Flooring choice: opinions on natural floorings sought

4 years ago

I would love to hear from anyone who has laid natural flooring from suppliers such as Crucial Trading or Alternative Flooring. Good experiences or bad ones? Would you use it again?

The area I am considering is a living room. Many thanks for any advice you are able to offer.

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Comments (5)

Sonia
4 years ago
By natural flooring, do you mean sisal and wool carpet or natural stone?
moorlikeit
Original Author
4 years ago
Sisal, jute etc as sold by Crucial Trading and Alternative Flooring.
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Sonia
4 years ago
My stair carpet is by Crucial Trading and although it’s made of wool it has that organic, rough, homespun look like sisal. I absolutely love it and it’s really hard wearing. It’s been down about 4 years.
moorlikeit thanked Sonia
PRO
Alternative Flooring
4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago
Hi, of course we are going to be a little bias, but we will try to remain 'neutral' as at the end of the day it is you who needs to feel confident when making your purchase - new flooring is a big commitment and you have to feel confident in your supplier and the product.

There are a few things you should consider though....

We think that the biggest thing to remember when buying any natural plant fibre flooring - whether from us or Crucial Trading - is the characteristics of it. Sisal is normally the best choice for a living room, jute as a fibre is not as hardwearing and really best used in lighter traffic areas such as bedrooms. Coir is also hardy enough for heavier traffic areas but a bit rougher and more rustic underfoot; Sisal is more refined and comes in the most options for weave, texture and colour.

However, all natural fibres have to be cared for slightly differently to 'conventional' carpet. You have to be careful with any spillages, being plant fibre they don't like liquids and even water could potentially leave a mark. Most natural flooring suppliers will offer a treatment service (ours is called INTEC) which can be applied to the flooring at their warehouse. These treatments help to not only prolong the life of the flooring but also try to hold any spillages on the surface to allow you extra time to attend to. Of course it all depends on the type of spillage and how long it is left before treated as to whether a mark is left. There are also care kits which are made specifically for natural plant fibre flooring for spots and spills (which we also sell) which are good to have to hand and use as soon as possible after an accident. The quicker you attend a spill the more chance you have of it not leaving a mark. There are also professional 'dry' carpet and flooring cleaners across the country who can offer periodic maintenance cleaning as you would with a conventional carpet.

You also need to consider that a natural fibre flooring requires a slightly different installation method to a normal carpet. We would always recommend they are installed by a professional and experienced natural flooring fitter and that they are installed on the 'double stick' method. This means that an underlay is glued to your sub-floor and then the flooring is glued on top of the underlay along with short pinned gripper as extra security around the perimeter of your room. It should also be acclimatised in the room before installation for at least 48 hours to 'settle' - again being natural then when first moved to a new area and atmosphere the fibres may contract and shrink slightly. However a good fitter will allow for this and fit securely so that any further shrinkage is avoided.

It may seem like we are putting you off, however quite the opposite. We have found that people who are fully aware of all of the characteristics of natural fibre flooring in advance, actually find it less daunting and fall completely in love with it. They often end up replacing natural fibre flooring with more natural fibre flooring; but transparency from suppliers and preparation is the key!

Any other questions then please do not hesitate to contact us. Good luck with whatever you decide to do, and (even if not one of our products) we would love you to keep us updated on your living room flooring project!
moorlikeit thanked Alternative Flooring
Jane
3 years ago
Hi, am researching natural carpets and found this thread. @moorlikeit what did you do in the end?

I'm looking to put jute carpet in my bedroom - does anyone have any experience of that?

Flooring choice: opinions on natural floorings sought

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Sonia

moorlikeit
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Flooring choice: opinions on natural floorings sought

Comments (5)

Sonia

moorlikeitOriginal Author

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Sonia

Alternative Flooring

Jane

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moorlikeit
Original Author