In principle it is possible to lay any floor covering in any room of a house, but custom and the practicalities of life generally tend to divide the home into 3 broad areas of landing. Access areas such as the stairs and the hallways need to be able to cope with heavy ‘traffic’ and muddy shoes. Ideal choices for a hallway are materials with a water-repellent and an “easy to clean” surface, for example, sheet vinyl, vinyl tiles, wood-strip or wood-block flooring, sanded and sealed floorboards, and glazed ceramic or quarry tiles. For stairs, where safety is paramount, the best material is often a heavy-duty carpet with a short pile, which can also be used on the landing.
Work areas such as your kitchen and bathroom also need durable floor coverings that are easy to clean, especially in the case of the bathroom, which must be water-resistant as well. Sheet vinyl is a popular choice for bedrooms, but tiles of various types can also provide an excellent surface. Sealed cork, with its warm feel underfoot, is particularly suitable for a bathroom. However, if you prefer carpet for these rooms, there are extremely hardwearing carpets available, with a specially treated short nylon pile that is easy to keep clean, and also water-resistant bathroom carpets that give a touch of luxury underfoot without turning into a swamp at bath time.
Leisure areas such as the living room, dining room and bedrooms are commonly carpeted wall-to-wall. Do not be tempted to skimp on quality in the living room, which gets the most wear and tends to develop distinct ‘traffic’ routes. It is reasonable, however, to choose light-duty types for carpeting for bedrooms.
Alternatives to carpets depend simply on taste in home decor. Options include sanded and sealed floorboards reamed with scatter rugs, or a parquet perimeter to a fine specimen carpet. Sheet vinyl or cork tiles may also be worth considering for children’s rooms.
Carpets
Carpets consist of fibre tufts or loops woven or stuck to a durable backing. Woven carpets are generally the most expensive. Tufted carpets are made by stitching tufts of fibre into a woven backing, where they are secured by attaching a second backing under the first with adhesive. Some of the less-expensive types have a foam underlay bonded directly to the backing; others require a separate underlay.
A wide range of fibre types is used in carpet construction today, including wool, nylon, acrylic, polypropylene and viscose rayon. Fibre blends can improve carpet performance; a mixture of 80 percent wool and 20 per cent nylon is particularly popular for providing a combination of warmth, resilience, wear, low flammability and resistance to soiling.
Pile length and density affect a carpet’s performance as well as its looks, and most are classified to indicate the sort of wear they can be expected to withstand… pile can be cut, often to different lengths, giving a sculptured effect; looped (shag), that is, uncut and left long; corded, which means uncut and pulled tight to the backing; or twisted, which gives a nifty effect. A dense pile wears better than a loosely woven one that can be parted to reveal the backing.
Carpet widths are described as broadloom, when more than 1.8 m/6 ft wide; or body (stair carpet), which is usually up to 90 cm/3 ft wide. Carpet tiles are small squares of carpet of various types, designed to be loose-laid. Cheaper tiles resemble cord and felt carpets, while more expensive ones may have a short or long cut pile. The most common sizes are 30, 45, 50 and 60 cm/12, 18, 20 and 24 in square.
Sheet-Vinyl Flooring
Sheet-vinyl flooring is a relatively thin material which provides a smooth, hygienic and easy-to-clean floor covering that is widely used in rooms such as kitchens, bathrooms and hallways. It is made from layers of plastic resins, with a clear wear layer protecting the printed design and frequently with an art air cushion layer between this and the backing for extra comfort and warmth underfoot. It is fairly flexible and easy to cut for an exact fit. It is generally loose-laid, with double-sided adhesive tape used only at the seams and edges.
Vinyl flooring is available in a wide range of designs, including realistic imitations of ceramic tiles, wood, cork and stone. It is sold by linear meter (or yard) front rolls 2, 3 or 4 in/6 ft 6 in, 10 ft or 13 ft wide.
Wood Floor Coverings
Wood floor coverings come in two main forms: as square wood-block panels made up of individual fingers of wood stuck to a cloth or felt backing for ease of handling and laying; or as wood-strip flooring interlocking planks, often of veneer on a plywood backing. They are laid over the existing floor surface. Most types are tongued-and-grooved, so only occasional nailing or clipping is required to hold them in place.
Wood-block panels are usually 30 or 45 cm/12 or 18 in square, while planks are generally 7.5 or 10 cm/3 or 4 inches wide and come in a range of lengths to allow the end joins to be staggered from one row to the next.