New flooring on a budget

Blue_Fairy_3

I'm renovating my small ground floor flat and putting new flooring down throughout. We're having carpet in the bedrooms, but I'm stuck on the rest of the flat...it is very small and the rooms close together IYSWIM, eg from the livingroom you have a good view of both the kitchen floor and a bit of the hallway. I'm thinking different types of flooring in all these spaces is going to look quite hotch-potch and make it feel smaller.

Added to that my budget for new flooring is about £10-£15 per square metre. Is that too cheap? I am probably going to live in the flat for another year or two and then rent it out, so want something that is still going to look fairly tidy in 2-3 years time. What are people's opinions on laminate flooring? My brother has wood effect laminate in his bathroom (the splash resistant stuff), I think it looks quite good. I'm not keen on the amount of dirt carpets seem to cling onto...:eek: plus it only takes half a glass of red wine to ruin your living room!

Any ideas/opinions welcome. I have only ever had carpet, so interested to know other people's thoughts on different floorings, and what might be had for my budget. We have a 5 yr old, so needs to be something that can withstand the odd spilt drink etc. (Our current living room carpet is quite badly stained...I was talked into buying a light beige colour when we moved in 5 years ago! :rolleyes:)

latecomer

We had laminate in both our flats and it was great despite it being rather cheap stuff in one of them. The better laminate was pretty resistant to having stuff dropped on it. It came from B&Q but I dont know which brand it was or the cost.

MX5huggy

Laminate, good quality. as long as there is not a basement flat!

Blue_Fairy_3

Thanks. I am leaning towards laminate but had read/heard a few people slagging it off lately. There is no basement flat underneath us so no worries about noise!

Does laminate need to be cleaned a lot though? And I'm guessing I would have to get the splashproof stuff for the kitchen if I do go for it?

Fire_Fox

I have cheap laminate throughout my kitchen/ living/ dining areas - it's absolutely identical to Wickes light oak finish. It shows crumbs more than carpet, but is dead easy to keep clean - a quick vacuum and spot clean every other day, then a proper mop every two weeks.

I don't see why you need splashproof for a kitchen, it won't get wet like a bathroom. Just make sure the edges are sealed properly.

Credit_Check_Services

For £10-£15 you can get laminate flooring, hard wearing, easy to clean. If you can fit yourself and as someone mentioned, try B&Q, last i checked they had an offer on at around £5 or £6 per square metre.

Doozergirl

Where you have carpet, make sure it's manmade fibre rather than a wool mix as it will be much easier to clean.

I've always had 80/20 wool mix thinking I was a bit fancy and wondering why the carpets were always grubby. I thought manmade carpets were all horrid too but ours now is really soft and looks exactly the same as previous carpets we've had.

I dislike laminate as a rule but with kids and a potential rental then it's really not a bad idea. I'd go for the green backed aqua stuff throughout the house in case of spillages etc and don't skimp! I'd rather die than put down cheap laminate it's a false investment too. My aunt's laminate is aqua stuff and 8 years old now and it still looks really good. She says it's wearing near the sink now but it's not obvious to me.

olias

I would get the same colour/style throughout (whether you go for carpet or laminate), as it will make your flat seem bigger. If you have carpet in the bedrooms and laminate elsewhere then try and match the shade of them as closely as possible and it will have the same effect of making it seem bigger (ie beige carpet and beige type laminate).

Olias

elljay

In terms of stains on carpets, I've got a vax which I whisk around with every now and then, it's easy as anything and keeps carpets fresh. Any individual stains come up with a damp cloth and a bit of washing up liquid in between vaxing.

I have laminate in my kitchen/diner and it's fine, it's been down for around 7 yrs now. It came from B and Q and I laid it myself. It wasn't marketed as particularly waterproof but can't see why it wouldn't be though I've never had a flood to test it out. Normal drips and washing is fine and I do have a nice washable mat by the sink. I have a dog, 2 cats and an endless stream of grandchildren and the only door to the house opens onto this floor direct from a muddy outside and the floor is fine. I used underlay ontop of a concrete floor. The laminate is wide plank style in light oak which I reckoned would look better than the pine lookalikes in an old cottage. As this is a rental (I'm the tenant) I wouldn't want to spend on proper wooden floors for my landlord's benefit!

For your budget and masterplan I'd def go for the laminate, the only downside is to get your child and anyone else not to run on it in socks or they will go flying, and if the floor is wet or if they come in from outside with wet shoes they could also go head over heels, but mine have quickly got used to being careful which is more than I can say for the dog who uses the floor as a personal skating rink!

And definitely get the same throughout, it looks much more streamlined, bigger and cleaner.

Liz

underlay_guru

Doozergirl wrote: »

Where you have carpet, make sure it's manmade fibre rather than a wool mix as it will be much easier to clean.

I've always had 80/20 wool mix thinking I was a bit fancy and wondering why the carpets were always grubby. I thought manmade carpets were all horrid too but ours now is really soft and looks exactly the same as previous carpets we've had.

On a budget, I would definitely go for a man-made berber carpet.

The assumption is that a wool carpet is far more superior than a man-made...NOT NECESSARILY! It is the density of the carpets' tufts (how close/far apart they are spaced together) which mainly determines the lastability of a carpet. Wool will feel slightly warmer, and have that more natural-look, but it is more difficult to clean. A wool carpet will also get fuzzy (called PILLING). This is basically the carpet suffering from SPLIT ENDS - after all, wool is sheeps hair! Some cheaper 'Wool' carpets are made from reclaimed wool: rags/old jumpers/ground down faulty carpets etc etc, respun into new yarn, so being made of wool doesnt mean the raw material has come directly from the sheep!

So, all in all, check the pile density rather than the material of manufacture.

Blue_Fairy_3

My current living room carpet is wool - so that explains why it got tatty and stained so quickly!

I'm liking the idea of same flooring throughout, I agree it will make the place seem bigger. I don't think it matters so much if the bedroom floors don't match, they go off the hallway at the other end from the kitchen/livingroom so can't be seen from there, and the doors are usually closed anyway! (I don't really like people being able to see into my bedroom when they come into the house, so I always shut the bedroom doors!)

We will be fitting the flooring ourselves, so that will save on costs. If I don't need splashproof in the kitchen, that's even better. Although I have a tendancy to splash water on the floor when washing up...I think the washable mat by the sink is a good idea.

I have seen laminate with a slightly textured surface- I think I preferred this to the usual laminate with very smooth surface, it seemed it would be a lot less slippy? (my mum is always going on that loads of people have had bad accidents through slipping on laminate floors! :rolleyes: She doesn't like laminate at all, the wool carpet was her idea! :mad:)

edit: I know where you're coming from Doozergirl, if this was my dream house (an old cottage in the country!) I wouldn't dream of putting down laminate floors, but it is a characterless, 1960s ex-council flat and future rental at that, so it does seem the most appropriate thing to use in this case.