Preparedness for when

jk0

When I bought my house ten years ago, the floors on the ground floor & two bedrooms had new laminate laid. There is only carpet in one bedroom & on the stairs & landing.

You've probably all heard me mention what a cold house this is. Since I moved in, I've had secondary glazing put inside the double glazed units, (so it's now triple glazed) loft insulation, cavity wall insulation and storage heaters in addition to the central heating.

However, as I type this, I still have cold feet. I used to lie on the floor to watch telly at my old house. I've never done that here, as it's too flaming cold.

The last remaining place to insulate is under the floorboards. The laminate flooring is getting a little worn, so I am even considering going back to carpets.

Should I?

Frugalsod

jk0 wrote: »

The last remaining place to insulate is under the floorboards. The laminate flooring is getting a little worn, so I am even considering going back to carpets.

Should I?

There are two ways of looking at it. If anyone in the family has allergies then carpets might not be so good. Personally I would insulate under the floor either way. You will save energy and will be able to add a carpet if you want to at a later date. Think about future potential changes. Secondly hard wood floors are all the rage right now. So it would be good to insulate.

moneyistooshorttomention

I think laminate floors are cold. My impression is that its assumed everyone who has laminate floors will have put in floor insulation before doing laminate. I very much doubt anyone does that personally.

I don't know how effective, or otherwise, underfloor insulation is, but my personal take is to have carpet and to make sure it's a decent standard carpet, with a thick underlay underneath it.

Tripleglazing and storage radiators (on top of central heating) definitely says that house is a particularly cold one for some reason and my suspicion would fall on that laminate flooring. Its got to be either that or damp and I'm guessing you've checked out the house for damp and ascertained it isn't that.

thriftwizard

Hmm - we have laminate flooring in the major rooms, and original tiles in places, and this is not a cold house. Damp here & there, too, where the original concrete hearths rest on the ground under the house & pull it up. But we have a fair bit of passive solar, in that most of the windows face south; the cavity walls are insulated too, but we don't have nearly enough loft insulation & the windows are single-skin and very leaky.

Upstairs, where the flooring became unbearably tatty, I've laid cork tiles, which look perfectly acceptable, didn't cost a lot and are nice & warm underfoot. They're easy to sweep, quiet underfoot & there's much less chance of elderly moggies being mistaken as to their purpose than if I'd gone for carpet. However I've not tried lying down on them for any length of time!

GreyQueen

I'd think about going to underfloor insulation, cork tiles and a lovely shaggy rug in the sprawl zone, jk0.

My reasoning is as follows; without the underfloor insulation, you'll be losing heat anyway. You've said before that this is a 30s semi and your forever home, so it's not like you intend to sell up in five years and wouldn't reap the benefit of the investment.

You've posted before about having allergies, so would carpet be a problem for you? A rug can give enough comfort whilst keeping the amount of dust-harbouring acerage limited and, depending on size and type, could be launderable.

I'd second thriftwizard's admiration of cork tiling, it really is astonishingly pleasant stuff underfoot, with lovely natural tones, and is a renewable resource. You will need some kind of sealant on it, either getting tiles pre-sealed or sealing it afterwards. You can also get linoleum, which is a premium product these days, check it out on the web.

Overall, I'm not a fan of carpet, with the exception of those areas which would otherwise be very cold, or where noise needs to be deadened, such as upper-floor flats or stairs in houses. I haven't any carpet in my little flat, but it isn't needed for sound insulation as I'm on the ground floor, nor is it needed for warmth, as this place is very hot, and the CH pipes off the communal system loop through the concrete floors, giving several hot spots. So much so that, when I took this place on, there were areas of what looked like residue from carpet backing in the hot spots where it had melted to the vinyl floor tiles.

They came off with some elbow grease and a carefully-plied scraper. I have two hand-hooked rugs in my sitting-room, one under the computer chair, one in the middle, and a shop-bought low-profile polyproplene runner in the hall which serves as a glorified doormat. Other than that, the floors are bare, which is a blessing as I can be a bit of a klutz and spill things.*

Righty, have got a to-do list as long as your arm, and need to not be distracted by the interweb, so will toddle offline for a few hours now. You may imagine me sides-to-middling a bedsheet, making beetroot preserves and bread and a few other bits and bobs. Ain't nothin' like an Old Styler with a mission...........:rotfl:Have a good day, folks.

* mostly tea.

jk0

Thanks guys.

Yes, I am concerned that going back to carpet will be difficult to keep clean. I must admit that my allergies have been way less in this house.

Maybe the suggestion about insulation under the laminate floor or cork tiles is the best compromise.

mardatha

This house was built in the 30s but is in a very cold place- I would die without my lovely thick wool carpeting

mardatha

Thick carpeting fills in al those wee tiny gaps along the skirting board, that's where the cold gets in.

Frugalsod

jk0 wrote: »

Thanks guys.

Yes, I am concerned that going back to carpet will be difficult to keep clean. I must admit that my allergies have been way less in this house.

Maybe the suggestion about insulation under the laminate floor or cork tiles is the best compromise.

The thing about insulation is that it actually has a significant payback and whenever you come to sell it will mean that your home will be more efficient and will be easier to sell. So you win all round.

ivyleaf

GreyQueen wrote: »

Perhaps when circulating socially in our separate spheres, we ought to find out exactly what acquaintances do for a living, particularly if they are some species of scientist or lab technician........:eek:

The other day there was a contestant on Pointless (a BBC quiz show) who, when asked what he did for a living, replied cagily "I...work in an office, in my home town."

Aha, Council or DWP staff, I thought! (Been there, done that. not in a TV quiz show, mind you)

One of the presenters commented "That is the answer of a spy!" :rotfl:

I did feel sorry for the poor guy.