flooring

flora1

hi there, i'm new to the forum. i have a question about flooring such as quick step, amtico and karndean. although the subject has been discussed before, just wanted to know if these types of floors are suitable for upstairs bedrooms. how cold does it get and is it noisy ie can any people walking around upstairs be heard downstairs?
any advice would be appreciated as we've only ever had carpet in our house.

sarnydee

I have Karndean flooring in my kitchen. It's basically laminate planks and is reasonably warm underfoot but can get a bit chilly when it's really cold. I would say it's probably more suitable for kitchens and bathrooms than bedrooms but that's purely my opinion. As it's only a laminate, it doesn't provide sound insulation, although I'm sure you could put some sort of underlay underneath to block out sound. It's excellent stuff though, I've had mine down for over 5 years now and it still looks as good as new.

real1314

there's 3 main types of underlay afaik: 1. Rolls of thin foam; 2. Thicker grey foam in packs 3. solid sheets of foam (green)

I've used the thin stuff on the kids rooms upstairs - don't think it's any more noisy than carpet - kids still make noise when jumping about, and they don't wear high heels (yet).

I've also used the thicker grey stuff on ground floor rooms.

I don't find laminate particularly cold, but it is colder than carpet.