’t really matter how wide the floorboards are. Just install them perpendicular to the main room direction, and it will work. Pick whatever you prefer.

Is it really that unimportant?

In smaller rooms, a 2.20 m (7 ft 3 in) long plank might not look good if one or two planks almost cover the entire room width. In that case, 1.20 m (4 ft) wide country-style floorboards might look better. The Modular One also has a surrounding micro-bevel.

I’ve also read that for large rooms, wide plank floorboards are preferred because the longer boards make the room appear bigger.

I wanted to hear your experiences and opinions on what you would recommend for an attic room with sloped ceilings (about 35 m² (375 ft²) in size):

Wide plank or country-style floorboards?
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WilderSueden
9 Mar 2023 15:41
I believe that the floor contributes only a small part to the overall impression of the room. The balance between walls/windows and the furnishings has a much greater impact. Even simple things like items lying around on the floor make a difference. So, don’t overthink it.
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Fleckenzwerg
9 Mar 2023 16:49
Maybe there is a smartphone app that uses AR to virtually place floorboards of different sizes into a room. This could also be very useful for minimizing waste.
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Gooosee159
11 Mar 2023 15:09
Thanks for the tip about AR.

We have now chosen the Modular One in farmhouse plank style.

I have a question about the installation.

On the upper floor, we have 3 rooms and a hallway. Each room has an expansion joint in the screed. On the upper floor, we should definitely follow the expansion joints in the screed with the Modular One as well and install a transition strip, right?

What about the attic?
It is an approximately 35m² (375 sq ft) room with 2 expansion joints in the screed and 3 heating circuits.
Do we also have to follow the expansion joints in the Modular One in the attic? It wouldn’t look as good visually if we just installed the flooring continuously across the whole area.

Do we need to follow the expansion joints in the attic?
Tolentino11 Mar 2023 15:13
Theoretically yes, but in practice, many simply do not do that.
I believe there are specific mats or panels designed for this purpose.