Carpet vs Other flooring

[IorekByrnisonsArmour]

We live in a period property.

All of the ground floor rooms have either original floorboards, tiles or vinyl flooring.

On the first floor we haven't really done anything yet. In 2 bedrooms we stripped the boards, the smallest room has a carpet and the remaining bedroom, landing and stairs are untreated boards, they are truly horrible.

I love the feel of the carpet, but there is a definite smell to it. The floorboards are draughty, but you can clean them.

We just can't decide whether to strip the other floors and put up with draughts or carpet the rest and put up with the smell.

Or is there an alternative? What flooring do you have in you bedrooms?

We too live in a period property and have, for the past 8 years we've lived there, had floorboards in nearly every room (apart from stairs & landing which was carpeted).

We have just had Karndean laid in the kitchen (due to repeatedly treading on slugs, which come up in the evening from under the boards), and are having the hallway, stairs, landing and 2 of the 3 bedrooms fully carpeted.

Our floorboards are generally in great condition (apart from kitchen which were dinged & dented from pulling them up due to kitchen re-fit & plumbing issues), but the drafts / slugs are driving us mad. I'm abit worried about carpet in the hallway (husbands idea, not mine) but we've bought hardwearing carpet and are having a huge coir door mat laid, flush with the carpet, for the first 1metre inside front door.

I think the task of trying to clean up floorboards is quite hideous (did it in an old house - sanding / varnishing etc). And by the time you've hired the sander, paid for all the sanding sheets, varnish etc, you might as well have had carpets laid (In my opinion). Depends on how much you like DIY / have got time to spare to spend time getting the boards into a reasonable state.

We're really pleased with our Karndean kitchen floor - google it, its fab stuff (Like rigid vinyl tiles that are warm, hardwearing & don't click-clack like hideous laminate flooring, which I detest!)

Thanks icrave I'll definitely google that.

We haven't had slugs but do get the occasional earwig not too bad if DS 2 is home as he will put them outside to be "reunited with your family"

I think the rest of the bedrooms will have to be carpeted. It's that carpet smell... I love it in store, just not in my house

Buy carpet - stick to natural fibres as they smell less & try some of the tips here to reduce smells.
Try to find natural fibre carpets such as [[

Naked Flooring or www.alternativeflooring.com/
You are looking for products that avoid adhesives and plastic/foams as that's what gives off the smell.

Why don't you put wooden floors over the original floorboards? Then you won't have draughts, but it will still be easy to clean..

I was going to say, I didn't understand why a new carpet should be smelly, but I'd always have a natural fibre one anyway, because the synthetic ones set my teeth on edge.

However much I rate hard floors downstairs (and I do) I can't imagine not having carpet upstairs ( except in the bathroom).

We got our floorboards sanded and varnished and the gaps filled so that it has become a smooth surface. We are very happy with it! No drafts but still a lovely natural and original look!