Hello everyone,
referring to the entry by Wolfgang 404 from 26.3.2020, I would like to create here my overall first (and probably also last) forum post.
This is especially with the background that I hope my experience helps someone.
Two years ago I renovated our house. Living room, hallway and kitchen: tiles out - Modular One Oak Spirit Natural Country House Plank in. Upstairs, 2 bedrooms have a 50-year-old oak parquet that was newly sanded and sealed. In the third bedroom there used to be a very cheap laminate and now laminate (Basic 200 - silk matte structure).
I always wanted a nice parquet, especially in the living areas/ground floor (this was one of the big wishes/dream ideas for our home), but I did not want to pay a fortune for it or, much more, not want to be annoyed after 10 years with kids because everything is messed up. Therefore, the relatively new Modular One floor back then was perfect for me: cheaper than parquet, look and feel already quite close to parquet and noticeably nicer than vinyl or laminate. After 10 years throw it out once and then have parquet laid. So much for the idea.
I bought the 80m² for the ground floor locally at the specialist/building materials dealer (official distributor) and laid it professionally myself. Everything according to instructions: checked the screed beforehand with the aluminum batten (always under 3mm/m by 3mm/m), swept and vacuumed several times, acclimatization period, cut outside, edge distances etc. etc.. Really more than meticulous. As recommended by the dealer with 0.2 mm foil. The result: visually and tactilely great, but when walking always an annoying sound resonance in terms of cracking/popping (foil and panels) (this also varies somewhat with the temperature, so whether the underfloor heating is currently on or not) and a "clack" at places where the floor has a slight hollow and then hits the screed. With shoes, you don't notice it that much, when walking with "heels"/normally it is terribly annoying. I repeat: The screed meets the standard conditions of max. 3mm/m. In the kitchen and hallway the screed is new and almost perfect, yet creaking, crackling and (in fewer places than on the old screed) a "clack" at the spots where the very stiff floor does not lie perfectly.
Off to the specialist dealer: "That is normal - just heat up a bit - it will settle". 6 weeks later, unchanged situation, after some conversations another employee told me that the floor should be laid with the original impact sound insulation (Akustik Protect 100) for a good result. So wrong advice in my opinion. Since the situation could definitely not remain like that, I took up the floor, put impact sound insulation underneath. The result is better - overall, however, it has only moved from insufficient to 4+. The manufacturer was always involved in the conversation and, despite detailed description of the situation and complaint on my part, only provided the planks that were damaged during removal. The entire work of removing and laying (for the second time), as well as the costs for the impact sound insulation (about 400€) were therefore borne by me. At the specialist dealer I was asked whether my aluminum batten was straight (we own 3 pieces) and that they had never heard of this etc.. Because of Corona, no one could come and check.
The floor has now been in place for 1.5 years. The situation with the additional impact sound insulation is better than before, but honestly not acceptable for a nice home. When someone walks through the hallway to the kitchen and back, you always hear at the same spots "creak, clack etc". Especially this "clacking" is extremely annoying. With the laminate it's the same.
Conclusion:
- Care is easy, visually and tactilely great – a real parquet (upstairs) is another league though.
- The floor would stay with me forever if it weren’t for the mentioned problems. I also found the principle of the flexibility of a floating floor very interesting back then. After 10 years you can say: well, now one day’s work and then you have instead of oak in the kitchen a cement-gray square panel or something like that.
- At the beginning I always thought: If you have a bad scratch or something in it, you just replace the one panel (until then remove or cut out). A specialist company can also do that with parquet. Also, a scratch/dent/crack on a parquet is color-matched (because it has a thick wood layer). With design floors, the very thin top layer comes off and you see this dark "pressed rubbish". But a real wood floor may have a scratch sometimes, "It has to live / that shapes character" say many who have parquet.
- If someone has luck with the floor and is satisfied – I’m really happy about that! I don’t want to speak badly of it, just want to share my experience. Since upstairs (especially now) I have the direct comparison to the parquet, I would finally never lay a floating floor again (not even in the children’s room – a friend of mine laid parquet planks floating in the living room, that is ten times worse than mine). My parquet lies partly in my old children’s room / now home office, is over 50 years old and looks like new after sanding (before sanding it also looked very good despite the age but sanding was advisable). In these 50 years the rooms served several times as kitchen / living room (rented and owner-used) and as children’s room – visually like new. Look in pubs or similar.. There parquet is treated very badly and still looks great sometimes after years.
- At about 35€/m² (including impact sound insulation), including my own labor and time for installation, parquet for (let’s say) 60-80€ (including installation by the specialist company) honestly does not seem that expensive anymore, e.g. for 100m² in the total volume of such a measure. And then you really have something high-quality made of solid oak wood or similar.
- Among many friends (and for me upstairs in comparison to the oiled oak stairs) it is especially noticeable now with kids that an oiled parquet is very beautiful, but suffers greatly from water etc. (our stairs also), so if parquet – then properly sealed (we have a matte seal upstairs, it looks super natural). We have sealed parquet upstairs, our neighbors in the kitchen, friends in the living room – all tip top and undamaged. Water also is no problem for a certain time. The optimal solution for water is naturally tiles. We used to have lighter tiles in the living room, 2 beer bottles fell, 2 about 1-cent-sized brown marks (inside of the tile) right in front of the stove – disaster. Then rather a small (color-matched) impression in the parquet (and as said in case of damage a specialist company also replaces a plank / a tile of course).
- With parquet you have to be a bit careful: no little stones under the shoes, gliders under chairs etc. – but in conclusion a comparison: At home you usually also have the walls done smooth and wallpapered by professionals so it looks great and don’t just stick on cheap wallpaper with cheap paste where half of it is loose afterwards. Why then with the floor? Well, because the alternative offer looks so attractive and supposedly cheap – and exactly for this is my experience report. I thought for a while about removing everything again and glueing (a friend of mine has glued vinyl that is quite cool), but then I might have a new glued problem (Modular One may not be glued anyway, I think). So after the toddler age, if not earlier because it bothers me so much, parquet will go in. (Tiles in wood look might also be an alternative for some – there are really nice things nowadays).
By the way, one could better save on wallpaper, you eventually don’t look at it anymore – but you walk on the floor every day and that annoys forever.
Now really finally a practical tip: Buy one or even two packs of 2.5m² each in case of doubt and lay it out as a surface in some places in the house. If it’s good – perfect! If not, it’s the best 100 € you could have invested.
I hope my experience helps one or the other and wish you much success with building!
Best regards!