LVT or engineered wood for open plan area with child and cat?
Any help to make this decision would be greatly appreciated as I'm going round in circles since big decision to get right. We recently moved in to a house which needs renovated and are ready to start on the living areas. Ideally we would like the same flooring for open plan kitchen, living room, dining room, front hall and utility room. These are the things we need to take in to consideration - we have a little boy and a cat, 2 sets of patio doors in the living room and my partner works downstairs in the cellar.
Ideally I would like engineered wood as I love that it is a natural product, has more character and can be re-sanded when necessary. My partner thinks LVT is the more practical option with children, pets and less likely to scratch/get water damage etc.
I was happy to look at them as I do like the fact they are softer underfoot than the laminate we had in out previous home and easy to care for. However, I've had large samples from Amtico, Karndean, Moduleo and Khars and can't get over how plasticky they seem in certain lights. I'm waiting on some Polyflor samples as I have read they are more matt.
Each flooring company we have spoken too have all said the LVT is the best option with young children and cats, that wood is too soft and will scratch.
My partner is ok for us to go with engineered wood (think I would leave it out the kitchen) if I really don't like any LVTs but I'm feeling a bit apprehensive to put the wood in and it ends up badly marked, but also worried to put LVT down and not like it! 😆
Can anyone recommend an engineered wood which has withstood family life and also give me an idea of how much per metre you need to spend for a mid range/fairly decent engineered wood? Or does anyone have engineered wood with children and pets and wish you had gone with an LVT for ease? Should I leave the engineered wood for now and stick with practical option? Thank you.
Comments (22)
Daisy England
2 years agoMy son has Polyflor in his shower room. Never had a problem with it and it’s not high gloss finish. In fact very matt.
A couple of months ago I had LVT fitted in my kitchen through to my dining area. I did have solid wood flooring down in the dining area but we had a leak so that put paid to that.
Like you I sourced numerous samples and liked none of them. I chose a local company to fit it and asked for recommendations (they’d fitted son’s floor). They suggested the Eternity range and left me with several samples. Hubby wanted dark, I wanted light. The flooring company left a big board with a new colour on which wouldn’t have been what we would have originally gone with but I left it in the kitchen and the more we walked passed it, it grew on us. We had it.
I use a steam mop of the flooring because it’s the glue down type and you can use it on this type of flooring which may be something else to take into consideration.
For practicality it’s LVT all the way for me. The leak on the wooden floor did me a favour.
If you do want to stick with a wooden floor look at -
https://www.naturallyoakflooring.co.uk/
Here is my floor which is so easy to brush, vacuum or steam mop.
Fi Mo
2 years agoRelated Discussions
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Juliet Docherty
2 years agoFi Mo
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Claire
2 years agolast modified: 2 years agoClaire
2 years agoJuliet Docherty
2 years agoClaire
2 years agolast modified: 2 years agoFi Mo
2 years agoJuliet Docherty
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2 years ago
For reference the three samples at the top are 3 different wood samples we like. The 3 samples on the bottom left are all the Harvey Maria LVT. The little one is the cork and the one bottom right is actually a laminate by Woodpecker called Stratex Brecon Blanche Oak...that’s what my partner wants!
Fi Mo
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Tani H-S
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Hannah
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Fi MoOriginal Author