Cohousing-L Mailing List: best flooring for Common House?

[Holly Wilder (hollywilder23]

Hello fellow cohousers,

Holly Wilder from Nyland just outside of Boulder, CO here.  We are in 
conversation about redoing our main level flooring (dining and living rooms 
areas).  We originally had carpet, which was good for noise reduction, but 
kinda yucky for an eating area.  After 20 years, we replaced it with cork, 
which has been lovely in our yoga room, but has worn very badly on the main 
level.  It’s a high traffic area and it is now (11 years later) full of 
scratches and deep gauges.  It hasn’t lived up to its promise of durability 
combined with sustainability at all.  So we’re back to the drawing board trying 
to figure out what to do next.

Some people want to try to refinish the cork, which I think will go badly.  I’m 
researching other materials and thought it might be a good idea to reach out to 
other coho’s to see what’s working WELL in other Common Houses.  My first 
choice wood be hardwood, but we are open to other options.  We want something 
durable, easy to maintain, and beautiful, but room acoustics are also a factor 
because we want to be able to hear each other in that space (community 
meetings, dinner conversation, etc).

I would love to hear what’s working well for you.  

Many thanks,
Holly