Wooden Flooring

AubreyMac

I'm in the process of buying my first flat.

It is on the top floor.

Currently there is carpet there which I will get rid of (it's not fitted so easy to remove).

I've decided I'd like to get wooden flooring as the lounge is also the diner so the flooring there has got to be wipeable in case of any food spillage. Also, I will be having my baby nephew around so there will probably be the odd puke on the floor too.

Does anyone know anything about laminates vs solid wood floor? is solid wood worth the extra money? and would getting good underlay absorb the sound (I don't want to annoy the neighbour downstairs).

Thanks in advance.

olias

Check the lease. You may find you are not allowed wooden flooring due to noise issues for flat below. This is a common clause.

Olias

penguine

We had laminate installed throughout our new house with good quality, noise absorbing underlay. You can still hear noise from upstairs. Luckily there are only three of us and it's not much of an issue but I am surprised the underlay doesn't absorb sound as well as I'd hoped.

As the other poster said, check your lease. We previously lived in a flat which prohibited hard flooring. The subflooring was concrete and our upstairs neighbours had carpet but sound still travelled pretty well so with hard flooring it would have been awful.

benjus

Most laminate feels quite cheap and nasty and gets damaged relatively easily. I have heard that you can get some decent laminate, but I don't think I've seen any. Real wood looks far better.

However, as others have said the lease is the most important thing here. Some people just ignore these clauses in the lease and put down wooden flooring anyway. This is risky - you may get away with it in the short term, but if you come to sell it the buyer may well raise issues with it (assuming they've read the lease thoroughly). Also, the people living below you may not be bothered, but if someone new moves in and they don't like it, they could raise an issue with the freeholder who could force you to have it taken out and replaced with carpet - at your expense, of course.

paddyrg

Having lived in a downstairs flat, please don't. Laminate flooring is even noisier than real wood, and that's loud. Every footstep, every time you put a plate on a table (solid wood/metal path through to the floor), every speaker beat, even when you cough the hard floor transmits it straight downstairs and the ceiling acts as an acoustic box amplifier. You can be as quiet as you try, but you won't ever believe how much a laminate floor transmits through to downstairs.

lozzed

I agree with all of the above re. checking your lease. If you are thinking about solid wood flooring, you may also want to research engineered wood. It has a "veneer" to give the same wood effect. It isn't always cheaper than solid but just another option.

Pennylane

Wooden and laminate floors are now considered old hat .... Apparently. About 10 years ago we very nearly had it in our lounge and I am so glad now we didn't. various friends had it and it's clattery, slippery, cold etc.

andrewf75

Pennylane wrote: »

Wooden and laminate floors are now considered old hat .... Apparently. About 10 years ago we very nearly had it in our lounge and I am so glad now we didn't. various friends had it and it's clattery, slippery, cold etc.

old hat?! by who?

a nice wooden floor is timeless and never going to go out of fashion, if that is something that concerns you. Wood is also not cold.

carpet is much more likely to be subject to going in and out of fashion I'd have thought.

Filey

My upstairs floors (except the bathroom) are wooden. I bought mine from UK Flooring Direct. My house is very old, and the new floor was laid on top of the original floorboards with a fibreboard type underlay.The beams underneath are underdrawn. It seems very soundproof.

In fact when my teenage granddaughter (16) who lives with me was having a party and I had retreated to bed, as long as the door at the bottom of the staircase was shut I hardly heard anything at all.

I bought the engineered wood in oak. I am very pleased with it. It is available in different widths and I bought the widest as it is more traditional.

My ground floor (except the kitchen and utility room) is wooden too but I had it done about seven years ago. Also oak but shorter lengths of solid wood. I am delighted with both types as they are so easy to keep clean. I have recently for the first time given the downstairs floor a refresher coat of Osmo hard wax oil and it looks great.

My previous house had laminate, but I wouldn't have it again.

Grimbal

I'm going to be the contrary voice here

we spent a fortune on engineered wood in our last house. Just rubbish, dented like billy-oh, lots of scrapes and scratches everywhere.

We've since moved & put down Quick step pacific walnut. We spent about 1/4 of the price of the engineered wood & it looks fabulous.

As others have mentioned though, you may find that any hard wood floor is not allowed under the terms of your lease

AubreyMac

Thanks all, I never thought that it could be prohibited. But under the carpet is natural wooden floor.

I have just double checked my leasehold pack, I'm not sure if this is the paperwork that would say but there's nothing in there that mentions flooring or pets (not that I have any).

I'm waiting on the full copy of the lease as I still need confirmation of the length of unexpired lease but will find out then.

Currently where I live, there is laminate flooring throughout, I find it such hard work to keep clean as dust just sweeps across it. But the plus side is that it's wipeable and easier to keep hygienically clean. I have spilt many things on my floor over the years and each time have been glad that i can just mop it up.