Feeling Floored How to choose the floor that suits you best

There are more flooring options than ever before, but such diversity can be confusing. How do you choose the best floor for your space?

When choosing a floor, there are three main things to consider: room type, traffic volume and budget. You must determine the type of room for which flooring is needed, and then determine how much traffic will pass through that room. After determining this, you need to estimate how much you are willing to spend on flooring, as this will make a difference in terms of the flooring you choose.

Here is a brief overview of the main types of flooring currently available on the market to help you choose your new flooring.

Wood

Hardwood is one of the most popular options today because the elegance of this type of flooring will add character to any room in your home. Recent advances in technology and manufacturing have allowed wood floors to be easily installed on almost all types of subfloors. The increase in demand has also resulted in a quality and variety of superior finishes for wood. There are three types of wood floors that can be purchased today in strips, strips and strips. Each of these solutions has its advantages and disadvantages. You will need to do some research and choose the best option for your home. You can also choose between a prefinished or unfinished wood floor. Prefining may be more convenient, but if your goal is a smooth, even surface, you may want to take the unfinished route.

Laminate

If you want the appearance of wood, but have high traffic areas or can’t afford real wood flooring, you should consider laminate flooring. Laminate floors originated in Europe and most of the floorings available are still imported from there, though you can find a few domestic brands nowadays. Laminate floors are very easy to clean and are incredibly durable. They are also stain and fade resistant. Most brands snaps together so installation is easy – as is replacement at a later stage. With the quality of laminate floorings these days, some makes can even be mistaken for wood. Laminate flooring is an excellent alternative to wood if traffic and cost are issues.

Vinyl

Vinyl flooring may have gotten a bad rap, but now this type of flooring is available in all sorts of stylish colors and patterns. There are new manufacturing processes being used now that mean both the texture and look of tile, wood grain and stone can be replicated on vinyl. If you haven’t looked at vinyl flooring options recently, you might want to take a second look.

Ceramic tile

There are many reasons to choose ceramic tiles. They are durable and resistant to scratches, fire and water. They are also environmentally friendly because they do not retain bacteria and odors. If you decide to use ceramic tiles, you will need to take into account such things as tile slip resistance, the most appropriate cleaning methods, as well as the color and thickness of the grout. Ceramic tiles work better in some rooms than others. The types of ceramic tiles include marble, granite and unglazed floor tiles.

carpet

carpet may not be as trendy as hardwood floors, but it can offer you a floor that is warmer and softer than any other flooring option. It is also much quieter than any of these other kinds of floors. You can choose from a real array of colors and patterns these days. If considering carpet, you might want to go with a solid, neutral color that will go easily with any décor you choose. carpet is also more economical (in terms of the product itself and installation costs) than some of the other flooring options on the market today.