Flooring

Agree that Amtico is far superior to Karndean. Friend had Karndean, just two very houseproud adults in house and they found it a nightmare with all the surface treatments it needs and said they noticed every little scratch. Moved house and went with LVT. Son has Amtico in downstairs apart from sitting room. Had 6 years of very busy house, children, dog and cats and don't notice a thing. I would have gone for Amtico instead of very recent laminate in hall but just too expensive for me.

We have tiles and laminate throughout. I would never go back to carpets having seen the grubbiness of my hard floors after a few days. We have dogs and cats with the inevitable accidents, the thought of cleaning carpets horrifies me.
Fortunately we don't feel the cold too much, the heat is more of a problem so hard floors suit us in this respect as well.

Last property I was in had laminate upstairs, and I vowed never to do that. Apparently the flooring had super soundproofing underlay, not to my ears. Underlay flattens with wear losing its soundproofing. Now many laminates have a backing supposedly to act as waterproofing and sound barrier. Definitely not for me on upstairs floors. Of course folk then cover the floor with rugs, what's the point. Can't stand the noise transmission from upstairs. Downstairs fine and I have just had LVP fitted in my downstairs hall. Still enjoy a carpet in my main sitting room as feels much cosier in the winter.

We've had engineered oak in kitchen and hall, with carpet in sitting room for past 15 years.
Always had dogs, sometimes two, and hard floor shows up all their claw marks. Can't have tiles as they crack due to the timber frame movement of this house.
I had thought laminate but saw here that dogs mark it.
Guess it will end up being sanded and sealed to do us a few more years!

We have wood flooring in the hall and sitting room, but cushion floor (Lino) everywhere else.

It doesn’t feel cold to bare feet even in winter, not as hard as tiles if you fall over, easier to vacuum and keep clean than carpets, no risk of carpet moth…..

Carpet for the lounge gets my vote every time. Laminate is great if easy cleaning is the priority, but it never felt as warm or as quiet to me. Spent longer choosing than actually expected, and Urmston Carpets ended up being the easiest place to compare different styles because they had far more choice than anywhere else I'd looked, so it was easier to find something that fit the budget without settling for the first decent option.

In my previous house we had waterproof laminate, it wasn't exactly the same material as wood laminate but looks identical, we did this after my dh got sepsis and while he was in hospital I couldn't clean the laminate as everything seeped through ...
The bungalow we now have had carpet all through so we were to put the same waterproof flooring, amazingly there was a beautiful dark wood floor underneath

Sorry, pressed too soon….to the front of the machine and discoloured the wood. Unfortunately it had tracked right under the floor, causing the joints to rise over time. It has to go, so this thread has been useful in deciding what to put down next.

I’ve got n engineered wood floor which include the kitchen and utility room, and I’m just about to have it removed. I had a leak behind my washing machine, which I wasn’t aware of until it had tracked under the floor to

Witzend

I do like carpet (warm, quiet, and the dust doesn’t show!) but the moths have been at ours with a vengeance. Underneath is parquet flooring (covered up 40 years ago!) but it’s fairly dark, which is why I didn’t like it.

But I’m now thinking of ditching the carpet and getting the wood sanded, but we have some very heavy items of furniture that would need shifting, so how to even start going about it I haven’t really thought as yet. Theres no way dh and I will be shifting that furniture.

Witzend
We have been getting some quotes from various stores and always mention to them that we have heavy furniture, no problem, the fitters will move it, and it doesn't add a lot to the quote either.

DH likes carpet so we have carpet in the living room and dining room & Amtico in the kitchen / breakfast & hall.

I love the look of hard floors & easier to maintain, but I have to admit, hearing is easier in the carpeted areas (I have high-amplification hearing aids & even a slight echo plays havoc).

*hall carpet!

Aely

Just going to mention the flooring here (downstairs). Not to be recommended. Concrete "raft" base covered in tiles (with 2% asbestos so nearly impossible to get rid of) in a delightful shade of poo with decorative streaks of "blood" and "vomit".

I go for carpets myself. I can't walk on "hard" floors barefoot, it is too painful, and they do help stop the cold coming up from below in Winter.

My house is also on a concrete raft, with similar (Marley?) tiles, possibly 1950s. It’s a 1920s semi. I understand the small amount of asbestos is in the backing, and it’s recommended to simply lay new flooring over it rather than have the major headache of removing the tiles.

When I moved here the kitchen had green Flotex-type nylon carpet, in front of the cooker it had spots where it had melted from spitting or spilt cooking oil. I’d love to have vinyl laid but it’s very uneven where an internal wall had been removed without prior levelling. It’s cool for the dogs on hot days, and I have washable mats in front of the sink and cooker.

DD had her living room and happ carpet taken up and laminate laid, it’s slippery and really horrid for the poor dogs, it has also chipped in places. I prefer carpet.

Wood floors throughout, most of them original uneven pine or Georgian. However I also have lots of rugs everywhere.

I find the clattery hollow sound of wood floors without at least scatter rugs to be echoey and the vibe is cold and officy.

If you are stripping carpet up to reveal original floorboards and you have a suspended floor, then make sure that there are no gaps between the floor boards or take them up and suspend insulation under them.

We once viewed a house where the ownes had stripped the carpets and titivated the rather gappy floor boards. It was a cold windy day and the scatter rugs were giving a good impression of flying carpets, suspended in the air on the cold cushion of air coming through the floro.

We have LVT all thru downstairs...been down 6 years...not a mark on it

Time2. I am sure it will increase the value of your bungalow

We too are about to have a change of flooring, going from carpet in the lounge, dining room, kitchen and hallway, to engineered wood flooring. I was really worried about who would take up the carpet, and move the furniture, as we're both disabled, but having had various people come out to quote, they were all happy to organise moving furniture, and taking up the carpet and disposing of it. It just costs a bit more, but obviously worth it, if you can't do it yourself. I must admit I'm dreading them coming to do the job, as it's going to take about a week, but we will still have access to the ensuite bedroom at night (we live in a bungalow), and during the day if it gets too noisy, or chaotic, we'll decamp to the motorhome, or at least that's the plan!! Meanwhile, I have to get on and pack away all my breakables, not something I'm looking forward to, more because I have to find room for them once they're packed, but I daresay it will all come together in the end, and we'll be glad we had it done.

Witzend

I do like carpet (warm, quiet, and the dust doesn’t show!) but the moths have been at ours with a vengeance. Underneath is parquet flooring (covered up 40 years ago!) but it’s fairly dark, which is why I didn’t like it.

But I’m now thinking of ditching the carpet and getting the wood sanded, but we have some very heavy items of furniture that would need shifting, so how to even start going about it I haven’t really thought as yet. Theres no way dh and I will be shifting that furniture.

We're about to have our wooden floors resealed and our company say that they're happy to move the large furniture if we remove the small stuff. I think you'll probably be able to find a firm that will do this for you.
They do the rooms in two halves, which means we'll need to stay out of the house for a couple of days whilst the finish "cures".

I have engineered wood everywhere except for the kitchen, bathrooms and utility cupboards where I have porcelain tiles. I think that tiles are usually better in the hallways by the front door because of dirt and scratching, as I'm guessing that laminates and vinyls could also scratch in this postion.

If you are inclined to fall about a bit, as I am now I'm ancient, you can't beat landing on a nice carpet.
I dislike hard floors.

We also know as a PP has said someone with underfloor pipe work leaking under concrete, someone with a similar problem with their underfloor heating and DDs MIL had an underfloor leak and when the plumbers dug about found asbetos. She had to live in a hotel for almost 6 months while it was all removed, leaks fixed and everything put back to normal.

Witzend Sanded and sealed parquet would look wonderful. How lucky.
I am loving this thread. I had forgotten about Amtico.

Our floor boards..wide Victorian..were sanded and sealed by DH and friend when we moved in 45 years ago. The sealant was something they used on school gym floors. Still hardly a mark. It has withstood roller skating DDs and friends. The only place where it could do with a resand is around the kitchen sink floor area.

At the patio windows end where there was a concreted area already we have red quarry tiles. That is an unforgiving area to drop anything breakable. This concreted area was separated from the kitchen by a wall which we had taken down and was a toilet, coal hole/bunker and single back door all on concrete.

The side gate under the end. of the house was tall enough to let a horse through. There could have been a small stable in the back garden.
Sorry to have gone off subject.

I have Karndean tiles in my extension, which is also the route to the garden. Very practical.
Karndean herringbone tiles in the hall are still like new after 12 years and much admired by visitors.
But I have carpets in the living room and bedrooms for warmth and comfort underfoot.
I am soon to have the smallest bedroom, now a study, redecorated. I can’t decide what flooring to have. It will have to accommodate a swivel desk chair. Any thoughts?

I do like carpet (warm, quiet, and the dust doesn’t show!) but the moths have been at ours with a vengeance. Underneath is parquet flooring (covered up 40 years ago!) but it’s fairly dark, which is why I didn’t like it.

But I’m now thinking of ditching the carpet and getting the wood sanded, but we have some very heavy items of furniture that would need shifting, so how to even start going about it I haven’t really thought as yet. Theres no way dh and I will be shifting that furniture.

We have engineered Oak, in our living room.Looks just as good as when new, fifteen years ago,