Can anyone offer advice on flooring that can be fitted with minimum disruption? I want to replace my carpets with solid flooring. The carpets have to go because the dust they create is making my wife's medical condition worse. We live in a bungalow with concrete floors. We currently have fitted carpets over thermoplastic tiles dating from the 1960's. I like the idea of the solid vinyl tiles like Amtico The salesman tells me the floor will need to be prepared with a quick-drying, self-levelling screed. Now here's the problem: Due to my wife's health, I'm gonna find it very difficult to have parts of the house out-of-bounds while they do the preparation. We only have one loo and one bedroom. Anyone have experience of what it's like to have this done? Please note that, apart from my wife's poor health, I'm 66 now and getting a bit of a delicate sad old git ...... We really do need a quick and easy process with the minimum of disruption. Are there any types of hard-flooring that cope with an uneven surface better than the Amtico type vinyl tiles?
I'd have thought that any other solid flooring would be better than vinyl tiles for coping with slight unevenness? Your floor can't be that bad if there were already vinyl tiles down? So I'd have thought one of many types of underlay - from thin 'foam' types to thicker 'fibre' panels - covered with solid laminate would be a straight-down job with the underlay coping with the surface with no screeding required? Huge choice of finishes with laminate planks, too (and they even come in 'tile' shape if you are that way inclined), but they clip together so no gluing required - they 'float' on the underlay. And if you were really considering Amtico, then it won't cost you any more either...
Thanks for the advice - sounds like the best solution with the least disruption. What's the situation with 'floating' laminate in a bathroom? Is it as water-resistant as stick-down, Amtico-type vinyl tiling? Also, is laminate noisier than the tiles?
The closer I get, the more acute my hearing gets but ENT man tells me that happens just before you go deaf
There are several "laminate" types of floor available which are suitable for wet areas The link below is essentially plastic planks which click together like a lot of laminate flooring and is fitted in the same manner A few negative comments as you will see but I've used this in my own bathroom and after 2 years have had no problems (family of 4 using bathroom) A bit of research and you will find several suitable products and makes and varying price ranges http://www.diy.com/nav/decor/floori...C-Waterproof-Flooring-12608637?skuId=13129343