• Bathrooms
• Kitchen
• Family eating area
• Entrance hall

quote:

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Originally posted by Brenda Clough:
The other grand thing about great swathes of wooden flooring is, you can use a Roomba. The vacuuming robots don't do carpeting well, nor the fringes on rugs, but they are ideal for wooden flooring. You would not believe the quantity of fuzz, grit, and nameless detritus there is on your floor until you empty out the trap in a Roomba.

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We have carpet everywhere except the kitchen (lino) and bathroom (tiles) and our Roomba, Bob2, does a splendid job.

(I Bob2)
 

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Posted by Leorning Cniht (# 17564) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Brenda Clough:
It will be noisier and colder than wood, however -- not for bedrooms.

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Underfloor heating
 

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Posted by cliffdweller (# 13338) on :
 
We have a combination of wooden and hardwood floors (interestingly, hardwood in kitchen, carpet in bathrooms). I love the look of the hardwood, and it is a breeze to keep clean. And a worn wooden floor has a nice patina/aged look, whereas worn carpet just looks... worn.
 

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Posted by Belle Ringer (# 13379) on :
 
I live in a hot land where cool under foot is a plus.

But the more important reason most choose tile or laminate is because the dust embedded in any carpeting fuels the allergies common in this climate. Solid floors are a whole lot cleaner, less dust hoarding / allergy-triggering in this climate.
 

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Posted by Graven Image (# 8755) on :
 
Wood with rugs,
Easier to keep clean, with dog.. I like the look. Wood is really quite warm. Fewer replacement costs. Color goes with whatever furniture you have.
Although I vacuum on a regular schedule every carpet I have ever had taken up had loads of dust under it.
 

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Posted by jacobsen (# 14998) on :
 
Vinyl in kitchen and bathroom, laminate in the entrance hall. carpet everywhere else, despite the colour(beige) which was there when I moved in 6 years ago, and two cats. The stairs were just painted, which was a) slippery and b) noisy, so I had them carpeted with the offcuts found in the attic. Comfort every time, but then I'm not particularly allergic to house dust.
 

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Posted by Alan Cresswell (# 31) on :
 
My flat currently has carpet everywhere except the kitchen and bathroom. Unless I get a job at the other end of the country sometime soon, I'll start replacing it with laminate (I'd love real wood, but can't really afford it). Starting with the hallway and living room, as they're the most heavily used and therefore the most filthy.

We'd put real wood floors in downstairs (except the kitchen, which was stone tile) in the house. One of the things I loved about the house and miss.

Carpet is just too much work to keep even presentable, let alone actually clean. Wood, and even more so laminate, is not IME particularly cold underfoot (one can always wear slippers). I admit it's not very comfortable to sit on, but no worse than a thin carpet ... and, if you have a deep pile carpet you might as well not bother trying to keep it clean.
 

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Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 
The floorboards in this flat (built c 1928) are fairly rubbish. Worse still, a lot of the sound insulation - ashes - has been removed over the years. So its carpets pretty well everywhere + soundproofing underlay.

If I had a choice, I would go for a lot more laminate - we have some in the kitchen and scullery and very handsome it is. I hate hoovering with an perfect hatred and something. You can squoosh a mop round is much preferable.
 

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Posted by Zappa (# 8433) on :
 
Wooden floors are awful for dogs ... especially as they grow older.

But shedding animals will demand an extremely high quality vacuum cleaner, especially if the house is carpeted. That may not be an issue for the OP.

Tiles break absolutely anything that heads towards them with gravitational influence. Utterly unforgiving.
 

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Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :
 
But if you mop the floor then you have to wait for it to dry – and there’s a knack to redistributing the muddy patches. I quite enjoy vacuuming the flat, on the occasions when I get round to it. There's a satisfaction in watching things leap up the nozzle and disappear, especially cobwebs from the corners of the ceiling you can’t reach by yourself. And I don't mind steam-cleaning the carpet from time to time.

I guess it takes all sorts. I don’t mind mats or lino, but with a wooden floor I'd worry constantly about scratches, spillages and slipping on it, and wouldn’t feel comfortable living with it, which I guess is what it comes down to in the end.
 

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Posted by Alan Cresswell (# 31) on :
 
A spillage on a wooden floor is far easier to clean up than on a carpet. I grew up with wooden floors, and 50 years later they are going strong - though clearly worn, nothing that a good polish wouldn't sort out (though, that would require moving the furniture out of the way - but nowhere near the hassle of replacing carpet). A quick sweep with the broom occasionally keeps it clean, though I admit my mum does tend to run the vacuum over it, but that's more an issue of not wanting to bend down to sweep stuff into a dustpan.

Maybe I like wooden floors because that's what I grew up with.
 

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Posted by la vie en rouge (# 10688) on :
 
It depends a bit on your climate.

Personally I detest carpets which seem like traps for dust to me. I can see how they can be a good idea in colder climates though. Wooden floors are the norm here and it’s true that they are a bit noisy, but OTOH the wearing of slippers (as a courtesy to the downstairs neighbours) is much more widespread.

Our house in the South-West (35°C in the summer) has tiles downstairs, which are not half-bad for hot places. They are also the easiest thing to clean. Mopping dries very quickly in a hot climate if you use boiling water. A couple of minutes tops.
 

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Posted by L'organist (# 17338) on :
 
I have carpet because our floorboards are terrible and the void under the house gets very wet in the winter - yet another delight of a listed building.

Ideally I'd have solid parquet with rugs on top where required.

Quarry tiles in the kitchen and bathroom.

Carpet in a bathroom is unhygienic so vinyl if you can't have tiles.
 

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Posted by Albertus (# 13356) on :
 
Oh yes, solid parquet with rugs. Nothing better! We have that except for the kitchen and bathroom (1930s mansion flat): we're very lucky.
 

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Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :
 
Most offices seem to have some sort of carpeting. It doesn't seem to be a problem, except coffee gets spilled on it occasionally.

I suppose most of you are used to it but to me this sort of thing just looks cold and unfinished. The shine is offputting, distracting even. It suggests to me this is something you have to be careful with and that it's going to be slidy.

But each to their own. Fashions come and go, it'll be interesting to see what's next.
 

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Posted by BabyWombat (# 18552) on :
 
We have a combination. 1884 house, we moved in after the previous owner had been here over 50 years. Hideous carpet in first floor -- looked like swamp mud -- smelling horribly of cat and cigarette smoke. Professional cleaning help a little. Ugly painted wide plank pine floors in the 2nd floor bedrooms. It was a leap of faith to pull up the carpet – didn’t know what we’d find -- but it revealed lovely honeyed hardwood. We oil it twice yearly and it glows. Friends encouraged polyurethane to make it shine; we’re glad we said “no”! Have oriental area rugs in each room for cozy. The 2nd floor pine now covered with cozy-on-the-feet carpeting. Vinyl in bathrooms and kitchen, although I'd love to do real tile someday.
 

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Posted by Brenda Clough (# 18061) on :
 
When we bought our house it had wall-to-wall carpet throughout. Gradually over the years we replaced it all with hardwood. There is tile in the front hallway, and carpet on the stairs and in the family room. My flooring guy warned that it was a waste of money to pay for wood on stairs, because they're noisy and there's a slipping issue, especially with children. It costs plenty to convert stairs to wood and then you wind up paying to run carpet down them.
 

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Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :
 
My home had carpet throughout except for the bathroom and kitchen, which had old, ugly vinyl that I pulled up myself and replaced.

After constant allergy problems, my friends and I pulled up all the carpet and found there was an acceptable vinyl tile underneath. Allergies are better, now. Ideally, I'd love to get the wood-look ceramic tile to replace most of the flooring!
 

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Posted by Piglet (# 11803) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Ariel:
... I quite enjoy vacuuming ...

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My address is ...

The current Château Piglet has a combination of vinyl tiles (kitchen and bathrooms), bad laminate (dining-room, landing) and mostly quite bad carpet, none of which I like in the least. I don't mind carpet in bedrooms (warm on the piggies when getting out of bed), but for other parts of the house I'd much rather have wood.

We're shortly going to be house-hunting (we're currently getting Château Piglet ready for putting it on the market), and I've been snouting round estate agents' web-sites to see what's what. I'm finding myself much more likely to be drawn to a house with wood or laminate floors, as they just look smarter. You can always add "area" rugs, as long as you fasten them down properly, and I get the feeling that wood has a warmth all of its own.

The house where I grew up had maple floors and I never found them particularly cold, even in an Orkney winter.
 

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Posted by mark_in_manchester (# 15978) on :
 

quote:

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It costs plenty to convert stairs to wood

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That sounds funny over here - I can't think of a British home I've been in (outside a block of flats) whose staircase was not wooden.

It reminds me of a couple I knew who were into 'home improvement' (I'm more of a 'slowing entropy' kind of guy). They were talking of getting some 'new stairs' (a rather unusual thing to do in the UK) which suggested a kind of conversation along the lines of 'You know, we'll have to get some new stairs. Half the time I ascend these ones, I end up on the ground floor - they're so unreliable!'

Nearly all of our old houses (and most of our housing stock is old...) have pitch pine floors. It's amazing stuff - cut it 100 years later, and you can still smell the sap. Nothing like red (hmm) or white (aarrghh) pine you buy now. And people still throw out old doors and replace them with something made of laminated cardboard...
 

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Posted by Brenda Clough (# 18061) on :
 
Modern construction in the US is predicated upon wall-to-wall carpeting. Thus the floors are simply plywood subfloors, and the stairs are construction-quality wood. You're going to cover it all with carpet, so there's no point in installing oak or maple.
Therefore, if you want an oak stair in your house, you either have to cover the cheap wood of the stair with better wood, or take tne entire stair out and replace it. Both are expensive propositions.
 

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Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Piglet:

quote:

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Originally posted by Ariel:
... I quite enjoy vacuuming ...

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My address is ...

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My hourly rate is ...

Anyone out there have a particular theme or style for decoration, or did it more sort of just happen as it went along?
 

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Posted by mark_in_manchester (# 15978) on :
 
I bought an old house in a sh*te area that had been left to rot, and (since I like woodwork) I tried to stop all the wooden bits dropping off. So the house itself suggested the theme, though afterwards it got trendy and all the bits (like mouldings and architrave) I used to pull out of skips, stopped appearing!

(Not before I had re-installed dado and picture rails, which was a necessity as a method of trying to restrain the plaster from falling off the walls )

There's a traditional UK staircase
here

When it was made, it was probably painted dark brown and varnished - perhaps even scumballed, which is to say painted dark brown and then having a kind of comb dragged over it to simulate a heavy wood grain. Ignoring it was made of wood.

Stair rods are expensive unless you can make them out of scrap something else...
 

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Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 
Mark my boy, have I got stair rods for you... I do believe there is a bag of original 1920s numbers in a cupboard somewhere. Period feature 'n' all that, the surrounding wood was so tatty, we went for entirely carpeted stairs.
 

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Posted by jacobsen (# 14998) on :
 
Or should they prove unsuitable you can find more here .
 

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Posted by Piglet (# 11803) on :
 
It may just be my computer, which can be less than co-operative, but I can't get that link to work, Jacobsen.

quote:

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Originally posted by Ariel:
Anyone out there have a particular theme or style for decoration, or did it more sort of just happen as it went along?

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I don't know that ours would quite amount to a "style", but we love the designs of Charles Rennie Mackintosh; we've got a rather crude copy of the Argyle chair, and sundry other things with wee square dots.

We're also rather proud of our two Orkney chairs, which are always a talking-point when we have visitors.

Aside from that, I like things fairly plain and unfussy, with nice clean lines. Most of IKEA's output would be to our taste, and I've just realised that when we move, instead of being 1500 miles from the nearest IKEA, we'll only be a few hundred.

And on the same piece of rock ...

We may need to get a bigger Pigletmobile.
 

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Posted by Brenda Clough (# 18061) on :
 
If I had my way, everything in my house would be done by me. I would paint the walls, sew the curtains, possibly slipcovers for the furniture, design the tile, make, repaint or redo all the furniture, and so on. Alas, although I have done quite a bit of this, I just don't have time to do it all. So a good deal of the stuff is just stuff, acquired here and there. The items I have made or done, I have to keep. There is a cabinet, elaborately painted with faux books, a table bought at a yard sale and revealed to be by a Danish designer when I stripped and refinished it.
 

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Posted by Alan Cresswell (# 31) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Piglet:
It may just be my computer, which can be less than co-operative, but I can't get that link to work, Jacobsen.

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quote:

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It doesn't work here either, but the url suggests a lot of options for the purchase of stair rods.

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I can hear the resignation in your voice, Alan. I'm really sorry

Firenze - thanks! I coped by adapting some which were cheap with no fittings - but if that link suggests a demand, you may be able to cash in on ebay. Then again, perhaps the 'period' moment has passed - I guess if I were as immune to fashion as I like to think I am, it wouldn't bother me that rather than looking 70 years out of date, our house is probably now merely slightly passe.

quote:

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with rimu doors etc

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quote:

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Originally posted by Golden Key:
ISTM there'd be great danger of tripping on them. Is there??

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quote:

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Originally posted by Golden Key:
Re stair rods:

ISTM there'd be great danger of tripping on them. Is there??

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quote:

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Originally posted by Galloping Granny:
... cork tiles ...GG

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Our last house had cork tiles in the kitchen, which would have been fine and dandy if they'd just been on the floor. But no - they were on the walls as well ...


 

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Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Moo:

quote:

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Originally posted by Golden Key:
Re stair rods:

ISTM there'd be great danger of tripping on them. Is there??

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A properly installed stair rod is located right at the junction of the rise and the very back of the step. There is no space between them.

The only way I can imagine a problem is if the step is very short front-to-back.

Moo

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quote:

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Originally posted by Piglet:
Our last house had cork tiles in the kitchen, which would have been fine and dandy if they'd just been on the floor. But no - they were on the walls as well ...

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quote:

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Originally posted by St Deird:
... accidentally shot an arrow through the floor, it was easily patched so you couldn't even tell where he'd done it.

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I would quite like to know more about this incident!

We bought a house with carpets everywhere at the end of last year, except the former kitchen which has staggeringly ugly 1970s tiles on the floor. It is still a source of much joy to look at the vinyl that now covers the kitchen and bathroom floors, instead of the hideous carpets. The kitchen one especially I kept spilling things on. Our plan is to sand the floorboards in the hallway and dining room for ease of cleaning, then have carpets everywhere else for warmth. We have neither pets, nor allergies so can get away with it.

I know my mother would prefer to have wall to wall carpet, but they had to put down wood flooring in their hallway to make it easier for her wheelchair. I think it looks better, and she appears to have got to like it - although they've kept carpets in the living and bedrooms (I don't think my dad really notices such things).
 

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Posted by Piglet (# 11803) on :
 
At some point in the 1970s, my parents carpeted over the nice maple floor in the sitting-room of the ancestral pile.

I hope that when the time comes for us to have to sell it, we'll be able either to have it uncovered, or at least get the estate agent to tell prospective buyers that it's there.

At least the wood in the hall, stairs and landing is still visible.
 

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Posted by Golden Key (# 1468) on :
 
This might be of use:

"Ask the Expert: The Ins and Outs of Wood Floors" (Remodelista).
 

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Posted by Dennis the Menace (# 11833) on :
 
We have timber polished floors in all rooms except kitchen, bathroom and laundry. Neither of us are carpet fans. We moved into our current house in 2005 to find some once very good quality wool carpet in beige/orange/brown tones in the front part and some extremely nasty acrylic sh*te in the back part. We waited a couple of months to lift the carpet to find to our amazement that the floors had been sanded and polished by previous owners so the job was relatively easy. The amount of dirt and dust from the carpets was incredible. As we live in a warm climate the cool of the timber beneath our feet is very welcome in the summer months and we cope very well with the short mild winters. We find the house seems much 'cleaner' without carpet.
 

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Posted by Brenda Clough (# 18061) on :
 
I am facing the costly prospect of taking out a quantity of 20-year old wall to wall carpet. The question is what to put in its place. Underneath is a concrete slab, which I have toyed with the idea of epoxying or staining in some thrilling hue, but that will be expensive. I am probably going to slam down the cheapest possible ceramic tile, ideally the kind that looks like planks of wood.
 

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Posted by St Deird (# 7631) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Scots lass:

quote:

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Originally posted by St Deird:
... accidentally shot an arrow through the floor, it was easily patched so you couldn't even tell where he'd done it.

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I would quite like to know more about this incident!

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quote:

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Originally posted by St Deird:
a bow, minus arrow, accidentally being released, will basically explode

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Does the force exerted on the string by the arrow really reduce the stress on the bow to that extent? Or is there some other effect that stops the bow exploding when there's an arrow on the string?
 

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Posted by mark_in_manchester (# 15978) on :
 
That intrigued me too. With my engineer's hat on, I would imagine that the presence of a load on the string (arrow) reduces the instantaneous acceleration the arms (?) of the bow can achieve as they convert stored potential (elastic) energy into kinetic energy. F=ma; F sounds like it is fixed by the tension in the bow so if 'm' is low 'a' gets very large. Since the displacement or excursion of the arms (sorry) is directly proportional to acceleration, I guess you risk a peak-displacement-related or 'strain' failure (as opposed to a peak-tension or 'stress' failure, if you pulled it too hard and snapped it). Peak-displacement failure sounds like 'it explodes' to me!

[ 18. May 2016, 20:42: Message edited by: mark_in_manchester ]
 

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Posted by jacobsen (# 14998) on :
 
I'm sure you're right, MiM, but now need to lie down in a darkened room....
 

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Posted by Piglet (# 11803) on :
 
I think I may come and join you.
 

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Posted by Alan Cresswell (# 31) on :
 
One of the (physics) students here is an archer. I feel an experiment coming on ... but maybe at the archery range on campus where there are no floors to shoot.
 

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Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :
 
We will need a report, Alan!!
 

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Posted by Piglet (# 11803) on :
 
With a video. And an explanation in words understandable for the piglet of very little brain.
 

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Posted by Sparrow (# 2458) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Piglet:

quote:

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Originally posted by Galloping Granny:
... cork tiles ...GG

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Our last house had cork tiles in the kitchen, which would have been fine and dandy if they'd just been on the floor. But no - they were on the walls as well ...

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The first flat of my own, I can only assume the previous owners liked brown. Brown lino in the kitchen, brown lino and brown painted walls in the bathroom. And in the living room ... the "feature wall" was dark brown cork tiles. All over.


 

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Posted by St Deird (# 7631) on :
 
As I understand it:
- bows create force
- all the force has to go somewhere
- if there's an arrow, it all goes into the arrow
- if there's no arrow, it pulls the bow apart
 

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Posted by Leorning Cniht (# 17564) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Piglet:
With a video. And an explanation in words understandable for the piglet of very little brain.

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quote:

---

Originally posted by St Deird:
As I understand it:
- bows create force
- all the force has to go somewhere
- if there's an arrow, it all goes into the arrow
- if there's no arrow, it pulls the bow apart

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St. Deird, have you considered applying for the post of Ship's Elucidator of Arcane Material? SEAM would fill the empty gaps in your life and bring you unending praise and thanks. You might even get chocolate
 

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Posted by Piglet (# 11803) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by St Deird:
As I understand it:
- bows create force
- all the force has to go somewhere
- if there's an arrow, it all goes into the arrow
- if there's no arrow, it pulls the bow apart

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Thank you.
 

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