Which flooring? Tiles, vinyl, or parquet? Tips?

Hello,

we first need to deal with floors in our lives.

The house, a two-family house, is from 1960, and the floors are all not really even. Currently, we have laminate and carpet. Apparently, there is something underneath in every room that looks like a thick, hard PVC. We cannot look at it right now without tearing something up, so we cannot check exactly what it is. In any case, we know that this was probably installed so that the floor does not have to be repaired.

I suspect that tiles are only an option if we repair the floor. Tiles are only in the bathrooms. The kitchens last had PVC.

I actually wanted tiles in the living room, hallway, kitchen, and bathroom. Now we have been shown vinyl, which we did not know before. (You probably notice, we are completely at the beginning with this whole topic).

Does anyone have experience with vinyl?
Can anyone name the advantages and disadvantages of vinyl and tiles?

We are so undecided and are glad about every thought, opinion, and brainstorming.

We were told that vinyl is even great in the kitchen and bathroom. I can hardly imagine that for the bathroom, maybe the kitchen. The PVC in the kitchen is okay, but somehow I find tiles more comfortable in comparison, especially for cleaning. I have concerns that vinyl is similar to PVC.

We would actually like to cover the living room, kitchen, and hallway with the same flooring because all three flow into each other and would simply look more harmonious.

I do not want laminate. We had laminate installed 1 1/2 years ago as part of an insurance claim. Our children were both under 2 at the time, so we clean the floor in the dining area 1-3 times daily, and the laminate is already coming up a bit. Absolutely not nice.

I would be very happy about suggestions and tips.

Vinyl is great. Much more comfortable for walking/standing because it's not so hard, not cold on the feet (unlike tiles), mopping works great and if it is glued down, even a spilled bucket of cleaning water doesn’t cause problems, which can be really bad with parquet/laminate. Mopping also works better than on tiles, since there are no grout lines. Oh, and I'm biased, I hate tiles; we only have them in the bathroom, everywhere else vinyl.

First of all, it is of course important what kind of substrate you have. If the lower layer looks like PVC, then it might be these asbestos boards. You have to check that before messing around with it. With tile installation, they should be removed. Also with other types of adhesive -> removed. However, you cannot just tear them off like that, because the fibers of the asbestos are very dangerous for the respiratory tract. Regardless, you have to see what is underneath. I guess wood?! The substrate must be load-bearing, that means: stable. Then possibly leveling compound and then flexible adhesive for tiles. It’s best to take a look at the individual surfaces in the specialist stores. Is it your property we are talking about?

We have tiles on the ground floor and vinyl (glued) on the upper floor. I love our tiles and am just about managing with the vinyl. I find the tiles much easier to keep clean and vinyl feels cheap to me, and I'm always afraid of breaking something if something falls or so. By the way, it was not cheap vinyl. However, of course, we have underfloor heating in the new building, which makes the tiles feel very comfortable. Where there is no underfloor heating underneath (e.g., shower in the guest bathroom), the tiles are quite cold. I could definitely never imagine vinyl in the kitchen or bathroom. For me, it feels only marginally better than PVC, and that says it all.

We have decided on vinyl (or bio flooring without plasticizers, etc.). Especially because of the impact resistance – we currently see toddlers and toys on parquet, and what that leads to. We also had similar concerns with tiles. Warmth, reduced noise, and more comfortable walking then solidified the decision.

With us, all "wet rooms" and the entrance area receive tiles, the rest of the house gets parquet.

Even though vinyl is better than one might think, it still feels too much like plastic to me. It simply can't compare to real wood…