Getting flooring right
Make sure you choose the best products for this key element of your home with architect Julian Owen’s expert advice
ere’s more to decide on than just the material, so expert Julian Owen explains how to specify your new floors
Of all the surfaces in the house, we have the closest direct contact with the floor. The walls and ceilings may be more noticeable, but we interact with the floor with every step we take. It also receives the most punishment from everyday use, so must be durable as well as attractive.
There is more to choosing the right materials and finishes for your floor than simply plucking a few products out of a catalogue. Here I’ll take you though the main considerations to make sure you make the right decision.
Connect or zone
If you have several interconnected rooms each with a different character, using the same floor finish throughout will give the interior design continuity – a concept that can be extended to link the house with the garden. This is often seen in open-plan kitchen-diner extension projects, which use the same tiling in the space linked to a patio with glazed doors. This seamless flow takes careful detailing to be successful but looks stunning.
In the opposite situation, where a large open-plan space is at risk of becoming too bland, the flooring can be varied
to differentiate each area according to its use. This provides texture and contrast, as well as allowing the finishes to meet the practical demands made by separate zones. This means that a single space used for food preparation, eating and relaxing can be split into distinct areas with their own character.
Floor height & half storeys
A house layout does not necessarily have to conform to the typical arrangement of two or three floors connected by flights of stairs, one above the other. Half landings can be made large enough to form sitting areas, perhaps with a view out over the garden.
If your plot has a steep enough slope, or you are prepared to sink part of the ground floor into a semi basement, different levels can interleave, perhaps connected by short runs of steps. Levels can also be changed within rooms, for example by raising the floor of the living area to make it feel more intimate. If you are planning to play around with floor heights in this way it is important to consider how those with reduced
mobility will circulate around the house, perhaps by introducing ramps between split levels rather than steps.
Sensation & noise
The feel of the ground beneath our feet is probably something we rarely consider inside our home, but there is a powerful subconscious effect at work. The gentle movement and creak of floorboards in an old cottage as we move through it emphasise the age and frailty of its construction, whilst a floor over a dense concrete slab will give an impression of solidity and permanence.
How often do you walk around your home with bare feet? A warm, soft carpet in a bedroom is essential for most of us because the rich texture instantly suggests comfort and luxury. If you like to pad shoeless about the kitchen you might decide to forgo the cold, hard practical surface of ceramic tiles for the warmth of a timber finish. Or perhaps if you or (more likely) your children are in the habit of running around the house in socks, some floor finishes can be so slippery that they are dangerous. There is a similar risk with certain tiles, which can be treacherous when wet, even if you are wearing shoes.
Closely related to the feel of a floor is the sound that our footsteps make. There is an opportunity to literally set the tone of a room, which should be an important consideration for the interior design. Elegant, smooth flat surfaces made of hard materials are a popular choice for anyone looking to create a minimalist flavour in their home. But rigid sound-reflecting floors should be chosen with care. They are ideal for hallways and kitchens, where they must be hard-wearing as well as stylish and a bit of reverberating noise does little harm. But if you want the best sound quality from your TV, an unyielding flat surface that helps to bounce sound around the room is unhelpful.
Laying softer floor coverings such as carpets or rugs will dampen down speech and music, improving their clarity. If you ever sit and chat with someone who has impaired hearing, they will thank you for considering this aspect of choosing finishes because it makes it easier for them to hear spoken words.
Colour
Traditionally, ceilings are supposed to be light and bright, floors darker and the walls somewhere in between. There is some logic to this because it mimics our experience of being outdoors and helps us feel grounded. There is also a practical benefit of this approach because darker colours beneath our feet are less likely to show wear and tear. A more contemporary look can be achieved by making the floors lighter provided a sufficiently durable and colour fast material is used, such as ceramic or porcelain tiles.
The almost-white carpets popularised by stylish trend setters of the early part of the last century, such as Charles Rennie Mackintosh, should be strictly the preserve of those who never expect to be visited by dogs or children.
If you wish to go for a bit more of a funky effect you can introduce patterns and bright colours using carpet, vinyl or decorative tiles. However, these need to be selected by someone with a good eye for colour because they will make the floor appear far more prominent than a neutral shade. It will fix the tone of a space that furniture and other decorations will have to match into rather than compete.
Should someone in your family have Alzheimer’s or similar form of dementia, bear in mind that bright patterns or sudden changes of colour across a floor may be disturbing for them, and a darker section may even be perceived as a hole in the floor.
Floor substrate
There is another factor that influences the floor design besides looks and durability that has to be decided before
construction starts – the substrate over which the floor finish will be laid. An in-situ cast concrete slab and screed is perfect for stone and ceramic tiles because they all share the same solid, rigid qualities, but a finish of solid timber boards should be laid with a little more care, because it is a natural material that changes its size slightly according to its moisture content.
Some timber floor suppliers will tell you that a concrete slab should be left to dry out for up to six months before their product is laid over it. Unfortunately this is often ignored on site but at the very least any timber coverings should be left in the house at room temperature so the moisture content will settle before they are put into place. If damp leeches into them from the concrete, wooden planks will change shape, distort and lift up. Most first
floors are made from suspended timber joists and floor boards, which are also prone to slight movement if they get damp. So if rigid tiles are laid onto them, perhaps for a bathroom, there is a risk of cracking occurring at the joints as the substrate below shifts around them.
This problem can be avoided by laying a damp proof layer of plywood and a waterproof membrane over the floor structure and detailing the junctions between floor and walls to allow for movement. A ‘floating floor’ is a way of speeding up construction by laying floorboards directly onto a layer of insulation and it is better to finish it with materials that will allow some movement such as vinyl, timber or carpet. Stone and ceramic tiles can be lain onto a floating floor, but as with timber substrates, special construction details and high quality workmanship are necessary to avoid them cracking.
Maintenance
Once your floors are installed and the rooms are in use, if you want to preserve their quality and character make sure that the manufacturer’s guidelines are followed when they are cleaned. Using the correct products and maintenance regime will extend the life and, in the case of timber floors, protect the appearance.