#55 - Floors, Levels & Transitions - Flooring Explained for Renovations

Flooring is one of the biggest design decisions in a renovation - but it’s also structural, thermal, and incredibly hard to change later. In this episode, we cover everything from timber, tile and LVT to polished concrete, terrazzo, carpets, subfloors and underfloor heating compatibility.

What we cover

•  Engineered timber vs solid timber - and why engineered wood is so popular these days 
•  Stone, porcelain and the maintenance requirements
•  LVT, glue-down vs click, why levelling is everything
•  Polished concrete - is it right for Irish homes? 
•  Terrazzo tiles vs poured terrazzo 
•  Carpet, acoustics and the role of good underlay 
•  The real hero: subfloor preparation, moisture control and levelling
•  Which flooring types work best with underfloor heating
•  Floor build-ups, levels and how to avoid awkward transitions 

Key takeaways

•  Choose flooring based on use, comfort and maintenance, not just aesthetics 
•  Every flooring failure usually comes back to poor prep
•  Underfloor heating should influence your flooring choices early 
•  Mixed materials need finished floor levels planned at design stage

This episode is packed with the practical decisions that help flooring feel seamless, durable and right for how you actually live.

Follow the podcast on Instagram @ripitup_podcast_official, or follow us - Jenny is @workerscottage and Kate is @victorianrathmines

Transcript

Intro: [00:00:00] Welcome back to a brand new season of Rip It Up. Every renovation teaches you something, but it's only after you've lived through the dust, the delays, and the decisions, and then done it again like me, that the real lessons appear. This season, we're revisiting our biggest renovation topics, not with theory, not with optimism, but with hindsight.

Process planning, lighting, kitchens, bathroom windows, what worked, what didn't, and what we'd never do the same way again. This is what we wish we knew then. 

Episode

Jen (2): welcome 

back 

to the 

podcast. 

Hi

Kate.

Kate: Hi Jen. 

Jen (2): How are 

you? 

Kate: Good. 

Easter 

holidays. losing my 

sanity and will to live, but 

you 

know,

all 

good.

Jen (2): like I love 

Easter. Earth. It's the best holiday

of all of them. 

Not that's easy to say. I don't have kids, so I don't 

have them. 

like Looking to be entertained all day every

day. 

Kate: Well, I had them like 

hammering gravel

out in 

the front garden the day I sent you a picture. Like no purpose to 

it. Just gave them hammers, put sunglasses on them so it didn't get in their eyes 

and just said A hammer away. 

Let's, that'll give 

me 

Jen (2): I was

wondering what they were hammering just the pebbles at the front. 

Was 

it

anyway. 

Uh, [00:01:00] 

Jen (2): aside, we're going to flooring

this '

time, 

Uh, cause that's kind of 

the 

next decision that you need '

to make as you're going through, um, your renovation. 

Kate: You know, when we were talking 

about Windows, you were saying it's one

of the biggest, 

earliest 

decisions 

to 

make, And your flooring 

is kind of one of those other 

really big decisions. And it's not that they're gonna be installed straight away, but

you'll need to know 

like 

what flooring you're putting 

down and what thickness it is and all that kind of

jazz.

Jen (2): Yeah. 

Kate: it's and it's 

compatibility if you're doing on the floor heating And 

all that

Jen (2): well, we start 

there. So that's, 

because 

that's 

another, that's where the 

sequence of decisions, I suppose, comes in. 

So.

Things you need 

to think about are, if you are 

doing 

underfloor

heating, 

there are certain materials 

that are

not going to 

work with 

your 

flooring.

Uh, wood, 

traditional

wood, 

is not really gonna work 

'cause it tends to 

warp the the wood. 

And especially in older houses, if, you know there's 

gaps and

stuff, it just doesn't tend to work that

well. But 

these days there is really, really, good 

engineered wood, 

which does kind of work better 

in that it 

doesn't work 

it, 

but wood is an insulator and it's a

very [00:02:00] good 

insulator.

So you're just not gonna 

really get the benefit of 

the heat.

Coming 

up through your floors. 

Kate: Yeah. Uh, but then I 

guess

it 

does, 

it does tend to come 

through, but it doesn't hold 

it as well. 

I 

think 

when it eventually, if you've a, if you have a well insulated.

Subfloor, it will get up through your wood floor, but 

it doesn't hold it. So soon as that underfloor heating goes off, it's kind of lost.

Whereas 

with 

stone floors and the likes,

it's kind of like a storage 

heater, right? It holds it for a lot 

longer. It's denser 

and stuff, so that's kind of that's kind of nice

as well. But wood floors, like 

I made the mistake, I 

was ill advised, I would say, in a wood 

floor 

place in my last renovation to go solid 

wood parquet. 

And I 

probably asked for 

it not

knowing, and I thought solid 

wood was better. And 

I said, is this okay with. 

under floor? And they said, absolutely. You know, 

and it wasn't really like, it didn't.

Jen (2): that's bad advice. 

Yeah. 

Kate: was bad 

advice. And like under floor. Under floor and solid wood floors, like

you said, [00:03:00] tends to kind of warp them. Just solid wood in general. There's a lot of like 

expansion and contraction 

over 

the seasons 

and over moisture 

content and heat and whatever. And we found with ours, 

which was a solid 

wood parquet, that we was glued 

down that like with a lot of heat.

Or 

A lot of sun even 

coming

in the back doors, heating parts of the floor, it 

would crack

and 

leave off 

quite a loud kind of crack 

every now and then. 

Um, 

but

Jen (2): It's so strange. I 

Kate: yeah, so like just the whole floor kind of expanding And, 

contracting, I guess. and 

um, it was definitely the wrong

decision. 

Like we. It was the wrong, it was the wrong advice, 

I suppose, but 

it was the 

wrong decision for 

us 

to pick

something like 

that. And this time I think

we've gone for an 

engineered floor 

and I thought, to be 

honest, a 

long 

time ago that 

it

was like a 

dirty

word almost, You were like, no, you have 

to have solid floor.

And engineered floors, like 

you said, they're 

so good nowadays that like it is a solid 

top layer, but it's 

just on the 

backing

of apply. You know?

which gives it That rigidity in that. stability that you

get 

from, you know, an engineered floor as such. [00:04:00] So you 

won't get all that expansion and contraction and movement.

So

it does

work from that

point of view. So like, um, we've kind of a mix. 

We have 

the original

plank flooring that we

just

landed back, 

which is fine cause that's 

upstairs and we've no under floor anything, uh, but the engineered 

floor is 

so far in

this house has

been.

A dream to work

with, with 

Jen (2): yeah, and it's, I, as you said, it 

is solid wood on the top

so it looks 

perfect.

Like if that's the look you're going

for,

then that is The 

dream. Like that's exactly what you want. 

Kate: The only

thing 

is 

you know, there's 

about six mil of a top 

layer, 

which is solid wood, and then some of 

them

have a slightly thicker 

layer, but 

around 

six millimeters, which means you'll get two or three 

sands 

out 

of it in its 

lifetime. Whereas you might get more in a solid 

floor. But like,

I mean, 

realistically, you're not gonna fully sand

a deep 

sand 

on 

your

floor more than

every. 

Decade maybe or 

something, you know what I mean? Like, well, maybe, maybe, 

if

you have a heavy, heavy wear area, you might, so you just have to watch kind of deep 

dings because you can't really 

sand them out,

you 

Jen (2): It's Like don't 

drop 

something heavy. 

[00:05:00] maybe 

take off your 

Kate: a bad stiletto. Yeah, Yeah, yeah,

exactly.

The finish on

wood floors as well 

is quite important. You know, I like an oiled 

finish, but that does tarnish and kind of wear

and like there's a bit of maintenance in it, but I think it looks a bit more weathered and nice 

and 

Jen (2): Yeah. that, So 

that's 

more of a kind of

a matte 

Finish. 

Yeah, I really Like 

that 

Kate: of types of oil, but I just 

think the oil looks much more traditional. Whereas I think 

floors, 

they're so 

perfect 

almost. They almost. look like a lamina floor or something 

for 

Jen (2): Exactly. 

and at that stage I'm like,

just get the laminate 

because it is 

kind of harder wearing and certain, 

you know, certain types of laminate

can

be, 

or they 

can go in 

your kitchen or whatever. So 

like, don't, you know, 

if 

you're, if you're going 

for the

wood, 

it's really, it's 

for 

the 

look and it's

for the 

longevity. So 

like, 

Kate: some really good pre-finished floors, don't 

get me, 

wrong, but for me, just the oil feels very old worldy, and I, I kind of

like that, but

like, 

Yeah. 

talk to 

whoever's 

installing your 

floor about the

finishing, 

because if you're 

putting in a.

kitchen or something, you definitely don't want an oil finished.

You know, 

you'll be, your head will wrecked with grease spots and you 

know what marks and 

stuff like

[00:06:00] that. So

Jen (2): I did hear were you

told 

that some of the really good engineered 

woods, now you, 

you actually 

can put in a 

kitchen. 

So the reason you couldn't put wood 

in a

kitchen 

previously is 

because. If wood gets wet, it expands, and then it dries out

and then it contracts so

it can crack and it's, um, that's not ideal, 

but

because now 

the, 

you 

know, 

what they've done with the,

with putting on that 

backing, 

it's 

a much 

more, 

it

doesn't move as much. 

Um, 

it's not as likely toand 

and 

Kate: Kers as well on the top. Some of them are UV lacquers and stuff, 

so like they're very 

robust and they have a seal from 

the top, you 

know, 

and they 

have 

that strong backing as 

well.

So 

that's why I was saying 

the oil finish. 

It's very permeable. 

So like if you left 

something, 

sit on it and 

get 

wet for a long time and

it'd eventually

get through where some of those lacquers are a 

lot more

durable, I suppose.

So 

that's 

why I'm saying maybe a 

lacquer is better if

you're planning 

to put 

it in 

your kitchen, but I don't, 

I 

have it in my front living room, so I just love the oil finish.

Yes. Yeah.

Jen (2): yeah, yeah. I agree. I'm totally with you. 

Um, the only other thing, just to 

get back to the, the 

point we were talking [00:07:00] about was that. What doesn't work 

with

under 

floor heating? 

The only other 

thing 

that doesn't 

really 

work with underfloor is carpet again,

'cause 

it's just 

generally a very good insulator. So like, you're not 

really gonna get 

a nice warm floor. Most of the things 

do. Just double 

check if you're

getting laminate. Just ask like, is does this

particular one, this 

particular brand work with underfloor? Everything else though, as you said, concrete, 

which I 

know you'd looked at Tiles are 

fantastic.

Um, I 

have 

LVT, uh, 

the 

luxury 

vinyl tile

is 

what that stands for. And, 

um. 

Pretty much 

everything 

else 

except 

maybe cork, which we can call 

Kate: So Like it's 

essentially a giant 

storage heater 

then, right? 

Jen (2): Yeah, and that's 

so nice. 

I love that 

warm feeling 

of 

that. 

It's so 

Kate: subfloor though, 

like if you don't have insulation, then you put in 

a concrete

polished concrete 

floor, you're probably gonna be heating the ground below you as well.

So like 

you really have to have that insulated slab 

first. 

Um, so that's what I would say. You 

know, the compatibility is there with 

under floor, but like 

if 

you don't have 

insulation under the under 

floor, it's 

kind 

of pointless. 

Jen (2): So 

if you have a really [00:08:00] old 

house, 

you're unlikely 

to have that. And if 

you're, if 

you're 

renovating

it, 

just double 

check.

Is that something that's going

in,

Um, or if you're doing an extension or something like that? And you're putting

it on the floor right there, Make 

sure you're asking us that, is that going in? 

Kate: And something that we 

noticed here 

actually 

is there was an uninsulated, concrete slab in this

house that we

took out, say when we were doing our 

renovation or dug out, but like it was quite damp 

because if there's no, if there's no damp 

proof course put in, in an 

old concrete slab, like an old 

extension, think about that because you 

can 

get like rising damp, 

you know, and you can 

get damp in the floors.

That would 

get into wood floors if you're 

putting wood floors 

down. So 

you might need some sort

of, um, dam proofing layer or 

something

that's gonna be more robust for 

Jen (2): Because Even at 

a 

minimum, even if that's 

not 

giving you rising damper, it's not damaging your floors, it's getting your heating work and overtime because it's heating up all that damp before it even gets the room to 

Warm temperature. So yeah, that's definitely

something

to, to look at. Um, that's 

okay. That's everything to do with wood, 

I

think.

Talk, let's 

talk a little bit about

concrete 

again, 'cause 

I [00:09:00] know you 

looked 

into that a lot. for your house and I actually did originally as 

well, 

Kate: Yeah. I like, 

I love polished 

concrete and 

terrazzo to look 

at. 

Could I live with polished

concrete in Ireland? I don't know, like I'd want a lot of warm colored aggregate In that gray base for

me. Um, but like from a heating point of view with under tour, it's 

a dream, but 

then I've heard other people having issues 

with cracking in the concrete. So 

you 

Jen (2): I've heard this 

as 

well.

yeah, 

Kate: there's usually broken. It's Usually broken up into large slabs of 

like maybe

three meters by three meters, and they

have 

kind of 

a,

A brass bar or 

some sort of bar 

between those kind of big segments of it. And I think that's to take a bit of that movement and potential

for shrinkage and cracking. So like 

that's one thing 

to watch out. 

I didn't want Terrazzo because First of all, the base is 

gray in Ireland,

which I didn't really 

like. And 

then 

the other

option 

was something called sib Terrazzo. It's, it's kind of like a resin based top layer of a 

Terrazzo over a 

polished 

concrete floor.

and then over a concrete 

floor.[00:10:00] 

That 

looked the part in terms of color and

all that.

but

then people had issues 

with the kind of ceiling 

of it and stuff like that. So

like 

Jen (2): and resin does

it like

scuff

or

scratch or 

anything? 

Kate: People said that this, yeah, 

it can scuff in high traffic areas 

because you're doing a sealant 

over the top. You're very reliant on that sealant, 

I

guess. 

Um, and 

then 

some people 

said that they got, 

um, 

uneven 

drying out 

so they got patches that 

looked 

Jen (2): Ah. 

Kate: different when they dried 

out and stuff. So 

that, 

that depends on the

subfloor. I 

guess they probably have to moisture

test, um, before they 

probably do a floor like this. But 

for the price, I just didn't 

want 

the headache 

to be 

honest.

And 

like, you know, for Terrazzo, you are talking 

upwards of 300 

a square 

meter,

like, 

Jen (2): Yeah, it's 

a lot. And there's not many 

people who 

do it 

so you could be waiting for ages to get it done and like, I don't 

know if 

it's, 

if

it's.

a 

thing that's 

specific to 

Irish houses that they 

just do 

tend 

to kind 

of 

move and settle 

a bit, it's like, do 

you know 

I have 

little cracks in my walls.

Everyone 

has little 

cracks 

in their walls 

[00:11:00] and

I, 

that 

just the risk of that very expensive floor 

cracking for

me. 

just you know. 

Kate: Yeah, 

and just a lot of people warned 

me 

away 

from 

the kind of

sib Terrazzo 

when I was looking at it like, not that it doesn't 

look

the part, it

looks absolutely beautiful, but 

people 

said that they just had issues with the install. And for me, 

I just wasn't taking that risk on 'cause it 

could 

have had 

such 

knock on delays with everything else.

And it could have been perfect, don't get me

wrong. Like I've seen other ones that 

I 

loved them, but. 

Just 

the price for 

me wasn't 

there and 

like Polish concrete. Then I've seen 

beautiful

polished concrete. floors with gorgeous, warm,

flex of stone And aggregate and whatever through it. And that looks a lot more affordable than

toso. But um, yeah, it's really about like the grinding 

right? like 

so Polish concrete have

a less of a grinding level 

than 

Terrazzo, and Terrazzo has a higher level 

of aggregate or stones in it, but they're essentially the same thing with just 

kind of the amount of 

work and the different stones in it. But 

like, I love 

both.

Do I regret 

Jen (2): when I 

see 

them, I absolutely [00:12:00] love 

them. when I see it, I'm like, this is so nice, Especially when someone, as 

you said, has

kind of softened it up with 

like 

really warm furnishings and 

like soft

materials 

and so 

I 

just 

think it looks really lovely. Yeah. 

Kate: I hate seeing a polished concrete floor and no wood in 

the house. 

And I'm like, no, you need wood. Like you need wood or like warm reds or you know, like you need like lots of other 

warmth I 

think 

Jen (2): Yeah. 

Kate: to counterbalance it. Um, but I do love it.

Maybe someday, 

Maybe

in a holiday home affair, have a holiday home 

somewhere warm. 

Jen (2): Yeah. In the millions. 

Um, 

LVTI have 

LVT and I wanna talk about that 'cause I get asked about a lot. I love it.

I,

uh, the 

amount of people that

come into my house and they're like, is that not real wood? 'cause 

the, it's textured 

at the 

top. Um, it looks 

like, like it 

comes as individual planks. 

I have a parquet, uh, herringbone

finish and, 

um.

The one I got is glue down. You can 

get 

click

versus glue 

down. I was, I prefer 

glue. I don't know 

if there's 

major differences. I'm a 

little bit, 

I don't like the 

[00:13:00] way click. 

if there's 

like a little bit 

of unevenness 

at all, 

it 

can kind 

of pop 

out. Um. 

So I 

went

with glue. There's pros and cons to both, but

that's 

what I went with.

Um, 

the one thing about 

LVT is 

it's lower

costs 

than 

most, let's say. 

Wood or solid 

wood 

and it looks 

great.

and it's pretty 

much 

bombproof, 

right? It is waterproof. 

It is

like

you 

can, 

I was 

told you could light a bonfire on it. 

like you 

can do anything. to it. it's really handy and it, 

doesn't really stain 

or 

Kate: lighten bonfires. lighten bonfire. 

Jen (2): Take the girl outta limerick. 

Kate: is lighten fires.

Yeah,

Jen (2): That's 

exactly why I bought it,

because I, can light

my 

bonfires and no one goes out 

Kate: is Mayday. is it like 

you 

Jen (2): love it. 

Kate: until lights a

bonfire? 

Jen (2): Literally started gathering wood

this 

Kate: about Easter. 

Yeah.

Jen (2): Um, 

but yeah, one could, if one 

wanted to, I'm not 

saying

I do, but 

you could. 

Um, 

and so that's great 'cause I wanted the same flooring all the way through my downstairs 

into my kitchen, the whole thing. And there's no messing with it. 

And I have 

that 

under 

four 

[00:14:00] heating and

it's great. The one thing about LVT is 

I had

to 

get. 

So I dug up my floor. I had my wonder floor put

down. I had 

concrete poured on top of that, and I still needed, 

um, 

a little, a little pouring a 

little substrate 

of, 

uh. to 

level it. Yeah, exactly. Um, it really, really needs 

to 

be perfectly, 

perfectly level.

Um. To get it done. 

So that can 

potentially add a little 

bit 

to the cost.

Um, and you 

need 

to 

make sure, as with everything, 

that 

whoever's installing

it 

is excellent, but for me, no regrets. Love it.

Uh, what are we, 

six years later, nearly 

on? I 

obsess it. 

Absolutely love. 

Yeah. 

Kate: we had the same kind of issue, but 

it a little bit in reverse

when we were installing

our 

wood 

floor, that

there was some levels just slightly tailing off 

towards the 

edges of

the room.

The concrete 

was just not flat 

enough for them, so they had to grind it down 

in 

the high spot. 

was the 

messiest fucking thing I've ever seen in 

my 

Jen (2): Dust building dust everywhere. Oh, it's 

the worst. 

Kate: offer all my neighbors 

could I

pay to get their cars washed 

because it 

was [00:15:00] just 

like a layer of gray dust over the whole 

bloody street.

It was disgusting. But um, 

yeah, 

like that's something we should probably touch 

on as 

well toward the end

It's just levels. 

Jen (2): Yeah. 

Yes. Really 

Kate: decided your floors, it's

really important. Yeah.

Jen (2): Yeah, we'll come back to it, but it's something you need to know, know early, 

even if you don't have like your

final, final, um, 

thing. 

It's worth touching on 

laminate 

as well, 

I'd say I've actually never

installed 

it. Have 

you? 

You had it temporarily. 

Kate: Yeah, 

I mean,

it was

as 

cheap

as cheap Lam 

I can get. Now I

got a home base and it was 

15 euros, maybe a square meter. It was 

like

some on special boxes and we just laid it ourself. It was where there was

the absolutely most disgusting carpet you've ever seen in a dining

space. 

and. 

I couldn't even look at it 

so we 

ripped it up. This was the concrete floor that I was

saying was quite damp,

so it 

was 

just an old concrete, 

you know, extension. They had poured 

concrete in and no

insulated

slab, so it was quite 

damp. so 

like we just put the laminate, it was fine. it was 

like it was grand, 

Jen (2): I do 

Kate: [00:16:00] areas, after a year it was already the pattern or 

the

whatever was 

kind of 

fading in it.

So just to watch out. 

out. 

Jen (2): yeah, I do think like we were 

shopping for it 

recently. My boyfriend 

put it 

in his

apartment and. 

There, there, as 

far as I know, there is great stuff out 

there. You can get really strong, really 

well

made laminate that's incredibly durable, that's 

waterproof 

that you can put 

into your, 

um, 

kitchen,

into your bathroom if you want these days.

Um.

if you like that look, and it does

come 

in pretty 

much 

like 

all shapes, sizes, 

colors, you know, finishes, whatever you 

want. 

Um, so 

if you've come across a really good one 

and you like the

look 

of it, 

and 

it's got good reviews and you know. 

it's 

it's 

high quality, 

There's no 

reason not 

to do it.

Like if, if, the only 

reason that

like 

wood is more 

valued, let's say, 

or

that's like more 

expensive is because 

it's natural 

and you 

can.

Uh, 

you 

can sand it down 

so it lasts a long, long time. 

Whereas you can't do that

with laminate. but 

if you don't 

really care about 

that and the 

laminate 

Kate: but there are 

different levels. You're, you're dead Right. Though 

There are different [00:17:00] levels of laminate. Like I'm, I bought the cheapest of 

cheap ones, but I think 

there is a rating, like an 

AC 

Jen (2): Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. 

Kate: abrasion or something. like that. So 

like it, it shows like how durable that your 

type of laminate is.

Mine was probably the bottom of the barrel at 

15 euros, a 

Jen (2): Z? 

Kate: But like there are 

obviously like way better 

ones, so like Have a look at that. If you are 

thinking of installing a better than average 

laminate, rather than going 

the whole hog to engineered floors, 

you 

know,

and that will 

tell you about the traffic 

and maybe moisture 

resistant laminates like you said, 

and

stuff like that.

So

I, I'm sure 

there's a, there's nice 

laminates out there.

I just haven't installed them myself. 

Yeah. 

Jen (2): Yeah. 

Yeah. Agreed. 

Agreed. 

Jen (2): Um, and they're 

replaceable, right?

So the,

I think 

the 

one 

thing about 

laminate is that 

like, if you're getting whatever you're getting

like get an extra box or 

make sure you've got enough left over

that if, 

like, 

the fact that you, the fact that 

it. Can be maybe damaged or the fact that it, uh, can't be 

polished 

down 

or 

sanded down.

uh, 

what you 

can 

do instead is just replace a

few planks and it's really easy to do. So just make sure you have some

extra 

planks 

and you're good 

to [00:18:00] go. 

Kate: Great. 

Jen (2): okay. 

Kate: stone 

Jen (2): Stone. I love stone. 

Kate: in terms of 

like tiles in general.

And maybe we can 

kind of differentiate the two '

because 

Jen (2): I 

am a big fan of stone and I think

like, the way it

feels, it's, 

I suppose it's similar 

to the pallet concrete 

in 

that you like 

it 

definitely does 

need to be 

softened

up. 

Um, 

but like, 

oh, 

my uncle, my 

aunt and uncle 

have 

this beautiful, uh, home that they did the whole downstairs and slate. 

God, it's 

stunning.

Like it's so 

beautiful and we have loads of in

Ireland

and 

it's just 

a really

nice. 

Material, I 

think, 

Kate: Yeah, it can be done really 

Jen (2): or limestone, 

I 

love 

limestone 

Kate: have limestone all over our downstairs

besides 

the two front rooms, which are the engineered wood 

and like,

I can't say like, I have my heart set on limestone.

but when my 

Terrazzo kind of

dream ended, 

I want, 

I wanted like, I,

thought the

next best thing, which was natural 

stone. And I,

I really 

like the 

limestone 

actually. 

I didn't

want that 

kind of cottagey effect where you 

get like.

Thick 

grout lines and [00:19:00] kind of a 

patchwork pattern. So I, I have done mine in a more,

i, 

I 

suppose, 

rigid pattern 

or whatever, you 

know, like it's, it's more geometric, I 

guess, and more

repeated, 

but 

like, I match the grout so you can kind of see the grout 

lines. Um, 

but I love it and like 

we've underflow with 

it, so it. works really well. 

People 

are like,

oh my 

god, limestone need to watch

and 

you have to do this, and you, 

like, 

you don't really, you 

just get it sealed.

Jen (2): Yeah. 

naturally 

Kate: so it kind of wears 

in, like 

there's natural flex and 

fossils in it and whatever.

So 

like

little marks or dings or,

I dunno, the worst 

ding or the worst mark I have on it 

is where one of my kids built juice and we 

didn't notice it for a while 

and it 

kind of etched the surface a 

little 

bit. 

Um, but that can be probably buffed out when we reseal

it the 

next time and like, 

I barely notice it. Other than that, 

little to no maintenance, like a 

mop with a warm water and a gentle 

cleaner every now and then. It's so easy 

It's so easy. 

to keep, and 

Jen (2): and it is that lovely 

like warm 

[00:20:00] color 

that 

you were 

talking about 

that 

you wanted the, 

so that you 

don't get 

like, it is a lovely, lovely, 

without 

being like.

overpoweringly 

kind 

of 

twee yellow. reddish color. It's a 

beautiful warm 

kind of 

sandy color 

Kate: I love it. And 

like I did the limestone 

checkerboard then in my 

hallway,

just transitioning into the 

kitchen 

Jen (2): Oh yeah. Oh, that's, 

limestone as well. I 

didn't 

Kate: Yeah, that's 

all. It's the same limestone actually in the 

darker color. 

And then I just did a 

lighter version with the 

checkerboard. 

Um, but like 

I really like it.

the ceiling, you just have to watch that they do a matte or a gloss seal 'cause you can 

get both

and If you 

overseal them 

you can kind of dull 

down 

or darken the color bits. it.

just telling 

whoever's doing 

Jen (2): I'd 

be wary of putting a gloss 

on a 

floor 

because I feel like the high traffic areas would 

wear down quite a bit. 

No, 

Kate: I

would 

say the 

gloss ones 

are probably 

more durable lacquers. But 

I said to 

him, I want, I want, I said that to the guy that was sealing it. I said 

I want 

it 

as 

close to the original tile

as 

possible, whatever. The minimal amount of like sealing and the 

same kind of finish. So they almost look like the

powdery original [00:21:00] tile that I had 

in my hand 

the first 

day when I

got a 

sample.

Do you know the, 

that was the kind of plan,

but I 

think

personally, natural 

stone over 

porcelain, like there's, 

don't get 

me 

wrong, 

there's a place 

for porcelain and 

everything. 

Yeah. 

Kate: Porcelain is 

compressed. Right. So I find it colder. It's 

colder under

foot because it's more

solid, 

Jen (2): Yeah. it's harder. 

Even though it's probably the same way. It's harder, but in terms of how it feels emotionally, 

it's 

kinda 

Kate: it's almost like glass. Whereas 

like 

natural stone has a natural porosity or like little air

bubbles or whatever. So it'll 

feel 

that tiny 

bit. I know 

it's not necessarily lighter 

'cause it's a big

thick stone 

piece, but

like it feels lighter 

under foot or feels 

softer or warmer or 

something 

than 

I think a porcelain 

tile.

Jen (2): I agree. 

I would put portion 

outside. I'd say, I think I would be 

really, really hard pushed to put, to put, 

natural 

stone outside 

just for the 

maintenance and the, 

the Cleaning of it. I 

think, uh, in a patio or 

something like that, it works really well, but I'm 

with you inside

on, on the natural

stone, It's so 

Kate: yeah. 

Like you can get 

really 

nice porcelains

for 

inside, 

[00:22:00] but I just

think. 

they, they can be a bit clinical, I think, 

and 

I think in our climate,

like

You 

it's kind of like 

the 

Polish concrete. You 

really 

need to warm it up 

with those 

stuff, I think. And so, like, 

I dunno, porcelain tiles inside 

are not for me.

If I was to do another tile that wasn't maybe a 

natural stone tile, I'd probably do like those old kind 

of caustic 

tiles or 

you know, the solid 

Jen (2): Yeah.

Yeah. I do love 

Kate: love 

those. 

as well. Like 

I think they just have 

a bit

of, 

I dunno, oldness or 

kind 

Jen (2): Life in 

them, 

they're, 

Kate: And earthy colors.

Right? They're 

not 

artificial looking 

'cause they're just 

Jen (2): And they're usually handmade and 

they're so nice. 

Yeah. 

Kate: Yeah. 

I love those 

too. 

Jen (2): Yeah.

Um, 

Jen (2): What do you think about other, so that's kind of, 

we we talked 

about like in 

limestone stuff. There's a 

lot 

within that Stone 

family 

Um, that we 

could touch on, but they're all,

there's 

stone is kind

of, 

there's a similarity in all of them in that they are 

quite 

porous. 

They do need to be

sealed. 

Um, but they 

can be 

kind of, Um, 

they can 

be maintained. Like it's not,

they're not, [00:23:00] uh, too

precious. 

Um, but it is something that's 

Kate: I think if you're someone who loves Natural 

Stone, whether 

it's 

your countertops or 

your floor, 

you

just. 

you have to 

be okay with the natural 

beauty of 

it, and that natural

beauty means imperfections. It means flex, that you're

kind

of unsure if that's a stain or is it just a 

natural mark 

in it, and that's okay.

Like the floors are, 

they don't 

have to be perfect, 

you 

Jen (2): Yeah. They're made to be lived on. 

Kate: Yeah, 

exactly. 

Like my kids are 

scooting across 

mine or whatever, and 

I

just don't, I 

don't care. Like 

if there's a little 

ding here or there, 

it's fine, you 

know? And that's what I love about

Natural Stone And the saying goes 

Jen (2): I agree. I with 

you. 

Kate: my kitchen countertops. 

Who cares if there's a 

ring on 

it after a 

while 

from 

a glass or whatever, you 

know?

Like, 

I think that's all part

of living in it. 

Jen (2): I totally agree with you 

And 

I'm of the 

same 

mindset, but there is two mindsets on 

that. Look, some 

people just don't 

want

that 

level of maintenance then 

Yeah. Then go for 

something 

engineered and, and that's neither is right or wrong, it's just what 

works for you and your house and you, you know, 

what 

you're thinking at the time. [00:24:00] 

Um, Which 

kind of 

leads us to tile. 

So we, 

we, those are 

common tile 

format, 

right? 

All 

those common 

tile format, really what we're 

talking 

about. 

And there is others. So 

there's,

you know, you're gonna have 

printed 

tiles, you're gonna have, um, 

uh,

caustic what, what 

we spoke about are they're ideal because you can 

actually kind 

of 

sand them down a little 

bit 

because the pattern goes

the whole way through.

So that's great. Uh, the alternative to that is getting a pattern printed on your porcelain tile, which isn't, I don't 

know if that because if it wears down. Base just fades away and it

doesn't look great. So if you're doing that maybe to save money or something, do that on walls. 

Um, 

we spoke a bit 

about Terrazzo flooring.

Of course you

can get Terrazzo tiles 

as well. 

Kate: such a 

good option 

if you 

love Terrazzo you can all the fab colors 

that you can't maybe get locally. 

Jen (2): Yeah. 

Kate: it's real Terrazzo.

It's not a fake

printed Terrazzo. It's real Terrazzo. 

solid through. 

Um,

and depending on the size of the slab, 

you'll 

be 

a hell of different 

thicknesses. I remember looking at the big 

ones and they were like 20 mil thick or [00:25:00] 25 mil 

thick. So it's

just as a watch out

in general, 

you need to 

have your floors nailed

early. 

because you need to know the

thickness. The 

floors are gonna be, 

like you said about even your 

LVT, like leveling 

that, and if you are transitioning an LVT, into a stone floor somewhere else, there 

could be a discrepancy of five or 10 mill between 

the two floors.

So like, you 

need to know that.

Early So your builder can plan for it and you can level the level so you don't have a 

step up to one 

room or

a step down 

or a threshold or something like 

that, you know, 

Jen (2): because you'll stub your toe 

on it 

You will stub your toe on

it and 

you will, it'll just annoy you. 'cause I do have a height difference 'cause I chose

my bathroom tiles 

a bit late and 

I do 

have that really thick form, uh, terra, so 

on the 

floors 

and it is 

higher, 

obviously a lot 

thicker than the LVTI have. Um. 

And I chose it. My builder 

was 

like, oh, 

for 

God's sake. '

cause 

he's quite, he was such 

a 

perfectionist, and it does 

mean there's 

a 

little step down 

between my downstairs bathroom 

and my, the rest of 

my flooring. Now you can get kind of 

slanted, um, dividers, floor dividers, So 

I'm 

fine with that. 

But you know, 

if 

you can 

fix

that from the 

outset and prevent

that

from happening, then do it. 

Kate: [00:26:00] It's not like, um, necessarily a 

floor you have to pick early, but just 

on kind of 

subfloor and prep, 

like for things like 

carpet.

Jen (2): Mm-hmm. 

Kate: Because like 

it's something that 

I had to deal with recently. I had to take

up the 

carpet 

in my master 

bedroom 

because it was squeaking, the floor was squeaking 

and like I might like 

divorce my husband if it 

had gone on much longer, to be honest.

'cause he'd wake me up in the middle of the night if he was gonna the toilet or if he got up early in the morning and I was still trying to sleep in, it would wake me up anyway. 

What happened was the ply in, the new section where it 

joined to the old

section of the 

house,

say the extension, it wasn't properly 

secured 

and it was just 

kind of rubbing 

of 

the two sheet 

supply and there 

wasn't enough 

of a

gap 

or expansion gap 

between them. 

So they had to lift

the carpet, 

screw down those,

those

ply wood boards, 

and 

then

kind of 

re-level everything and put back the carpet fine. It works now, 

but it's just a 

watch out, 

like when you're 

putting carpet 

down, do a squeak test, do a 

million squeak tests, 

and 

make sure they have a solid. Ply base that they screw 

down well in

all

corners. And sometimes, 

you know, they 

lift

boards to

run

pipes and stuff like that. 

[00:27:00] Make sure like you, 

just before 

any carpet goes down, 

the prep is done 

and invest in good underlay. I 

would say if 

you

are doing carpets, 

Jen (2): just walk the walk 

the floors and See that's 

a good 

tip. I think though, and I 

got that 

tip 

and I really 

stand by it. Get good underlay because it's cheaper per square meter 

than carpet. 

And you can go for

like a thinner 

like, 

'cause A 

deep pile. Carpet is lovely 

'cause it's nice and thick, but it's a 

nightmare to 

keep clean. So 

go for 

like 

a thinner 

carpet and a better underlay 

and you get that

lovely softness and It's 

acoustically And 

everything. It's better. 

Kate: right 

over 

time.

So like, 

you better have the thicker Underlay,

you still get that 

softness on your foot like, you know. 

Um, but yeah, 

it's just watching out 

like that, your

subfloor suits the floor as well. You know, telling your builder early what

type 

of floor you're putting down, because if you're putting real stone, they might

need to do 

things 

called settlement 

map. Um,

and 

like, you know, if you're putting down certain wood flooring, 

make sure 

you have, make sure, 

like 

we said earlier, you have,

an insulated slab and 

there's no 

moisture 

coming up and all

that kind of stuff and 

damp proof layers and all that.

So like

[00:28:00] there's more to flooring than 

just what it 

looks like. You know, there's 

that kind of prep and subfloor level that's 

important. 

So the earlier you 

can kind of get a rough 

gauge on 

what you're 

putting down, the better, I think. 

Jen (2): Yeah. 

So what 

you need to 

know

early 

is, um, are you, do do you have underfloor

heating?

Uh, if so, 

what 

materials

Are, gonna 

work with it? 

Are what areas 

of your 

house, are 

you putting in? Does it need 

to be waterproof, for 

example? Or is it really high traffic area? Do you know? Are you gonna mind if there's 

gonna

be stains on 

it? 

Um, and what are the thicknesses of the

flooring you're putting down? 

And 

the so. the substrate or the subflooring you're putting down and is that gonna be leveled in throughout the 

house so that you're not dealing with?

A little 

gap or a little Height 

differences between your house and it. There's another, a note on carpet, 

on, 

on choosing the 

finish up carpet. 

Um. most 

of us 

want 

to 

use 

natural materials wherever we can. 

and of course you 

can get

like 

beautiful wool carpets, 

but 

you need 

to make 

sure that it is

fully moth treated if you're going that route, because they will come to your 

house and they will feast on your fabrics And it is a nightmare. Like there's no getting 

rid 

of them. So 

I'm not saying don't 

go for 

it. 

If you [00:29:00] love wool or 

you love 

natural, 

uh, 

even 

silk 

for your carpet, 

like rugs, whatever, amazing. But there has to be 

moth treated. Um, otherwise just go for

even a mix or a blend or just a 

poly.

Kate: Yeah.

Jen (2): I think 

we have 

Kate: in there. Think 

about. I think 

that's everything. 

Jen (2): we didn't cover marble floors specifically, which would be my 

dream, but you know, that comes under 

the stone 

category. Yeah. 

Kate: like I think it's

the same thing. You'll have to seal 'em. It's a natural material. You gotta love the natural 

beauty of them 

and 

all their little flaws.

Jen (2): You can light bonfires in them too, so 

they're for me. 

You 

cannot 

do 

not 

light 

Kate: you come to my house and light 

a 

fucking bonfire on my limestone floor, 

be the last time you come.

Jen (2): Don't invite me over 

in the Moon Bank holiday 

weekend. 

Okay, we will see you 

next week. 

Thank 

Kate: you.

next week. Bye. 

Outro

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