Village Hall Given New Lease of Life Thanks to UK Tiles Direct and Karndean Flooring
As a family business with strong community values, we were thrilled to be asked for advice on replacing the tired and worn carpet at Stoborough Village Hall, in Wareham. Used for a wide range of functions and events, the village hall needed a modern and smart floor that was hardwearing and easy to look after. The ideal solution was vinyl plank flooring, with Karndean’s wood effect luxury vinyl floor tiles being the perfect choice.
Karndean wood flooring gives the wonderful look and feel of real timber, but offers extreme durability and low maintenance, which is exactly what the village hall needed. The gorgeous Knight Tile range offers highly authentic wood effect vinyl flooring, replicating the delicate grains and knots of real wood, with beautifully soft brushed textures.
The materials used for the project
We were delighted to get involved, supplying the Karndean wood flooring and all the materials needed to lay it. Andy Wilson, of UK Tiles Direct, oversaw the project and, as a trained Karndean installer, fitted the new vinyl plank flooring.
In total, we used 63 metres of Classic Limed Oak effect vinyl flooring, from the Karndean Knight Tile collection, with Ardex-NA, which is a special latex levelling compound for use with bitumen floors. We used Karndean Pressure Sensitive vinyl floor adhesive and clear Kerakoll Fugabella Eco Silicone.
We worked on the project over four days, with the result being a fabulous floor with the style and beauty of real wood, but none of the problems associated with solid timber, and the durability the busy village hall demands.
Installing the oak effect vinyl flooring
The first stage involved removing the existing carpet and all the residual glue. We then applied a special primer to seal the substrate, and created a clean and level surface with Ardex-NA levelling compound. The next step was to ‘dry lay’ the Karndean wood flooring – this allowed us to create the right pattern and mark where any trimming was needed around doors, etc. Once the lay out was finalised, we fixed the Karndean Knight tiles in place with Kardean’s special Pressure Sensitive vinyl flooring adhesive.
Once the entire floor was installed, we used a Karndean Care and Cleaning kit to remove any traces of adhesive from the surface, then applied a protective coat of Karndean Surface Cleaner, which comes as part of the Care and Cleaning kit.
The final step of the project was to seal the edge of the floor. For this, we used a fine bead of Kerakoll Fugabella Eco clear silicone sealant, which stops any dirt or moisture getting under the edges and contaminating the adhesive, causing the edge of the flooring to lift. In the doorways we used thresholds.
A fabulous and durable Karndean wood floor
Everyone involved in the project was delighted with the result, with the committee of the Stoborough Village Hall commenting: “With the hall’s carpet looking really old and worn, we went to UK Tiles Direct for advice on the best floor to replace them. David Burgess suggested Karndean flooring, as it’s hardwearing and easy to look after. The new floor looks wonderful – just like real wood. It’s really smartened up the hall and we’ve already seen the benefits of how durable it is and easy to look after”.
To find out more about the Karndean range of vinyl wood flooring, please visit our tile showroom in Wareham, Dorset, where you can view our entire tile collections.
Caroline Middleton
18th September 2017
