Wood flooring-advice needed!

[Bet01]

Hi everyone, we've just bought a Victorian first floor flat that has horrid old wrinkly and stained beige carpets, which we'd like to replace with wood flooring. We don't want to simply pull up the carpet and polish the floorboards as we'd no doubt make our new downstairs neighbour's life hell with clumping about!
So, could anyone help with the following:
I'm guessing it would need to be engineered wood not solid wood to allow for movement?
Who would be best to fit it? A supply and fit flooring company, a carpenter or builder? I'm guessing flooring company might be more expensive?
Can it be fitted over a flight of stairs?
Thanks in advance to anyone that can help!

Check if the terms of your lease allow it. I know from experience that wooden floors are not allowed in many blOcks of flats in London. You may need sound proofing.

Good point, I'll definitely check that out. I'd guessed we'd need sound-proofing underlay but hadn't thought we might not be able to do it at all...

Bump! Anyone else?

Have you considered bamboo? I have it in my kitchen because someone on here recommended it and have never looked back. If you search 'bamboo' in this topic you'll see my and others' enthusiastic posts about it.

Thanks hobnob I'll have a look. Sounds like a nice idea.

A Victorian house will not have any soundproofing, and hard flooring will make your downstairs neighbours life a misery

Depending on their temperament, they might come and bang on your door, or do something else.

Even a dense concrete floor and suspended celing with fibreglass quilt will allow noise through.

Carpet and a heavy felt underlay will muffle airbourne noise like conversations and TV, as well as absorbing footfalls.

Sound absorbency increases with weight, which is why I'd suggest a heavy felt rather than a lightweight foam.

Sorry.

We temporarily have wooden floors and rugs in our bedroom, rather than the carpet - and it really makes a huge difference to the noise levels coming both ways, even with additional insultation put into the ceilings of the room below. I can lie there in bed and hear exactly what's happening in the rooms below - which is really not what you want in a flat, I suspect. Looking forward to getting carpets and heavy acoustic underlay back before too long.

p.s. I am also the weird bamboo nutter, dedicated to spreading the cause of bamboo flooring across the UK.

Hmm interesting re: sound proofing. I don't want my downstairs neighbour to suffer. Maybe I need to reconsider. I might speak to a flooring company and see if they can advise. Thanks all.