Oak floor or carpet? Can't make up my mind ...... pros and cons please

[sandyballs]

We have finally got round to doing up our sad dated home and we are basically ripping it apart, extending and replacing almost everything.

Neighbours have done a similar thing and have lovely oak floors throughout the ground floor, open plan dining/kitchen area, lounge etc. Me and DH loved it and were convinced we would do the same ..... until we went into another neighbours last night who have the same layout but it felt much cosier and warmer, less noisy and clinical. Couldn't put our finger on what it was, then realised it was the fact they had carpet not wood.

Need to decide on this ourselves very soon, so pros and cons would be great, thanks.

We have just done the same thing and have finally got rid of our carpet and replaced with solid oak floor throughout the downstairs. Tis lovely I tell ya, lovely

Do you not find it echoey and clip cloppy Pesto?

No, it's just clean and warm & welcoming and we shall be having a couple of rugs aswell once we've finally taken all the boxes away.

We have an oak floor throughout the ground floor (where the kitchen, dining, sitting rooms are) and carpet upstairs and there is nothing in the world that would make me change it. While I think that tiles can be quite cold I personally don't feel the same way about wood which I consider "warm". Literally as well as figuratively in our case as we have used underfloor heating. Wood is also incredibly practical from a maintenance and cleaning perspective - there is no way that any carpet would survive downstairs in our house - waaaaay too filthy! I don't find it noisy and you can always put rugs down in places where you do want something cosy.

We have some wooden floors and some carpet. I prefer the carpets to keep clean. The wooden floors never seem to get properly clean - you can always see bits of fluff/crumbs/dust/tumbleweed that you have missed. Carpets seem to stay looking cleaner for longer. It is probably an illusion but nevertheless it feels that way.

We almost had wood in the lounge but didn't in the end because of the cosiness factor and because DC spend a lot of time on the floor and it is more comfortable for them. It seems to be warmer too and less echoy.

I am glad we stuck to wood in the hall and dining room from a mud and spillages point of view though. It is easier to wipe up wet spillages.

Not much help there - sorry. I appear to be arguing with myself!

I would definitely go with oak flooring. Our last house, which we had done up just the way we liked before having to move had wooden flooring, all the way through bottom level. We basically banned outdoor shoes and all had lovely warm slippers so it was never clip cloppy. And they are much easier to keep clean as well. Wipe and its gone. And you see the dust much quicker which is great as well. Can't wait till we finally have the money to change our new house!! Carpets will be banned - except in bedrooms, which is a totally different thing!!

I don't find it echoey at all ... I think it probably would be if you were to put wood floors upstairs but on the ground floor it isn't usually a problem is it?

God yes definately go with the oak. We have oak and would never have carpets in the living room again now I can actually see how much dust etc that gathers under the couch in a matter of days!

Agree with PestoLovelyMonster
We have just replaced all downstairs apart from kitchen, MUCH easier to clean than carpets and MUCH smarter (we did have horrid old cheap carpet though).
Beware, you will have to redecorate as everything that looked fine with your carpets will suddenly look old and tired with your lovely new floor .

We have oak flooring in the whole house and love it.

Just because you don't see the dirt on the carpet does not mean that it is not there. Wooden flooring is much easier to keep clean.

We don't wear shoes in the house so it is not noisy.

If you can go for proper wooden flooring, laminated flooring is not nearly so good.

I have Oak effect laminate throughout most of our house.

It is easy to clean and is almost 100% child proof there are no stains even though in three short weeks we have lived here it has had coffee, cherryade, yoghurt, milk etc spilt on it, unlike the carpet in my last house.

I do find it a bit echoey, alothough we have not got all the doors on yet as we are still in the middle of redecorating and renovating.

Dd1 has scratched her laminate by getting one of her 'pet stones' stuck under her bedroom door, but it's not really very obvious.

I'd definately get wood flooring over carpet if you have young children.

Oh another thing that annoys me about ut is trainers leave marks all over it, they mop away easily enough, but they annoy me so I make every one wear slippers in the house.

THanks for all your replies. Will need to have a rethink. It's so hard making these big decisions, I really don't want to look back at all the work we have done and money we have spent and think 'should have done that bit differently'.

Dh is annoying me as well, with his continual comment of 'well from a resale point of view it would be better to do blah de blah'. If we go through all the trauma of living in a building site for about 4 months there won't be a resale as far as I'm concerned, ever!!

Sorry, just reread your OP and realised you are redecorating everything. Doh!

Go for the oak flooring - it will look better with age. You can soften it with rugs in the winter for the cosy factor.

Unfortunately we do Bettymum as the plastering has blown in almost very room, so all looks rather tatty.

Is oak flooring suitable for a loo/bathroom? I'm thinking if we go for the oak then I want it everywhere downstairs, so it flows and we have a large bathroom downstairs.

Or a kitchen for that matter!! God, I'm such a novice at this, my head is spinning already and this is very early days as far as the project is going!! The guy is coming to draw the plans up this weekend, so that's how early on we're talking!!

wood for hall, kitchen and dining room, carpet in living room IMO

or a really big rug in the living room so there is only a foot of wood round the edge of the room, in which case you might as well have carpet

We have oak everywhere - upstairs and downstairs (except the bathrooms!). It does alright in the kitchen and would think it would be fine in a downstairs loo but don't think it would work in a proper bathroom.

Several other points to be careful of:

1. Is you house damp at all? If it is, wooden floorboards can swell and buckle in the damp. You need to get someone really good to come and measure the damp at various points and advise you what to do.
2. It looks lovely but can be cold underfoot and I find there is quite a lot of noise from upstairs.
3. I do find it very easy to keep clean and am very relaxed about scratches etc - make it looked loved
4. You need to consider how it would be finished - wax or varnish and the implications and costs of each.
5. In my experience the laying cost of the wooden floor was vast compared to carpets and you need to factor this in.
6. My house is not "cosy" and I think the flooring does contribute to this. It is however warm (in feel not actual temperature - its actually freezing) and welcoming and looks great.

I like my floors and wouldn't want to go back to carpet, but can see that there are pros with carpets.

We have it in our kitchen and downstairs loo and it is fine for there. Would be nervous about putting it in a proper bathroom although I know people who have.

I also agree about "flow" and think it is good to have consistent flooring. But I guess this depends on how big your house is - ours is relatively small and so looks much better with one consistent floor type. We have friends with a similar house and they have carpet in the living room (which is semi-open plan) and imho the little island of carpetting looks a little silly - makes the space look much smaller and it is also really grubby now. Low maintenance rugs for the living room are the way forward imo.

Just to add, no you can't have it in the bathroom. It states on the packaging not to be fitted in bathrooms or other humid areas. We do, however, have it in the downstairs cloakroom, which is fine. And again, we have kept the floor tiled in the kitchen.

We have black tiles in the bathroom and kitchen, which are connected and decorated v similarly too.

Then laminate throughout the rest of downstairs, dining room and living room are painted the same colours and the hallway is plain cream with red accesories and red stair carpet the same as the carpet in our bedroom.

The dd's have laminate in their room and its painted pink and purple completely different to the rest of the house, but I think my house flows well.

We have black tiles in the bathroom and kitchen, which are connected and decorated v similarly too.

Then laminate throughout the rest of downstairs, dining room and living room are painted the same colours and the hallway is plain cream with red accesories and red stair carpet the same as the carpet in our bedroom.

The dd's have laminate in their room and its painted pink and purple completely different to the rest of the house, but I think my house flows well.

we have karndean in downstairs, apart from lounge and got this because we have downstairs loo, kitchen, dining room and conservatory and wanted the same through out. found that all wood we looked at should not be used in kitchen, bathroom and would fade in conservatory. we did not want laminate because of the noise. It cost about £3K but it was worth every single penny.

Definitely would choose oak - looks nice and feels cleaner.
Re. the warm/cosiness - you can make that by how you finish it - the choice of varnish/stain/wax - could give it a lovely rich warm colour. Also the colours of the walls will have an impact so if you have large rooms you can get away with some lovely rich warm colours.
Reduce the echoyness with your furnishings - curtains not blinds, fabric sofas, lots of cushions. Rugs - although I put those in non traffic areas otherwise they are as much of a faff as carpet to keep clean.
And buy everyone lovely cosy slippers/ugg type boots etc for the newly redocareted home!!!

Oak + rugs, deffo. You can change the rugs if you get boredor roll them up for a party.
Great name Sandyballs!