Hard floors versus carpets

I have had a laminate floor for years and I find it much easier to keep looking nice, just a quick hoover and then a clean with a damp mop. Our neighbours dog has been in the house a couple of times with no problems. My brother had a really expensive wooden floor put down but its not worn nearly as well as my cheaper laminate, in well used pathways its worn quite badly.

I would definitely have it again if it were necessary.

I have Karndean flooring in the kitchen, dining room, conservatory and downstairs loo. My dogs manage fine.

But I'm sticking to carpet in the living area and bedrooms for now.

Where we lived before we took up all floor coverings and sanded and vanished the wooden floors. Loved that too and dogs coped fine.

I think small dogs can cope but a friends pointer did struggle a bit.

All our floors are sanded and varnished floorboards apart from vinyl in the kitchen and loo and ceramic tiles in the bathroom. I find them so easy. I have mohair bedside rugs and a large wool rug in front of the log burner in the sitting room for cosiness. I wouldn't go back to fitted carpets. I love my hard floors.

My dog slips on laminate flooring at other people's houses. My DD had expensive wooden flooring laid and now she has children has had carpet laid on top of it - softer landing for active toddlers.

I've got carpet throughout except for the kitchen which is slate. Easy to mop but not good when you drop your favourite china! I like the cosiness, warmth and sound absorption of fitted carpets.

Thinking about this I realise I don't know anyone with laminate flooring [shocked]
I love the idea of sanded and polished floorboards in communal areas. Unfortunately we have tiled concrete floors downstairs, so carpet in lounge/diner and vinyl in kitchen, lobby and downstairs loo.

We have just been through this same agonising. In the end we replaced dining room and lounge carpet with carpet. Kitchen and hall are posh laminate and we did think long and hard about continuing this through out. Was put off by thought of having to be careful with computer chair with wheels which has decimated laminate in one of the upstairs bedrooms. Also dining chairs and similar scratching floors. Noise absorption, small children visiting and possible bleakness also considerd.
Still don't know if right decision as cosiness not an issue in June, but I hope it will prove so in the winter.

I would love wooden floors. We made this mistake of having a light beige carpet and It shows every mark and GC and DH are always dropping stuff on it. I've virtually given up on it now. It gets vacced but DH is better at actually cleaning it than I am [ grin]

We have laminate(oak finish)in the hall and dining area.Not had it previously,find it hard wearing and easy to keep clean.The DGC tend to make a mess around the dining table and a quick wipe works wonders.We have vinyl in the kitchen and utility,again easy to keep clean.However,in the lounge and bedrooms we have carpet.I suffer with cold feet and would not part with carpet where I sit and relax (combined with underfloor heating).
One disadvantage with laminate is that you may need the skirting boards altering when it is installed.

Got parquet flooring and rugs in the middle so that you feet are on something soft. That is fine

Carpet in the lounge and bedrooms. laminate in dining room and hall way and downstairs cloakroom. Ceramic tiles in bathroom and kitchen.

We did consider having wood laminate when we decorated a couple of months ago, but after visiting our son`s house after they had it put down, I found that getting up off the settee very difficult, as my feet kept sliding from under me. So we decided to have carpet again.

I really do prefer carpets in living rooms it just seems more cosy and quieter.

We have laminate right through down stairs, with large rugs in the sitting room. However due to circumstances, we did go for cheap laminate, which does tend to chip.

My son has recently moved into a brand new house and has gone for wood/laminate effect vinyl throughout the ground floor. It looks lovely, is soft (and quiet!) underfoot, warmer than laminate but just as easy to clean, and you do get a second chance if you drop something breakable.

Given the choice and the money again, that's what I would go for.

Carpets every time for me. Quieter, warmer, cosier...
Each to his own.

Laminate in the kitchen and dining room, but I kept the previous owners' carpet elsewhere because the colours were agreeable and the condition still very good. The bathroom has non-slip vinyl in a tile design.

I am with the carpet brigade , at least for lounge, dining rooms/area and bedrooms and study.We have Karndean flooring in the kitchen , which cleans well and is warm enough underfoot.Porcelain tiles in the bathroom [which I hate, freezing cold in Winter, and which will be changed in the next couple of years.]Terracotta tiles in the new conservatory. We also have carpet all down the hallway [it's new] but next time this may be replaced by some kind of hard flooring.

Carpet just makes things quieter and cosier, just go for a sensible colour!

We've got real wood in our conservatory (he wanted real). Looked great to start with but the colour mellowed so don't get too hung up on a particular shade. We often have visiting dogs and DGC and that's when hard floors come into their own as it's so much easier to keep clean - but the dogs claws have scratched the wood. Given a choice now, I'd go for Karndean and rugs.

Laminate in the hall and study (with two rubber backed mats in the study where the chairs with wheels are, more for safety and not skidding around than marks). Carpet in the lounge and dining room which needs replacing badly so I was wondering about laminate and rugs. However, matching it to the hall could be a problem now so will probably go for carpet that is not a pale beige like the present one.
Wood floor in the conservatory with underfloor heating; however, I have noticed that the wooden floor has dents from some of the furniture.

We have a Victorian terrace and I pulled up all the downstairs carpets and sanded and varnished the floorboards myself a few years back. It was a hot Summer and I spent most of it trying to master a roaring monster of a hired sander that kept running away with me. Every so often the sandpaper would suddenly catch on something and fly off with an explosion that scared the bejaysus out of me. Dressed in bra and pants (curtains shut) because of the heat, and sporting sunglasses as goggles and a scarf round my mouth to keep the dust out (safety first). One day I tripped over some of the rolled up carpet, couldn't save myself from falling flat because my hands were full of the radio I landed on, and lay on the floor giggling helplessly as I imagined what the emergency services would have thought if they'd had to break in and rescue me.

It was well worth all the effort - they look good and are easy to clean. And our hot water pipes are underneath so they keep our feet warm too. But now I have toddling and crawling grandnippers we've had to put a carpet back down in the front room for the sake of their little knees. I went for beige, unfortunately, so it never looks clean.

I would never go for fitted carpets again. I had had several houses where we have exposed lovely wooden floors, sanded them down and polished and stained them. in this one, although the sitting room carpet is fine for now, we had to replace the dining room and hallway carpets so bought some old second-hand small parquet tiles. It took ages to sand down each tile and trim off the old mastic, the tiles had to be laid like doing a jigsaw, then I spent hours sanding every day for a week, then gave them several cots of matt varnish. but I only need to vacuum them, and to mop them once a month perhaps, and give them the odd dot of varnish if they have got scraped. they are brilliant - and would have cost a small fortune to get someone to do for us. I am very proud of it.

There was also a carpet in the upstairs bathroom. (In the downstairs too, but we tiled in there) I ripped it out, it was elderly and revolting, and found nice wide floorboards underneath, so I mixed some very pale grey paint in with some varnish and gave them a few coats. I did sand them first - and people think I have laid laminate in there! Apart from washing it, I haven't had to touch it in the six years since I did it.

Whereas the downstairs sitting room carpet has GC-induced stains on it, despite using a steamer and a vax. I would love to have wooden floors in there as well, but it's a big room and where to put all the furniture while it's done?

Charcoal Floor tiles in the bathroom and kitchen.
Carpets in two bedrooms and stairs.
Quality laminate in bedroom and lounge, dining, study.

No problem with computer chair wheels and the flooring has been down for 14 years. Only 2 small scratches and it has survived the antics of grandchildren and had no special care taken.
Vacuumed and damp mop every couple of days.
In winter I put down a big rug and in summer the rug is stored in the garage.

We did put felt pads on the bottom of the chairs and table.

No problems whatever.

All our downstairs floors are tiled except the living room. We had put a laminate floor down in it but got tired of it last year and laid carpet on top. The cats think the catpet is great!. We.ve got laminate floors in all the bedrooms in the hope of keeping the dust down.

I have recently decided to replace our fitted hall carpet with parquet herringbone pattern. Not sure if it can be done but I will enquire if it is possible to have underfloor heating with a wooden floor. We have this type of heating in other rooms with tiled floors and it is very cosy especially in the bathroom in winter during the night.