To most people Karndean Flooring is this beautiful looking designer flooring and you would be right, however people also associate Karndean flooring as an individual type of flooring – this is definitely not the case!

Karndean is a brand name of the flooring product Luxury Vinyl Tiles, there are 100’s of brands out there selling luxury vinyl tiles, the well known brands such as Amtico, Polyflor, Marley, Project-Floors and obviously Karndean.

Karndean claim to be the manufacturer, however this is not the case as nearly all luxury vinyl tiles in the UK are manufactured in China, Taiwan etc. and are re-branded and brought into the UK. Therefore Karndean spend over £1 million each year on establishing their brand so that people become aware of the products they sell. So this is why Karndean is more expensive, as a lot of what you are paying for, is the brand awareness, which has been costed into the product.

If you are reading this article and are interested in buying Karndean, think again, here is a good tip for you, go to Google, or any other search engine facility and search for luxury vinyl tiles (LVT’s), you will find suppliers selling LVT’s very similar to Karndean for a fraction of the price. You can still create borders and features in these floors, the only difference is, you guessed it – the brand name. Like when you go to the supermarket and they have branded peas and unbranded peas, they both look the same when you take the packaging away and taste the same, because they are the same thing! this is the same with Karndean and LVT’s if you market it well and make it look nice it sells better – typical evaluation of marketing. However save yourself a small fortune and find an LVT with a cheaper price tag, odds are they are still top quality just cheaper due to the company selling them having a low marketing budget.

The quality of an LVT is measured in the wear layer, most have a wear layer of between 0.3mm and 0.7mm, the thicker the wear layer the better the quality, however a 0.3mm wear layer is a domestic wear layer and is suitable for all domestic areas, a 0.5mm wear layer and above can be used for commercial installations.

So now i have explained that Karndean is a luxury vinyl tile, lets discuss the possibilities and strengths of this type of flooring compared to alternative flooring products:

1. Durable – unlike ceramic tiles or solid wood, luxury vinyl tiles (LVT’s) will not split, chip, crack or splinter and will stand up to most things being dropped onto them. Most LVT’s come with gurantees between 8 and 20 years.

2 Realistic – they are designed to replicate natural products and are designed to a very high realistic standard.

3 Designer – luxury vinyl tiles (LVT’s) are one of the most bespoke, designer looking flooring available, using borders and strips you can create a floor that fits in perfectly with your interior needs.

4 Easily Maintained – cleaning LVT’s is very easy, unlike natural wood floors, you wont need to sand and seal every couple of years, instead you can just mop the floor with hot water and a splash of LVT routine cleaning solution.

5 Waterproof – To a certain degree luxury vinyl tiles can with stand water a lot better than a laminate or wooden floor can, it can be mopped and cleaned a lot easier.

6 Quiet and Warm Underfoot – unlike ceramic or stone tiles or laminate flooring, luxury vinyl tiles are quiet and warm underfoot.

These are just a few benefits of using luxury vinyl tiles opposed to natural flooring products. So when you hear about Karndean remember that it is an LVT and to always look for a luxury vinyl tile first so you can see the price comparison. Luxury vinyl tiles like Karndean are a great product to use as they have more benefits than any other type of floor covering, however for them to look good and perform how they should, you also need to prepare the floor as per the installation instructions given by the manufacturer. As a perfect sub floor is one of the most important aspects of the job.