Another one for the building experts

JonathanRyan

JonathanRyan

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So here's a problem in a rental property. The kitchen is basically a lean to structure with dwarf walls and a glass wall. The floor is concrete.

Before we could even get carpet down it took about 300 kg of self levelling compound to make it flat enough and even then the carpet people warned us that it wouldn't be a perfect finish. 2 years on the crapet is already trashed (basically because it's a kitchen).

What are my options for sorting out the floor? I could put more carpet down but that would quickly look awful. Vinyl needs a pretty flat surface and laminate even flatter. Self levelling gets expensive over a large area - it's about 5m X 2.5 and from memory it was up to 5mm out before the carpet went down.

What would you do?
 
Self levelling is the way to go.
It will be cheaper in the long run to sort it out. That way you can put down a laminate which will be easier to clean and still warm underfoot.
Carpet is just a no for a kitchen on cleanliness grounds.
 
Carpet in a kitchen sounds proper mental.

If you maximum deviation between high and low points is 5mm I would tile it and just be a bit more generous with the adhesive in the low points. Plus it is the most pracrical finish for a kitchen floor.
 
I've had my fill of laminate, cushion vinyl and tiling.
Not even bothered about karndean, its still just butt up glued down tiles.

Self level the thing properly and fit click Moduleo or something similar..:)

Can't think of a cheap alternative that won't look like a dogs breakfast in 3 years, with no budget......I'd battleship grey the thing with garage floor paint...lol
 
Carpet in a kitchen is a no no. I'd probably shove more concrete in and make sure it's not as lumpy. It might end up a bit less out with work. Then insulation and then non slip vinyl flooring on top.
 
Decent, thick underlay and then either laminate or click-together vinyl planks.
 
Has the floor been properly damp proofed, if not then stay away from anything that will prevent it breathing unless you seal it properly first or it will sweat and lift the new flooring.
 
joxby said:
I've had my fill of laminate, cushion vinyl and tiling.
Not even bothered about karndean
Click to expand...
Strange you should say that about Karndean, it's the only flooring we havent destroyed. 9 years ours has been down and virtually unmarked, Amtico wasn't as good, even their expensive range.
Matt
 
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MatBin said:
Strange you should say that about Karndean, it's the only flooring we havent destroyed. 9 years ours has been down and virtually unmarked, Amtico wasn't as good, even their expensive range.
Matt
Click to expand...
I’d agree as I have about 40 square metres of Karndean and find it almost indestructible.
 
Thanks. A few comments/questions....

Cartus said:
Plywood with vinyl laid on top maybe (although I'm no expert).
Click to expand...

Before the carpet went down it was bare concrete. I've vaguely heard of something called a vapour barrier - would ply on concrete be OK? Marine ply?

boogie man said:
Decent, thick underlay and then either laminate or click-together vinyl planks.
Click to expand...

Have you actually tried this? I've laid quite a lot of laminate but the room next to this kitchen had a slightly uneven concrete floor and, well, I'll be ripping it up soon, levelling and redoing......

bass_junkie83 said:
Carpet in a kitchen sounds proper mental.
Click to expand...

All the professionals I spoke to at the time told me it was the only option (for complicated reasons, I had to buy a load of self leveller, learn to concrete and lay 300 kilos on a Sunday before getting it carpeted on the Monday....). It's a short pile synthetic kitchen carpet.

Cartus said:
I’d agree as I have about 40 square metres of Karndean and find it almost indestructible.
Click to expand...

Is Karndean a professional only product? IIRC some of them aren't available for DIY.
 
Although I had a flooring company lay the Karndean vinyl 'planks', they could quite easily be laid on a diy basis and are sold as such I believe.

My floor consisted of both concrete and self levelling compound, 6mm marine ply was fixed on top using plugs and screws and the vinyl glued on to that. After five years of robust use it still looks as good as new. I remember painting my skirting boards and initially being horrified when I removed all the masking tape: the vinyl is textured and the paint had seeped under the tape, it didn’t matter though as the paint easily scraped off leaving no marks. I think the only thing that might damage the vinyl would be something like paint thinners or nitromors etc as the planks are 'petrol' based in their composition. Another advantage of the planks is that should an area become damaged only the affected links would need replacing. This isn’t the case with laminate floors which will almost always become compromised by moisture, esp in a kitchen.
 
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Thanks - I've been doing some Googling and it looks like I have some "LVP" in my future. I reckon I'll rip up the carpet use some strategic self leveller on the worst bits (hope Wickes have a deal on again....) and then go with a thickish underlay and LVP. Hopefully get change out of £400 :eek:
 
I’ve put down the vinyl click together planks over thick underlay, yes. Used it on a uneven chipboard floor where the level of the edges were out of skew and it covered very well. I guess it really comes down to how uneven this floor of yours is and how fussy you are. It might be better to just cut your losses and get it properly levelled, then you can use whatever you want on top. ;)
 
MatBin said:
Strange you should say that about Karndean, it's the only flooring we havent destroyed. 9 years ours has been down and virtually unmarked, Amtico wasn't as good, even their expensive range.
Matt
Click to expand...
Can't comment on Karndean really, never had it but I know a few people that have and their comments range from the best thing they've ever laid, to the worst.
I don't think wear is a factor, its the prep and the fact they are just butt up glued down tiles.
I don't think as a diy'er I'd attempt the floor prep requirements for Karndean, I'd have to let the guys laying it do that if I wanted some kind of redress should it start coming up or something.
I've got Moduleo click vinyl on concrete because it seemed to be a bit less exacting on the prep, there is no glue to fail and the edges of the tiles are locked to each other so no chance of corners peeling up.
There is a thin tacky underlay/liner but it doesn't rely on that to stay in place.
Only been in 2 years but so far so good, I'm considering doing 2 bathrooms and a hall with it but they are chipboard not concrete so I dunno yet, haven't made my mind up.
I'm sure there is cheaper vinyl click than Moduleo, it may be less hard wearing I dunno.
 
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