So there’s a corner of carpet that’s been left unvacuumed for decades. Lift it up and, for a brief moment, you are an archaeologist. Under the underlay of a modern carpet, you’re likely to find a sheet of hardboard, then a layer of linoleum with a pattern of flowers or trees that have been out of fashion since about 1973.
And if you’re very lucky, you might uncover some encaustic tiles or even the bare timber boards of a 100-year-old floor that have been polished to a warm sheen by generations of foot traffic. Each floor is a stratigraphic record of every generation that’s lived in a house before you, each one covering the floor of the previous owner and starting again from scratch.
Historically the majority of homes have had ‘cold’ floors – bare stone flags, compacted earth or even rush matting. And the homeowner’s greatest wish for their floors would have been to get them warm!
Next up were the encaustic tiles of the 1850s and 1870s. Augustus Pugin’s fanatical advocacy of medieval patterns in building, particularly in the context of the Gothic Revival, had inspired a near-frenzy of geometric terracotta and cream-coloured tiles to be laid in the Victorian-era hallways of Britain’s tenemented and terraced cities. And few cities were as comprised of these types of buildings as Edinburgh. Many of these tiles have survived to the present day, hiding under decades of carpet.
The carpet on top of the floor was introduced to the British post war period. The comfort of the home and stability of the family was shown by having wall to wall carpet. The linoleum that covered the floors before this was a product of Kirkcaldy and was made of linseed oil and cork. It was cheap and very practical for use in kitchens and hallways of domestic properties all over Scotland.
Then came the laminate floor period of the 2000s when pale shades of oak and chestnut covered many original timber floors.
More on Flooring Edinburgh can be found at kristoffersencarpets.com.
But whatever floorcovering is laid down today will soon become the next layer for future renovators to uncover. So laminate or engineered oak, or even another type of carpet, for now.
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