We have carpet upstairs ( except in the bathroom ) The stairs are carpeted and so is the living room. The hall and all other rooms have Oak Karndean. Which is expensive but extremely hard wearing.
Good Morning Monday 22nd June 2026
Sign up to Gransnet Daily
Our free daily newsletter full of hot threads, competitions and discounts
Subscribe
Our living room and dining room carpets are looking decidedly tired and worn (just like me I expect!) and we are wondering whether to have some sort of hard flooring put down instead of carpets. I've always had carpets in these two rooms thinking that it was cosier and more comfortable. However - having spent a few days with friends where all their downstairs rooms are hard, this now seems a reasonable alternative.
What do other GNetters have?
Are you pleased with your choice and would you do the same again were you to have to renew?
How do dogs manage on hard surfaces, is it too slippery for them or is it easier to clean?
Help and advice please 
We have carpet upstairs ( except in the bathroom ) The stairs are carpeted and so is the living room. The hall and all other rooms have Oak Karndean. Which is expensive but extremely hard wearing.
At our home all rooms except the living room had laminate tiles. The living room had carpet. In my opinion both has it's own pros and cons. carpet is difficult to clean and gets damaged by water and can get easily stained. While the problem with laminate flooring is that it cannot be sanded or refinished. If you buy good quality carpets then it would be durable and easy to maintain. We usually buy carpets and area rugs from Surplus ( www.surplusfurniture.com/ )
Wood varnished floors on the first floor bedrooms, with scatter rugs.
Tiled on the ground floor, with some rugs except where there is underfloor heating. It is so much easier to keep clean and can still look homely with soft furnishings and rugs.
Every year we go on holiday with our two dogs to somewhere with wooden floors. Oh, the joy of getting home and not hearing the click, click of dog claws following me around ?!!. We have light fitted carpets in the house, but the dogs always come through the tiled utility room, and know they are going to have their feet dried before they are allowed into the tiled kitchen, so we don't have problems with mud from them. DGC are used to taking their shoes off when they go into their own home, so always take their shoes off when they come in here. Carpet still looks good after 10 years
I do like the look of some laminate floors but would never have it myself. When we moved into this house the ground floor was covered in it. Creaky, noisy horrible stuff. We pulled it up more or less straightaway. DH rewarded with a hernia for his efforts! Pure bliss when the carpet was fitted. The bathroom and kitchen are Karndean. (Our last house had a fairly large kitchen which had Lino. Our poor spaniel would skid in there so we put a large rug down for her, much safer!)
Got rid of carpets downstairs years ago had floorboards sanded and sealed and wish I had done it earlier. It is so much easier to keep clean. Just a warning about laminate it is dangerous when wet. We had it in the hall and landing and coming out of the bathroom to answer the phone I slipped and broke my wrist. A&E nurse said they had a lot of laminate accidents.
Carpet in two of our bedrooms and on stairs/landing.
Slate tiles in kitchen, bathroom and porch.
Everywhere else is good quality laminate (down 15 years and only one scratch) which has survived dgc etc....
SugarpuffFairy - we have a lot of hard flooring in our semi. Also our ds3 who lives in the other attached semi has fully hard flooring. He and his dw don't take off their shoes indoors and we never hear them or their two very large lively dogs. He never hears us (we also wear our shoes indoors.
Perhaps it is as mentioned by a pp, something to do with the quality of the underfloor cushioning.
Kahrs engineered wooden floors throughout downstairs (hall ,dining room, kitchen which extends into conservatory, downstairs loo)except for lounge which is carpeted . Put down 14 years ago and could be stripped up to three times. Will have hall done this year when we redecorate, as it has reached that stage . Would consider doing living room but its big and the carpet is ok for now .Would probably have a rug in there(it's N facing) but don't bother elsewhere and we don't find it cold . Wood retains heat ,especially in the kitchen/conservatory and dining room which have SE aspect . We use our dining room as a study and have put wooden mats under desk chairs to stop skidding as well as damage.
Karndean wood- look laminate in bathroom and smallest bedroom which we used to use as a study .
.We don't find wooden floors noisy though we do tend to walk around in bare feet
.Carpet stairs ,landing and other bedrooms
.We did it partly to cut down dust as DH suffers from eczema and asthma .But I love the look, even though they are a bit battered and the original honey colour has faded a bit in parts. I think they still look better than a 14 year old carpet would do in high traffic areas Easy to clean- hoover on wood setting and, you aren't supposed to, I steam mop every couple of weeks. .Our cats do skid around a bit on them ...
Oh! They've disappeared!!!
What's this all about?
Someone posted two identical posts on two different days? 
Message deleted by Gransnet for breaking our forum guidelines. Replies may also be deleted.
Message deleted by Gransnet for breaking our forum guidelines. Replies may also be deleted.
Message deleted by Gransnet for breaking our forum guidelines. Replies may also be deleted.
Good quality laminate and wood flooring throughout our downstairs, except for the kitchen and bathroom which are tiled with non slip tiling. Will never again have carpet in heavily used areas! Hard floors make the wee, poo and vomit of grandchildren, cats and incontinent puppy simple to clean up. No residual stains or smells!! 
We do have carpet in the bedrooms though.
Message deleted by Gransnet for breaking our forum guidelines. Replies may also be deleted.
I just moved out of an apartment that had what I thought was hard laminate flooring. It took some getting used to the hard surface bothered my feet and legs. I had been used to some carpet in the bedrooms and one living space and manufactured wood in the others. The laminate must of been some sort of vinyl because when I moved there were indentations where every piece of furniture sat.Even the dining room chairs and I'm not that heavy! 
We've put Amtico Spacia (a slightly less expensive product from Amtico) throughout our house downstairs and it's brilliant. Easy to keep clean with a damp mop and is actually warmer than when we had carpets. Everyone thinks it's real wood. I haven't felt the need to add rugs. Thoroughly recommended.
Just a warning about tiles on floors-PLEASE make sure they are non slip.
My friend's recently smashed her elbow into pieces slipping on a tiled floor when her feet were wet. She's going to have a permanent disability from this
, I'd hate anyone else to go through this....
We have a Victorian house; the hall floor has the original small mosaic tiles which still look lovely. Slate floor in the bathroom and carpets everywhere else. We threw out the old living room carpet and lived with the floorboards for a while as we decided what to do. We found the room felt cold and was very echoey and footsteps clomping round were very noisy so we got carpets put back for the warmth and quiet. But I admit that stripped and varnished floors look great, they are just not for me.
Carpet for us in sitting room and hall and stairs. Just recently done it.
Kardean in kitchen and bathroom. We have never been happy with the kitchen as you can see a ridge under one tile bad workmanship. We are thinking of replacing because of this plus I really wanted a matt finish. Our daughter had someone round and they laid lino that looks like wood strips. It's fantastic, you'd never know.
Reported
Message deleted by Gransnet for breaking our forum guidelines. Replies may also be deleted.
Message deleted by Gransnet for breaking our forum guidelines. Replies may also be deleted.
We have engineered wooden floors in the hall and diner which look fabulous.
Our bathroom shower room and kitchen are laid with porcelain tiles so all these floors are very easy to keep clean.
Lounge dinning room and all bedrooms are carpeted.
We don't wear outdoor shoes in our home so no problem with dirt and we don't have animals.
If you have animals you would need to consider which rooms they would go into and cover your floors accordingly if you want to keep maintenance down.
Definitely. But HQ will prob give the "benefit of the doubt". 
Registering is free, easy, and means you can join the discussion, watch threads and lots more.
Register now »Already registered? Log in with:
Gransnet »Get our top conversations, latest advice, fantastic competitions, and more, straight to your inbox. Sign up to our daily newsletter here.