Will I regret not heating this? And does anyone have laminate in their bedrooms? Warning: kinda boring thread

[theladywiththelamp]

Help, please!
We are in the process of a new build house going up, and are trying to decide on floor tiles. We love the wood-effect tiles, and would like them throughout the downstairs so it is a uniform look, and we had originally planned to lay underfloor heating in the kitchen and lounge, but the cost of underfloor heating is scary. So we have considered just laying the tiles throughout without it, as it is a new build so loads of radiators and it is well insulated. Will I regret not having the underfloor heating, particularly in the lounge in the dead of winter?? Im being stupidly indecisive and need some sensible opinions.
We are also considering laminate in the bedrooms upstairs as carpet drives me mad. Does anyone have this, and if so, is it noisy downstairs?
Thanks in advance....

My parents have laminate in bedrooms. It is noisy. They have tiles in kitchen diner & bathrooms. No ufh. V cold.
I was considering laminate - I would have loved wood but just can't afford it, so have decided upon vinyl in all bedrooms & bathrooms & marmoleum in kitchen diner, as I want it to be warm & not too noisy.
HTH

My self built house has wooden floorboards throughout upstairs with no carpets because I hate them. Just a few rugs scattered about. We put a layer of plyboard (I think it's called) under the wooden floorboards to provide an extra layer of insulation and it works well because we don't find it noisy at all.

We have no carpets downstairs either, again just a couple of rugs. We have ceramic tiles in the kitchen and the hallway and either solid wood or laminate in the other rooms. No underfloor heating as we couldn't afford to install it, so we have radiators. Yes the tiles can be a bit chilly underfoot, but we just wear slippers. The advantage is that it's really easy to keep clean. Our house is timber framed and very well insulated and is cosy & warm even with the tiles and wooden flooring.

The question to ask is "how did everyone get by before the days of underfloor heating?" (And I don't mean pre-Roman times).

If your house has sufficient radiators for it's size and a suitably-sized boiler, then it will be perfectly warm no matter what floor coverings you choose. Underfloor heating would be very nice, but with radiators would only really serve the purpose of heating the floor to walk on barefoot. If you wear slippers, you won't need underfloor heating.

Also, I'm not sure that laminates or timber flooring are advisable for underfloor heating anyway. It's mostly used for tiled floors, or concrete ones covered in carpet.

In short, my answer is that you won't miss it. Anything apart from carpets upstairs will be noisy by the way! :)

I wouldn't have laminate flooring if it came for free. It's very noisy and even the best looks cheap compared to wood.
We had a new build and also laid real wood floor boards.

We have underfloor heating as well, which yes, is expensive, but the rooms are so much better without radiators and no boiler to maintain and replace, which is a consideration.

A new build house will have an insulated concrete floor, so the floor will not be particularly cold, and will have no draughts.

However if the house has been empty the concrete slab will have cooled, and will not warm up until the sun beats down on it next summer (the radiator heat will go up to warm the ceiling, not down to warm the floor).

Buy a few rugs. You will have to wear socks in winter.

If you were going to get UFH, obviously get a wet system with the pipes laid in the concrete, because energy from electricity costs three times as much as energy from gas.

Hard flooring upstairs means the noise will travel.

I have wood in the living room and tiles everywhere else downstairs - kitchen/diner, hall, tv room, utility. I just have regular raditors have good insulation. Its not cold but it is a bit echoey. I'm hoping that a few rugs and curtains will sort that out.

I live in a house with engineered wood floors in most rooms, and tiles in the kitchen/bathroom. Used to live in a house with laminate flooring and I didn't notice the noise tbh, but perhaps it's because I got used to it and it was a busy urban environment so not somewhere you'd expect quiet anyway. We don't make a huge amount of noise as a family, no toddlers etc. We don't have rugs or curtains, they seem a bit old fashioned to me and more trouble to clean.

I don't have UFH and it's fine, I wear slippers/indoor socks almost all the time. Although I've visited houses which do have UFH and it does feel very nice! If it was affordable I would have preferred it, but the floors were already here when we moved in.

Just recently got laminate flooring upstairs - noise not a problem got the best underlay going...v thick. Would highly recommend the laminate

Thank you all for your comments, really useful. The point about electricity being more expensive than gas was something I stupidly hadn't factored. I think I am mainly worried that the rooms will be chilly as our last house had porcelain tiles in the kitchen and was freezing in there, but admittedly we only had a poxy plinth heater in there, not a radiator. We don't wear shoes indoors, so I'm not worried about 'tapping' or 'clicking' noises upstairs on laminate, just general noise conduction (if that's the word) in general, but I can see that hard floors won't muffle the noise like a carpet would. Our kids play like a herd of elephants anyway and always sound like they're coming through the roof, even with carpet. I think you all may have saved me ££ on the UFH so thanks again! Tkmum, what brand of laminate upstairs did you go with? Gozo, we considered amtico/karndean for bedrooms but the samples I saw in a showroom were scratched which concerned me, considering it's meant to have a long warranty.