Home DIY

Dalsouple do a genuine rubber tile, will last forever but needs some cleaning/maintenance. Amtico are a classic hardwearing tile, you see it in places like the natural history museum. Very nice and they now have an extensive range of styles. I fitted one with matching grout strips and it looked lovely. Cork is a great option but hard to get past the girls.

Otherwise so many new companies have entered the market with wood effect tiles and the quality is superb but expect to be paying around £4o psqm excluding labour once you factor in the prep and glue, could easily be more for the highest quality. I've also fitted tiles purchased from eBay at £9 psqm that looked fine when they went in, not sure how long they lasted though.

You need to lay a thin ply cover on your existing sub-floor and the quality adhesive is expensive.

Luckily my kitchen is tiny!
Thanks all for the suggestions.

It's always a bonus when you're looking at small spaces, you could get something really nice and not spend a fortune.

That's the ticket!

Any view on Concreate?

Not come across it before. I'd guess it's going to be at the more expensive end of the market. They require a structurally stable underfloor which most victorian floors on joists are not, so possibly they would crack if they're on suspended floors.

It looks like a way to get polished concrete into buildings that are finished or occupied where the process of polishing concrete would create too much dust.

The bathroom in a hotel that I stayed in recently had the appearance of floor to ceiling polished concrete but on closer inspection was some kind of resin finish (I think). It appeared to be seamless so I assume it had been poured/spread rather than laid.

Not sure exactly what it was but I thought it looked great.

It is pricey as @airhead said but as you've got a small room, it should be cost effective.

It's warmer than actual wood, less hollow sounding, waterproof and almost completely scratch proof. We've got it down in our kitchen and will be laying it bathroom and hallway later in the year...

We are looking at flooring options now for our place... I need to do kitchen, utility, store room, cloackroom, hallway, 2 x en-suites and bathroom, so all in around 100m2.

Did you look at any other options to Karndean? Like Amtico? At best I am looking at £3k just for the tiles at the moment!

Cheers. Have you tried it on a non-ground floor (we are a second floor Victorian flat)?

I ask because we've had loads of problems with tiled floors lifting, but I assume with something a bit flexible that's not an issue?

Looked at Amtico too but parents had Karndean installed for 10 years without issue so went with a known quantity for us.

Fair enough. Have some samples on the way, guess if it is going to last 10+ years then worth biting the bullet.

I haven't but it is installed on 1930s timber joists.

I think @Airhead said, you'll need to install a ply floor above what's already there. Or, like us, remove the existing floorboards and lay a chipboard floor straight onto the joists.

The glue should allow for some movement just fine.

With vinyl floor tiles the movement isn't a problem as they're flexible. I do usually replace the floorboards with some kind of sheet material unless it really won't make any difference, like a small floor with very little movement in it. I'm not sure the adhesive allows for much movement but it's fine as long as the tile flexes.

Thank!

Boilers. Is mine fucked?

It's a Worcester 28i combi. Came with the house etc. Had a plumber look at it when we were doing the kitchen last summer and he said keep it, it'll last forever. It's now developed a leak. Taken the cover off and water is pooling at the bottom of the main 'bit' - rust around the edges. One drip every 7 or 8 seconds, probably a litre a day. Was hoping it was just a washer or something but this looks more permanent. Thoughts? Anything I can test/try myself before calling a money-vaccuum plumber

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Polished plaster? Seen it on retail jobs - https://armourcoat.com/en/products/polished-plaster

Photo story time! It's no Diable's flat, but it was difficult, time-consuming and I am very pleased with the result and want to show off.

When we bought this house we decided to replace the knackered stripwood flooring with decent quality reclaimed pine. Late in the day we decided that despite its humble origins as a stable building we were going to put Victorian style tiles in the entrance hall. We ordered tiles from London Mosaic, but as our builders were a bit crap we decided to fire them and do this job ourselves.

For 6 months this plastic sheet has been our hallway floor.

covering this unpromising floor of half concrete half rickety floorboards. Bonus action shot of me removing some to clear the crap from underneath and screw them down:

Then after attacking the concrete with an angle grinder and some self levelling, and removing the skirting boards:

I could fix this OSB down to give me a) the right height, and b) a stable level base:

The tiles come prearranged on sticky sheets which make laying out the pattern easier, but some were in the wrong place:

But it all came together. First the field:


and then the border. The black ones were full size and needed cutting to size with an angle grinder. The border tiles were the only ones which needed spacing (1mm) - the field was done by eye.

Time to rip that plastic off and grout:

Then cut new skirting boards:

And finished!

Turn it off.

Don't use it until it's been checked by a gas safe registered engineer (not a plumber). You can check on the gas safe register for local engineers.

The case has corroded and products of combustion may now be entering the room.

Flickr doesn't make it easy. Sorted now.

Proper job.

Looks great!

We used Quick Step Balance Click in our bathroom. Was I think about £60 a pack, which is about 2 square metres, plus a thin spongy underlay which we have loads left over of.

Quite pleased with the result - they also do the glue down plank type stuff, but the click one just seemed less faff.

Coupled with some Mapei stuff elsewhere and we're pretty much covered for cycling sponsorship.

By 'products of combustion' what do you mean?

Hahaha, having Mapei flooring would be pretty cool, I can feel like Museeuw climbing the Kapelmur when I make a cup of tea in the morning.

Thanks for the suggestions.