crap floorboards in the hall - what will look good on top? amtico, yes or no?

[elliott]

Another flooring dilemma. We have a large Victorian terrace with a nice big entrance hall that needs new flooring. We were going to lay carpet but I think this will be a BIG mistake maintainance-wise. So have been thinking of something more practical, but I really want it to look good...problem is that the existing floorboards are not in a good state at all, pretty uneven and wobbly.
I have thought about amtico but will it look rubbish on top of such an unpromising base?
Any other ideas? Builder says replacing floorboards with new solid wood flooring would be a horrendous job and likely to ruin the skirtings, decor etc.

Amtico needs a flat base, so they would have to lay plywood anyway.

Coir matting is a bit more forgiving than carpet, but would also need hardboard and underlay at the least.

You can't really lay a good surface on a rubbish base, so chances are you'll have to do something to the boards anyway. There are companies that repair and sand original floorboards -- this can look quite good and is probably no more expensive than eg. amtico.

How crap are the floorboards? I'd probably have them sanded and see how they look like. But that's me, I find old, wobbly wooden floors are the best in any situation...

They are pretty crap. and a bit of a mix of vintages too.
Thing is, we have already had plywood put down on top (all set for the carpet), so I can't really check it now - but I'm still not sure that it is good enough for amtico - if I'm paying all that money I don't really want it to feel loose and wobbly...what else can they do to improve the surface before they lay it?

a friend of mine put Amtico or something similar over plywood and it looked fine (not wobbly).

How about tiles?

Definitely tiles

I think tiles will be cold. Will give it a bit of thought though.
I wonder how much what is underneath the plywood affects how they feel underfoot?

Having plywood underneath should insulate them a bit. Don't know about the adhesive, maybe if that is kind of rubbery that would help as well?

'Fake' textured ceramic type tiles aren't as cold underfoot as something like quarry tiles, though for a Victorian house quarry tiles do look lovely and should add value if done nicely. You can always put a rug or two on top!

ply is the perfect base for tiles and flexible adhesive makes it feel 'right'.Agree that some ceramics aren't that cold

Could you take up the ply and the boards and start again - reinforce or replace any rotten joists underneath, it might help.
Hard work but if it will bother you later on, worth doing before you invest iyswim.

When BG took up the boards in my old flat to lay pipes, they cut through a joist and left it so it sank when you stepped on it.

Nothing I could do except take up the floor again and try and bolster it - didn't do a very good job but I stuffed some wood underneath, so it didn't sink so much.

If the floor isn't stable, any flooring you get will degrade quicker due to movement.

we've got the same...victorian house, crappy floorboards..amtico too expensive so we've decided on solid wood flooring which will be laid on top of the existing floorboards (quite common to do this i think - they nail it.). Only thing is, unless you want a 'lip' somewhere you need to consider doing the whole of downstairs. Actually, it wasn't as dear as I thought it'd be (grade A solid wood for one hall, lounge, and kitchen diner (72m2 total) came to about £3300. You could also put it ontop of your plywood I think as this would be more level.

We had a right old mixture of stuff to deal with in our hall area - old wobbly and mixed aged floorboards and then unlevel concrete in parts too.

On advice we put 14mm ply down first and then laid solid oak boards over the top which were glued / nailed down. It has made a massive difference and is definitely a better way forward than carpet. We do have a slight level issue coming into the kitchen (where we have slate tiles) and t hen also into the sitting room. But we'll be recarpeting that room soon anyway, so again as that room is also a mix of old boards and concrete and is incredibly drafty, we'll put ply down first before carpet and that should even up the levels a bit.

The different level into the kitchen we'll just deal with but after 4 months - you just don't notice it anymore.

Sorry typo - meant draughty rather than drafty!?

and they don't have to remove the skirtings..they use a 'biscuit-cutter' (I think it's called that)..it slices off a small section of skirting and they fit the boards under. I've seen the effect and it's good, and you don't notic the difference with high skirting (or low ones for that matter). Get a flooring man in..they usually advise and give free quotes

Thanks for these further ideas - what sort of person can I ask for advice? I like the idea of a solid wood floor on top but not sure how it would work - presumably there would be some kind of lip between the hall and the other rooms. we also have about four steps down to the kitchen - not sure how this would work. How thick are the new boards?