Loose lay vinyl planks

Does anyone regret laying loose lay vinyl planks? We have 4 young children and are planning on laying the vinyl planking in the living, dining and kitchen area.

Timber is out of our price range and I don't really like the idea of tiles and grout and how hard and cold they are.

We are getting vinyl planking installed. From what the shop told me they don't just lay the stuff that is labelled loose lay planks, they also use adhesive on it the same as they do any type of vinyl plank.

Where are you building? 11 mm laminated flooring would perfect. I have it in my house from last 7 years. No problem at all. I have two rascals at home as well

In our current home we have the cheap Bunnings vinyl planks (which come with a sticky adhesive backing - basically they go down like a giant sticker!) They have held up exceptionally well, look great and we are always getting asked if it's real wood. We put the vinyl in as we love the look of wood but it wasn't in our price range, plus it's so durable with dogs, cats and nieces (no kids of our own just yet.) The only place the vinyl has worn is under the dining room chairs so get some felt pads to stick to the bottom of the chair legs.

What colour have you chosen Zoe?



We are building in Toowoomba Qld. Speaking to Andersons they recommended the highest quality which I have no idea what mm it is! Have you got any wear and tear in 7 years?


I'm surprised the chair legs have worn the vinyl. Is that dragging the chairs? Do you have a darker vinyl? I'm wondering which colour will show more wear.

It is just from dragging the chairs but the felt pads definitely help. We have a mid-colour vinyl and you can see where it's worn but it is very subtle still. The other thing is that the textured vinyl will hold up better (and hide scratches, marks, etc.) more than the super smooth vinyl or vinyl with a very flat look.

This is a very similar product and colour to what we have: https://www.bunnings.com.au/senso-3-3sq ... 4_p6600068

The other good thing about the vinyl plank system - if one plank gets damaged, simply rip it up and replace it. Takes 5 minutes.

We have gone for Karndean rose washed oak

We're getting Karndean Opus Atra in our new place - can't wait to see it go down!!

We've got vinyl everywhere except the bathroom and laundry/mudroom (kind of wishing we had it there too. Only been living in the house a few weeks, but proving so far to be easy to clean with 4 dogs, 2 cats and a toddler

Hi All

Has anyone finished their research on the Vinyl planks?
I am in sydney and presently trying to finalize which flooring to use.
I have my heart set on the Karndean loose lay long boards.
love the look. just worried on the price and installation cost.
can anyone share who they going to use to do the installation and some costing indications.
happy to received a PM

thanks in advance

Our karndean planks are being installed in a week and a half. Gone for rose washed oak, through flooring xtra

Our Karndean got installed on Saturday!!! I love how it looks (pic was taken through glass so not the best image.)



We had all our flooring installed via our builder - the Karndean portion was expensive. I won't lie, it was just under $10k. You can see my thread for the floorplan (the vinyl is clearly marked on it.) It was a teensy bit cheaper to do it independent of our builder after handover but we thought we'd rather pay that little bit extra (we're talking a few hundred dollars here) to get everything done at once - that way if the flooring contractor scuffed walls (which he did) it's all covered under the builders insurance and any faults/problems get fixed without us having to pay extra or do anything ourselves.

That looks gorgeous!!

Yes o asked for a quote from my builder but they don't do vinyl anymore. I dont believe they will let me free issue so that they can fit it.

Just checked out carpet court and they are charging $100/sqm supply and laid bit not including what ever floor prep that may or may not be required

Does that sound about right?

I've just done a rough calculation and I estimate we spent about $80/sqm on the Karndean (including floor prep, although our slab was so smooth I don't think much prep was needed.) The Karndean we chose was from the Opus range (915 x 152 mm) so not sure if that alters the price - the planks are still loose lay planks stuck down with a specific kind of adhesive.

Yep ours is approx the same cost as SallyS. I'd definitely be looking for other quotes w1ck3d homes

Thanks for the replies. I am checking out flooring extra maybe tomorrow and see what kinda price they can offer. If i can get it down to around 80 incld laying i would be satisfied. Its comparable to $40 tiles with $30-40 tiling cost.

How did you go w2ck3d?

Sally S did your flooring company deliver the planks early and leave them in the property for a while to acclimatise? I've heard they do this like they do with wood

ZoePerth Nope - flooring guy just rocked up and installed them.

Thanks SallyS!

I didnt get a chance to go yesterday. Got busy.

I have come across post and youtube saying you should leave it for a couple of days in one of the room to acclimatise. I might check the karndean website to see if its true for their products to. It might just be old pratice from timber flooring days