New Kitchen Floor

We had Karndean vinyl tiles in the kitchen of our last house. They seemed very hard wearing, and easy to keep clean, very similar to Amtico I think. I'd definitely recommend them.

I have Polyflor, which is very safe even when wet. Do not know if you can get it in France, though. Kids can't slide on it, though. Used it in a guest house and cafe kitchen, and it's very hard wearing.

Would it not be worth finding a recommended floor specialist to 're lay' your parquet flooring, sand down and seal. Our wooden floor is,oiled as opposed to varnishing. It will never look as immaculate as a tiled floor but to me, that's the beauty and character of a wooden floor.

We only had tiled floors whilst living in France so didn't have to find a floor specialist therefore, unfortunately, I can't recommend any company.

Possibly asking in interior design shops for recommendations re flooring suppliers and floor specialists? Anything helpful on Google?

Please ignore my previous post Mamie. Your floor doesn't need re laying phew!

I would still,ask in interior Design Shops for recommendations plus I remember now M. Bricolage have floor sanders for hire as do another company called Loca Ser. Might be worth trying the AngloInfo site too.
Good luck with your search.

Thanks all. Will have a look at Polyflor and Karndean, we can always bring it back from England in the car.
Agus, it is almost impossible to find anyone who will come out and do anything out here in the countryside now. When we first came there were people who would do jobs like that, but it has got harder and harder to find them. We have oiled wooden floors in the rest of the house, but our kitchen takes a lot of punishment and the floor never looks good, even after three washes.

Mr Bricolage don't have sanders here (there was a place in Caen, but they no longer do it). Loca ser sounds Spanish? Also can't think of an interior design shop. Maybe it is just a problem in Normandy? As the man from Orange said, "mais vous etês en campagne. Gallic Shrug.

Mamie

I'm surprised you can't source the hiring of a sander. Not even through ex-pat community

Think I'd continue to try to source that, and then oil.

I have tried ffinocchio. [blue] even on that ex-pat forum. Not much of an ex-pat community left round here now (certainly not capable of wielding a sander). I have been into all the DiY stores, tried the carpet and flooring shops and searched the internet. Rien.

Maisie' it didn't make any difference to the fact we lived out in the sticks, Var Region, although it was a problem sometimes when deliveries couldn't find our house.

I had a quick google 'floor sanders in France' and there are a few ex pats also looking for floor sanders and recommendations where to source them.

My wooden floor is also in the kitchen, lots of heavy traffic and a through route to the garden. Maybe the fact it is oiled is why, I think, it is still,presentable but will never look immaculate.

I would advise the same as ffin

Sorry [blue] should be

We have a Karndean kitchen floor; it's great!

We had vusta laid- same quality as karndean but 1/3 cheaper...

Do a Google for

Location de ponceuse pour parquet- I got the www.leroymerlin.fr
site with a video all about the ponceuse rental, etc.

I would stick to the parquet personally. Surely with the price of good quality floor covering, even getting a professional to do it and seal ti properly would be cheaper?

Mamie not sure where in France you live but we have hire shops in Normandie where our home is, although whether they have sanders I do not know. However when DH investigated the shop he said they were unbelievably expensive and it would probably be cheaper to buy the equipment than hire it.

We have wood floors in England and we got a contractor in to sand and reseal them to our specification. Our kitchen had a corridor through it to the garden and the original finish was failing under heavy use. Our contractor put a heavy duty sealer on the re-sanded floor and that has stayed perfect for over 5 years.

We have been to Leroy Merlin this morning and talked to someone about vinyl tiles. I think we will probably go with the high-quality, extra-durable, easy-clean vinyl tiles that they have there. Cost will be about 350-400€ and we can lay it all ourselves.
We would find the sanding difficult, the hire is expensive and would involve a 100km round trip. We would struggle to find anyone to do it for us and I don't think it would cost any less when you add it all up. Will probably wait for the sales though.
I just don't want to have to spend hours washing the floor like I do now.
Maybe we have stickier mud up here?

Mamie, good luck, we love Leroy Merlin, although as our nearest branch is 50 miles away in Caen we do not go there often. We have promised ourselves a trip there in the near future to buy a new door and frame for our kitchen and a wash basin for the cloakroom, the local selection is limited.

We had decided to buy carpet for our new bedroom in France, the room is very large and we thought getting it laid professionally would be a bonus, but have just discovered that the British pattern of laying a good underlay and carpet on top is just that British, French custom is just to glue the carpet to the floor. As the floor boards in the bedrooms are the ceiling in the room below we want the underlay for sound and heat insulation. so have decided that we will be lugging carpet and underlay from England to France but have decided to cut the carpet in half and lay it bit by bit.

Flickety, Caen is our nearest too (50km). Perhaps we have passed in the aisles? There is also a very good new Castorama just by Ikea now. They even opened one Sunday in April!
We have just put carpet down in one of the bedrooms. We bought it off the roll here and it was a very reasonable price. The underlay and gripper rods came from England, though!

FlicketyB

Mamie I will listen for English voices next time I am there.

Time was, you wouldn't have to wait long to hear them. Now, quite an endangered species!