How much does LVT cost in Bolton? From £15 to £100+ a metre, and why preparation decides it

"How much per square metre?" is the first question we get, and the honest answer has two halves. The first is the plank, and that is a choice you make. The second is what your floor needs doing to it before any plank goes down, and that is not a choice: it is what the room dictates. Skip it and the cheap floor becomes an expensive one.

Part one: preparation, stage by stage

Not every floor needs every stage. A new-build chipboard bedroom might need almost none. A 1960s kitchen with old tiles and a damp concrete base might need all of them. The home visit tells us which, and the quote lists them. Here is what each one is, in plain terms.

1. Uplift and disposal

What it is: taking up the old carpet, laminate, vinyl or tiles and getting rid of it. Why: LVT must go on a clean, solid base, not on top of whatever was there. When: almost always, unless you have sound tiles we can go over.

2. Inspection: straight edge and moisture test

What it is: a 2 metre straight edge across the floor to find dips and humps, and a hygrometer on any concrete to measure the moisture coming up through it. Why: LVT needs a floor flat to within 3mm over 2 metres and a concrete base below 75% relative humidity. These two numbers decide everything that follows. When: every job, on the home visit, before we quote.

3. Grinding

What it is: a diamond grinder with dust extraction run over a concrete or screeded floor. Why: old floors carry things a new floor cannot sit on: ridges of old adhesive, paint, bitumen, a weak dusty top skin (called laitance), high spots at the door. Grinding takes them off and leaves a sound, keyed surface the next layer can bond to. Without it, the smoothing compound bonds to the old adhesive instead of the concrete, and the whole lot can lift as one sheet. When: most solid floors that have had something stuck to them before.

4. DPM (damp-proof membrane)

What it is: a liquid epoxy coating (for example F. Ball Stopgap F77) rolled onto the concrete and left to cure. Why: if the moisture test is above 75% RH, water vapour is still rising through the slab. LVT and its adhesive do not breathe, so that moisture collects underneath and the floor lifts, usually within the first year. The DPM stops it. When: only when the test says so. New extensions and older houses with no membrane in the slab are the usual cases. If a fitter has not tested, they cannot know.

5. Primer

What it is: a thin coat rolled on before the smoothing compound. Why: it stops the concrete sucking the water out of the compound too fast (which makes it weak and dusty) and gives the compound something to grip. Cheap to do, expensive to skip. When: every time a compound is poured.

6. Screed / smoothing compound

What it is: a self-levelling compound (F. Ball Stopgap 1200 Pro, 300 HD or the Ardex equivalent) mixed and poured over the floor at a minimum of 3mm, then trowelled flat. It cures overnight. Why: this is what makes a concrete or tiled floor flat and smooth enough for a 2mm plank. It fills the dips, covers grout lines, and gives the adhesive a clean, hard surface. Asphalt floors (common in Bolton's older council-built houses) need a compound made for asphalt. When: almost every solid floor.

7. Plywood overlay and feather finish

What it is: on floorboards or chipboard, 6mm flooring-grade plywood screwed or stapled down at close centres across the whole sheet, then every joint and screw head skimmed with a fine feather-finish compound and sanded flush. Why: floorboards move, cup and have gaps. Ply turns them into one flat, stable sheet. Feathering stops the ply joints showing through. When: every timber floor getting glue-down LVT, and most getting click.

8. Acclimatisation

What it is: the planks are unboxed and left flat in the room for at least 24 hours at normal living temperature before fitting. Why: vinyl moves with temperature. Cold planks fitted into a warm house shrink and gap. When: every job. It costs nothing but planning.

9. Adhesive or underlay

What it is: glue-down LVT goes into a pressure-sensitive adhesive, with a high-temperature version (F. Ball Styccobond F48 Plus or F49) near bifolds, big glazing and underfloor heating. Click LVT sits on a dense 1 to 1.5mm LVT underlay unless it has one built in. Why: the wrong adhesive softens in heat and lets planks creep; the wrong underlay lets click joints flex and open. When: every job; the quote should name the product.

10. Fitting and finishing

What it is: setting out (from a centre line for herringbone), laying, cutting, door bars, scotia or refitted skirting, doors trimmed to clear. Why: this is the part you see. Herringbone takes roughly twice as long as straight plank. When: every job.

Part two: what the LVT itself costs

Plank prices in Bolton run from around £15 per square metre to upwards of £100 per square metre. Here is what changes as you go up.

Entry level: unbranded ranges from around £15/m²

Pros

• The price. A straight-plank floor in a spare bedroom or a rental can be done for very little.
• Plenty of on-trend colours, because they copy what the big brands did last year.
• In a small, low-traffic room, laid straight, on a properly prepared floor, it can look perfectly presentable.

Cons

• Manufacturing is not to tolerance. This is the big one. Premium planks are cut to a fraction of a tenth of a millimetre; cheap planks can vary by a fraction of a millimetre or more from plank to plank, and the edges are not always square.
• In herringbone that adds up fast. Each block in a herringbone pattern sits against the end of the next, so any error is passed along and repeated. If every block is 0.3mm oversize, ten blocks in a row are 3mm out. Across a 5 metre room that can be 15mm or more of accumulated error. The result is a pattern that slowly bows across the room, wedge-shaped gaps opening at the joints, and blocks that no longer meet the border squarely. The fitter is left trimming every block by hand (which you pay for in time) or accepting gaps (which you live with). This is why we will not fit cheap herringbone, however good the colour looks in the box.
• Thinner wear layers (often 0.2 to 0.3mm), so it scratches and dulls sooner in a hallway or kitchen.
• Fewer unique plank faces, so the same print repeats across the room and the eye catches it.
• Shade variation between boxes and batches; the floor can look patchy if boxes are not mixed.
• Guarantees are short or absent, and there is nobody to go back to.

Mid range: the trade-offs

Between the two ends sits most of what we fit: ranges such as Moduleo Roots, Invictus Maximus and Polyflor Camaro. At this level you get a 0.55mm wear layer, planks cut to tolerance, mixed batches with consistent shade and a proper guarantee. What you are trading is detail against choice:

• Some ranges have deep, realistic texture but fewer colours.
• Some have a wide colour palette but a flatter, more uniform texture.
• Some offer herringbone and plank in every colour; others only in a handful.
• Bevelled edges, longer planks and more unique faces appear as you go up.

This is where bringing the samples to your home earns its keep. In your own light, next to your kitchen doors, the right trade-off for your room becomes obvious.

Top end: upwards of £100/m²

Karndean Art Select, Amtico Signature and similar. Here you are paying for:

• Wear layer of 0.55mm up to 0.7mm or more, with better coatings on top.
• Pattern: herringbone, chevron, basket weave, large-format parquet, borders and feature strips, all cut to match.
• Shade consistency and batch control, so every box matches.
• Print quality: dozens of unique plank faces before anything repeats, with the knots and grain of real timber.
• Realness: textures embossed in register with the print, so the grain you see is the grain you feel, and bevelled edges that read as individual boards.
• Dimensional accuracy, which is what lets a herringbone floor run 8 metres and still meet the border square.
• Long residential guarantees from a manufacturer who will still be there.

Putting the two halves together

Here is why two quotes for the same room can be so far apart. Take a floorboarded Bolton hallway, herringbone wanted:

Ways to keep the cost sensible without cutting corners

• Spend on preparation first. A mid-range plank on a properly prepared floor beats a premium plank on bare boards every time.
• Choose a 0.55mm mid-range brand over the premium badge if the budget is tight; the wear layer is what you walk on.
• Keep herringbone for the hallway and go straight plank elsewhere.
• Do connected rooms together: the preparation, deliveries and set-out are shared.
• Keep sound tiles rather than paying to lift them; they can be ground, primed and smoothed over.
• Use click upstairs on flat chipboard and glue-down downstairs.