Flooring. Laminate, engineered parquet, vinyl? Where is the best place to buy?

The price should be a maximum of 35 €/sqm and it should be installable by oneself. It should also match the solid walnut staircase.

35 € all inclusive? That will be tight together with a _good_ impact sound insulation and the baseboards. Our parquet (oak country house plank with 4 mm wear layer) ended up costing us about 40 € /sqm after several rounds of negotiation... Parquet, if it doesn’t have to be country house planks, can definitely be found for 28-30 €, then including impact sound insulation and baseboards you come to about 40 €.

Good laminate (should definitely have wear rating 32 or better 33) can be had for under 20 €. We pay 17 € for laminate in country house plank format and class 33.

To be honest, I haven’t seen any vinyl for under 50 €/sqm that didn’t look like plastic from 10 meters away. Our search concluded that vinyl we would like is significantly more expensive than parquet.

If you want to save money, I would limit the tiles in the basement and ground floor to the essentials. Even cheap tiles are more expensive together with installation than proper parquet (installed by yourself)!

We were facing similar considerations as you are now and ended up with the following setup: Basement: utility room and workshop: cheapest tiles, rest laminate Ground floor: hallway, kitchen and ground floor bathroom: tiles, rest parquet Upper floor: bathroom tiles, rest parquet.

Best regards,

Andreas

Our Parador 2030 cost 25€/m², including baseboards and additional impact sound insulation we stayed below 35€/m². And it also looks like wood, no one has recognized it at first glance so far. If you walk barefoot over it, of course you notice it, but it really holds up well.

With own work, cork (fully glued) could just about fit the price. Wonderfully soft and warm ...

We have thought a lot as well, but keep coming back to the following conclusion. Parquet is more expensive, at the same time more maintenance-intensive, less durable, and breaks faster. Compared to a good vinyl for 30 EUR - something like Krono Xonic. Advantage: It is parquet. So, not really an advantage. A perceived advantage. But practically, vinyl only has advantages. This decision is not final for us yet, but I don't see a "case" for parquet - at least not so far.

Parquet is more expensive, at the same time more maintenance-intensive, less durable and breaks faster

Wrong

something like Krono Xonic. Advantage: It is parquet.

Also wrong

So, not really an advantage. A perceived advantage. But practically vinyl only has advantages

A sentence one doesn't really have to understand?

We also thought a lot about it, but keep coming back to the following conclusion. Parquet is more expensive, at the same time more maintenance-intensive, less durable, and breaks faster

So if those are your final evaluation criteria, I have to ask what exactly you are looking for. Because the argument might be valid for a utility area, but certainly not for a living space!

What do you actually like?! Does that not matter at all?

By the way, I do not fully agree with the statements in terms of content, in my opinion.