Flooring for beach holiday home

[Pewit]

I share ownership of a large, modern, open plan property in Cornwall which is let most of the year to short-term tenants. The garden is grassed but invariably sand from the beach comes in the house stuck to shoes/feet.

The main living space (approx 10m x 15m) has glass on 2 sides and is currently carpeted but it's getting faded and so we are looking at replacing this with either laminate, fibre or carpet. The floor base is level concrete and there is a step halfway down the room.

1. We like the look of laminate but will it stand up to sand scuffing? Will it be too noisy in such a large area?

2. Is fibre such as Sea Grass worth considering?

3. If we went for carpet what type of material would you suggest?

I found a US site http://www.seemydesign.com/livingroom/elementsideas/flooring/comparison.htm with a comparison of floor coverings, does this hold true for the UK?

 

[JIM456]

Hi,
I don't think laminate would perform well...it certainly won't if it gets wet or experiences wide variations in temperature (which may be the case if there are large expanses of windows). If your really after that look then get real wood.

Sisal, Seagrass and Coir carpets are excellent for this kind of specification, they are good for bare foot traffic and the look should complement a beach house.

If its a commercial concern with a high turnover of tennants and you've experienced difficulty with wear and tear, and staining, then you might consider Bonar & Flotex carpet. Flotex is extremely hard wearing, has a very dense surface pile which will resist sand grains from filtering down, and has a high-denisty, waterproof backing.

Finally ceramic/stone tiles...or vinyl sealed cork tiles, might be an option?

Also you should ensure you have good mats at the entrance doors and providing shoe sotrage facilities there might encourage tenants to remove their shoes when they enter.

All the best.
Jim

 

[big-all]

helllooo pewit and welcome

definatly would say no to laminate water and sand bad combination
laminate has only a very thin top layer with the patern on it