Doing a house extension at the moment, part of the extension is making a sun room which leads into a kitchen/dining room area. I want these 2 areas to share the same flooring, and its not going to be carpet. So that leaves some form of hard flooring.
It also needs to be hard wearing and reasonably dirt proof or easily cleaned. The sunroom will be our principle in/out of the house, and cause we have horses dirty shoes are going to happen from time to time. Also, cause I cycle to work, there will be times I come in from the commute and dump the bike in the room for the night, even if its been raining.
So I've been looking at porcelain tiles as they are strong, hard wearing and easily cleaned, but was also wondering whether natural stone flooring like travertine or limestone would be upto the task as well. The price difference from what I've seen is within budgetin terms of the porcelain / natural stone, but just wondering whether natural stone flooring is upto the task, or is it a nightmare to keep on top of.
any experiences ? thanks
Er...
I don't want to come over all Northern and peasant, but what the **** is a 'sunroom'?
Who are you , Louis the XIV?
Natural stone will be about three times the price of polished porcalain.
Natural stone is lovely, but needs to be laid correctly by someone with experience of working with it. It's also a git to keep properly clean and regular cleaning and sealing to keep it looking good.
Porcalain on the other hand is pretty much bomb proof, literally.
I'd recommend getting an electric underfloor heating kit under it too. It can be very cold in winter. It takes the edge off, costs buttons to run and will stay warm for ages. Just get a decent kit like warmup or heating solutions etc
sunroom ... more realistically its a room wi' big windows ... whether it gets the sun or not, well thats a different story.
underfloor heating is something i'm still swithering about. the reality is that in the winter it'll not be used much in the evenings, so the plan is to have a long low radiator under the big window, and on the wall at the other side, one of those thin wall fireplace/heater things. The raditor will be good to have for drying things on and the fire good for a boost to heat the room when needed ( plus a nice feature ). Having underfloor heating as well I think may be over kill. OK, the floor will be colder, but its not really an issue to us we dont think.
What makes natural flooring harder to lay than porcelain tiles? Just that they are little more fragile ?
All porcelain is not the same, some of the cheaper stuff available is actually porous and will need sealing to prevent it from staining. Travertine is a soft limestone, full of holes which need to be filled (either by the manufacturer or by the tiler)and then sealed lots. Slate is a good compromise between looks, price and cleanability. Have a look for info [url= http://www.mandarinstone.com/ ]Here[/url]
Just bought a load of Travertine tiles for the hall and downstairs cloakroom (bog). They are porcelain, and the tile shop says no need to seal them.
So I hope they are hardwearing 🙂
Also putting underfloor heating in :-).
That's this week on holiday sorted - new bog and sink, full re-decorate hall, stairs etc. install heating & tile floor, remove and cap off two radiators, bla blah blah......
I'd suggest terrazzo as a compromise.