'Wooden' flooring

TELLIT01

The carpet in our living / dining room is getting a bit past its best so I'm considering the possibility of replacing it.  I suspect solid hardwood flooring would be out of our financial reach so looking for good quality options to lay over the existing timber floor.  Room is about 30' x 15' (9m x 4.5m).

Advice and suggestions would be appreciated, as well as the pro's and con's of this idea.  It would be professionally laid.

Vitor

I bought a house with vinyl planks in lounge/diner and immediately got rid. Hard flooring over a timber subfloor will feel colder and noisier than carpet, whatever the material.

Engineered wood is the most credible “wood” option: stable, attractive, and long-lasting, but expensive and easily marked. Laminate is cheaper and tougher than wood, but acoustically harsher and not repairable.

Luxury vinyl plank is often the most practical choice: warmer, quieter, highly durable, and well suited to living–dining spaces, despite not being “real”. Good subfloor preparation and acoustic underlay matter more than brand. If warmth and quiet matter most, quality carpet remains the most comfortable option.

Eldi_Dos

Not all carpets need to have the fitted look of going from skirting to skirting

Have you thought of getting a carpet say 7.5m X 3m and getting it laid along with engineered flooring fitted around the edges, with the correct underlays and professionally laid might look ok and suit your budget, as I would imagine carpet per sq m  would be less than good engineered flooring.

And if in the future you wanted a change easier to just replace carpet as I am sure the flooring would outlast carpet.

shinytop

Having just done this in two of our bedrooms, laminate or LVT on an existing timber floor works well (albeit with an additional layer of plywood). The laminate feels warmer and has a bit more 'give' than the LVT. 

One thing to consider is that unless you want beading between the floor and skirting, the skirting will have to be removed and refitted or replaced.  Depending on how it's fitted, removing skirting without damaging it can be difficult. We (I) ended up replacing ours. And if your new flooring/underlay/any extra boarding is thicker than your carpet you'll have to trim doors.

jonnydeppiwish!

Do you have a dog? If so, don’t get wood flooring. The tip-tap is mind destroying! 

Sapindus

I'm hoping to get bamboo parquet but got a few other jobs to get out of the way first!

TELLIT01

Thanks for all the feedback.  No dogs, although it is amusing to see my niece's dog when he tries to run or change direction on theirs.  The skirting is a potential issue.  It's a 1930s house with tall skirtings which I wouldn't want to damage or lose.

It all gives food for thought.

ka7e

I've just replaced ancient wool carpet with LVT in my living room and with a thermal underlay, it is at least as warm as carpet. The beading is very neat and helps seal the edges against draughts. Although warm underfoot, the room became very echoey, but a thin rug in the centre of the room has solved that. Tippy-tappy dog noise is offset by the fact that fur is now quickly vacuumed away rather than embedding in carpet pile.

TELLIT01

If we did go the route of wood flooring we would have large rugs down.  We also have full length curtains at both ends of the room which would help reduce echo.

Bigphil1474

We've just had a quote for engineered oak wood flooring in our living room which is roughly 3.5m x 6.5m. It works out at around £50 per square metre for the flooring, plus fitting which we've yet to hear about. They are going to board the floor with 6mm plywood first, then underlay and the flooring on top. We only redid our skirting last year after a reskim so we are going to have to go for the beading, instead of having it go under the skirting. Not as aesthetic for me, but I'm not replacing all the skirting again. We will have a big rug.

Eldi_Dos

One thing to consider if doing a whole room in engineered wood flooring or laminate is that you are installing a form of floating floor that will expand and contract according to ambient temperature, especially if it gets a lot of solar gain.
It is best to store the materials in the room they are to be fitted in for a while before installing and have a think about whether going down the route of removing skirtings during instal is worthwhile.