Hallway floor ideas.

[Roobix04]

I need a new floor for my hallway. It's heavy traffic and goes from the front door to all the rooms in the flat. The thing is we have two indoor rescue cats and when one is stressed she sometimes urinates in front of the door. So I need a floor that isn't too expensive that I can easily clean and won't absorb the liquid or the smell. Sounds like a magical pipe dream. Any ideas?

Tiles. Traditional for a hallway, totally non absorbent, durable and easily cleaned. The larger the better as then there is less grout to get grubby. Darkish colour or a pattern will show the dirt less. Tiles are a bit cold and hard but that's not really an issue in a hallway.

Only thing is you do have to make sure the floor is properly flat and solid before the tiles are laid so that the tiles don't crack.

What have you got there at the moment?

At the moment there is no floor because of the cat. It's big wooden boards. We do have tiles in the bathroom and they've laid ok and haven't cracked. I guess tiles are the best option and I can always lay down a machine washable rug if needs be. Thanks for your response.

Yes tiles, we have the whole of our downstairs in tiles except lounge and dining room. As you say add a rug if you want to soften the look.

Can't you sand and varnish the boards?

tiles on wooden floors are pretty certain to crack. You can either take up the old boards and lay 25mm WBP ply; or you can put 18mm WBP ply over the existing boards.

Tiles are much more durable on concrete floors.

If you take up the old floor up you can insulate between the joists, which will reduce heat loss. Insulate all underfloor pipes and sweep up any rubbish, and clean out airbricks while you're at it.

PigletJ how would you go about insulating between joists without impacting ventilation risking damp/rot please?

It's not nice proper grained wooden boards it is large ply boards. The same as in the bathroom where we already have tiles.

I thought someone would come on and say Lino. It's going to be serviceable and affordable.

Lino is ok but it will absorb a bit of cat wee over time, as it's permeable. However vinyl could work as it's waterproof unlike lino. Still won't be as durable as ceramic tiles eg you may get the vinyl tiles un sticking or going grubby at the edges over time (cat wee won't get into the tiles but might loosen the glue). If you do go for vinyl I'd suggest a single sheet cut to size rather than tiles, to avoid this issue as much as possible.

If you already have large ply boards then prepping for tiles would mean taking those up and laying 25mm ply instead as PigletJohn says and making sure they are thoroughly screwed down to the joists and are flat and even. So definitely more work/more cost. Whereas vinyl could be put straight onto what you have.

Depends how long term a solution you want and budget available really.

Lelivre

Ventilation of suspended floors is of the air space underneath the floor, by airbricks (which need to be clean and unblocked) at each side of the house permitting airflow. There will be a crawl space or cavity which might be a couple of feet deep.

The insulation goes between the joists and does not project into the airspace below, or block it.

Draughts from suspended floors are worst around the edges of the room, where there is a gap between wall and floor which the skirting hides, so it is especially useful to stuff mineral wool round the edges. It is quite hard to do that without taking up the floor and removing the skirtings, but easy if you are fitting new boards.

Roobix04

Are you sure the existing floor is ply (pale and has grain and knots) and not chipboard (which is much cheaper and rubbish)?

Oh definitely chipboard then. It's a council flat so everything nailed down is the cheapest version.