Flooring advice
I am in search of some flooring advice. I lcurrently ive in a brownstone with old linoleum flooring in the common halls (including the stairs). The flooring in question was installed in the mid-1980’s and is worn with age and nearly impossible to keep clean. I am in search of an alternative to this flooring…
I am in search of some flooring advice. I lcurrently ive in a brownstone with old linoleum flooring in the common halls (including the stairs). The flooring in question was installed in the mid-1980’s and is worn with age and nearly impossible to keep clean. I am in search of an alternative to this flooring that would clean well and be forgiving to the traffic of people coming and going from the building. Any advice that can be offered would be greatly appreciated.
*MK
Flooring Advice —
Thanks to all who responded to my inquiry. To answer a few questions from the comments, the “linoleum” flooring is in sheet form (possibly vinyl) and was cut to size poorly to accommodate the sizes needed for the stair case. I am not exactly certain what is underneath, but I would highly doubt there is any form of “diamond in the rough” parquet flooring to salvage and bring back to its original glory. Our goal is to find something affordable, durable, which will stand the test of time for as long as possible. Carpeting was recommended by our general care taker, but we have some concerns over keeping it neat and clean from the traffic and people who come and go.
I like the idea of the engineered floors (Pergo, etc.) or wood veneer floors and will absolutely explore that option. Any more suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks again to all!
*MK
I agree with the posters above – pull up the floor now and see what you’re working with. If there is nothing of interest I would recommend slate or soapstone – tiles or slab. Sounds expensive but if you go to a few places often they will have large chunks left over from other customers that they will sell much cheaper than the usual cost. I have a soapstone floor in my kitchen that I love and did not pay through the nose for. It’s gone from a light grey to a quite dark grey over the years and has not required a lot of maintenance. Has survived a Bullmastiff and small children – so I think it would hold up to foot traffic and accidents.
Pull it up to see what’s underneath. Upper floors most likely just have sub floor planks (as parquet was usually reserved for public floors like the parlor level). I don’t recommend sanding the old sub floor planks.
If you want cheap & easy (and a big improvement over linoleum) go to Lowe’s and look at their engineered floors (Pergo, etc.) or wood veneer floors. They install it as well and it’s fairly cheap (both material & installation).
I bought a nice industrial carpet from Bergen tile. It looks great, requires very little care and absorbs the sound of people coming up and down stairs. (Before I put the carpet down, I had to install a new staircase and for a while there was just wood floors. Wow, you can really tell the joy for life of the tenants as they ran up and down the stairs…very noisy.)
When you say linoleum, do you mean sheet vinyl? Pretty much any hard surface (tile, wood, etc.) will be more durable than that stuff.
Have you tried to pull it up to see whats underneath? You might have the original parquet.