Flooring for a new house?

P

Polestar

Registered User
Messages
16
I am in the process of buying a newly built house. It comes without flooring.

It is a 3-bed, 2-storey house, app. 1300sqf. The bathrooms are tiled.

While I do my research, what would you recommend? Laminate on the ground floor (living, dining, kitchen) and carpet upstairs (bedrooms)? Laminate throughout? Tiling even? What materials?

Any recommendation for installers in Dublin/Wicklow?

Any idea how much it could cost (range)?

Sorry, lots of questions... Thank you.
 
Is there underfloor heating? That might influence the decision, from reading the building fb pages most people especially with UFH are tiling everywhere, wood effect tile seems very popular, saw a house recently and it's tiled in every room upstairs and down in same tile. Not what I'd like myself but very sleek looking alright, was in another small conversion yday, ground floor only and the kitchen/living room/bedroom were all done in same laminate, again looked very well too.

I have an older house so no UFH and I am a carpet person! Maybe there is dust under the bed, I don't care (I'm sure dust accumulates under the bed with other floors too, realistically how often does one move the bed to clean under there!) I have Vinyl tiles in the kitchen/dining room, I don't like hard tiles and the LVT are a good compromise, I also did the bathrooms with them (diy job) and the utility room. I am taking up a carpet in a downstairs child's bedroom as it's old etc and will put down the vinyl tile there too.
 
I don't like tiles anywhere other than the bathroom, maybe the kitchen. Laminate is hard wearing, cheap and looks good. It's also very easy to install.
 
For me, it would be tiles in kitchen, bathroom, utility and, maybe, hallway. What are your upstairs floors made of? If concrete, I would consider laminate with tiles in bathrooms. If wooden floors, I would carpet due to the noise downstairs although we didn't and just finished upstairs with wooden floorboards. Noisy. Hate carpets as they do harbour dust and aggravate asthma and critters.
 
avoid tiles on a new concrete floor; wait at least a year so any movement / settlement is finished.

I'm a LVP flooring fan these days, it's relatively cheap easy to fit and easy to replace; same with carpet on stairs and bedrooms.

I have tiles in my own house and whilst they badly need to be replaced, the mess, dust and noise has put me off doing it for the last two years.
 
Back in the day people used to put polybond sealer on concrete floors before fitting their flooring. It was just a clear bond and it was said it kept the dust down. Obviously the floors would need to be thoroughly cleaned beforehand. Not sure if it is still recommended. Our resident expert :)
Leo, might advise in due course.
 
Do you know how long ago was the slab poured? Concrete slabs take some time to dry fully, you want no more than 4/ 4.5% if laying wood or laminate flooring. If you don't have access to a moisture meter, tape some clear plastic down and see if condensation builds up in the next couple of days.

Sealing is still recommended, but best done once the moisture level is low.
 
Last edited:
I'd say the polished concrete would have had to be planned before this stage? That said I believe it practically always cracks eventually and that would drive me mad! Couldn't be looking at random cracks in the floor, bad enough in paths and driveways!
 
- If you've allergies / asthma avoid carpet and go for hard floors (laminate/tiles/concrete/wood)

- Consider future children / pets, its easier to clean hard floors. But on the flip side, I consider falls down the stairs worse if wooden floor versus carpeted.

- Laminate versus engineered wood - We had laminate, but now after getting work done in the house now have engineered wooden floors downstairs, the laminate was far harder wearing. If we had pets/children, I don't think that the engineered wood would do well.

- If choosing tiles for the floor, avoid textured ones, they're a pain to keep clean.
 
Congratulations on your new home. Tastes and times change. Unless you love a particular style and colour it is always best to lay flooring which does not require remedial works when removing it. Laminate is hard wearing and easy to keep.The same would apply to wall tiles and bathroom suites. Don’t go for the latest trends. There is a lot of gray being removed from homes at the moment.
 
Thank you all for the replies. I really appreciate it.

To sum up:
  • 2 young teens, no pets yet, hay fever sufferer.
  • Concrete floors, already poured, will have a look at moisture/sealing.
  • No underfloor heating.
  • Bathrooms already tiled.
  • Kitchen is open plan but there is a breakfast bar making sort of a U, so not sure how tiles would look if I do laminate in dining/living but it could work.
I like practical, easy to clean and hard wearing, so I am leaning towards laminate throughout at the moment with the possibility of tiles in the kitchen.

Any idea how much it could cost?
 
Are you suggesting DIY?? Is it really that "easy"? I do like a challenge, but I've never done anything like that before...

Any guides you would recommend?
 
I think it depends on the type of LVT, there is glue down and the click together stuff, for the glue down you need a seriously smooth surface, my kitchen floor had to have leveller put on it to make it suitable. I did the utility room myself and also did the levelling stuff, I didn't bother with it in the bathroom and to be honest it would have been a better job if I had but a tiny room so not a big deal. I have put the glue down on wooden upstairs plywood floor and it was easy enough once you make sure no screws protruding etc.

No experience of the click together which seems to be easier to diy.

What sort of driveway/outside area do you have, only ask because my previous kitchen floor which was vinyl was ruined with little nicks from gravel stuck in runners of teenagers! Now I still have the gravel and lots of people wear runners and unfortunately I see a few very small nicks in the LVT tiles from it too, not nearly as bad though as the vinyl was and there is always the option to lift a tile and replace especially with the glue down, I have spares!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top