Hallway flooring

[urbanturban]

Hoping someone can come up with a fab idea.........!

Moved into our new house in January 2012 and the hallway is wooden laminate flooring, all good condition. However the previous owners skimped on underlay/fitting etc and so the flooring kinda 'bounces' and creaks and is generally very loud.

Also, I have two DDs under 4 and another baby due at end September this year, and so, like many parents, I am quite a light sleeper. This means if I go to bed earlier than DH (or get a rare lie-in at the weekends) then the sound of people thundering along the hallway always wakes me !

So-we are thinking of replacing the floor covering in the hall.......think I would like a nice soft carpet but:

1. I know this is not practical with (soon to be) 3 DC under 5/prams/wet feet/muddy feet etc
2. Any heard-wearing carpet we have looked at isn't very bare-feet 'friendly'

So do you think it would be an option to floor the bit just inside the front door in coir/sisal etc and then use a softer carpet for the rest of the hall.........or, if we lifted the laminate and put down some proper underlay, do you think this would make a difference in slightly deadening the noise made?

Thanks in advance.........!

definitely have the floor properly relaid, with proper underlay - or replace the flooring, if what you have is cheap & cheerful stuff.

We have had carpet in the hall. The state it got into was very depressing, even with coir matting laid in the vestibule - we have laminate now!

If you could get everybody who comes in to take their shoes off at the door then you might get away with it; but with prams & small children you'll struggle

what's under the laminate? is it boards or solid?

Ah ponders that is what I suspected........DH agrees with you that carpet would be a nightmare and within 6 months I would be irritated by the dirty carpet (and he is probably right, dammit! )

We have floorboards under the laminate....it's decent quality I think, so I might just have to get the earplugs out (although with new baby due 24 September I don't imagine that sleep will come easily anyway!).

We did have laminate in the hall in our old house but it was just a short from vestibule whereas in the new house its a long hall running right through the middle of the house from front to back....

Take up the laminate and get the floorboards sanded? Much nicer looking than laminate and much quieter. And I would definitely say no to a carpet in the hall.

ooh, you could have a runner on top of the laminate!

\link{http://www.rugsandthings.co.uk/halls-doorways/hall-runners/casablanca-hall-runner.html\something like this} would be nice but there are masses out there. I have a v cheap (under a tenner) rubber-backed one from Aldi, which catches moisture/dirt that the coir mat misses & is dead easy to clean.

Take up the laminate and sand the boards, they are both quiet and practical, unlike carpet which is a no no when you have DCs IMO.

We have original boards in our hall which dont make any noise and they have withstood 2 years of 2 boys play including scooters and ride-ons...