Laminate Flooring or Tiles.... Please help me decide.... lol!

[PriorityOne]

 

I have a concrete base in my conservatory and need to sort the flooring out at some point.

 

I love the idea of tiles and think they look fantastic... BUT... they're expensive and I'd need to pay someone to lay them. Once they're down though, they last a lifetime....

 

However, my friend has laminate flooring in her conservatory and her OH has offered to lay it for me in mine... BUT... my conservatory is south facing and is an absolute hothouse in the Summer, so I'm worried it will warp. Fading is not an issue because I've got blinds in there which I can pull down when I'm at work.

 

Any suggestions out there? The conservatory is quite big.... 4m x 4.5m....

 

:|

[ukaviator]

The laminate floor will have to be laid properly ensure that you have spacers against any walls allowing the laminate a gap for expansion, also you will need a membrane underneath. I recently had mine tiled, 8 sq m and it cost me £250 to lay including the cement and grout, the tiles were around £80 in a Topps Tiles sale. Easy to mop over as well.

[hilaryfrances]

I would suggest that you go for tiles if you can afford them. I have a small conservatory which we had tiled a couple of years ago, looks nice and easy to clean. Also helps keep it cool in summer

[PriorityOne]

Thanks people....

 

If I'm being honest, I prefer tiles.... there's a Topps Tiles near me, so I'll take a look when I get a chance. I like the natural stone tiles but they're around £10 for 5 in B&Q, which will cost a fortune before they're even down... B&Q have 15% off at the moment but I'm not ready to do it yet....

 

What kind of heating did you go for? Friends have been talking about underfloor heating but I have a free-standing electric heater which does a brilliant job, so am reluctant to fork out for this when I don't need to. It only gets really, really cold out there in winter anyway because the conservatory catches so much sun the rest of the time.

 

[ukaviator]

Underfloor heating will be expensive to run. I bought a Convection heater 2kw , cost is around £75. Comes with a thermostat / timer / anti frost protector as well. When you are in Topps Tiles check the discontinued line of tiles to grab a bargain, just make sure you have enough to finish the project.

[PriorityOne]

Underfloor heating will be expensive to run. I bought a Convection heater 2kw , cost is around £75. Comes with a thermostat / timer / anti frost protector as well. When you are in Topps Tiles check the discontinued line of tiles to grab a bargain, just make sure you have enough to finish the project.

 

Brilliant.... thanks! I'll stick with my convector heater, I think..... it was a freebie from work when we changed buildings and has 2 heat setting on there. It worked a treat over Christmas when it was mega-cold outiside...

 

I have a week off work soon, so will take a trip to Topps and have a good luck but if they don't have a sale on, I'm prepared to wait until they do.

 

[hilaryfrances]

yes it is worth waiting for a sale as it is a big investment, we have a radiator in our room so heating no problem. We found Topps tiles very helpful when we went last year. So much so I wrote to their MD to thank them as the rest of the tile shops we went in we were met by very indifferent bored staff.

[worryingmore]

I would go for tiles, it might cost more up front but it will last a lot longer than laminate flooring.

 

I have laminate in my hallway, had it layed less than two years ago, and it was expensive, think it was £400 and something and it's a small hall. I've got a little one and a dog and am forever cleaning it with a damp mop wrung out tightly. The joints in the laminate are starting to raise already, and as I said it wasn't cheap laminate at all and we had it professionally laid with underlay.

 

If your conservatory is used a lot and will need cleaning often, i would definately go for tiles, but tiles need to be properly laid, I had a bad experience with a suspended floor many years ago, and my tiles cracked really badly, it cost me a fortune to have the floor levelled afterwards. Concrete floors are best for tiles, otherwise it's throwing your money away.

 

If your budget won't stretch to tiles, have you thought about vinyl flooring, you can find some lovely vinyls now, it isn't what it used to be. I had some in my hallway at the flat we used to live in, and everyone commented on how nice it looked, it looked like laminate, but wasn't, fooled everyone

[PriorityOne]

Thanks for your input.... I will indeed go for tiles. I can't afford them just yet but I'm going to have a lookaround anyway.... there's a Topps Tiles very near to my home, which is handy....

 

I agree with you about the constant mopping of laminate flooring, which is something I don't really want to be doing..... especially in Summer when people come in and out from the garden. A couple of friends have some lovely tiled floors and they last for years, if not forever! I certainly don't want to be replacing the floor once it's down, so tiles seem to be the best option. I did consider vinyls but think tiles will be more practical in the long term.

 

So sorry you've had a bad experience with laminate.... it must be gutting after forking out so much...

[worryingmore]

I don't know whereabouts you live, but if you're anywhere near stoke-on-trent there's a factory shop where they sell tiles and anything else you'll need like adhesive and grout etc. They have quite a good selection of floor and wall tiles, my mum had her kitchen and bathroom tiles from there and there was plenty to chose from, & very cheap.

[PriorityOne]

Sadly no... I'm nowhere near that area but thank you for the heads up.....

[Vintage123]

Hiya!

 

I noticed when I received my recent clubcard vouchers they was some offer on that you could use your vouchers at Topps Tiles. I'm sure it was for more than the price of the voucher..... as they do sometimes. So if you do the points then it might be worth holding onto your Tesco vouchers. The offer is until June time. Another batch of vouchers are due out just before June.

[PriorityOne]

Hiya!

 

I noticed when I received my recent clubcard vouchers they was some offer on that you could use your vouchers at Topps Tiles. I'm sure it was for more than the price of the voucher..... as they do sometimes. So if you do the points then it might be worth holding onto your Tesco vouchers. The offer is until June time. Another batch of vouchers are due out just before June.

 

Yep... you're right!! £5 converts into £15 at Topps Tiles.... I just need to register them or something.

 

Thanks for that info!! :-)

[curly bob]

Hi P 1

 

if you can go for the tiles we have laminate in ours and its lifted after 12months , I will be putting tiles down in the summer , I always advise customers to go to tops tiles as the range and quality carnt be beeten and the prices are better than I can get from my trade suppliers even with my discounts , as for heating stick with what youve got last week I had to take up half a tiled floor just to fix a problem with an underfloor heating system that had only been down 6 weeks !!!! hope you go in ok

CB

[PriorityOne]

OMG.... that's terrible!!

 

I've never had a wander around Topps Tiles, so will go for a browse this week, I think. Once you've put your floor down, you don't bl**dy want to have to take it up again.... horrendous!! I had similar thoughts re. underfloor heating, to be honest and would hate that to be the reason for tiles coming up. It's just not worth it, I agree.

 

[curly bob]

Yes thats what I thought the poor lady had spent a fortune on the tilling but had gone for a cheap underfloor system underfloor heating is great, cheap to run and efficent but only with the top of the range systems that can cost ££££s the cheap systems all ways seem to cause problems ,

Have a good look at the tiles and I hope you find as I do the staff are very good and helpfull this makes a lovely change in this day and age.

[PriorityOne]

Yes thats what I thought the poor lady had spent a fortune on the tilling but had gone for a cheap underfloor system underfloor heating is great, cheap to run and efficent but only with the top of the range systems that can cost ££££s the cheap systems all ways seem to cause problems ,

Have a good look at the tiles and I hope you find as I do the staff are very good and helpfull this makes a lovely change in this day and age.

 

I took a detour to Topps Tiles this afternoon and managed to narrow my choice dowm to 2 styles; which is amazing for me.... AND the one I liked best was the cheapest. RESULT... lol!

 

Anyway, I decided to buy a couple to see what they looked like at home and am quite pleased. The guy in the shop was really helpful and I also came out with a free brochure and dvd to show me how to do it.... not that I was intending to do it myself.... but I might just challenge myself, we'll see.... I won't be ready before Easter anyway, so there's plenty of time to mull it over.

 

The tiles were only £1.29 each, so it'll cost between £200-300 (in tiles) to do the conservatory (4m x 4.5m). Does that sound ok, do you think?

 

[curly bob]

Ha result price sounds great , glad they were helpfull they say putting tiles down is an art some people take to it straight away , not Me though I tried it a couple of times and when i'd finished it looked like some kids had made a game of hopscotch on the floor lol I get a retired builder to do mine now, but you may just find a talent you did'nt know you had

hope you go on ok have a night on the tiles

[curly bob]

Opps forgot to add , before you make the final decision make sure you tell them in the shop that they are for a conservatory , and the type of traffic they will be getting on them ie muddy feet etc and ask if they advise that they be sealed and if so what would they recomend,and how often( my kitchen tiles have to be resealed every couple of years with a wipe on solution easy job ) this will keep the tiles looking good for years

[PriorityOne]

Opps forgot to add , before you make the final decision make sure you tell them in the shop that they are for a conservatory , and the type of traffic they will be getting on them ie muddy feet etc and ask if they advise that they be sealed and if so what would they recomend,and how often( my kitchen tiles have to be resealed every couple of years with a wipe on solution easy job ) this will keep the tiles looking good for years

 

The guy in the shop told me that without asking.... how impressive was that?.... lol

 

He said that my tiles would not need to be sealed at all and were suited to being in a conservatory.... which sounded good. I'm (almost) sure he said they were porcelain and that was the reason why but can't remember with absolute certainty. He also said they would not scratch, which was one of my questions because of the furniture in there. I'm not sure if I would need to put something on there anyway to keep them looking nice but am prepared to do it 'coz I don't want to be doing the whole thing again if they were to get ruined.

 

[HSBCrusher]

laminate can scratch easily... if someone comes in with a stone caught in a shoe and scratches it, its ruined.

 

I dont like laminate, IMHO tiles or solid are much better (solid isnt as expensive as you think it might be- especially if you get the faced plywood stuff, but of course its more than laminate)

 

on top of that, wood is warm to the touch

[PriorityOne]

laminate can scratch easily... if someone comes in with a stone caught in a shoe and scratches it, its ruined.

 

I dont like laminate, IMHO tiles or solid are much better (solid isnt as expensive as you think it might be- especially if you get the faced plywood stuff, but of course its more than laminate)

 

on top of that, wood is warm to the touch

 

Hi Crusher....

 

Scratches would be a major concern for me.... the warmth of the floor less so because the conservatory is south-facing and heats up through the glass from Springtime onwards. Topps had a range of different floorings but I'm still going for tiles because of the practicality of them.... still just amazed I managed to round the choice down to 2 types so quickly, to be honest!! lol

 

[Ell-enn]

Sounds great PO re underfloor heating - I had it laid under the floor tiles in my bathroom and it's utter heaven to walk on especially on winter mornings, so I decided to have it under the tiles in my conservatory and to be honest I very, very rarely switch it on. The radiator in there heats everything up fine, so I think you'd be wasting your time to have it if your conservatory is normally warm anyway.

[PriorityOne]

Sounds great PO re underfloor heating - I had it laid under the floor tiles in my bathroom and it's utter heaven to walk on especially on winter mornings, so I decided to have it under the tiles in my conservatory and to be honest I very, very rarely switch it on. The radiator in there heats everything up fine, so I think you'd be wasting your time to have it if your conservatory is normally warm anyway.

 

Yes, I agree....

 

A friend of mine kept saying that she regretted not having underfloor heating but her conservatory is in the shade, so I can undertand why. Mine's like an oven though.... so I only need think about the cold months and to be honest, my free-standing convector heater worked a treat over Christmas..... we even had to turn it off for while.

 

I also don't like the idea of having to pull up tiles if it breaks down, as was mentioned earlier on.... so will give it a miss....

[caro]

I'd go for tiles. Longer lasting if you get muddy footprints and need to wipe over much - or is that just me with the pooch - oh and my OH?