Karndean Looselay Plank

Ynnie · Nov 30, 2017 9:17 am

Looking for first hand feedback, reviews and photos of houses with Karndean Looselay plank. we have our colour selection next week and still undecided on the flooring. Thanks.

GaryE · Nov 30, 2017 6:44 pm

Hey again, Ynnie
Karndean are the most widely respected and well-known vinyl plank on the market in Australia. They are more expensive than others, but there's a reason for that. Most installers prefer laying them, due to their quality and range.
I would recommend them without reservation.

Ynnie · Nov 30, 2017 6:50 pm

thanks again Gary!

mj-mac4 · Nov 30, 2017 7:53 pm

A friend of ours had kardean installed couldn’t fault the product, they look amazing!

Ynnie · Nov 30, 2017 8:09 pm

mj-mac4

A friend of ours had kardean installed couldn’t fault the product, they look amazing!

Thanks!

Ynnie · Nov 30, 2017 8:21 pm

Thank you all.. I'm just a bit concerned about some of the cons I've read in the web... especially this: https://www.thespruce.com/pros-and-cons ... ng-4121078. This is about the Vinyl Sheet but aren't they the same material used in Vinyl looselay planks? Will go to Karndean showroom this weekend to have a feel of the plank.

Volatile Organic Chemicals (VOCs). The chemicals used in the manufacture of vinyl flooring can cause a toxic out-gassing to occur after the floor is installed. This can release volatile chemicals into a household, which may lead to respiratory problems, eye irritation, or asthma reactions. The level of outgassing in a vinyl floor will be related to its chemical makeup and the age of the floor, as most outgassing occurs early on.

GaryE · Nov 30, 2017 11:28 pm

Hi Ynnie,
LVT planks are very different in composition to sheet vinyl. I cannot fault the argument about the ecological impact of LVT; it's plastic, and plastic bad, plain fact. However, your plumbing is also plastic, in fact it's PVC the same as LVT's top layers.
The environmental side of things is totally up to you and and your budget. Aside from organic carpet, the only other amazingly environmentally friendly product out there is Marmoleum, which you can eat, not that I would recommend you do that. Both are horrendously expensive, so how much you care about the environment is up to you, really.
The outgassing mentioned is particular to sheet vinyl, and very noticeable in installation. I can assure you, LVT does not outgas at all, at least nothing you can smell. There are no disclaimers as to possible respiratory problems in their literature, and if there were the slightest possibility of it, you can bet your life they would cover themselves in the fine print.
The name vinyl planks may lead one to think the products are similar, but they are worlds apart.
Hope this helps.

algernon · Dec 01, 2017 8:47 am

We're doing a low-VOC build (we're really paranoid about VOCs and indoor air quality, not least because we have an asthmatic child with chemical sensitivities), and we've selected Karndean Longboard Looselay as our low-VOC flooring product (it's got a number of independent certifications to back that up, including FloorScore).

We were actually originally going to go with a different 'eco' brand on the assumption that Karndean was like most flooring companies and weren't low-VOC, but during our research we discovered that Karndean is one of the best flooring companies out there (and the best of the 'big names') with regards to low-VOC and indoor air quality ratings and certifications (GreenTag, GreenRate, FloorScore etc.) There are others out there too, but in our experience they were harder to find.

Pure marmoleum and fully organic carpet are probably the only things that might be better than a low-VOC looselay vinyl (and both of those options are expensive and have practical shortcomings). The vinyl is almost as good and much more practical.

One thing most people don't realise is that timber flooring contains VOCs, even when zero-VOC fixers are used (timber naturally contains formaldehyde) - low-VOC vinyl planks can have a lower VOC rating than natural timber.

Note with the vinyl it's not just about the product - you also have to make sure that the adhesives used to fix it to the floor are also low-VOC (again, Karndean does this, and I assume at least some others do as well).

Ynnie · Dec 01, 2017 9:52 am

algernon

We're doing a low-VOC build (we're really paranoid about VOCs and indoor air quality, not least because we have an asthmatic child with chemical sensitivities), and we've selected Karndean Longboard Looselay as our low-VOC flooring product (it's got a number of independent certifications to back that up, including FloorScore).

We were actually originally going to go with a different 'eco' brand on the assumption that Karndean was like most flooring companies and weren't low-VOC, but during our research we discovered that Karndean is one of the best flooring companies out there (and the best of the 'big names') with regards to low-VOC and indoor air quality ratings and certifications (GreenTag, GreenRate, FloorScore etc.) There are others out there too, but in our experience they were harder to find.

Pure marmoleum and fully organic carpet are probably the only things that might be better than a low-VOC looselay vinyl (and both of those options are expensive and have practical shortcomings). The vinyl is almost as good and much more practical.

One thing most people don't realise is that timber flooring contains VOCs, even when zero-VOC fixers are used (timber naturally contains formaldehyde) - low-VOC vinyl planks can have a lower VOC rating than natural timber.

Note with the vinyl it's not just about the product - you also have to make sure that the adhesives used to fix it to the floor are also low-VOC (again, Karndean does this, and I assume at least some others do as well).

Thanks! very informative. I'm concerned about VOC too because I have asthmatic kids.

Ynnie · Dec 01, 2017 9:54 am

GaryE

Hi Ynnie,
LVT planks are very different in composition to sheet vinyl. I cannot fault the argument about the ecological impact of LVT; it's plastic, and plastic bad, plain fact. However, your plumbing is also plastic, in fact it's PVC the same as LVT's top layers.
The environmental side of things is totally up to you and and your budget. Aside from organic carpet, the only other amazingly environmentally friendly product out there is Marmoleum, which you can eat, not that I would recommend you do that. Both are horrendously expensive, so how much you care about the environment is up to you, really.
The outgassing mentioned is particular to sheet vinyl, and very noticeable in installation. I can assure you, LVT does not outgas at all, at least nothing you can smell. There are no disclaimers as to possible respiratory problems in their literature, and if there were the slightest possibility of it, you can bet your life they would cover themselves in the fine print.
The name vinyl planks may lead one to think the products are similar, but they are worlds apart.
Hope this helps.

Thanks for the info Gary! My kids are asthmatic so the article alarmed me a bit.