Carpet or No Carpet

[said]

Do you have carpets in your house/flat/apartment/bungalow? or do you go along with the modern hard flooring?

[susanb]

I live in a purpose built 1970's, ground floor flat.
Between my flat lounge and the upstairs flat lounge is

my false ceiling of 12mm sound board, 100mm insulation, original plasterboard ceiling, Concrete block flooring, floor joists with chipboard flooring on top, then laminated floor in the upstairs flat, not underlay and carpet.

I hear them every time they walk across their living room.

Modern flats have clauses in their lease forbidding laminated flooring because of the noise issue.

[Toodles McGinty]

I live in a ground floor flat. Hard flooring everywhere but the bedrooms. Large rugs to soften the look.

If I wasn't on the ground floor, I'd have carpets because of the noise. Having said that, my upstairs neighbours have carpets and still sound like they are clog dancing most of the time.

[steve]

If animals then hard floor, easier to clean. In our zoo mostly tiled and some laminate

[local]

Understanding how sound travels is the first job, unfortunately its much much harder to block the sound from your side of the ceiling.


There's plenty on the net about it.

Luckily its not something that affects us now but we have had it years ago.

There are some simple steps often overlooked.

[grassroots]

Laminate for me except kitchen and bathroom. Can't beat it .

[Hamble]

A mixture.

Stone floors downstairs covered by carpet in the lounge and office.

Kitchen is tiled -delicious on bare feet in hot weather and painful without slippers in the winter.

The TV room/hall/dining room and laundry room/toilet shower all have laminate flooring.

Upstairs all the rooms are carpeted except the bathroom and en suite which are tiled.

The stairs were bare wood when we moved in.
We had a carpet runner put in as running up and down them so many times we found going down one gathered momentum to a dangerous degree.

[The PNP]

Modern flats have clauses in their lease forbidding laminated flooring because of the noise issue.

I'm not in a flat, but often visited a relative in Sandown Court. Flat above that one had carpet, which kept things pretty quiet - but you could hear their vacuum cleaner.

Here, carpets have given way to good quality cushion-vinyl and replaceable runners, except for the stairs. Vinyl is easy to mop clean, also prevents any liquid spills from getting into the floor - which can be a problem with laminates. No pets btw.

[jamyramy]

I'm not in a flat, but often visited a relative in Sandown Court. Flat above that one had carpet, which kept things pretty quiet - but you could hear their vacuum cleaner.

Here, carpets have given way to good quality cushion-vinyl and replaceable runners, except for the stairs. Vinyl is easy to mop clean, also prevents any liquid spills from getting into the floor - which can be a problem with laminates. No pets btw.

well if you've beasties especially polar bear samoyeds laminates hard on them .no grip .have laminte in bathroom had a near dice with a tumble more than once .kitchen tiles the same as well,so what yer do carpets hold the odours but eith regular cleaning more comfy and safer too!laminate looks good but shows every spek .lino well isn't that self cleaning and hygienic antimicrobial cause of its makeup.depends on your lifestyle,cleaning dogma and of course ones fellow space sharers.whats a few germs between buddies,haha.x

[seivad]

Do you have carpets in your house/flat/apartment/bungalow? or do you go along with the modern hard flooring?

I don't know about "modern hard flooring", hardwood floors have been popular here for decades. We bought our last house in 1984 and it had white oak floors throughout.

In our current house we've got travertine tiles in the main entrance hall, the entrance hall from the garage, the laundry room and two bathrooms. The rest of the house, including stairs down to the basement, are native red oak

[said]

I live in a purpose built 1970's, ground floor flat.
Between my flat lounge and the upstairs flat lounge is

my false ceiling of 12mm sound board, 100mm insulation, original plasterboard ceiling, Concrete block flooring, floor joists with chipboard flooring on top, then laminated floor in the upstairs flat, not underlay and carpet.

I hear them every time they walk across their living room.

Modern flats have clauses in their lease forbidding laminated flooring because of the noise issue.

I did not know about the modern flats and forbidding laminate flooring. That is interesting. That problem does not affect me - but I do have carpeting in every room, except the bathroom where there are just bathroom mats. I do so because carpets absorb sound, prevent drafts and are just so much more cosy. It is argued that carpets are dirtier than laminate flooring - I don't think so. I clean mine regularly and when any looks tired I just get another one fitted.

[said]

I don't know about "modern hard flooring", hardwood floors have been popular here for decades. We bought our last house in 1984 and it had white oak floors throughout.

In our current house we've got travertine tiles in the main entrance hall, the entrance hall from the garage, the laundry room and two bathrooms. The rest of the house, including stairs down to the basement, are native red oak

Says she, where there are massive big forests everywhere and where many houses are built of timber! I am surprised though, since Canadian winters are so much colder - surely it would be warmer having carpeting? It is also more soundproof with carpets. Underfloor heating can cause boards to dry out and warp.

The only place where I would have tiles everywhere is in one of the hotter countries - having tiles down, and wood flooring when you come in from the rain, dripping wet - really does not sound appealing to me.

[said]

A mixture.

Stone floors downstairs covered by carpet in the lounge and office.

Kitchen is tiled -delicious on bare feet in hot weather and painful without slippers in the winter.

The TV room/hall/dining room and laundry room/toilet shower all have laminate flooring.

Upstairs all the rooms are carpeted except the bathroom and en suite which are tiled.

The stairs were bare wood when we moved in.
We had a carpet runner put in as running up and down them so many times we found going down one gathered momentum to a dangerous degree.

The trend is for timber or laminate flooring - and I can see why some people may prefer it as it is easier to maintain. In the South, they would be horrified to find a house for sale with fitted carpets - while in the North many people prefer carpets. I like the comfort and warmth of a carpet, cleaning is no problem as someone else does that.

[said]

I live in a ground floor flat. Hard flooring everywhere but the bedrooms. Large rugs to soften the look.

If I wasn't on the ground floor, I'd have carpets because of the noise. Having said that, my upstairs neighbours have carpets and still sound like they are clog dancing most of the time.

That must be very distracting - the noise overhead. I would hate that. They must have that very thin carpeting. It must be very difficult if someone is renting too - because they would not want to spend out on someone else's property. Even the rugs you mention are expensive for what they are - I was surprised when I noticed the cost of them.

[said]

I'm not in a flat, but often visited a relative in Sandown Court. Flat above that one had carpet, which kept things pretty quiet - but you could hear their vacuum cleaner.

Here, carpets have given way to good quality cushion-vinyl and replaceable runners, except for the stairs. Vinyl is easy to mop clean, also prevents any liquid spills from getting into the floor - which can be a problem with laminates. No pets btw.

I did not realise that so many people have problems in flats due to noise above. You would think that landlords would have been more sympathetic towards tenants - but I suppose that laminate can be cleaned better for new tenants moving in and would not need replacing. I also don't have any pets - but if I did, they would not be in the house anyway.