Browse Forums Flooring & Floor Covering 1 Nov 29, 2008 7:43 am Hmmm my wife and I are stressing out over the decisions to make about floor coverings.
Priorities, obviously conflicting -- good thermal conductivity for passive solar heating on north-facing living areas -- low thermal conducivity so as not to be cold in the morning under bare feet -- soft, for children's play area, which is really a second adjoining living area and is also north-facing -- easily cleaned (current rental has kitchen carpet, OMG ) -- durable Where we are at currently is carpet in the kids play area, halls and bedrooms, and tiles in the kitchen and living room. My wife's main concern is that tiles will be cold underfoot. Since doing a search on the topic on here I have also read that the grout is prone to getting and staying dirty, and they can be prone to breakage. I'm interested in getting some more opinions on all of this. I'd also like to know if there is an alternative to tiles that is still functional for pulling solar heat into the slab. "Now, supposing a house to have a southern aspect, sunshine during winter will steal in under the verandah, but in summer, when the sun traverses a path right over our heads, the roof will afford an agreeable shade, will it not?" -- Socrates, ca. 400 BC Re: Tiles... cold, dirty, breakage-prone? 2Nov 29, 2008 8:31 am We had long hard toss up over hard floors too and ended up with floating floor in hallways and casual liveing, carpet in bedrooms and formal lounge.
In my old house the front door opened directly into lounge and then lounge flowed thru archway to dining, so that was all carpet - the area around the door was always a problem, the dining was OK but we had no little kids. We had floating floor in kitchen and hallway, the square stone look planks, not timber look, and no problems with it but this one in our current house (standard timber look) doesn't seem as tough, fine scratches already after only 1 month and dust really shows on it - made worse by the fact we have no garden yet, just dirt, and are liveing surrounded by house building on a new estate. Although I love the timber look, I'm half thinking we should of done tiles - I think they are easier to keep clean and more durable - but, yes, cold - in both appearance and underfoot - could you put a rug in strategic places such as kids play area? Re: Tiles... cold, dirty, breakage-prone? 3Nov 29, 2008 8:42 am I am a tile fan from way back, as I stand barefoot on my tiles now, they aren't cold but are very cold in winter, but that's what Ugg boots are for. I don't notice the hardness probably because I am used to them. I could imagine it would be very hard for a small child's head As for chipping, yep it happens, we have about 4 that have small chips out of them, that is over a 12 year period. If anyone chips my new tiles in next house I WILL kill them Re: Tiles... cold, dirty, breakage-prone? 4Nov 29, 2008 8:56 am Tiles are cold, but thats great in Summer!
We had polished boards in our old house, and I loved the look of them but our baby, our dog and our high heeled friends left them looking pretty trashed. So its tiles in the living areas for us now. Re: Tiles... cold, dirty, breakage-prone? 5Nov 30, 2008 12:55 am Quote: russell -- good thermal conductivity for passive solar heating on north-facing living areas -- low thermal conducivity so as not to be cold in the morning under bare feet -- soft, for children's play area, which is really a second adjoining living area and is also north-facing -- easily cleaned (current rental has kitchen carpet, OMG Laughing) -- durable Hi Russell having dealt with tiles for sometime now I have gotten to known a little bit about them. -In relation to good thermal conductivity they are not the idealistic flooring as the tiles are thick and the heat that they obtained is seeped through to the concrete and then disbursed to the soil underneath so there is no conductivity at all. -Soft is definately out of the question -Cleaning depening on what colour you choose for the tiles and grout and the size of the grout joints will determine the level of maintenance -durability all tiles except for porcelain tiles are durable as porcelain tiles are designed for wall only depending on your durability you can obtain tiles that are classed under petrified which means they are made of compressed sand, shells and crushed stone then baked making them very very strong but very very expensive. Personal recommendation floating floor- labour is easy, does not having temperature problems like tiles, softer for the children, easy to clean electrostatic mop and spot wipe, and very durable if choosing a more expensive one as for one with at least 8mm thickness and a thick armored surface. all the best with the job Re: Tiles... cold, dirty, breakage-prone? 6Nov 30, 2008 7:14 am What about under tile heating you could turn on on really cold days? Re: Tiles... cold, dirty, breakage-prone? 7Nov 30, 2008 7:16 am Thanks stormy for heaps of useful information.
With tiles, you say "the heat that they obtained is seeped through to the concrete", which is actually supposedly exactly what you're meant to have for passive solar design, as the heat comes back into the house at night as it cools down. But if that comes at the cost of cold feet, what is the point? "Now, supposing a house to have a southern aspect, sunshine during winter will steal in under the verandah, but in summer, when the sun traverses a path right over our heads, the roof will afford an agreeable shade, will it not?" -- Socrates, ca. 400 BC Re: Tiles... cold, dirty, breakage-prone? 8Nov 30, 2008 9:34 am Stormy0375 -durability all tiles except for porcelain tiles are durable as porcelain tiles are designed for wall only depending on your durability you can obtain tiles that are classed under petrified which means they are made of compressed sand, shells and crushed stone then baked making them very very strong but very very expensive. Personal recommendation floating floor- labour is easy, does not having temperature problems like tiles, softer for the children, easy to clean electrostatic mop and spot wipe, and very durable if choosing a more expensive one as for one with at least 8mm thickness and a thick armored surface. all the best with the job What?? The tile information there is completely wrong.... porcelain tiles are not designed for wall only. WTF? There are certain tiles designed for floors, and tiles designed for walls. Floor tiles can be used on walls but wall tiles cannot be used on floors because they are not as strong. But that has nothing to do with being percelain. If porcelain are for wall only, then what the hell are all my floor tile samples made of then? Sounds like someone's got an agenda to be pushing floating flooring..... I leave you to fend for yourself, figure things out yourself. Terrence Malick Re: Tiles... cold, dirty, breakage-prone? 9Nov 30, 2008 10:13 am Quote: What?? The tile information there is completely wrong.... porcelain tiles are not designed for wall only. WTF? There are certain tiles designed for floors, and tiles designed for walls. Floor tiles can be used on walls but wall tiles cannot be used on floors because they are not as strong. But that has nothing to do with being percelain. If porcelain are for wall only, then what the hell are all my floor tile samples made of then? Rolling Eyes Sounds like someone's got an agenda to be pushing floating flooring..... Confused Hey joles not trying to push for the floating flooring I would see no benefit on my behalf it was a mere suggestion. yes you can get porcelain tiles for floors as well as tumbled travertine and so on. remember this is a forum I was putting my suggestions in to benefit russell and yes I agree I did forget to mention about porcelain for floors but this is at least a grade 3 type tile in which case I was referring to the wall tiles. Do it right the first time and please dont shortcut the job Re: Tiles... cold, dirty, breakage-prone? 10Nov 30, 2008 11:18 am I am trying to decide if i want timber floors or tiles at the moment.
I am leaning towards tiles at the moment. Mostly because they suit the style i am going for. The only thing is to be careful what colour grout you choose. My parents have a creamish coloured tile throughout the kitchen/sitting room with a very light grout....and it's filthy! It can't be cleaned either. I am also going for a creamish coloured tile but i will choose a darker grout. Re: Tiles... cold, dirty, breakage-prone? 11Jan 04, 2009 10:58 am we have had tiles in our last 4 houses and will be havingtiles in the new one . I didnot have any chipping with any of them so far. I think it depends on the quality and as for them being cold we also used a rubber based glue it makes them heat up from the winter sun on them and they are cooler in summer Depends how much direct sun it gets. Is there any shading (eaves or trees)? If the sun hits a window directly it doesn't matter too much if it's double or single… 1 12665 Hi guys, I want to butt a concrete vegetable garden bed against a concrete build up of a carport. It will be a 700mm high wall about 120mm thick and I will run a 12mm rio… 0 2606 Firstly the ableflex that has been installed needs (manufactures specification) a sealant cap over the top, preventing water draining down between the slab and the… 3 7780 |