Do you want a floor that is both attractive and long-lasting, as well as wholesome for your household as well as the environment? This blog post will show you how to choose the right flooring options concisely.
Many people are struggling with a major lack of knowledge on how to select the best type of flooring for their new home. Whether it’s due to indecision, time constraints, or other factors, most people simply pick out a “pretty” type that makes them feel good about their purchase.
Step 1: Keep Your Family’s Needs in Mind
Whenever you’re planning on making an important purchase, it’s always a good idea to sit down and discuss your options with the rest of your family. Ask them what benefits they are looking for, and weigh these options against the potential drawbacks of each when choosing flooring for your home.
In most cases, both people and pets will have several concerns that you should consider when choosing a flooring option, including:
Ways to protect the flooring from spills and other accidents:
Whether it’s a rug or rugs that need to be moved around or protect the hardwood floors in your home from spills, your floor must stay clean and in good condition.
Warmth and comfort your floor will provide:
If you or someone in the home suffers from arthritis or other similar conditions, it’s important to consider the temperature of the floor and how comfortable they feel on it.
If you have young children or pets, it’s also good to take into consideration how much of a difference a cold floor makes in their ability to focus – especially on a cold winter day. A warm carpet can be a welcome sight these days!
Ways that your flooring can impact allergies:
Allergies are one of the most difficult things for parents to deal with when raising a new family. In most cases, carpet is more likely to cause allergies than hardwood flooring, because it is made from a lot of synthetic materials that aren’t necessarily healthy for you and your family.
In many cases, hardwood flooring also has antibacterial and antifungal properties that will help prevent allergies from developing.
Step 2: Explore Your Flooring Options
Once you know what kinds of flooring options will work best for your family’s needs, it’s time to start looking at some of the different kinds on the market (in person or online).
Carpet: Carpeting is probably the most common option for a flooring choice, largely because of its low cost and easy maintenance. These floors are popular among people with high traffic areas, such as family rooms and living rooms.
It is also an easy floor to lay down on – virtually anyone can do it! The downside to carpet is its texture, which will make it difficult to clean if there are spills or other accidents.
Wood: The most popular type of wood flooring these days is laminate, which is a product that has been designed to mimic the look of more expensive hardwood floors.
This is a great choice for people who have allergies because it doesn’t contain any allergens themselves (such as dyes or synthetic materials).
Hardwood: Hardwood is the top choice when it comes to natural material flooring options. It’s good both for your body and your family’s health as well as being very eco-friendly.
Plus, wood is the most durable type of flooring on the market today – it can last up to 50 years or longer depending on how well they are taken care of.
The downside to these types of floors is that they are much trickier to install and may not be 100% affordable. They can also be damaged by water or moisture, so you’ll need to be careful when cleaning or mopping.
Stone: Stone is a great option if you want a natural, durable floor that looks beautiful and authentic. The most popular kind of stone flooring is a marble. Other kinds include granite, travertine, slate, limestone, and sandstone.
It’s important to note that all stone materials are porous, which means that dirt can get trapped in them fairly easily.
Ceramic: Ceramic flooring comes in a variety of colors, shapes, and textures, making it a popular option for homeowners who want something unique and artistic for their home. The downside is that it is porous, so dirt can get trapped inside the material pretty easily.
Step 3: Select the Right Colors for Your Floors
Once you have chosen flooring for your home, it’s time to choose the right colors for your floors.
You will also need to make sure that the wood is treated and sealed regularly to prevent stains from coming back or discoloration.
Carpeting takes care of itself in terms of cleaning and maintenance. You will also want to consider which kind of carpeting is right for your home in terms of style and color.
The Carpet and Rug Institute has a page that includes some great carpeting color charts to help you choose the right colors for your home.
Stone and ceramic floors also require special tools and supplies, such as a hammer, chisel, and power sander. You will also need to be sure that your flooring is cleaned regularly to avoid staining or scratching the material.
Once you choose the right color flooring for your house, it can change the entire look of your home all at once! You can save hundreds of dollars each year just by installing hardwood flooring or carpet in your home instead of older rugs or tiles from years past.
Step 4: Choose Your Tools
After you’ve determined the right color for your home and the kind of flooring that’s best suited to your needs, it is time to choose a tool that will help you get your floors done. This is a crucial yet usually the skipped part in choosing flooring for your home.
Be sure to read any instructions before diving in! You may need to rent some tools or purchase a sander and other supplies for your project.
If something unexpected happens or you’re not happy with the way things are going, call someone to help you figure out what went wrong and how to fix it.
You can also ask a friend or family member if they have experience with flooring so that they can give you some advice.
Step 5: Choose Your Sub-Flooring
A sub-floor is the base or foundation on which you have your flooring installed. When you’re choosing flooring for your home in an old house that doesn’t have any type of floor underneath it, you will want to install new sub-flooring under the floor so that it is sturdy and can effectively hold up to all kinds of wear.
The most common kinds of sub-floors are plywood and OSB (Oxford System Board). OSB has become increasingly popular with homebuilders because of its lightweight, durability, and sturdiness.
Many types of tile, laminate, and stone flooring are installed directly over a sub-floor. This technique is called the floating floor.
It requires more skill on the part of the installer to make sure that everything is smooth and level, but it can provide very good results with minimal effort on the homeowner’s part.
A key benefit is that this type of installation allows you to move or remove your hardwood floors without any damage to your wood or tiles.
Step 6: Give It a Test Run!
It’s time to give your flooring a try on the floor in your home. This is where you get to see how well your choices and decisions went after you chose flooring for your home.
It’s also good to step back and take a look around at how the entire room feels in comparison with how it used to be.
Once you’ve decided that everything looks great and that your flooring install turned out okay, it’s time to start shopping! If you’re not sure where to start, make sure you download this handy guide on the best stores in your area for hardwood floors.
Step 7: Install The Flooring
The last step in choosing flooring for your home is to install the flooring in the space where you want it to go. The hardest part of this process happens when you’re trying to install a wood floor over an existing carpet.
To avoid tearing up your carpet, it’s important to put down a flat underlayment before installing the wood. You can usually buy this type of material at any hardware store or home center, but if you don’t have one nearby, you can try any one of these options:
If space is tight, you may need to outfit yourself with some extra tools and supplies such as a razor knife and a nail set. You can also ask a professional to help you install your hardwood flooring if you’re having trouble or are feeling frustrated.
Once the flooring is down, make sure to remove any excess adhesive so that it doesn’t come up later on when you’re walking around on the floor.
Keep in mind that this process may take several hours or even days, depending on how much work needs to be done and how long it takes to work out the kinks with your materials.
If there are rough patches in your hardwood such as dents or bumps, you can use a belt sander with some sandpaper to smooth it out.
If some areas are still uneven, you may need to fill in the gaps with rubber. Make sure you wait for the rubber to dry if it’s not already included in your wood or adhesive.
Conclusion
The whole process of choosing flooring for your home can take several days to a week. If you’re trying to install wood floors in a relatively short time, you might want to consider hiring someone who can install the flooring.
If you do it yourself, remember that there’s always room for improvement! You may need to take another look at some of your decisions as problems arise and keep an open mind about what else could be done to improve things further.