Understanding Floor Construction & Home Water Systems

Carpet is nice and warm underfoot and keeps the heat in but can look tired and jaded if not maintained properly. As well as wool and synthetic carpets, there are lovely designs made from grass. Grass grows fast and is happy being harvested, thereby making it a sustainable choice.
Sea grass grows in tropical climates on the banks of rivers. The natural fiber is harvested by hand, dried, and hand-spun into cords before being woven into flooring.

Traditional floorboards look beautiful and are nice to restore as an original feature; however, they can be drafty in an old house.
Solid wood floors can be laid over any leveled floor and can really change the look of the room. There is lots of choice and price range, too.
Engineered floors involve a surface of real wood veneer being applied to an interior of softwood plywood (ply). Bamboo is also available as a composite flooring alternative, a fast-growing resource with a variety of finishes.

 Laminate floors have a surface that is a photograph of wood printed onto a thin MDF board. It is easy to damage and impossible to repair. This option is fairly cheap, but the style is rather dated now.
Bamboo flooring is one of the hardest natural materials available. Because bamboo is a rapid-growing grass and not a wood, it can be harvested every 3–5 years, unlike 15–25 years for most wood. This makes bamboo a very environmentally friendly product for flooring.

Ceramic tiles are easy to clean but can be cold unless you install underfloor heating; these are best used in wet areas (kitchens, bathrooms, and conservatories) but can be used anywhere.
Vinyl floors are not as cheap and nasty as you might think; some really funky colors and options are available these days. Get a good-quality type—it will last a long time and won’t look cheap.

Plastic tiles come in a wide range of styles, and some are more expensive than wood. Durable (hard-wearing) and luxurious, plastic tiles will last for many years.
Marmoleum is a revival of the old linoleum. Eco-friendly since it is made from resin and linseed oil with a jute backing, it is also good for allergy sufferers as it doesn’t “off-gas” (give off nasty toxic fumes). Available as tiles and rolls of solid flooring.
Rubber can look industrial but comes in some very funky colors and interesting textural designs; it really suits a small bathroom or kitchen.

The water will enter a domestic property through a main water pipe; this is then routed through to the hot water and heating system (if you have a water-based heating system). Most domestic plumbing systems consist of a furnace (boiler) that heats that water; this can then be stored in a hot water storage tank or routed to water-filled radiators and baseboard pipes that heat the home.

It is also possible to have a furnace that heats the water as it is being used; in this scenario you would not need a hot water storage tank. Another likely scenario is a water heater that heats the water and then stores it until it’s being used.

Suffice to say that heating and hot water systems can be complex to understand. Yet they are important to get to know because when they go wrong, they can go really wrong. So I would suggest when you first move into a property, you should invest in an hour or so of a plumber’s time to give you a guided tour of how your individual heating and hot water system works so you know what to look out for when things go wrong, and you know how to maintain it.

Whether you're dreaming of warm wooden floors or figuring out if your boiler has a name (kidding... sort of), understanding the basics helps you make better choices and feel more in control of your space. You don’t need to be an expert—you just need to know enough to ask the right questions and call in help when needed.

So take a moment to look down and maybe even poke around in your utility closet. The more you learn about your home, the more confident and connected you'll feel living in it.