Flooring for wheelchair access

Oh gosh, I am soooooo confused.

I started out being a little confused, so I visited 4 carpet shops for advice. Big mistake, because now I am totally confused!!!!! Not only did each one tell me something different, but each one told me that what the previous one told me was wrong.

I want to rip up the old carpet in the hallway and 3 bedrooms, and install something healthier and cleaner. While I do have a timber floor, I doubt it would be suitable for polishing, and besides, the toxic fumes while it’s being done is not an option. I have an elderly lady in a wheelchair in the house, and she is very sensitive to strong chemical smells, and there’s no way we could move out for a few days while it was being done.

So, it comes down to floating floors or sheet vinyl. I basically discounted sheet vinyl, feeling that it would give the impression of a 1950’s holiday house, but I was also unsure about floating floors as I'd heard many horror stories – hollow sound, scratches, not waterproof, cold, etc.

My first stop was Harvey Norman. I explained that I wanted something that was reasonably quiet, did not need smelly chemicals to be held in place, and most importantly would not leave tyre marks from the wheelchair. The salesman told me my best option would be timber laminate floating floor – Timber Impressions. (In subsequent research, I discovered – I think, sigh – that laminate planks are noisy to walk on and scratch easier.)

I then went to Carpet Court, who said no no no to laminate, and insisted that best option would be sheet vinyl, that the woodgrain finish would ensure it didn’t look like a cheap option, and that it would withstand wheelchair traffic. They added that most supermarkets used this. (Speaking to a friend who had chosen this option put me off when she said that her chair legs all made dents in it, and keeping in mind that the wheelchair travels along the hallway many times a day, I could foresee permanent grooves as a result! She also said it required glue that took 24 hours to set before they laid the vinyl.)

Carpet Call, however, laughed at sheet vinyl and said I needed real wood, recommending ReadyFlor. He said real wood would look far superior and would be more resistant to scratches and heavy traffic. (Another friend later told me that she had floating wood floors put down and within a week the dog had made scratch marks everywhere!)

I returned to Harvey Norman, this time speaking to a different salesman, and he discounted everything I’d been told so far and said I needed vinyl planks, in particular a product called Allure. He pointed out they were easy to lay, didn’t suffer expansion and contraction, used no smelly toxins, looked spectacular, were quiet to walk on, easy to care for, waterproof, scratch resistant, and easily removed later if I wanted to. All this sounded excellent and I was beginning to be swayed, until I read a report on the internet by someone who had them put down and spent a month complaining about the horrible smell until Harvey Norman finally came out, smelt them, agreed, pulled them up, and refunded her money.

What’s left? Ceramic tiles aren’t an option for bedrooms, in my opinion. Maybe I should just go bare-boards? I spent all day reading posts on this forum, but only came away more confused.

So, to those in here who have experience with any of these options, I’d really appreciate hearing from you. Or if anyone has any other suggestions, please let me know, because I’m terrified to go to any more carpet shops, although I doubt they could confuse me any more than I already am!

So basically I’m asking …. for wheelchair use, to look good, low smell, ease of maintenance and (less important) quietness and water resistant, which is best :
Timber floating floors?
Laminate floating floors?
Vinyl floating floors?
Sheet vinyl?
Any other option?
And which brand would you recommend? (Forget cost -I no longer care if I end up bankrupt, as long as I can have a floor that meets my requirements!)