Even in a smallish house or flat the amount of floor area to cover comes as a shock. the ideal floor usually turns out to be more expensive than your budget allowed for. However, since your floor is expected to last for years and will get the hardest wear of any surface in the house it is worth making sacrifices elsewhere and adding to your floor budget rather than making do with second-best.
Buy the best quality of carpet or flooring you can afford, bearing in mind the amount of wear each area is likely to receive. You may find you can renovate an existing floor surface in a spare room and add some inexpensive rugs.
It helps to take a scale drawing of the floors before you decide on something, and work out comparative costs.
Could you use your existing floor?
Before deciding to lay something over them, it is worth taking a good look at your existing floors. If these are timber boards and in reasonable condition without large gaps or bits missing, you could sand , seal or polish them. Even if some areas, such as in front of the doorway, are soft or worn, they can be cut back in a stepped pattern and replaced with similar boards from another room where you intend to close-carpet.. Before doing this, check that they are the same width and similar in colour: new boards could stick out like a sore thumb (though it is possible to stain them to color-match) Foireplace hearths (Cement or tiles) can usually be remoced and replaced by boards in the same way. Sanders can be hired or you can employ a contractor to do the work for you, For do -it -yourself, select a sander with a dust bag attachment (like a suction cleaner bag) which will reduce the mess of sanding. Each room should be sealed by taping round the tops and bottoms of doors to avoid the dust spreading. If you are doing the job yourself remove all tacks (often left from old lino) and punch nails below the surface of the boards.
When the floor is clean and smooth, you can choose a clear seal for a natural look, or a light to medium combined wood dye/sealer of the wood looks insipid.
Most sealers are suitable for timber, but check with the retailer or manufacturer if you are not sure. If you polish the boards instead, is a spirit-wax polish as the water in an emulsion polish affects untreated timber. Alternatively, the boards could be painted with floor or yacht paint.If you want a light-colored surround to a loose carpet, this is a good way of doing it.
Replacing tiles is more difficult, even if you can find ones that match. If the floor is in a generally good condition and only one or two tiles are cracked, you might be able to exchange them with the whole ones from a part of the floor which will be having a cupboard or other furniture on it (providing you can prise them up in one piece). But check the reason for the crack first-it may be that reason for the crack frirst-it may be that the floor is uneven or there is a loose tile.
If many of the tiles are breaking up oir otherwise in poor condition, it is better to rip them up and start again, even to the extent of putting down a new sub-floor.
(To Be Continued…)
