Best Flooring For A Conservatory

Conservatories are meant to be a bridge between your home and nature, but what makes for good conservatory flooring?

In this article, we’ll compare different flooring types with each other, and LVT, whilst discussing the pros and cons of all in a conservatory setting – so you can make an informed decision about the flooring of your home. 

What to Consider when Choosing Conservatory Flooring

Before we start doing comparisons, here’s an idea of what to look for among the oncoming contenders for the best conservatory floor.

Temperature – Fluctuating temperatures often have the effect of causing contraction or retraction in floors. As such, you either want to incorporate something to regulate temperature in your conservatory, or choose a floor that doesn’t have this effect. On top of that, it makes underfloor heating a particularly tricky installation.

Usage – What is your conservatory used for? For example, if you have children coming through from the outside often, then you may have to deal with dirt being brought inside underfoot, meaning you want something easy to clean for your conservatory flooring. Not to mention, you want something slip-resistant. 

Brightness – How much sunlight is coming into your conservatory? Direct natural light can have adverse effects on a lot of floors, such as design fading. 

Budget – A lot of hardwood floors are quite expensive. What does your budget allow? You must take into account the cost of purchase, installation, replacement when damaged and, of course, how long the floor itself will last. 

Aesthetics – Simple – how does the floor look and what are you going for? Are you trying to create an inviting space, or perhaps you’re using your conservatory area as an office?

Best Flooring For A Conservatory

The following is a list of different flooring for a conservatory, as well as their pros and cons. 

Laminate Flooring

Laminate flooring is low-cost and easy to clean. It’s also quick and easy to fit and tends to be resistant to fading, so you shouldn’t notice it changing colour over time. 

However, Laminate flooring is notorious for expanding and shrinking in response to temperature, and moisture. This means that hot or humid weather could easily warp your floor, making it uncomfortable and unpleasant to look at. 

Engineered Wood Flooring

Engineered wood flooring is elegant, timeless, and adds value to your property. 

That being said, aside from the cost, conservatories are not the place for solid wood flooring. Not only can the temperature differences warp wood in time, but in direct exposure to sunlight, discolouration will occur. 

Tile

Tiles, once upon a time, were among the most common flooring options. Not only does it resist temperature changes, but it is also waterproof, so isn’t affected by spillages, cleaning or humidity.

However, tiled flooring is known for being cold underfoot. OK in summer, but in colder months you may have to look into options to warm the space, such as underfloor heating (an extra expense on top of the tile cost) if you want to use your conservatory all year round. Tiles also tend to be slippery, not what you want in an area with direct access to outdoor areas where water or mud on shoes can easily be brought in.. 

Carpet

Carpet flooring is not only beautiful, but one of the most comfortable underfoot, and potentially much warmer, flooring options on the market. 

The problem comes with when you need to clean it. Your conservatory will likely be used as an access point between the outside and the inside, and that will likely involve dirt/debris from the outside being trailed in. Cleaning your flooring is notoriously busy work with carpets as opposed to luxury vinyl-tiled floors. 

Why Choose LVT For Conservatories? 

We admit – we mostly pointed out the cons of the previous flooring types. That being said, there’s a good reason for that – it’s because LVT has none of these drawbacks. 

Here are five reasons to go with conservatory vinyl flooring.

1 – DURABLE

LVT is soft and warm to the touch underfoot. It doesn’t scratch easily, is wear-resistant and less likely to chip if something heavy is dropped on it, unlike ceramic or porcelain tiles. If maintained properly with recommended cleaning products, such as our Luvanto Floor Care, Cleaning & Maintenance Kit, your floor will look as good as new for a long time.

2 – EASY TO CLEAN

Cleaning is an easy business when it comes to vinyl flooring. Soft brooms and wet mops soaked in a bit of LVT-friendly cleaning solution should be more than enough. Whilst LVT fights off stains quite easily, some thicker, harder-to-remove stains can be gotten rid of with slightly stronger solutions. We have recently done an article on how to clean LVT. 

3 – WARM UNDERFOOT

LVT flooring can be soft underfoot, cushioning your steps and making it pleasant to walk on. Better yet, unlike tile, laminate, and wood, it’s quite warm, too, even without underfloor heating. With anti-slip properties, you can walk with confidence as well.

4 – ENDLESS DESIGNS 

Beautiful designs, for many, are the biggest selling point of LVT flooring. The endless designs mean you can mimic real wood, or any of your favourite flooring types, whilst having the endless benefits of luxury vinyl flooring. You can also mix and match different colours and styles to create unique atmospheres and feels in your conservatory. 

5 – PEACE OF MIND

The low-maintenance nature of LVT flooring, on top of the 25-year domestic warranty that Luvanto provides, means you can use your conservatory without ever having to worry about maintenance work or early replacement costs.

Want the appearance of tiles without the cold feet? Discover our tile effect LVT here

Why Is My Conservatory Floor So Cold?

Two things may contribute to cold floors – the subfloor, and the flooring you have. 

Concrete subfloors, for example, are extremely cold. Add to that another cold-floor option like ceramic or porcelain tile, and your conservatory floor will be cold. This may be OK in summer, but in colder months that will only get worse when the temperature drops potentially making the conservatory too cold and uncomfortable to use.

LVT is less affected by coldness as it is inherently a warmer material to touch and less likely to cool down to uncomfortable levels unless the weather is very cold. Insulating the sub floor will also help cold rising. This can be done using cork which is suitable for fully glued installation under all types of flooring, including dryback LVT.

Is LVT Better Than Laminate? 

LVT and Laminate, when head to head, have similar pros but different cons. One of those cons is temperature, as we’ve already gone over. 

Laminate flooring is typically made from melamine resin, along with fibreboard beneath a top layer made of real wood. Meaning that it’s not made of wood, and therefore cannot be classed as engineered wood flooring. They are also easy to clean, just like LVT. 

The problem comes with temperature. Temperature changes can cause laminate to expand and contract quite easily, making it a choice where you must account for temperature.

Glue-down LVT is softer underfoot, with no expansion under temperature changes, as well as also able to come looking just as good as wood or stone, whichever finish you opt for.

Conservatory Flooring Summary

All in all, we believe glue-down LVT to be the best flooring option on the market for conservatories, but in particular, it cannot be beat in settings where temperature or moisture is an issue. We hope this has helped you make an informed decision on the best flooring type for conservatories. 

For more information on LVT, including the ability to get your hands on free samples today, head over to our website.