Floors Through the Ages: A 1000-Year Evolution

Charlene Bekker
May 27
4 min read

For most of history, houses had very simple floors. In medieval and rural homes, floors were often nothing more than compacted earth or beaten clay, sometimes spread with straw or reed mats for comfort and insulation.

Even castles’ great halls often used rough stone slabs or thick plaster over earth on the ground floor. In China, Japan and other regions, earthen or clay floors were common too. As societies grew wealthier, plank-wood floors began to appear.

In early Cape Dutch farmhouses (17th–19th century South Africa), for example, “floors were made of mud or dung inset with peach pits” and polished to a shine; only later did polished yellowwood planks replace the mud and dung in those homes.

Castle walls and monastery halls in medieval Europe typically had hard stone floors (slabs of limestone, sandstone or slate) for durability. Noble homes might add rushes or herbs on top to freshen the air, but most peasant cottages simply swept and reused dirt or dung floors. By the 17th and 18th centuries, hardwood planks (oak, mahogany, pine, etc.) became symbols of affluence in Europe and colonial America, often laid in herringbone or parquet patterns for visual richness.

19th–20th Century: Tiles, Woods, Carpets and Linoleum

The Industrial Revolution brought new materials and mass production. Victorian and early-Edwardian homes commonly featured encaustic and ceramic tiles in entryways and hallways – elaborately patterned inlays that showed off craftsmanship. (Such floors are being rediscovered today in renovated historic homes.) At the same time, wall-to-wall area rugs and carpets became popular once looms and manufacturing could produce them cheaply. Carpets (often of wool or synthetic fibers) added warmth and color to parlors by the late 19th century. In the 20th century, linoleum and vinyl came into vogue for their affordability and easy cleaning. Mid-century kitchens and diners famously had colorful checkerboard linoleum tiles or vinyl . The 1960s–70s saw plush shag carpets define living rooms. By the late 20th century, engineered hardwood, laminate wood-look planks, ceramic and porcelain tiles, and synthetic carpets were common in homes around the world.

Today’s trend is toward large-format tiles, wide-plank wood, and biophilic natural materials like cork, stone, and responsibly sourced. Wide vinyl planks that mimic wood grain are also extremely popular, offering wood’s warm look without.

In colonial South Africa (and Potchefstroom), many early houses were simple cottages. For example, an 1866 Dutch Reformed church in Potchefstroom ,one of the town’s oldest buildings, was first built with a packed-earth (dirt) floor and thatched roof. It wasn’t until 1892 that that church’s dirt floor was replaced by polished wooden planks. Likewise, a late-19th-century Berlin Mission building in Potchefstroom originally had a dung-and-mud floor; by 1956 it was upgraded to a smooth parquet floor. In short, local Boer homes of the 1800s typically had “reed ceilings and cow-dung floors” (the waste easily sealed a packed dirt subfloor). As the town prospered under British rule and later, Victorian-style townhouses sprang up on Potchefstroom’s Market Square. These affluent homes would have used pine or oak floorboards or imported ceramic tiles, a marked change from the original pioneer huts.

Potchefstroom’s Heritage and Local Styles

Potchefstroom’s architecture reflects its colonial and vernacular roots. The Goetz/Fleischach Museum (an old market-square townhouse) still shows an 1850s Victorian layout and local materials. The Old Presidency (1868 Pretorius House) is a simple Cape-style cottage where the ZAR’s president once lived. Cape Dutch features (thick whitewashed walls, gables, stoops) also influenced local design. Historic school and university buildings of the early 20th century combined Dutch frontons and verandas in neo-Dutch or British Edwardian styles.

Inside these older structures, original wooden floors or encaustic tiles often survive. In the broader Potchefstroom region, traditional Tswana and Afrikaner farmhouses persisted with thatch and mud until well into the 1900s.

Over the 20th century, Potchefstroom’s homes modernized. Cement and concrete floors became common, finished with ceramic tiles or linoleum. From about 1960 onward, mid-century houses often had terrazzo or vinyl floors in kitchens and polished cedar or pine boards in living areas. Contemporary Potchefstroom residences now use the same materials as elsewhere: porcelain tile in bathrooms, laminated wood or vinyl-plank in living rooms, and wall-to-wall carpet in bedrooms. The city’s heritage is preserved in its museums and monuments , for example, the “Totius House” (1906) and the old university Main Building,but flooring in those is more decorative (tiled or polished wood) and less about traditional materials.

Future Trends: Smart and Sustainable Floors

Looking ahead, flooring is becoming both smarter and more eco-friendly. Smart floors embed sensors and electronics underfoot. For instance, “smart flooring” systems can capture foot traffic patterns and room occupancy data via pressure sensors. In office or hospital settings, such floors might adjust lighting or climate control based on where people walk. Experimental technologies even let floor tiles generate power: companies like Pavegen make tiles that convert the kinetic energy of footsteps into electricity.

Sustainability is another big trend. Homeowners are opting for natural and recycled materials: cork floors for comfort and insulation, rapidly renewable bamboo planks, recycled composite tiles, and Marmoleum (linoleum made from linseed oil and wood fiber) are all gaining ground. Wood flooring is increasingly certified (FSC) or reclaimed to protect forests. Even for luxury looks, manufacturers use recycled glass terrazzo or porcelain with bio-based resins.

According to recent design surveys, “sustainable materials like cork, natural stone, and responsibly sourced hardwoods” are go-to choices for eco-conscious homes. In short, the future floor underfoot will marry old and new, combining time-tested materials (stone, wood, carpet) with innovations in health, interactivity, and green design.