Flooring - can't decide

gzoom

We also didn't want LTV in the house renovation, and ended up with various different types of tiles (kitchen, and ensuite), plus carpets. We were also lucky enough to have some engineered wood flooring in the study space, along with oak treads on the staircase.

If money was not a concern I would love to have had the engineered wood across the whole upper floor (instead of carpets). It simply feels and looks amazing compared to all the other flooring we have in the house, the ensuite large format tiles are lovely too though cost per sq/meter with fitting wasn't far off engineered wood. But sadly the reality of the budget meant we had to put carpet in the bedrooms.......there is always the next house project  .

If you have the budget, engineered wood would be my advice. 

Jonny55555

I would go hardwood all day long.  Expensive but it will last and add value.

jonnydeppiwish!

Tiles just finished, very happy with them

ChilliBob

I have experience of:

* Solid oak flooring - looks nice, does expand and contact with weather. Just about to have it sanded in a few weeks actually. (laid before we arrived, 15 years down with dogs and children!).

* Engineered floor - had it installed in our previous house and will have it installed in one room, in parquet format in one room in a few weeks. Looks like solid, doesn't have the issues solid has. 

In both cases, you can choose between a brushed or smooth finish - brushed shows up more grain. And in either case a laquer or oil finish. Pros and cons to both.

* Laminate to look like wood - never found any that look that good, plus if it gets scratched you can't sand it and re do it.

So, wood, or wood look, I'd go engineered. 

* Restoring boards - I've done this too! - it was decent to be fair, but you get gaps between floors, and often skirting. It's 100% a more rustic look - depends on your tastes, property, etc. Oh and if you have children, they can 'post' things under the floor, obvs they're then either very hard go retrieve, or a gone

mvk0016

My two cents, we had our 1910 house's original flooring restored by a specialist company around 13 years ago. We asked them to pull the boards up and put insulation underneath and they said they checked and there was enough insulation and no need for more (their quote included the insulation, so we thought "why wouldn't they want to make more money? They must know what they're talking about!"). They sanded and varnished and filles the holes between the boards with wood pieces (larger holes) and wood shavings mixed with glue (smaller holes). The result was excellent and we really liked the idea of preserving the old floor (it was under carpets probably since 1910, as it was in excellent condition, only one board had to be replaced).

Fast forward to today, the wooden boards creak like hell, although we only walk softly and with slippers inside the house, and our downstairs neighbour (who is also a friend, and a pretty reasonable guy) told us we either need to add insulation or he needs to sell his place and move out, as he has to wear earphones all day long, to stop himself from hearing EVERYTHING (conversations, phone calls, and literally every step we take and every move we make). 

It seems the company that did the flooring (now dissolved it seems...) fooled us and it had zero insulation, so now we have to dish out 10000 quid to add insulation to the downstairs neighbour's ceiling (that was the easiest way) and cross fingers and toes that this works and this new insulation company we hired is not a cowboy builder that will reduce our neighbour's ceiling height by 10 cm (which he's not happy about) with no result...

In conclusion, I would definitely recommend going for the original wood floors but, if your place is old, definitely add insulation before sanding and varnishing, or you'll face the issues later on ( 

EssexHebridean

We had bamboo in the hallway in our flat (ground floor obviously - wouldn’t have had hard flooring otherwise!) and absolutely loved it - we had a good layer of thermal insulation under it and it never felt cold underfoot - in fact I’d honestly say it felt warmer than the carpet it replaced! We’d go back for it again any day. 

Chickereeeee

mvk0016 said:

My two cents, we had our 1910 house's original flooring restored by a specialist company around 13 years ago. We asked them to pull the boards up and put insulation underneath and they said they checked and there was enough insulation and no need for more (their quote included the insulation, so we thought "why wouldn't they want to make more money? They must know what they're talking about!"). They sanded and varnished and filles the holes between the boards with wood pieces (larger holes) and wood shavings mixed with glue (smaller holes). The result was excellent and we really liked the idea of preserving the old floor (it was under carpets probably since 1910, as it was in excellent condition, only one board had to be replaced).

Fast forward to today, the wooden boards creak like hell, although we only walk softly and with slippers inside the house, and our downstairs neighbour (who is also a friend, and a pretty reasonable guy) told us we either need to add insulation or he needs to sell his place and move out, as he has to wear earphones all day long, to stop himself from hearing EVERYTHING (conversations, phone calls, and literally every step we take and every move we make). 

It seems the company that did the flooring (now dissolved it seems...) fooled us and it had zero insulation, so now we have to dish out 10000 quid to add insulation to the downstairs neighbour's ceiling (that was the easiest way) and cross fingers and toes that this works and this new insulation company we hired is not a cowboy builder that will reduce our neighbour's ceiling height by 10 cm (which he's not happy about) with no result...

In conclusion, I would definitely recommend going for the original wood floors but, if your place is old, definitely add insulation before sanding and varnishing, or you'll face the issues later on ( 

I suspect they realised they would have to lift all  the boards to put insulation in, which would have broken the majority beyond re-use.. also, of course, you usually only insulate beneath the ground floor, for heat reasons. It would not normally be needed on the first floor. Acoustic insulation is very different.