It is not that rare, that you ask us about real live experience with vinyl flooring.
What is its quality and usability features – whether they are as easy to clean as advertised, what is a scratch resistance, acoustic properties and if overall they are as good as many producers are promising. We have asked our readers about their impressions with vinyl floors and received lots of valuable answers. The one that brought the most our attention came from Artur who have shared his insights about vinyl click flooring from Arbiton after two years of usage.
[Artur] I would like to share my opinion about vinyl panels from Arbiton that I’ve bought two years ago. It was a long decision making process with many obstacles and doubts on the way. I have faced lots of questions and dilemmas while finishing house with long hours spent on different forums looking for valuable clues. Every point of view was worth considering and if somebody can benefit from my review it is worth sharing.
Why I’ve chosen vinyl click flooring? Decision was based on the technological advantages of this category.
My approach was very methodical. I am engineer by profession and design enthusiast by heart. So both points of view was considered. More emphasised was technical parameters as you can guess. Vinyl floor was installed with water underfloor heating system so main parameter that was taken into consideration was thermal resistance factor. The lower value the better for efficiency of the system. Also large windows from sunny side of the apartment was the point against the laminate floor or the classic vinyl floor (the floor could not be flexible). I was looking for products from RIGID floors’ category, especially with mineral core as those products tend to be more dimensionally stable. So I could install one floor in whole 100 m2 level of the house. After more research in mineral floor decision was made and I’ve chose Arbiton floor. The additional proof was that this brand is available not only in Poland but also in many European countries and was the first that offered mineral floor in Poland. It was not the most obvious choice, but this brand gain my trust with its technical development and strict testing performed on the products. I strongly recommend to visit their YouTube channel.
They are positively crazy on technological improvement.
The look of vinyl flooring– this was something that my heart and my wife was the most interested with.
Main decision was made by my wife 😊 We were looking for the décor that would match black details and white natural furniture. Panama Oak was the one that we’ve chose. It attracted us with very light, yellowish hue with many contrasting rustical elements – knots and cracks. I have to admit that at the beginning I was a bit afraid if it would not be too much of dark elements, on too bright panels and that the scratches would be very visible. But once I saw it real live in the shop I was convinced. Especially looking on the full size board that is more than 1,5m long. It imitates the wood perfectly and we had no more doubts and bought this in trusted floor shop in Poznań – BelPol.
When it comes to installation I wanted to do it by myself, as engineered should 😊 But because of hectic time at work and new-born child I have decided to take the offer of recommended in store professional installer. It came also with some savings in taxes so at the end this was the most convenient choice.
Installation was done with professional underlayment also from Arbiton – Multiprotec LVT.
This is dedicated product for vinyl click flooring installed as floating floor. Heavy duty polyurethane with minerals matt with best in-class parameters for underfloor heating. There was many information on different forums about Multiprotec series as a best solutions for underfloor heating systems.
Installation itself went very smooth. 104 m2 took only 3 days. The team was very clean and the work they have done left the apartment unharmed as vinyl floor is really clean to fit. During installation there was pleasant surprise as the Arbiton flooring require only 5mm dilatation instead of regular 15-20 mm. This allowed us to pick thinner, more delicate skirting and created uniform surface and spacious interior.
For whole house we have installed the floor without dilatation between rooms. It required detailed planning of the boards. Precise cutting and connections was very neatly planned by installation team. Seeing final stage and beautiful effect I was glad we have professional team. I guess I would never be able to do this so perfectly by myself.
Ok, so the main point – living with vinyl click floor.
I was impressed how pleasant they are for barefoot walking. They have nice and warm feeling even without underfloor heating system turned on. This was perfect for our little crawling kid.
What was even more important is waterproofness of the Arbiton floor. Having a kid playing around it more than certain that some water, food, juice will eventually fall on the floor. Having this floor I stop worrying about stains or damages. Even when I put too much water into flowers I did not create any mark. We even had a major failure of the dishwasher and everything is still perfect.
Cleaning itself is piece of cake. We have autonomous vacuum so having one even surface is super convenient. After that just one round with wet mop and cleaning is done. Even men can do it 😊 I am not sure if this is thanks to floor itself or bright colour but there is no smudges.
And now the most important thing – are they really so indestructible and durable as advertised. We live with two kids and a dog to there is lots of different challenges for the floor.
So, are there any scratches?
Of course they are. I would be shocked if there was not. But they are small and not that much visible. The biggest scratch was made in bathroom when we installed wash machine. We have moved it without factory standoffs and scratch was done. It was partially our mistake but I do not want to even think what would have happened if we would have wooden floor installed. I guess even the blanket would prevent this from happening. Nevertheless you can see result in the picture. I have straight comparison in usage of vinyl floor without mineral core in the office and I could not be happier with my choice. Arbiton floor is superior that whatever is installed in the office.
For Arbiton panels remain flat and there was no gaps in locking system. Lock are still strong, but this was something to expect considering warranty conditions that producers provides and give 20 years of warranty.
This is our third apartment. First was with laminate flooring which turned our to be durable but very cold in touch and noisy. It was impossible to live with the dog as it was sliding on it like on ice. Second apartment was fitted with wooden parquet. Visually perfect, natural and prestigious but required renovation almost every year. For now I am very satisfied with Arbiton and how it performs and I hope this impression would stay for long time. It was good investments especially as I see that the bills for heating are lower – I do not know exactly what is the role of underlayment and floor but nevertheless it is nice to see.
Big thanks to Artur for his time and thorough review. We were amazed and we hope you are too. If you would like to ask some questions and get more information Artur invites for direct massaging on: Artur Wielgus, Artwielgus00@gmail.com
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