Kelty bungalows: choosing the floor after the survey

Hall, stairs and landing: the decision that matters most

It is one continuous surface, it takes more footfall than the rest of the bungalow combined, and it sets the tone the second anyone walks in. Get it right and the rest of the house can be modest.

On a Kelty staircase we look at nosing depth, winders, whether the treads are original timber, and how the gripper can be fixed. Stairs are where a rushed fit shows first.

Getting a straight answer on the quote

• Floor covering, underlay, prep, trims and fitting listed separately, not as one figure.
• Room-by-room breakdown, so you can stage the work or drop a room without a re-quote.
• Uplift and disposal shown as included, so there's no skip cost arriving later.
• Anything conditional — a door to ease, a suspect area to open up — flagged in writing before you commit.

Choosing underlay by room, not by habit

Underlay isn't one product fitted everywhere out of convenience. A dense foam or rubber crumb suits a living room where comfort underfoot matters, while a thinner, moisture-resistant type belongs under LVT in a kitchen where spills are likely.

For a Kelty bungalow with a mix of uses on one floor, we spec underlay room by room rather than buying one roll for the whole job. It costs slightly more to plan this way but the floor performs properly where it's actually used hardest.

Insurance work after an escape of water

A burst pipe or overflowing appliance can ruin a floor in a single afternoon, and the replacement that follows is usually driven by an insurance claim rather than a straightforward choice. We're used to working from a loss adjuster's scope and matching the original spec where the policy asks for it.

In a Kelty bungalow, the priority after any escape of water is drying the subfloor properly before anything new goes down; covering a damp base to hit a deadline stores up a second, worse job later.

Choosing colour under Fife daylight

Daylight in Fife is often flatter and cooler than a showroom's lighting suggests, particularly through the darker months, so a carpet or plank sample can read quite differently once it's laid in a Kelty room facing away from the sun.

We always suggest looking at a sample in the actual room, morning and evening, before committing to a colour for a whole bungalow. A warmer wood tone or a mid-depth carpet colour tends to hold up better across changing light than very pale or very dark choices.

Coverings that suit ex-mining terraced bungalows

1. 1Carpet with the right weight of underlay where warmth and quiet matter more than wipe-clean.
2. 2Click LVT or rigid-core SPC where there's real traffic, spills or pets — provided the base is flat enough.
3. 3Engineered oak where subfloor and heating allow it and you want real timber that stays put.
4. 4Sheet vinyl in small wet rooms, where one seam-free piece beats tiles.
5. 5Restoration instead of replacement where original boards or parquet survive underneath.

Straight answers