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Original poster

Please help me choose a new floor!!!

19 replies

cupcakes · 02/04/2006 20:08

We're having a small extension built at the back of our house and knocking down the current back side wall to make one biggish room looking out over the garden where we can eat, the children play and there be no tv.
It will be overlooked by the kitchen which has an internal window. There will be a back door on one side plus french windows. And I really need help choosing what kind of flooring to get!
It will go through to the kitchen (this bit of the house is fairly open plan) and I want to use the same flooring for our downstairs loo/shower room. So it needs to be pretty water resistant and easy to clean.
I've been umming and ahing about floorboards or black slate or quarry tiles (or smaller pannets(?)). Def not lino or anything like that. We're getting a Stanley range (like an aga) so I'd like something quite traditional but also easy to clean (can you even mop floorboards?) - we have a dog.
Please please tell me any thoughts or ideas. It'll be about 40 square feet (if I've done my sums correctly).

OP posts:

Tiptoppop · 02/04/2006 20:28

Wood - for the warmth factor. Slate or stone will render a large area a tad cold perhaps. Wood for me - easy to clean, practical, looks the business with minimum maintenance. Looks tradiitonal too. I always think stone and slate floors look like a sauna at CentreParcs.

Mallarkey · 02/04/2006 20:29

Well cc we've just had an extension and have put down porcelain tiles in a random minky colour. sweep and mop v.easy! doesnt show all the bits! have underfloor heating underneath aarrgghh bliss. (next door put down laminate had a flood and all lifted and needed replacing.)

Dalesgirl · 02/04/2006 20:32

Last summer I had my kitchen done out with Marmoleum. It's like a traditional Lino tile but it's far more sophisticated now and the colour ranges are great. It's easy to keep clean and looks great. I have a buff colour which kind of looks like a stone tiling job. It's warm and I would recommend it. You get your flooring people to lay it. My carpet shop sold it and did the whole job.

wordgirl · 02/04/2006 20:34

I know you said no lino but honestly \link{http://www.forbo-flooring.com/framework/desktopdefault.aspx?menu_id=2464\marmoleum} is fab

wordgirl · 02/04/2006 20:35

Oh, snap Dalesgirl! (takes me a while to do links) I have it in my hall with a sort of compass design in the middle and I love it.

noddyholder · 02/04/2006 20:36

I have black non slip slate throughout the downstairs including the d/s loo and it is fab always looks good and doesn't show the dirt.

Original poster

cupcakes · 02/04/2006 20:40

I can't open that link. But I'm afraid if it looks like tiles or suchlike I won't like it - I want something that isn't pretending it's soemthing else iykwim! We have laminate at the moment and I don't like it very much (even though we chose it). I don't like the way it has this even sheen to it and the fact that the 'natural pattern of the grain' is repeated every metre.
I like the idea of wood but I fear we couldn't afford a beautiful wood so would just have cheapy pine with an orangey shiney glaze.
I was quite certain about getting slate or tile till I considered the coldness factor - and the spa appearance!

OP posts:

Original poster

cupcakes · 02/04/2006 20:41

noddy - where did you get yours from? What makes it non slip?

OP posts:

noddyholder · 02/04/2006 20:41

It looks really good and the matt finish ones not that cold

noddyholder · 02/04/2006 20:44

We chose one with a textured finish and then they put something called posiseal(?)on it to make it less slippy.Got the tiles from local shop

Original poster

cupcakes · 02/04/2006 20:47

a local shop like a builders merchant or garden centre?

OP posts:

noddyholder · 02/04/2006 20:49

A local tile shop called master tiles I'm not sure if they are nationwide but the tiles are quite plain so am sure they are available anywhere

lilibet · 02/04/2006 20:49

Cod and I have and a few others on here have this \link{http://www.karndean.com/newhome.asp\karndean}

It's wonderful, easy to care for, not as cold as slate, less noisy than laminate. All round really good stuff

noddyholder · 02/04/2006 20:50

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

nooka · 02/04/2006 20:51

We have old Victorian tiles in our kitchen and I think there are three drawbacks, a)they are cold b)things break when you drop them and c)they never look quite clean. My parents had new kitchen tiles put down in their kitchen (I'm not quite sure what they are, maybe quarry tiles, anyway something terracotta looking with grouting) and they have the same disadvantages - also they used the same tiles in their downstairs loo/shower room, and I definitely would not do that, as the room gets quite smelly when their are too many men staying IYSWIM!

Original poster

cupcakes · 02/04/2006 20:52

I really want real.

OP posts:

Original poster

cupcakes · 02/04/2006 20:53

nooka -yeugh!!
I don't mind them looking a bit grubby - my floora are often a bit dirty anyhow so it might all blend on. On something like laminate though the real dirt really stands out.
God, I'm a slattern.

OP posts:

nooka · 02/04/2006 21:01

Ha Ha, I thought you'd like that :o I think that you need to make sure that whatever you chose isn't porous. We have sealed tiles in our bathroom, and so no pee problem - but they do get slippery when wet, so not really a good choice!

mrsdarcy · 02/04/2006 21:50

I love slate floors. We had one in the bathroom in our old house and you didn't realise it was dirty untill you tripped over a fluffball - it was so easy to look after. It wasn't particularly slippy either. We've got builders in at the moment doing our kitchen and will get another slate floor. \link{http://www.stonelldirect.com/index.asp\Stonell} are very good. Last time we used the tiler they recommended and he was excellent.

The slate floor wasn't very cold either. It absorbs the heat quite well so doesn't get cold the way ceramic tiles do. You need to make sure your floor is suitable though.

hth

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