Flooring

Flooring products can be split into two groups; those that are used in their raw natural state, whether harvested from trees and plants, shorn from sheep or hewn from rock, and those that seek to imitate nature as closely as possible.

Thanks to modern technology, the parameters for choosing between the two groups have shifted – with underfloor heating, hard floors need no longer be cold floors and with the advances in photographic reproduction, imitations need no longer be the poor cousin of the real thing. 
Your budget will always be a major constraint, but bear in mind that however light your tread, your floor is going to get a great deal of abuse, so balance the initial cost against its life expectancy – and then make sure you know how to grow old gracefully together.

The secret to eternal youth for carpets lies in the underlay, and it is well worth the extra outlay for a good quality one.  Underlay provides a “shock absorbing” layer between the carpet and the subfloor – without it, the pressure and friction of each footstep would be absorbed by the carpet, resulting in accelerated wear.  Top quality rubber underlays are exceptionally resilient and don’t retain dust, unlike their felt counterparts; don’t opt for the cheap ones, as they will quickly flatten and consequently offer little protection. A good underlay can make a cheaper carpet go a long way and give it the luxury and comfort of a more expensive one.  It also  provides excellent heat and sound insulation – so you might want to put down a cheap carpet in your teenager’s bedroom for the unfinished pizza (upside down) and pot of nail varnish (open and on its side), but unless you enjoy the same taste in heavy metal, don’t skimp on the underlay!

Wool has been used for carpets for centuries and for good reason – it requires little processing to become yarn, so retains all its natural resilience even after being spun and woven. Good to know, too, that wool is a totally renewable resource and that keeping a sheep cool and comfortable in the summer results in keeping us warm and cosy in the winter!  Also remember that the higher the wool content of your carpet, the less static it will be and therefore the less dirt it will attract and trap.

Of course, wool isn’t the only natural product that can be woven into carpets – if you want something different, check out the following alternatives,  all of which are now readily available, thanks to the recent globalisation of resources. 

Unlike wool, seagrass is almost impermeable to dyes, so is limited to a range of natural shades (soft browns, beiges and greens), but this also means it has unrivalled natural stain resistance. 

Sisal, on the other hand, can be dyed any colour and then woven into different designs. 
Extracted from plants grown in regions of East Africa and Brazil, it is traditionally used for making rope because of its inherent strength - a property which it retains as carpet.

Bamboo fibres are also used for making ropes, and can be made into hard-wearing carpet with a very contemporary feel.

One of the most durable natural textiles is coir – from the husk of the coconut palm – which is why it has ended up as the humble doormat.  However, its rich, coarse texture also makes it a good choice for hallways and areas of high traffic and it can be woven into several designs, the most popular of which is the herringbone.

The crisp contemporary look of a woven paper carpet totally belies its recycled origins; from subtle natural shades to vibrant multi-coloured weaves, there will be one to complement every colour scheme. And don’t worry about it regressing into a sea of pulp if you spill anything on it, as it is impregnated with resin, making it highly water-resistant. 

If you like padding around in bare feet, it is definitely worth putting samples of each through the “toe test” before you decide which one feels the most comfortable for your tootsies. Jute, for instance,  is one of the softest natural fibres – the finest is grown on the fertile plains of the Ganges Delta – and, as a carpet, is smooth to the touch and very durable, making it a good choice for the bedroom.

From small plants we move on to trees and natural wood flooring. An advantage of wood - and indeed of any hard flooring - over carpet is that it provides an allergen free environment, as it is easy to keep clean and free of dust mites.  Its advantage over stone or tiles (in the absence of underfloor heating) is that it is a poor conductor of heat, therefore acting as a thermal insulator, and is warm to the touch.
The most ecologically sound wooden floor should be reclaimed, but allow extra time and labour to fit it, as most are supplied “as is”, complete with staining and marks from old nail fixings.  Some of these marks can be removed by sanding, but you have to live with those that are left as “characterful defects”.  It’s always worth over-ordering boards, so that anything that crosses the boundary from characterful to unsightly can be made into a rabbit hutch.

If opting for a new wooden floor, make sure that it comes from a sustainable source – suppliers should be able to advise on this.  The least expensive boards will be supplied “unfinished”, which will only save you money if you are doing the fitting, staining and sealing yourself.  If this doesn’t appeal, go for “prefinished” boards, which are factory sanded and lacquered or oiled.  Lacquering gives the wood a smooth, hardwearing and easily maintained surface that can be sanded and re-applied as often as necessary over the floor’s lifetime, bringing it right back to its original state.  Oiling gives a more natural matt finish, impregnating the wood and protecting it from moisture; bear in mind, though, that you will have to re-apply regularly to keep the floor protected against staining.

Parquet floors – small blocks of oak or pine laid in a herringbone design - are beautiful and distinctive, enjoying a revival from the Victorian and Edwardian eras.  However, be aware of the high installation costs, which will usually outweigh the cost of the flooring itself.

We have so far been considering solid wood floors, but if you want to lay directly onto a concrete or wooden subfloor without nailing, then you need to consider “engineered” or “laminate” flooring. 

Engineered floors consist of a thin layer of the real timber of your choice – either over 3mm. thick, which can be sanded up to 5 times, or a veneer of under 1mm., which cannot be sanded at all – which is bonded to a layer of non-decorative structural wood.  The surface is lacquered for protection and the whole has greater stability than a solid floor – so you shouldn’t have any problems with it shrinking or expanding. 

A laminate floor makes maximum use of modern technology whilst salving our conscience and saving our trees.  The décor layer is a photograph of real wood printed on paper, which is then impregnated with melamine resin and coated with a strong transparent protective layer; this is then bonded to a wooden board. This type of flooring is now so durable that you will see it in most high street retailers, where customers are not generally known to wipe their feet, let alone change into slippers.  But don’t let its commercial image put you off – there is such a variety of designs and plank sizes that you will easily be able to find one to suit your home.  Do be aware that there is always an element of risk if you are going to use a laminate floor in your bathroom.  Check with the supplier that the panels are made using water-resistant boards and that the joints will be sufficiently tight not to allow water through.  At least with no-glue floors, in the event of a bathroom Tsunami the planks can easily be temporarily taken up to dry before being replaced. 

For those of you who enjoy watersports, it might be advisable to opt for vinyl flooring, which comes in sheet or tile form and simulates stone, tiles or wood. If your tendency is towards extreme sports, the thicker the vinyl layer (65mm. or more is good) the better the performance; properly installed and maintained, a good quality vinyl floor can last 20-30 years – so make sure you like it before you lay it! There are two types of backing: felt which is stuck to the subfloor, and fibreglass which is more dimensionally stable and can be installed without glue.  If you go for a 12’ width you may get away with no seams, which will eliminate dirt or moisture ingress. 
Although it requires a little more organisation of (and care by) the trades, I would always recommend laying the floor before installing your sanitaryware or fitting the skirting boards and bath panel, as this means that you will have no raw edges, which are both unsightly and susceptible to dirt and water. 
There is no doubt that good quality vinyl flooring does have great physical advantages over its natural competitors.  It requires minimum maintenance, is warm and quiet underfoot and will not be damaged if something is dropped on it.  Equally, your grandmother’s Ming vase should not shatter in the same way as it would if dropped on a stone or tile floor. 

However, there is a place for everything in this world, and for those of you who are prepared to put a little more work into your floors, you just can’t beat the look of the real thing – just don’t knock that vase! Conservatories and entrance halls are especially apt areas for natural stone floors, where you need a hard-wearing surface that also provides a visual link to the outdoors.  Prices vary considerably, both across and within the various stones, so it’s worth shopping around.  One of the cheapest is slate, but don’t think you’re restricted to grey – it comes in a wide variety of colours, ranging from beige through green and grey to almost jet black.  The top surface is usually riven – i.e. showing its natural uneven split from the rock surface, but it can also be honed to a smooth finish and polished (as for fireplaces).  Luckily for those of us with slate roofs, it is a non-porous stone, and therefore fairly resistant to staining, but it will still need a degree of protection. 

Much greater protection will be required for limestone, one of the softest and most porous of the stone options.  The risk of potential stains can be largely averted by impregnating the stone and sealing the surface, but make sure it is totally clean before applying the sealer, otherwise you will be sealing the dirt in as well as out!  It will be difficult to avoid a certain amount of wear and tear with limestone, though, so be prepared to love it like your favourite old one-eyed teddy bear.  One note of caution if you are using it in a conservatory, which is flooded with natural light: because limestone is very pale in colour (from almost white to a light brown), it can tend to be dazzling on a sunny day or cold-looking on a cool grey day.

Sandstone is in the same kind of price range as slate, but is porous like limestone, so requires the same kind of initial sealing and maintenance.  It comes in a much greater variety of colours, though, and any one batch will have considerable variation – whites, reds and browns – so take care if you are trying to lay a fairly consistent pattern.  It is advisable if you have more than one pallet delivered, whichever type of stone flooring you choose, to take from all the pallets as you go, rather than finish one before you go onto the next; this way you are more likely to get a more even distribution of colour variation.

One of the most challenging floors to lay, in terms of pattern more than colour, is marble.  Don’t try and follow any of the veins – they will run out – rather lay the tiles so that the veins lie in roughly the same direction.  You will also find that it is easier to lay a marble with many smaller veins, as opposed to a few thicker ones.  Well laid and highly polished, a marble floor is undeniably the most luxurious and opulent of the stones – it is also one of the hardest wearing and easiest to clean, hence its prevalence throughout airports and hotel bathrooms abroad.  (Oh, the shame of arriving back to the smelly, sticky carpet of our own airports and the cracked tiles and stained grout of our bathrooms after the acres of polished, gleaming marble on the continent!)

There are a couple of rules to follow whichever of the natural stones you may choose.  When ordering samples, bear in mind that they will be small and will serve as an indication only of the colouring – ask for as many as you can to cover the colour variation and try and make sure you see a picture of a whole floor if you can’t get to see one in real life. Never instal on a flexible subfloor – a smooth, dry, damp-proofed concrete surface is the best, but failing that, the only wood you should ever use is exterior grade plywood which has been solidly fixed down.  If your concrete floor is in poor or uneven condition, you need to coat it with a layer of self-levelling screed.  If it is new, it will take about 6 weeks (for a 4cm screed) to dry out – longer in damp, midgy weather, although I have found it possible to cheat a bit using a de-humidifier. 

Whether stone or wood, carpet or vinyl, plank or tile, installing or replacing floors is going to mean a considerable outlay, both in labour and materials, so it stands to reason that you are going to want them to last as long as possible. Always find out how the suppliers recommend maintaining their floors, and get the appropriate products for cleaning and/or re-sealing.

We’ve all been told that hoovering is good exercise (oh yippee!), but more to the point it stops build-up of dirt in a carpet, which accelerates wear.  Remember that cleaning does not mean scrubbing and detergents – this may be successful in removing a stain, but will also damage the floor surface and destroy any protective layer.

But if you’ve ever wondered why the blood stain on the library carpet keeps re-appearing months after you thought you’d got rid of the evidence, it’s not Colonel Mustard’s ghost coming back to haunt you, it’s simply the capillary action of blood slowly bringing more up to the surface…so don’t use the kitchen knife or the revolver if you don’t want to get caught.