LVT brands explained: what you are actually paying for

We are asked "which brand is best?" on nearly every home visit. The honest answer is that four or five manufacturers make excellent LVT and the differences are in the details, not the headline. This is what those details are.

First, what to compare

Wear layer

The clear layer on top of the printed design. It takes the chairs, the dog's claws and the grit off the drive. It is measured in millimetres and it is the single best predictor of how the floor will look in ten years.

• 0.3mm: light domestic. Bedrooms, guest rooms.
• 0.55mm: heavy domestic and light commercial. This is the sweet spot for kitchens, hallways and living rooms, and the grade most ranges from the brands below are built on.
• 0.7mm: commercial. Shops, pubs. Lovely at home but you are paying for a shop floor.

Construction

Glue-down (dryback) or click (floating, usually rigid core). Each brand sells both. If you have not decided, read click vs glue-down first, because it changes which range you are looking at.

Design and texture

This is where the premium brands pull ahead. Look at how many different plank faces a range has before the pattern repeats, whether the texture follows the printed grain (called embossed-in-register), and whether the bevelled edge looks like a real board. Put two samples side by side in your own light and you will see the difference quickly.

Guarantee

Residential guarantees range from around 15 years to lifetime depending on the brand and range. Every one of them is conditional on the floor being fitted to the manufacturer's instructions on a suitable subfloor, which is why we document the preparation on every job.

The brands, one by one

Karndean

The name most Bolton customers arrive with. Karndean's strength is range: Knight Tile at the entry level, Van Gogh and Opus in the middle, Art Select at the top with its deep textures and hand-finished look, plus Korlok (rigid-core click) and LooseLay. Art Select herringbone in a Victorian hallway is still the floor people stop and ask about. Strong guarantees, excellent sample service, and plenty of matching accessories such as design strips and borders.

Worth it when: you want a specific premium design, a herringbone with a border, or the reassurance of the biggest name.

Amtico

British-made in Coventry and the other premium name. Spacia is the everyday 0.55mm range, Signature is the design flagship with laying patterns you cannot get elsewhere (basket weave, large-format parquet, bespoke borders), Form sits in between, and Click Smart is the rigid click option. Amtico's abstract and stone designs are the best in the business.

Worth it when: you want a pattern or a stone look rather than a plain wood plank, or the longest guarantees.

Moduleo

Belgian, made by IVC, and the brand we fit a lot of because the quality-to-price balance is very good. Roots is the dryback range (Roots 55 is the 0.55mm family-home grade, and it comes in herringbone), LayRed is the rigid-core click range with a built-in underlay, and Moods is the designer pattern range. The wood designs are realistic and the colours suit the greys, warm oaks and light Scandi looks people in Bolton are choosing now.

Worth it when: you want a 0.55mm floor at a sensible price and a good choice of herringbone.

Invictus

A trade-focused brand that punches well above its price. The ranges are Primus, Maximus and Ultimus, each a step up in wear layer and texture. Maximus is the one we quote most: 0.55mm wear layer, embossed-in-register texture, herringbone available, and a long residential guarantee behind it. It is rarely in the big retail sample books, which is partly why the price is good.

Worth it when: you want premium performance without the premium badge.

Polyflor Camaro

Polyflor is a Manchester company (Whitefield, about twenty minutes from Bolton) better known for commercial safety flooring, and that heritage shows in Camaro. Camaro dryback, Camaro Loc (click) and Camaro Rigid Core are all solid, well-priced, and hard-wearing. Designs are a bit more traditional than Moduleo or Karndean, but if you want a floor that shrugs off a busy family, it is a very safe pick.

Worth it when: durability matters more than having the trendiest colour, and you like supporting a local manufacturer.

Quick-Step

Best known for laminate, Quick-Step's Alpha Vinyl is a rigid-core click LVT with a good built-in underlay and a tidy range of planks and herringbone. It is a click-only choice, so it suits bedrooms and quick-turnaround rooms more than a big open-plan kitchen.

Worth it when: you have already decided on click and want a known name with matching skirting and profiles.

At a glance

Ranges change; this reflects what we are fitting and quoting in autumn 2026. Always check the current specification sheet for the exact product.

"Brands to avoid"

People search this a lot, so here is the fitter's view. We would not name a brand to avoid, but we would avoid a specification: anything with a wear layer under 0.3mm, anything sold without a published guarantee, and very cheap flexible click (not rigid core) which moves and gaps in UK rooms with any sunlight. If a price looks too good, check the wear layer on the box before you buy.

What matters more than the brand

Preparation. A 0.55mm Moduleo on a ply-overlaid, feathered, dust-extracted subfloor with the correct adhesive will look better in year ten than Karndean Art Select laid straight over old floorboards. We explain the full process in how we prepare a floor for LVT. Bring any sample to the home visit and we will tell you whether it is right for the room.