Like flooring, few home furnishings successfully blend form and function. It’s a design feature that is so important that you practically walk all over it, and it has just as much of an aesthetic impact as paint colors and furnishings. The extent of the financial commitment is another consideration, particularly if you’re replacing the flooring in your entire house. It isn’t that much more expensive than buying a brand-new automobile or all brand-new kitchen equipment.
Long understood the value of flooring to a home’s appearance and usability. Along with more modern choices like vinyl and engineered wood flooring, we have thoroughly examined time-proven materials like wood and stone.
The best types of flooring for your home are explained in detail in our comprehensive flooring guide, along with the advantages, disadvantages, and basic cost details. Along with flooring, you should also pay attention to the screed London that you will choose as that forms the base for your flooring. Remember that many types of flooring can be found in most homes, depending on the space and your demands. Since more than a century ago, this has been our advice on that front: Spend more money on your home’s high-traffic, high-visibility sections, and use more affordable, long-lasting materials elsewhere. For more information about polished concrete be sure to check out Policrete.
1. Wooden flooring
Solid wood has long been one of the most popular flooring materials in the nation. It is comprised of 0.5 to 0.75-inch thick hardwood boards or planks that are fastened to a wooden subfloor, making up its construction, which is as simple as it gets.
Hardwood flooring comes in two primary varieties: solid wood flooring, which, as the name suggests, is made of one solid piece of wood, and engineered wood flooring, which combines layers of structural plywood with a thin veneer of real wood. Both types are available in up to fifty species, with oak, ash, maple, and walnut among the most popular choices.
Benefits: Hardwood flooring has a persistent attraction because of its warmth and beauty. A well-maintained hardwood floor can survive for decades or even centuries because the material can be polished and refinished numerous times (good wood versions).
Best Uses
Wood flooring works well in rooms with less foot traffic, like living rooms, hallways, and bedrooms. It is suggested by Consumer Reports as the top option overall for living rooms, dining rooms, and family rooms. Consumer Reports warns against using wood flooring in kitchens, stating that it cannot withstand the constant pressure from dragging chairs, falling cans, or grit-covered shoes.
2. Flooring made of laminate
Similar to engineered wood, laminate flooring is built with a thin veneer covering layers of compressed fiber or plywood. The top layer, however, is a picture covered in translucent plastic rather than wood. As a result, laminate may mimic almost any material, including wood, stone, and tile.
Advantages: As one of the most durable flooring solutions, laminate is exceptionally resistant to scratches and dents thanks to the plastic finish. It’s also among the least expensive, and it frequently comes in the form of a “floating” floor system that allows for easy DIY installation thanks to the snap-together planks that eliminate the need for nails or glue.
Best Uses
High-traffic spaces like kitchens, foyers, and playrooms are suitable candidates for laminate flooring. As long as there are no issues with leaks or standing water, Consumer Reports says it’s also a reasonable option for basements. It is advised to stay away from this material in damp areas like restrooms and laundry rooms.
3. Vinyl Flooring
Vinyl flooring is a type of resilient flooring that is adaptable and softer underfoot than tile or wood. It is made up of two layers: a felt layer on top of a PVC (polyvinyl chloride) plastic layer. Vinyl that has been cushioned additionally has a thin layer of foam added for comfort. Vinyl flooring that is thicker might mimic stone or wood with a textured surface.
Advantages: Cheap entry-level sheet vinyl is available. All vinyl is waterproof, stain, scratch, and dent resistant, making it suitable for bathrooms and basements. Particularly with adhesive tiles and floating boards, installation is simple. LVT is a heavy-duty tile that feels and looks like real wood. When put to the test, our product specialists frequently struggle to tell LVT from real wood.
Best Uses
For bathrooms, wet areas, and kitchens, vinyl is a good choice. It is also appropriate for high-traffic areas like mudrooms. Because it can withstand dampness and doesn’t feel as cold as tile, Consumer Reports suggests it as the best option for a basement.
4. Carpet
The carpet covering the entire wall is a classic choice for living and sleeping spaces. Usually, woven backing layers are added after soft fibers like wool or nylon have been pulled through them to reinforce the textile. Over a layer of padding, which adds cushioning and increases the carpet’s lifespan, you install it by nailing it to the floor.
Benefits: Carpet is the coziest and most affordable flooring option, and it comes in a variety of hues and designs. It is simple to install, and maintaining the carpet only necessitates routine vacuuming. Versions that are stain-resistant are much simpler to clean.
Best Uses
The best places for carpet are in the bedrooms and living rooms, where there is less chance of spills and less dirt being tracked in. In outdoor areas like covered porches, polypropylene carpets can also be used.
5. Cork flooring
Cork, which is derived from a certain kind of tree’s bark, is used to create another sort of durable flooring. Cork is a sustainable material since you can harvest its bark every eight to ten years without harming the tree. The bark is heated in a kiln after being boiled, crushed, and compacted into sheets using a resin binder. Some varieties of cork flooring feature either a compressed cork or high-density fiberboard backing with a veneer of natural cork bark on top.
Benefits: Like other resilient flooring kinds, cork flooring is cosy, quiet, and soft to the touch. Furthermore, it looks natural and is non-slip. Installing click-lock planks and cork tiles by yourself is easy.
Another eco-friendly option for flooring is cork. In addition to being constructed from renewable resources, it also makes use of scrap wine cork material that would otherwise go to waste. Cork flooring can endure 40 years or longer with proper maintenance since it is naturally resistant to mildew, mold, termites, and fire.
Top Uses
Bedrooms, kitchens, playrooms, and living spaces can all benefit from cork. It is not appropriate for high-traffic areas like mudrooms or wet rooms like restrooms.
Final Word
Although not the only alternatives, the five types of flooring that are covered below are the most common. You can find several alternative flooring choices, like stone tile, stained concrete, terrazzo, and rubber flooring, if you go through home design publications and online.
Refinishing or painting your old floors is another option to think about if you’re on a tight budget. Even if you need to hire a professional to do it, refinishing a worn-out hardwood floor is much less expensive than replacing it. Furthermore, painting is a doable DIY project that can be done on several surfaces, including concrete, laminate, and even ancient wood floors. For instructions, look up tutorials online.
About The Author
Ashley Rosa
Ashley Rosa is a freelance writer and blogger. As writing is her passion that why she loves to write blogs related to the latest trends in technology and sometimes on health-tech as well. She is crazy about food.
