Hallway Flooring in Leeds

Rain, frost and salt at a Leeds front door

Leeds has 14.5 days of heavy rain a year in the Met Office's 1991 to 2020 average, fewer than the median of 17.8 across the 151 towns and 120th of them. It only takes one of those days, a wet umbrella and a row of shoes to leave standing water in the hall. A floor that shrugs off a spill that is wiped up may not shrug off a puddle that sits for an hour.

Frost brings the other problem. Central Leeds averages 30.9 days of air frost a year, below the median of 38.1, and on those days salt and grit are walked in together. The hall is the first floor they land on, so its surface and its joints are the ones to choose with winter in mind.

1930s halls, 1950s slabs and Victorian tiles

16.3% of Leeds dwellings were built from 1930 to 1939, above the 9.9% for England and Wales and 14th of 141 towns. In houses of that era, as in Victorian and Edwardian ones, the ground floor is timber boards over a ventilated void, and where a solid floor exists at all it is usually in the kitchen and the hall. Lift a corner before assuming the hall is boards like the rooms beside it.

Mid-century halls need the same check. 5.7% of Leeds dwellings date from 1945 to 1954, below the 6.4% for England and Wales, and a hall laid in those years may be a solid floor with no damp-proof membrane at all. A wood floor cannot go over it until that is known.

11.8% of Leeds dwellings were built before 1900. In a Victorian hallway where tile belongs to the architecture, the hallway guide calls porcelain the obvious choice: the guide rates it the hardest wearing of the floors it compares, and it looks as though it belongs there.

Stairs, children and landlords' entrance halls

9.9% of Leeds households live in a detached house, below the 23.2% for England and Wales. In any house, though, a hard floor on a staircase in the middle of the home is audible everywhere. Where that matters, a stair runner over the hard floor keeps the look and takes the edge off the noise.

28.2% of Leeds households have dependent children, against 28.4% for England and Wales. Hallways and family homes both reward a matt, textured finish and a busier grain, which disguise the marks a hall collects every day.

For landlords, 25.2% of Leeds households rent from a council or housing association. In a property that is held for the long term, the rentals guide names porcelain tile as the long-horizon choice for the entrance hall.