To want wood flooring in our loft bedroom? Survey

[tak1ngchances]

We are in the middle of a loft conversion, choosing tiles, paint, plug sockets yadda yadda.

Our bed will have a creamy upholstered headboard. The walls will also be creamy beigey taupey. I really want Walnut flooring. However DH wants carpet for the following reasons:
Warmer underfoot
Softer underfoot
Quieter (under our loft is a guest bedroom that will get used max 8 times a year)

I absolutely LOVE wooden floors. I have never had one, closest I came was laminate in my first flat.
I think we can get beautiful soft rugs either side of the bed for something soft underfoot when we get out of bed

But I don't want yet another freaking carpet.
AIBU?

DH suggested I do a survey here. Can you give me your thoughts, preferably based on experience?

Carpet. When people fall over on wood, it can be really bad.

My mother got rid of her carpets "for hygiene and easy cleaning". She fell over, broke some blood vessels on her scalp, and needed stitches, because the blood would not stop.

Is there any possibility that you will have young children in your bedroom? (Sorry if that's a tactless question.) They fall over and off beds, a lot.

Last post was unclear. What I'm trying to say, is that that head injury would not have happened on carpet.

I hate the carpet in our loft conversion and wish we had had wood. One of the worst mistakes I made in the house. Short term gain left long term irritation.

Carpet

DD1 has thick carpet and I can still hear her moving about in the room below.

Thin flooring is even worse, DH had have breakfast in bear feet or he woke the nice girl in the flat below walking across the kitchen Lino.

I didn't blame her at all for complaing he got up at about 5 am

Bare feet, bear Grrrrrr!

startail

I assumed you meant he had to wear slippers like this.

I thought that too Jessie!

Wood floors are popular at the moment but their impracticalities are finally becoming more and more widely recognised.

I would never specify a wood floor for a loft conversion unless the client was absolutely adamant however it is easier to fit a wood floor and then, if you don't like it, overcover with carpet than the other way round...

what impracticalities pendeen?

We have a snazzy laminate that looks like wood. We spent rather a lot on our ensuite and it's also a large floor area to cover. There is wood/laminate floor underlay as well.
The actual floor is about 1foot above the original ceiling/loft floor with the supporting beam underneath. The original insulation was also kept which acts as a good sound killer. I can occaisionally hear DH roll the office chair backwards but that is the extent of it. It's never been cold underfoot either.
We had ours put down as the skirting was done so the flooring goes right up to the edge with the skirting boards over the top so there was no need for beading. We didn't even pay extra for the fitting either :)

wood floors also need cleaning a lot more - the dust really shows up. This may or may not be a good thing, depending on your enjoyment levels of floor cleaning.

No to carpet - yes to a wooden floor. Our stairs to the loft are just wood too. It's a long way up to the loft with a vacuum cleaner, but very easy to leave a spare brush in the en-suite! Yes, you get clumps of dust, but at least that dust isn't stuck in the carpet and is easily swept away. No problems with noise, and if it's you up there, you're not going to be bouncing around like young children . . . or are you?

Wood, wood, wood. Carpet is vile. It is one giant dustball, a pain in the arse to vacuum. We live in a standard start of 20th century terrace, stone, high ceilings, room under roof on top floor. We have laminate on the ground floor and top floor and stripped cheap pine wood floor (it's probably been put there when the house was built) in the middle floor bedrooms. I honestly cannot say that it is any more noisy than in houses with carpets where I lived. If you are concerned about noise, put sound insulating material under the boards. It is also not cold underfoot. While laminate can be cold, real wood gives out warm glow. And you can always put a pretty rug on top.

claudebussy

Poor impact and airborne sound insulation, greater (tactile) temperature variations (i.e. unless there is substrate heating then hard floor surfaces often cold to the touch), slippery when even the slightest trace of fluids are spilt, increased labour costs for cleaning and more easily damaged are just a few of the impracticalities.

Now frequently banned in domestic flat conversions because of sound problems alone.

But, to be fair people's choice between carpet or wood / laminate systems is usually based on personal preference rather than architectural considerations (you have probably guessed that I am an architect) so OP - as you have already expressed a view then by all means use the opinions of the wood supporters camp on here to convince your DH.

We've got electric underfloor heating and carpet. Works really well. Saves space on radiators, the heating doesn't need to be as fierce in the loft because it's several degrees hotter up there.

Wood. You can get various sorts of noise insulation to put in under it and unless you have shoes on the noise will not be too bad anyway

Wood floors need cleaning a lot more ??

Not in this house .
I clean my wood floors about once every few weeks, kitchen floor every day and carpets need vacuuming much more regularly than my wooden floors. They don't show anything up at all.

Go for it. The guest room below will be seldom used. You could always put rugs down later.

We have real wooden floors throughout the house plus loads of lovely kilm/Persian etc rugs. I love it! And our wood floors are very easy and quick to clean - easier and quicker than DD's carpeted bedroom.

goodness sharenicely - aren't you lucky. Mine need sweeping far more than that.

Hi tak1ngchances,

Just wondering if you went ahead with the wooden floor after? I'm in the same predicament as you were in March! Thanks!

With the special sound-proffing underlay, a wooden floor won't be any different to a carpet. We have an upstairs living room with a wooden floor and it's not noisy at all.

We did a loft conversion 2 years ago. We have a wood floor. The steels beneath the floor mean it is elevated off the ceiling below, so noise is not an issue at all. I'm surprised that everyone else says it's noisy as really the steels should mean no noise (at least not vibrations). I have on occasion pushed the bed to one side and used it as a dance studio We also have underfloor heating.

We have nice soft rugs either side of the bed. I'd definitely choose wood again. It looks nice and gives a greater feeling of space imo.

I hate wooden floors. But my wife seems to like them and we have bare floorboards everywhere. Must be an Irish thing ;)

The other thing no-one's mentioned is that wood does wear and needs regular sanding and varnishing to look really good. However the noise should be the real clincher imo.

Why not just choose a carpet you really like?