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Wooden Floors

(40 Posts)
dorsetpennt Sat 20-Apr-13 09:37:54

I really like the look of wooden floors, even laminate floors look really nice and their upkeep is easy. However, I wish people in flats didn't have them as the noise can be annoying, you can hear the people above clicking away across the floor. Or even thumping across the floor without the noiseproofing of a carpets - where the sound is more muted.
I live on the ground floor and have neighbours above, their whole flat has wooden floors - really nice floors actually. I've lived here for nearly 30 years and up until 6 years ago the flat had carpets throughout. We had a fire and upstairs was very badly damaged - I suffered water damage - so the neighbours added a floor and put wood floors throughout.
The couple upstairs are retired and like most of us oldies own slippers which they use indoors. Different scenario if their daughter and GD visit, she wears heels and the child -aged 2 - hard soled shoes. So you can imagine that it can get noisy.
However, they are really nice people and nothing like the pair who lived there before, so I'll put up and shut up. smile

glammanana Sat 20-Apr-13 21:16:10

We have used light oak wooden flooring in this apartment in the lounge and entrance hall and white laminate in the bedrooms and I love it,it's so easy to keep clean and looks spacious with the apartment not being that big,in our apartment in Spain part of the Community rules where that if you lived above ground floor you did not wear shoes that would cause annoyance to your neighbours and if anyone did walk around in say high heels you could ask the Presidente to speak to them,politness goes along way as well don't you think.

grumppa Sat 20-Apr-13 21:57:22

A week ago Giles Coren, in The Times, reviewed favourably a restaurant in Manchester which had fitted carpets which looked like floorboards; this combined the trendy bare wood look with a solution to the acoustics problem. Sounds (interesting choice of verb!) a great solution.

Nelliemoser Sat 20-Apr-13 22:19:32

When my DD and future SIL moved into their house they went for wood laminate flooring. DD is now regretting it. DGS is becoming mobile but trying to crawl on a laminate floor is not easy and its not a cosy play surface. I could have said I thought this at the time but one has to be diplomatic.

annodomini Sat 20-Apr-13 22:51:42

My son and DiL moved into an Edwardian house last year. It has polished wood floors throughout the ground floor which give it a rather mellow look. The family take their shoes off at the door or wear Crocs around the house. When we were young, there were no wall-to-wall carpets and my parents were lucky to have acquired hand-me-down carpets from relatives, round which the floorboards were varnished with something called Darkaline. When we had a loft conversion, my dad did carpet the bedrooms with some awful blue stuff that looked like felt and 'fluffed' dreadfully when trodden on. He must have got it cheap somewhere!
I had wood effect laminate laid in the kitchen and dining room which gives a feeling of continuity and space; but in the rest of the house I kept the perfectly good carpets left by the previous owners.

Reddevil3 Sun 21-Apr-13 13:30:36

To sook
Like the rhyme- the only saying I know is:
"We aim to please, you aim TOO please"

petra Sun 21-Apr-13 15:41:56

As someone has said, there could be something in your lease. It is in ours.
But I draw the line on carpet in the bathroom.

On the subject of the lease: we have it in ours that the whole house (5 flats) have the right to share the loft. This can only be accessed from our flat; how would that work?

Sook Sun 21-Apr-13 22:18:56

Reddevil Not heard that one before grin

Gally Sun 21-Apr-13 23:14:05

DD has floor boards throughout and fluff builds up all round the edge of the rooms and under the furniture. It would drive me nuts having to sook it up with the hoover each day, at least with a carpet you don't notice it so much wink. In our old kitchen we had vinyl flooring designed like painted Scandinavian floorboards. Most people thought it was real and asked if I had painted them myself which I thought was wonderful as I can't even draw a straight line grin

FlicketyB Mon 22-Apr-13 08:42:13

When DD laid laminate flooring in the living area of her house she put purpose made underlay down first, It was a layer of some kind of foam and a silver backing. Its main purpose was to insulate the floor under the laminate but I would imagine used under laminate above ground level would also act as sound insulation.

jeanie99 Mon 22-Apr-13 08:45:40

I have wooden floors in the hall and dinner, apart from the kitchen and bathroom which are tiled have carpets everywhere else.

Can't image not having a carpet in the bedroom I wouldn't want to get out of bed to a cold floor on my feet.

harrigran Mon 22-Apr-13 16:22:09

You are right about the build up of fluff Gally I am always chasing tumble weed down my hall.

gangy5 Mon 22-Apr-13 16:31:13

You are correct tiggercat - I think that the majority of flat leases stipulate that all floors have to be carpeted. I live in a flat and this is in our lease. It is a rather obvious requirement - to be fair to all the other tenants

harrigran Mon 22-Apr-13 16:37:29

It was stipulated in our deeds but most of our neighbours went ahead with wooden floors anyway. My sister is beneath a flat that has ceramic tiles in kitchen and bathroom, sounds like a tap dancing cart horse when the woman is trotting around.

nanaej Mon 22-Apr-13 17:03:36

We have oak floors in the hall, kitchen/diner and back room but with rugs! Front room, stairs landing and bedrooms fitted carpet with ceramic tiles in bathroom/loos. Accept it can be noisy without rugs in flats!