Karndean Vinyl Flooring Reviews
Quick & Easy Flooring for Your Home
Karndean Flooring Problems
We found that many people were specifically looking for Karndean flooring problems which is understandable before you buy. That’s why we published these Karndean flooring reviews so that you had the chance to read what other people thought about this product.
We all love reviews, especially those that come straight from the horses mouth, consumers like us. So I decided to jump on the review wagon once more and bring you some product reviews. I made sure to take the time to find reviews from consumers who have actually had Karndean luxury vinyl tile, installed and have lived with it for a few to many years.
I could go on and on about how much I love this flooring option, but I think its much more riveting to hear it from the average homeowner, names are anonymous so they are just numbered and random:
Karndean Luxury Vinyl Tile Reviews
1. We had Karndean in the breakfast area of the kitchen in our last house.
It looked fantastic, was easy to clean and was warm underfoot. It was quite expensive but I’d definitely have it again. I also thought it wasn’t as noisy as laminate – the strips are flexible before they are laid and I think that they don’t bounce the sound around in the same way that laminate does IYSWIM. Karndean was recommended by a friend who had it installed in her kitchen, hallway and playroom – she had builders going through with wheelbarrows etc to do work on her garden as this was the only access and the floor still looked fab (after a good clean!).
2. Karndean flooring is a vinyl flooring which makes a quality alternative to the laminate flooring and real wood flooring more commonly found.
Once laid the flooring shares the aesthetically pleasing look of a real wooden floor but has the more hard wearing advantage of a good laminate floor. For this reason the product has widespread commercial use and can be seen in shopping centers, etc. where it needs to withstand extreme levels of use.
Karndean does offer different ranges, including the Hand-Crafted Wood Collection. Within this range, I decided on a Hickory Peppercorn which looks great. Unlike laminate flooring, the planks are not interlocked but are thin and flexible and stuck directly onto a concrete floor. The advantage of this is that the floor is extremely level and neat however, it does mean that the floor needs to be prepared first,. This is done by laying a leveling screed which needs to be left to dry out, in my case, overnight.
Due to the process involved in laying the floor, I would not recommend fitting this floor yourself unless you have the relevant qualifications. It also means making sure your floor is suitable before purchasing this product. The floor needs to be checked for dampness and the leveling screed means there may be complications with skirting boards or fireplaces for example. In my case the floor is laid up to the walls and sides of the room and this works very well.
The floor itself is quite expensive, equivalent to similar products in real wood but slightly less that products offered by Amtico which seems to be the main competitor offering a similar product for household use. What makes the floor a lot more expensive though is the cost of fitting due to the floor screeding which is a necessity. It seemed to double the cost of flooring my living room!
So far the floor has been excellent, easy to clean and no evidence of any scratching or marking that cannot be cleaned simply with a cloth. For maintenance, I use Nova Care anti-static floor maintainer, which was recommended by the fitter. This should be applied approximately once a month and seems to do a good job.
Overall, I paid more than I had hoped for this product but it’s expected long life makes it a great investment and one which I would recommend.
3. We had our kitchen floor done with a higher end Karndean in July 2010.
Visitors always mistake it for real wood or at least laminate. It still looks beautiful and is very easy to maintain. I finally got around to applying Dim Glo which is supposed to be a protective finish. I followed the directions and gave it two coats, but it did result in some hard to detect (but I can find them) smears, which I will have to eventually use their included stripper product to get off. They no longer make Dim Glo, which I am sorry I used. Overall we are very satisfied with our residential Karndean. I saw the installation which was done by professionals who used a heavy roller to set it in right. It is not a DIY product!
