Don't do it! Having lived with tiles and now floor boards, I would never go back. Cold, hard under foot and will date. Timber floors are timeless, and as big reader said above, you will devalue your house.

If you are worried about the maintenance of timber I doubt you will enjoy tiles. The grout lines are revolting. Once a year I'd be on my hands and knees with a toothbrush and domestos!

Totally agree with above comments. Don't do it. Tilers cringe at tiling onto timber suspended floors and many won't guarantee the job against cracking.

If you are wanting a cleaner look maybe look at some of the new treatments available for timber. There are some great oils and stains now, even painting them white if that's the look you are after, would be better than tiling- it can always be sanded off later.

Well, the vote is certainly for timber floors then. My original timber floors are pine and would come up a yellow colour which I dont want. Select standard Brushbox with semigloss may be the go then. Thank you for your feedback. Always good to hear from others who have been through it.

It really depends the type of sealer you use. We have rimu pine. Downstairs the floors are done in an oil-based poly gloss, and they are really really orange-yellow. Upstairs we sought out a new floor guy who used water-based satin and they are a red colour- more true to the normal rimu colour. We are building at the moment and once done will get upstairs guy back to re-do the lot in the same finish!. The old oil-based finishes always yellowed. I'll always use water-based now.

My sister has kauri pine and she has stained hers charcoal black. A friend has cyprus pine and she went with a chocolate stain-oil. They both look fabulous. No yellow!

mmmm. stain the boards. There's an idea. Someone told me about BonaTraffic HD as a good sealer. Think I will need to get a sample of wood and 'do things to it' to see how it might look. Thanks for your advice Mel.

Thanks for the idea. I have learnt the importance of what sort of sealer to put on the timber as it does affect the ageing colour of the timber.

Have you had experience with Synteko solvent or oil finishes?

Just had 'a flooring guy' come out. We will go with timber floors. Regarding the colour and type of flooring, we will visit their warehouse in Chipping Norton where we can see it laid out and their packs. Yes the final colour will depend on the type and gloss level of the sealer. Synteko was what this 'flooring guy' suggested too. Yes talking to a lot of people, listening to their experience and blogs like this are invaluable. Takes time, but invaluable

John how hard wearing is the osmo oil and how often do you have to re-coat? Has it got a bit of a sheen? I prefer a semi-gloss rather than matt or gloss finish.

Wow John the floor looks really good after its treatment. I will definitely have a look at those oils. Now that you have tried both Kunos oil and osmos oil, which do you prefer?

Thanks for the information montytaffy. Yes in my investigation I have realised the importance of a sturdy base for tiles. Not going to happen I dont think in our old home. Decided now on timber floorboards.