Browse Forums Flooring & Floor Covering 1 Oct 01, 2014 6:49 pm Hi, I’m looking for resilient flooring to replace the old ceramic tiles in our house. I’m getting older, and I find ceramic tiles very hard on the legs. We live in Brisbane, so we’d like to be able to walk barefoot or in light socks on the floor in the summer. Ceramic tile is too hard on our legs for that. The story so far. I had first looked at Gerflor Texline Comfort. This is a 5mm luxury vinyl tile, with a thick felt backing. It is the only vinyl tile I have seen that focuses on comfort (resilience) in its advertising. Unfortunately, it wasn’t in a light wood color that we liked (such as oak or willow). We are seeking a lighter, brighter wood for a sunny house (lots of glass to let the sun in and connect us to the garden). The flooring sales specialist our interior designed uses suggested: Kenbrock Craftmaster (Marri color. http://kenbrockflooring.com.au/resident ... emium-tile ) on an Instalay underlay (by Instafloor). His reasoning was the tile would provide the color, and the underlay the resilience. However, the Instalay seems very thin to me, and its flyer focuses on the benefit of acoustic and thermal insulation. A Tarkett representative recommended Tarkett ID 50 Excellence click (http://professionals.tarkett.com.au/pro ... e-50-click) in classic oak color, for its outstanding wearability and its more realistic wood look. She said there was no way to get comfort (resilience) without a problem of indentations (such as from a kitchen table) from normal residential tile, and her view was that normal residential tile’s wood look was a bit phoney except for the ID 50 Excellence style. However, the flooring specialist said there was a risk of a “slappy” sound because the ID 50 was a floating floor with its 4 way click together system, which could lead to slapping sounds as the firm vinyl tile hit the ceramic tile underneath. The only other option was a sports tile, such as Tarket Omnisport in classic oak http://professionals.tarkett.com/content/omnisports. This tile is 5mm thick and designed to provide rebound (resilience) without indentation, plus excellent wearability. However, it seems a bit odd to put sports flooring in a house for an empty nest couple like us. All of them say I am odd to be concerned about resilience in flooring. They say their customers focus on wearability and price (and wood-look vinyl that costs half of what real wood flooring costs). They say this is why there is no easy solution. Ironically, comfort (resilience) is a selling point for carpets, but we’re told not to put carpets in the kitchen or meals room (the latter because the meal table has chairs that are constantly pushed in and out). Other brainstorming was to put any luxury vinyl tile on top of a rubber underlay, for the rubber underlay to provide the comfort. Another brainstorming idea was to give up on resilient vinyl flooring, and go for high quality look and durability—and use runner rugs for resilience in the walking paths in the house. Are there other modern vinyl flooring that delivers resilience (along the lines of Gerflor Texline Comfort)? There is Armstrong Cushionstep http://www.armstrong.com/flooring/vinyl ... n-step.asp and Congoleum Airstep http://www.congoleum.com/airstep_and_ultratec.php. Would Tarkett ID 50 Excellence click cause slappy sounds if on top of ceramic tile. Any comments or advice welcome!! Thanks. Frank Re: In search of resilient flooring 2Oct 02, 2014 11:55 am UPDATE Okay, spoke with a Tarkett Australia representative again, and they don't have Omnisport in stock here in Australia. (The small market problem--they custom order from Europe large lots such as for gymnasiums.) ANY COMMENTS ON THE TARKETT REPRESENTATIVE'S REASONING HERE She again recommends Tarkett ID 50 click as the best wood look, best wearing, and least expensive. It is a 4 way click lock floating vinyl plank. Lays directly on the old ceramic tile, no need to pull up the old ceramic tile. She says it is unlikely to have a slappy sound when walking, even on top of ceramic tile, because it is heavy, 5MM, and has a fiberglass layer. She says it is same as Tarkett Permastone, which is a highly rated vinyl (according to US Consumer Reports), but in a wood look and sold through Tarkett's commercial not residential arm. But I cannot find the US or European equivalent of Tarkett ID Excellence 50 click. Re: In search of resilient flooring 3Oct 02, 2014 8:32 pm I specialise in installing hardwood floors only and have stayed away from pre-finished floors of any type. However we owned a house in Queanbeyan which had a cork floor in the kitchen and I really liked it. It wasn't quite as cold as the rest of the house (hardwood ) but more importantly it had a certain comfort when walking on, which can't be said for tiles. And finally they seemed to wear remarkably well. So in summary have you thought of Cork as an option? What we have done in a few theatres ( including my own) is run 2 layers of 13mm gyprock, but sounds insulation especially for the bass is really tricky as a lot of that… 4 2696 1000000% definitely add insulation. I have in my home and it makes a big difference minimising sound transfer. Insulation is pretty cheap and definitely worth it 2 6450 Engineering timber is certainly a less fuss option, times cheaper to supply and install and better withstands humidity. 1 16265 |