Five sounds that indicate your floor needs fixing

Flooring experts have warned households of five types of flooring sounds that should not be ignored, as they could indicate that the floor needs repairing.

Flooring expert Richard Oates explains:

"If you're hearing strange noises this is a clear sign you have underlying problems that need attention."

Creaking

If a wooden floor makes a creaking sound this can be a sign of loose floorboards. Fasten the loose boards down with adhesive, or reclick them into place if they can be.

Creaking may also indicate high humidity levels, which may require professional help.

Popping

Popping sounds from tile flooring are usually caused by loose tiles, which move due to changes in temperatures and humidity. The flooring was probably not installed with the correct expansion gaps, and a whole new floor may be needed.

Crunching

When you vacuum the floor and hear a crunching sound, it could be due to loose flooring adhesive. Lift the flooring and remove loose adhesive before glueing down again.

Clicking

If you walk on a wooden floor and hear clicking sounds, this could mean an uneven subfloor. If there is slight unevenness, glueing the floorboards could solve the issue or, with a click system, click the boards back into place.

Hollow sounds

Hollow sounds could mean a glued-down floor has not been properly installed. Inject adhesive underneath the floor, or if the hollow sound is heard all over the floor, it may need replacing.

If any of these sounds mean you need a new floor, discuss your options with a flooring company in the North Wales or Chester region.

Small Indian town's unlikely carpet connection to Met Gala

Cherthala, a coastal town in Kerala, India, is the home of carpet company Neyett. For the third time, this handwoven carpet maker was chosen to supply the carpets for the annual New York Met Gala.

The carpet for the 2025 gala was a massive 63,000 square feet that covered the Metropolitan Museum of Art's entrance.

Neyett was established in 2019 by Nimisha Srinivas and Sivan Santhosh who wanted to revive traditional weaving techniques. Sivan Santhosh's family has a long tradition of carpet making. His great-grandfather K Velayudhan created a matting company in 1917. The family has supplied carpets for Camp David in the USA and palaces in Saudi Arabia.

When Neyett was established, traditional Indian carpet making was in decline in Kerala, with young people preferring better paying jobs than carpet weaving. The company's first supplied carpets to the Met Gala in 2022 and these drew lots of attention on social media and helped the business grow. The 2025 carpet was seen by millions on Instagram.

Neyett now has 900 employees, half of them women, at its 15-acre factory. After their carpets went viral on social media, the workers became celebrities in their communities.

Neyett carpets are luxury, costly floor coverings made from sisal fibre which is hand-dyed, spun and weaved. Sisal is strong enough to withstand the pressure of many high heels worn by Met Gala celebrities.

Other makes of sisal carpets are available from a carpet retailer in the Wrexham and Chester area at more affordable prices.

Experts identify home flooring mistakes making selling harder

If you want to sell your home, a range of flooring experts have reasoned that certain flooring choices make it more difficult to sell according to flooring experts. In this blog, we’re reviewing five of these choices.

1. Too many flooring types

Paul Hambidge, the managing director of a flooring supplier says that too many flooring types in a home often puts buyers off. It's fine to have carpets in bedrooms and hard surface flooring in living rooms, but according to Hambidge:

"The days of different rooms in the house having very different personalities are long gone. Now, there's a trend for flow and continuity throughout the entire home."

2. Worn carpets

Wall-to-wall carpets that look worn make the home feel unwelcoming to prospective buyers. Jane Lee from Jane Lee Interiors recommends replacing them with new neutral-coloured carpets, leaving a border around the carpet.

3. Cheap laminate

Inexpensive laminate flooring was popular in the 1980s and 1990s. This laminate flooring may still look in good condition, but it does not impress potential buyers. Wood flooring expert Natalie Mudd suggests replacing laminate with hardwood flooring or less expensive engineered wood.

4. Outdated tiles

Flooring trends come and go. What was once a trendy patterned tile floor may become outdated in the near future. Consider replacing outdated designs with large format plain colour tiles.

5. Impractical flooring

Carpets in high-moisture areas such as bathrooms and utility spaces are impractical, so you may wish to replace them with hard surface waterproof flooring.

To make a house easier to sell, talk to a local flooring retailer in Chester or North Wales about replacing poor flooring.

Interior designers argue against out-of-date carpet styles

According to a range of interior design professionals, there are various different styles of carpets that are outdated in today’s age. These six styles are all unfavoured for a variety of reasons.

1. Shag carpets

Designer Debbie Mathews associates shag carpets with the era of her childhood, and recommends deep pile carpets instead.

2. Neutral grey

Once seen as stylish, neutral grey carpets are no longer fashionable according to designer Alicia Hassen. She advises going for warmer shades for a more inviting, lived-in feel.

3. Plain carpets

Carpets without patterns are, in Liz Williams' view, too bland. She comments:

"Whether it’s a bound area rug or wall-to-wall, geometric, striped, and patterned carpets have taken centre stage and offer more depth and personality to a space."

She likes geometric patterns in bold colours that add interest to a space.

4. Twist textures

Twist or frieze carpets have a curly texture. Designer Tracy Morris says that these carpets have fallen out of favour, and should be replaced by cleaner, more tailored carpets.

5. Viscose

Viscose is a cheaper alternative to silk for carpets, but Alice Hassen warns that it can easily stain. However, some viscose blends are easier to clean than others.

6. Wall-to-wall wool

Wall-to-wall wool carpets are a classic style, but designer Sarah Hargrave says that they look dated in modern style rooms. She recommends having at least a six-inch border of hard flooring.

Not all designers support the view that these six carpet styles are outdated. Many of them remain popular with consumers who continue to buy these styles from their local carpet retailer in Chester and other regions.

Persian carpets honour late Pope

At Pope Francis's funeral on April 25th, 2025, the late Pope’s casket was placed on a Persian carpet. For six hundred years, Persian carpets have been used in the Catholic Church to signify that a space is holy ground.

Carpets imported from Iran, Egypt, the Levant, and Anatolia used to be the most expensive carpets to buy, which is why the Catholic Church used them to honour sacred spaces. These carpets can be seen in religious paintings. For instance, in The Marriage of the Virgin painted by Niccolò di Buonaccorso in 1830, a carpet featuring animals marks the sacred space where Joseph and Mary stand.

In the 16th century, the finest Persian carpets were used as diplomatic gifts. This tradition continues in modern times. In 2016, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani met Pope Francis at the Vatican and gave the Pope a small woven carpet as a gift.

Three Persian carpets featured in the locations of Pope Francis' funeral in St Peter's Basilica, St Peter’s Square and an intimate private chapel. The carpets signified that the Pope's casket was in a sanctified space.

Though the Pope’s funeral dispensed with many of the ceremonial trappings of other Papal funerals, the tradition of using Persian carpets to place the casket on was maintained out of respect.

Genuine Persian carpets are expensive, but you can get modern carpets with patterns based on traditional designs for a more reasonable cost from a local carpet retailer in the North Wales and Chester area.