Flooring advice for first floor flat with cat

pineneedles

Hello,

Looking for some advice on flooring choices.

Our flat is a first floor Victorian conversion. When we moved in three years ago the floors were newly covered in the cheapest of cheap carpets glued directly onto MDF underlay sitting on top of floor boards. Though horribly ugly, the carpet was new and clean so we thought we would live with it while focusing on fixing other things. However, three years later, the carpet is looking even sadder, and I’d really like to replace it at least in the living room and hallway where it has worn the most and is seen the most.


I hate carpet. But the lease requires us to have the floors carpeted or otherwise covered in a suitable sound-reducing material, and the last thing we want to do is create noise issues for our downstairs neighbour. We are joint freeholders and above all want to maintain good relations and also don't want to set the precedent for the upstairs flat to be encouraged to install any noisy flooring in the future as we get enough noise from them as is. So laminate is not an option as notoriously noisy (don’t like the look of it either); wood flooring would only be an option with expensive noise-reducing underlay which isn’t within our budget at the moment and frankly may never be. We installed cork flooring in the kitchen when we moved in, and it is nice and warm underfoot and looks pretty good but not quite durable enough as there are quite a few dents and scratches where we (OK just me) have dropped or dragged things and it has also faded in the sun.


To add to the problem, we have a beloved indoor cat who both scratches and vomits on the carpet regularly. He's getting a bit elderly and while he isn't incontinent yet, that is also a slight nagging worry about the future...:eek:


I like the look and feel of smooth-woven natural material carpet like sisal or seagrass, and these would seem to gather less dust than a fluffy carpet and be easier to keep clean by hoovering, but am concerned about cat scratching it and cat vomit being really hard to clean.


I don't wear shoes indoors but my other half often does and won't be told not to.


Any ideas for flooring which is quiet, durable, cleanable and affordable? Any experiences with natural carpeting and cats?

Thank you!

missile

Lino ? ..........

cattie

I wouldn't go for the sort of carpet you're considering, as I fear your cat will soon rip the sisal or seagrass to pieces.

I know you say you hate carpet, but as a flatter & more durable carpet would perhaps be best in your situation, you could consider the type of carpet installed in many commercial places. This type of carpet has recently been installed in the common areas of my small block as it's said to be easy to clean & stands up well to heavy foot traffic.

Another option is to go for a lower cost wooden floor & use big rugs to limit & absorb any noise to the flat below.

pineneedles

Thanks. For some reason I had it in my head that 'lino' didn't really exist anymore and it was just what people called vinyl. I'm not keen on the look or feel of vinyl (and found the texture hard to clean) but may just have to make do if it is the only practical solution.

Found there is also a lino product called Marmoleum and there's even a version with sound-reducing backing. Not sure it's visually right for the living room, but other than that it could be suitable. Anyone used Marmoleum?

However, is vinyl (or lino) flooring any less noisy than laminate? Wondering whether it would comply with the lease requirement, or whether special noise-reducing backing/installation would still be needed.

pineneedles

Thanks cattie - will research more carpet options. Commercial kind of carpet feels to me like the worst of both worlds (never really clean nor soft underfoot nor attractive looking) but would probably still be a step up from what we have now.

Incidentally we also need to replace the communal stairway carpet at some point, so that would probably be the best option there.

missile

pineneedles wrote: »

Thanks. For some reason I had it in my head that 'lino' didn't really exist anymore and it was just what people called vinyl. I'm not keen on the look or feel of vinyl (and found the texture hard to clean) but may just have to make do if it is the only practical solution.

Found there is also a lino product called Marmoleum and there's even a version with sound-reducing backing. Not sure it's visually right for the living room, but other than that it could be suitable. Anyone used Marmoleum?

However, is vinyl (or lino) flooring any less noisy than laminate? Wondering whether it would comply with the lease requirement, or whether special noise-reducing backing/installation would still be needed.

Lino and vinyl are different products:

Linoleum

Still as popular as it was in the early 1900's traditional Linoleum flooring today is Manufactured by Forbo and has been re-branded Marmoleum.
Marmoleum is a natural floor covering made from a combination of wood flour linseed oil and rosin to make a dough. A chalk pigment for colouring is added and the dough it is rolled many times to create a 2 meter wide roll by up to 32 meters long.

Vinyl

The primary components of vinyl floorcoverings include polyvinyl chloride (or vinyl) resins, plasticizers (high molecular-weight solvents), pigments and trace stabilizers, and a carrier sheet or backing. The backing may be felt or highly filled paper made from wood pulp and calcium carbonate.

ic

I had a woven loop carpet fitted throughout my house before I had my cats. I then got the cats and they did a great job of picking out odd loops, which the hoover would find and pull up and wind around the head before I'd had chance to react - resulting in a few feet of carpet being unwoven! As I redecorate rooms now I've fit engineered wood throughout downstairs, and going for twist carpets upstairs.

Silvertabby

We also have an elderly cat.

We have oiled engineered oak through the hall, lounge and dining room - and it's brilliant. Fur balls and the odd accident just wipe straight up.

We have smooth pile carpet in the bedrooms - any mishaps up there are easily cleaned with a Bissel spot cleaner (£120 but worth every penny).

Avoid textured carpets and floor coverings - they will be impossible to clean,

pineneedles

Thanks everyone.
Maybe the solution could be lino in the hallway and smooth twist pile carpet in the living room, or tolerating the current carpet there until we can afford to install a soundproofed wooden floor. I'm going to investigate vinyl flooring a bit further too.

kerri_gt

In our last rented house th LL put down wood effect Lino. Although it was flipping cold for us as it was on a concrete floor with no underlay, it looked ok (our choice would have been wood, but it wasn't our place and it doesn't appear to be in your budget without the specialist underlay) and after carpet in a previous rental was brilliant for wiping up cat sick.
I suspect it was relatively cheap as well so perhaps an interim option if you can then save for the wood with underlay in the future.

missile

Maybe you should consider carpet tiles? This would allow you to remove / clean / replace if your cat has an accident.

It could be difficult to remove the old carpet, glued:eek: to the floor.

Good luck