Which floors are suitable for single-family homes? What does the home-building elite recommend?

Good day everyone,

slowly but surely we are also starting to think about the floors in our planned single-family house and so far we are still completely undecided.

We have a living-dining area with an open kitchen. We think that a seamless floor transition looks nicer than a separation between the kitchen and living/dining area. For this reason, it should be a uniform floor covering.

Now the question: vinyl or tiles? We have already read about the pros and cons, but maybe we can get some tips/tricks here from firsthand experience that put the possible disadvantages in a "better light"?

1. Question: Can vinyl really be used without concern in the kitchen? Is vinyl really completely waterproof? How does vinyl flooring behave if a knife slips out of my hand and falls to the floor? Do I get immediate dents? Are there also vinyl floors that are significantly more resistant?

2. Question: How does vinyl behave with respect to sunlight? Since we also have several glass fronts in our living-dining area, the floor "actually" is out for us... Does vinyl really deform here? Is it really true that vinyl (like parquet) fades extremely?

3. Question: Is vinyl actually only usable for 10-20 years? What happens after that? Do I have to replace the vinyl necessarily or can it be "refurbished"?

--> We are considering simply tiling the entire area because then we are "done," have a robust floor that perfectly harmonizes with the underfloor heating, is simple and totally resistant to sun/stains/impacts. We basically tell ourselves that here you can't really go wrong. However, I see the problem that the tiles will presumably be in place for a lifetime and I can/cannot want to replace them due to the high effort. I also see every dent that gets into a tile for life because I can't quickly repair it (of course, not with vinyl either, but I could replace the floor after 15-20 years). Another disadvantage is the cost. Since tiles are fundamentally more expensive and I also cannot lay the floor myself (I don't trust myself to do tiles, but I do with vinyl), we are considering what is best for us.

What do you put in your living/dining areas? What have you had good/bad experiences with?

Now to the upper rooms:

1 bedroom and 2 children's rooms: vinyl/parquet/cork/laminate?

We also know the pros and cons here. Parquet "actually" does not come into question for us because it is very expensive (is there good parquet for €30??). Opinions differ about vinyl... We also have clear concerns (especially in the children's room) regarding plastic flooring... Are they really completely harmless nowadays?? If I pay attention to this, can I safely choose vinyl in the children's room? Especially in the children's rooms, it should be "good and cheap"... Possibly cork could also be an option?? Laminate somehow is out for us because it is very loud and for us actually has no advantage over cork/vinyl.

Is parquet sensible in the bedroom? Nothing fades here, the parquet is durable and sunlight is low in the bedroom. Very durable and maybe makes the bedroom a "showpiece." What do you think?

We are open to any suggestions
Where did you buy your floors? At the hardware store? From a specialist dealer? Are there recommendations here as well? Also for manufacturers/models?

We ultimately decided on fully vinyl flooring for the living room with the open kitchen. From Vivafloors, in the fully glued version. You can probably wipe it wet without any worries. I would rather not use click vinyl there. If a sharp knife falls exactly on the tip, you probably get a dent in it. Overall, vinyl floors do scratch, they are all the same in that regard, and so do parquet and laminate as far as I know. The only solution is to not bring anything abrasive into the house (sand, little stones in shoes, etc.). The downside of tiles is that they can break if a really heavy pot falls on them or something like that. But seriously: How often does that happen? A tile has never broken in my kitchen. But I have also never dropped a knife so that it landed on the tip. You can break anything if you are unlucky.

We decided against tiles because we simply don’t find them cozy enough visually in the living area. However, they are ideal for underfloor heating if you can live with the look. We tiled the hallway, utility room, and bathrooms. For the rest of the house, we chose fully glued vinyl overall. Because it probably works a bit better with underfloor heating compared to laminate. Wood was too expensive for us. It looks nice but needs maintenance and is also susceptible to damage. I have been living for almost 10 years in a living room with parquet flooring from the 90s that was probably never sanded and which the previous tenants didn’t treat very carefully. There are gaps of 0.6 cm, water damage from leaky aquariums, lots and lots of scratches, and other dents and marks. That personally discouraged me from trying parquet.

Vinyl is the worst garbage you can install and my prediction is that it will be one of the biggest sins of the current construction era. Who wants to live and breathe on plastic flooring? We always talk about environmental protection and line our houses with the cheapest plastic. We have vinyl in the basement and I regret it. Better put something sensible in. Tiles are very cold, preferably parquet or cork or natural stone.

Vinyl is the worst garbage you can install and my prediction is that it will be one of the biggest sins of the current construction era. Who wants to live and breathe on plastic flooring? We always talk about environmental protection and line our houses with the cheapest plastic. We have vinyl in the basement and I regret it.

Better put in something sensible. Tiles are very cold, better parquet or cork or natural stone.

We really want a seamless transition from the living-dining area to the kitchen because we don’t like this "disjointed" look. If we don’t choose vinyl, then only tiles remain. Due to the underfloor heating, the tiles are very pleasantly warm on cold days and nice and cool in summer. I don’t think this is a disadvantage.

If I had the choice, I would choose wood-look tiles for the kitchen + living room. For the bedroom and children's rooms, either laminate or vinyl. But everything unified, as long as the rooms are on the same floor.

I wouldn't choose a too expensive floor for the children's rooms. You only regret it later if something goes wrong.

We decided on click vinyl. Previously, we had quite good laminate. It still looked like new after 6 years but was rather cold and loud.

Visually, we really like the vinyl floor, but yes, it's just plastic. Click parquet was out of the question. We once had that in a rental apartment and you could see every scratch immediately. Maybe the quality wasn't that good, but in my opinion, something like that is not suitable for the children's room.

If I had the choice, I would choose wood-look tiles for the kitchen + living room. For the bedroom and children's rooms either laminate or vinyl. But everything uniform, as long as the rooms are on the same floor. I wouldn't choose a too expensive floor for the children's rooms. You just get annoyed later if something goes wrong. We decided on click vinyl. Before that, we had pretty good laminate. It still looked like new after 6 years, but it was quite cold and loud. Visually, we like the vinyl floor very much, but yes, it is just plastic. Click parquet was not an option. We once had that in a rental apartment and you could see every scratch immediately. Maybe the quality wasn't so good, but in my opinion, you can't use something like that in the children's room.

We are exactly of the same opinion! Vinyl in wood look / possibly also light gray, there are already great options—that would definitely be very good for our living/dining/kitchen area. Yes, that's the question... Basically, I don't see why I should spend a fortune for floors in the children's rooms that will look awful anyway after a few years. So for me, it would clearly be: vinyl... it's just the question regarding health hazards... That's why cork came into play... very quiet, natural product, affordable... What do you have in your bedroom?