What floor to choose!

[glenfoster]

Hi,

I've just moved into a new house which was very run down and am about to redo the flooring in the kitchen / diner, hallway and office and I don't know what to choose! There's about 30m2 to cover over the rooms.

My options are...
1. Parquet flooring which I can get for free and lay myself - small strips 12cm x 2cm
2. Solid wood reclaimed floor (about £20 p/m2)
3. Tiles with underfloor heating
4. Laminate
5. Lino

The parquet floor being free is obviously a cheaper choice but am I going to regret doing it myself? Reclaimed floor would be good but I'm not sure of the quality of wood I'm going to get. I'm not keen on tiles with underfloor heating as it will probably end up costing the most. And finally laminate or lino seem to be the easy choice which I'll end up replacing in a few years...

Please let me know what you would do in my situation!

Thanks in advance,

Glen

 

[crazydaze]

Choose a good quality laminate and you'll never need to replace it.

I guess it depends what you want to achieve as an end result/finish and how much you want to budget to achieve it?

 

[mointainwalker]

Seems a bit strange to compare floor-covering and heating ( tiles and UFH) with just floor-coverings and then say it costs the most.

What's the cost of heating - and what type - with the other options ?

 

[Deluks]

Tile the kitchen, with UF if you can.
It's peace of mind that if the sink or washing machine leak, the floor can just be mopped.

The rest is personal pref.

 

[glenfoster]

Thanks for the replies everyone. The UFH is the loose wire type and will probably add around £600 to the total price whereas the other options won't be cold so shouldn't need it.

We've got the (free) parquet blocks now and they're generally ok quality but all have bitumen on the back. I might try and lay a metre or so and see how we get on although the preference would probably be tiles...

Glen

 

[WoodYouLike]

Before you try and lay a sq m of wood blocks that still have bitumen on them, remove as much as this stuff as possible or you'll be waiting for ever for it to bond to the underfloor.

And don't use them when there's UFH involved (smells!)