[Blingk]

We have just returned from a recent recce trip to NZ and we found all accomodations to be carpeted. Don't anyone use any other type of flooring other than tiles and carpet? We like parquet or 'Pergo' laminated flooring but wonder if it is too cold for a house without central heating?

Anyone out there has wood flooring? :confused:

[Smiler]

Yep there are houses that have polished rimu or other wood flooring.

We have tiled floors in our bathrroms not with under floor heating although thats slowly making an appearance and we also just looked at a place with polished concrete floors. :wah Didn't fancy that much, too cold.

I guess that there might be a draft problem with wood, depending on the style of the house and tiles can be cold too. Just bung a rug down. :laugh

AND Welcome to the forum. :clap

[Moorf]

Most of the older villas have beautiful wooden floors - great with raised houses too as it gets a healthy circulation going with also helps your fires/burners along. Our last house in Chch had only wooden floors - not a carpet in site! The rental prior to that had tiles floors (brrrrr even in Sumner was chilly!).

Flooring co.'s have loads of floor coverings on offer - from Amtico-types thru to vinyl, pure wool, laminates and all the other sorts you'd find in UK/USA etc.

[ruthyroo]

Our current rental has both carpets and wooden floors - I know which I prefer to look at (wooden floors) but I definitely know which ones I prefer to walk on / live with (carpet)! It's winter now and given that the floorboards are completely uninsulated underneath, open to the elements in the garage below the house, my feet turn to blocks of ice within moments of standing on them... give me the extra insulation of carpet any day! If I was doing it myself I would go for non-carpet floors for appearance, and install under floor heating plus lots of insulation. My folks in Scotland have just put it under the tiles in their kitchen and think it's great - and this is in a house with three foot thick stone walls, cavity insulation, double glazing, central heating and a log fire!! Argh I am so envious!!!

<Goes off to skulk around the "Damp Homes and Condensation" thread having just spent the morning squeegeeing the water off the bedroom windows - on the inside...>

[Diny]

Our rental (when we first arrived) had wooden floors. Nice to look at - period. Cold cold cold and very noisy !!!

Our house has carpets and underfloor insulation. I wouldn't consider anything less. The bathroom had a carpet when we bought the place but it had to go. Shag pile carpet and 3 boys with questionable aim ...... go figure.

Our kitchen and utility has vinyl 'tile effect' floor covering - again with under floor insulation.

Diny

[Tia Maria]

Have to agree with Ruthyroo, our villa has wooden floors, and they are sooooo cold, even though our villa is reasonably warm. I tend to jump from rug to rug!

We have one concrete floor, which is even colder, so we're getting that carpeted, with underlay.

I have seen companies that sell laminate here, not sure if they sell the Pergo range though. I'd imagine if combined with underfloor heating, or adequate insulation, they would be warm enough.

Cheers

Tia

[Blingk]

Thanks Smiler for the welcome!

It is shame not being able to have wooden flooring unless one has underfloor heating. We would prefer wooden flooring if all possible as it is cleaner and kinder to our sensitive noses.

Anyone watches 'Debbie Travis'? Sometimes she would redo the entire floor from carpet to parquet. So I am also curious why Canadians have wooden flooring when Canada is colder than NZ? Forgive my ignorance....

[Diny]

I am also curious why Canadians have wooden flooring when Canada is colder than NZ? Forgive my ignorance....

I think the simple explanation is that Canadian houses are alot warmer than NZ ones. They have heating which equates to more than a log fire. Once you've actually lived an entire winter in NZ you'll understand why everybody goes on about the cold houses.


Diny

[richard]

It is shame not being able to have wooden flooring unless one has underfloor heating. We would prefer wooden flooring if all possible as it is cleaner and kinder to our sensitive noses.


We had our kitchen floor sanded and sealed recently as it turned out to be the cheapest option. The floor boards are Rimu so have come up nicely. It is not noticeably colder than the cork tiles that used to cover it either.

[ruthyroo]

I think the simple explanation is that Canadian houses are alot warmer than NZ ones. They have heating which equates to more than a log fire. Once you've actually lived an entire winter in NZ you'll understand why everybody goes on about the cold houses.


Diny


Oh this is so true. All those things I listed that my parents have in Scotland for coping with sub-zero temps and cold, wet, windy weather (double glazing, central heating, log fire, underfloor heating, underfloor / wall cavity / loft insulation etc) - none of them are standard in NZ except the log fire! And the temps here have been down to 0 degrees at night for a couple of weeks now...

It does my head in and has to be (at this time of year) the least appealing aspect of life in NZ.

[sarahw]

If you want wooden floors, I'd recommend getting insulation made from recycled polystyrene put in under the floors (most houses have underfloor access that the fitters can get under to fit something like that) Depends on where you're moving to but Trash Palace (recycling centre) in Porirua has a company that does it in the Welly region & it works out much better value than getting in someone to fit non-recycled insulation. A friend of ours fitted it recently in an old house with beautiful wooden flooring & when she came home from work she was running around looking to see which heater she'd left turned on - she then realised the insulation was doing its job & no heaters were on!!

[captnron]

Hi Blingk, you are getting a lot of good advise and comments.

NZ has a lot of wooden flooring, some are over 50,000 years old! (Swamp Kauri). To hard core Kiwis, winter here is something to be tolerated for a few months, health be damned.

We get asked for just about every type of floor with our energy effficient homes; with one exception: cushion floor. Cushion floor is a kind of soft lino with confined small air bubbles, which is nice and soft (and warm:) ) to walk on, in any temp.

As an ex Canadian, our homes were all centrally heated, it sounds trite but they had to be, it was survival; the coldest I have personally experienced is –58c (but even in Canada that’s a rarity) now thats is almost uncomprehensibly cold to a New Zealander.

In most places in NZ, they don’t “Have” to be warm all year, so they aren’t :no . The centrally heated home is becoming accepted here, mostly because of imports like us :roll and Energy Efficiency is becoming an important item, mostly due to the price of Gas (Petrol). It has a huge trickle down effect and as I have said before on this list: “There is so much solar energy in NZ that there is no reason for any home to be cold”. We practice what we preach:cool: .

If you have a hardwood, tile, concrete, or any other type of floor that’s cold, normally it can be rectified, quite often with insulation and an application of heat. When renting, you don’t want to spend your own money upgrading the house for the landlord, there are other ways that you can take with you. After all we all want healthy happy homes.

When looking for a home to rent I recommend you do what I do: Get them to show you the heating system. If they don’t or give you excuses, walk away.

Stay warm!

[curtis]

Hi Blingk

We are renting a house with Rimu wood floors downstairs and it is very cold, we only have a wood burner in living area and a chippy in the kitchen. Luckily we have an upstairs that is carpeted and they have left the flue open from the fire, so upstairs is usually warmer than downstairs.

We have friends who built there own 1 storey house about 10 years ago, it has good insulation and they have vinyl wood look flooring on cement in their living, dining & kitchen area. It is much warmer to walk on than tiles.

Diny - How long does the underfloor heating take to warm up? Is it electric? We are due to build our own house soon & are looking into the heating options.

Regards
Karen

[incredible hulse]

Hi Karen
I'd be very wary of electric underfloor heating. We've just moved into our house and we have underfloor heating in tiled areas - this equates to 3 bathrooms, laundry and (big) hallway. We have just received an electric bill for 400 dollars for 18 days. This was with the underfloor heating set to 20 degrees in these areas and being on for at most (in hallway) for 3 hours in morning and 5 hours at evening/night; less in the other areas. The most annoying thing was that although we had nice warm stone tiles the effect on the temperature in the rest of the room was minimal.

I have now worked out how to operate the things and the temp is down to 18 degrees in most areas and 20 degrees in some and on for less hours. I have been keeping an eye on the meter and the usage has dropped by at least half it seems so I am pretty certain it is the underfloor.

Couple of heat pumps at 2100 dollars each for us are about to be ordered !

[Carol]

Our current house is far too small for us.......


BUT..


It has carpets in most rooms and ducted air central heating (gas).
And so we are staying. At least until the winter is over!
Our combined electric/gas bill this month was $400 for a family of 5.
I really like the instantaneous heat of ducted air.
(Unfortunately it also works in reverse....)

We've just had laminate flooring put down in the kitchen/dining room.
The cork that was down before it left it for dead as far as warmth is concerned.
And it NEVER looks clean!!!!!!!!
grrrrrrrrr

Wouldnt ever do it again.

[Moorf]

Wasn't someone testing out Kim's underfloor heating for us?? :D

[Diny]

Carol - we had laminate flooring put down in our old house back in the UK. From the moment I saw it in the show room I covetted it. from the moment it was laid I hated it. never clean, always cold and VERY noisy !!!!!! I know where you're coming from mate.

Karen - we don't have under floor heating, we have underfloor insulation. It's fantastic !!!!

Diny

[Blingk]

(rubbing my palms together) boy oh boy...these are pearls of wisdom...am writing all these down....thanks folks.... :p