Flooring

Doors2Floors began with doors and added floors because the two decisions are made at the same moment. A door is chosen against the floor it opens onto, and a floor is chosen against the doors and skirting around it. The flooring we stock today is Karndean luxury vinyl tile, 12 designs sold by the square metre from £14.00 to £55.00 per square metre.

Prices here are per square metre

Every floor on this page is priced per square metre rather than per pack or per plank. That is normal for luxury vinyl tile and it makes comparison straightforward, but it does mean you need your room measurement before the numbers mean anything. Measure length by width in metres for each room, add them together, then add 10 per cent for cuts and waste. A plain rectangular room can take 7 or 8 per cent. A room with a bay, a chimney breast and a diagonal or herringbone lay needs 12 to 15 per cent.

What we stock and why

All 12 floors here are Karndean luxury vinyl tile, in two ranges plus one standalone design.

Knight Tile is the everyday range, at £33.40 to £40.08 per square metre, covering stone and slate effects such as Dolomite, Rona, Onyx, Andecite, Soapstone and Midnight Black. Da Vinci sits above it from £50.06 per square metre, with the wood effects and softer colours including Rustic, Sepia, Azure, English Pewter and Alabaster. T82 Serpentine is the entry point at £14.00 per square metre. See Karndean Knight Tile, Karndean Da Vinci and the full Karndean range.

Why luxury vinyl tile rather than wood or laminate

The three common hard floor options each fail in a different place, and choosing well is mostly about knowing which failure you can live with.

Engineered wood is the real thing, with a genuine timber wear layer. It looks and feels best and can be sanded back once or twice, but it dents, it does not enjoy standing water and it moves with humidity. The oak engineered flooring guide covers it.

Laminate is a photograph of wood under a hard melamine layer. It is the cheapest and it is scratch resistant, but the joints swell if water sits on them and it sounds hollow underfoot. Common laminate laying mistakes covers where installations go wrong.

Luxury vinyl tile is a printed design layer under a clear wear layer on a flexible backing. It is fully water resistant, it is quieter and warmer underfoot than laminate, it is thin enough to go under a door without much trimming, and it works well over underfloor heating. It will not be sanded back and it is not real timber. For a kitchen, a bathroom, a utility room or a hallway that takes wet coats and dogs, it is usually the right answer. What is Karndean flooring explains the construction, and our flooring buying guide works through the whole decision.

Rooms and where each option belongs

Kitchens, utility rooms, cloakrooms and bathrooms want something waterproof, so vinyl tile or stone effect tile. Hallways want durability and something that hides grit, which favours a mid tone stone or wood effect rather than a very dark or very pale floor. Living rooms and bedrooms can take anything, and this is where engineered wood earns its price. Conservatories move more than any other room in a house because of temperature swing, and conservatory flooring options covers that specific problem.

Getting the floor and the doors to agree

This is the part most people get wrong, and it is the reason we sell both. A mid brown floor and a mid brown door fight each other, because two similar browns read as a mismatch rather than a match. Contrast works better than approximation. Pale floors carry oak, walnut and black doors equally well. Grey toned floors sit naturally under internal grey doors and white. Warm oak floors are the hardest to pair, and usually look best with painted doors from internal white primed doors rather than a second timber tone. The grey wood floors guide covers the most popular current combination.

The other practical point is height. A new floor build up raises the finished floor level, which means an existing door may need trimming at the bottom or, on a fire door, may not be trimmable at all. Check this before ordering, using the door size guide and how to measure a door.

Finishing at the edges

Whatever goes down, the perimeter decides how it looks. New skirting hides the expansion gap and a floor laid up to old, paint clogged skirting always looks retrofitted. Where the floor meets a doorway, door architraves and the lining need to sit cleanly on the new level.

Common questions

Is the price per square metre or per pack?

Per square metre, on every floor on this page.

How much extra should I order?

10 per cent for a normal room. More for diagonal or herringbone patterns and rooms with many cuts.

The full luxury vinyl range is in vinyl flooring.

Can luxury vinyl tile go over underfloor heating?

Yes, within the temperature limits the manufacturer sets. It is one of the better options for heated floors because it is thin and conducts well.

Does it need underlay?

It needs a flat, sound, dry subfloor above all else. Requirements vary by product and by whether the tiles are glued or click fitted, so check the individual product detail.

How is it cleaned?

Sweep or vacuum, then a damp mop with a pH neutral cleaner. No steam and nothing abrasive. See product care, and cleaning and maintaining parquet if you have real timber elsewhere.

Can I get a sample?

Ask us before ordering a whole room. Contact us and we will tell you what is available on each range.