Anyone know anything about natural flooring - sisal and the like?

[KirstyJC]

Hi

I want to replace our tired old laminate flooring in the sitting room, and am wondering about sisal carpeting. Does anyone have any experience of this? Would it be soft enough for little ones to roll around on? Is it easy to keep clean (comparable to normal carpet?) Does it last long or wear out quickly?

I have found a website that also has seagrass and coir - anyone know about these? I always thought coir was quite rough - isn't that what they make doormats out of? - so I assume it wouldn't work for a sitting room floor?

I am getting all confused so if you could shed any light on the matter I would be very grateful!

Many thanks!

i have both seagrass and jute in my house
the jute is softer and in the dcs bedrooms but although it absorbs spills and the usual stains that kids produce it never looks ultrasmart iyswim
the seagrass tho rough looking always maintains its'looks despite being on the hall/stairs/landing

I love sisal but 2 carpet places said it was awful for stains etc.

rugs are so much easier, lots of them

All those natural floorings never felt soft enough to me. And yes, I was warned that sisal is impossible to get stains out of.

We have sisal on stairs and landing and in DD's room. It's so rough that it's actually fairly painful to walk on (Kersaint Cobb, so a fairly expensive make). It wears very very well, but get any sort of stain on it and you're buggered. Looks great but I'd never have it again and I definitely would not have it downstairs in a high traffic area where outside dirt could be walked through, drinks spilled etc

Ps. I managed to get a wool carpet that looks a bit like the natural flooring types (if that's the look you want) But much softer.

www.woodwardgrosvenor.co.uk/uk/carpets/view/-/carpet/560-_97666#main

Thanks for the feedback, I think I will definitely rule out sisal for the sitting room! Might investigate seagrass for when we come to do the hallway and stairs though.

Many thanks x

We were put off these types of flooring by a carpet place too -basically they said they are not good if you have animals or children (spillages, stains, sharpening claws etc) .

Another to consider other than the staining issue (awful we had sisal in our flat and had to get the hairdryer out for water spills!!)is that seagrass and sisal become very slippery after a couple of years and as such are not recommended for stairs