Flooring / So Many Choices

You want to change the look and feel of your home but you also want the renovation to look up to date for years to come while complementing the features of your existing home.  Where do you start?

First, make sure that you take your family’s lifestyle in making appropriate flooring decisions for your new renovated area.  For a long time, tile has been an effective selection for durability for an active family, but, let’s talk grout.  Ceramic tile has a wide grout line that might invite dirt to come and reside even though you have carefully had your grout sealed.  Porcelain tile comes in various styles and patterns and can even be a through body pattern which ensuring that the tile will have the same pattern all the way through.  Porcelain also allows for a very thin grout joint that requires much less maintenance.

There are also a variety of floor patterns available when doing a tile floor.  Each pattern in a laid floor tile will give you a very different look depending on the area it is to cover. For example, if you have a heavily traveled entryway that opens into several rooms of your home that has wood flooring, you might consider using a tile that is turned on the diagonal to make the space feel wider as well as deeper.  You could also incorporate the wood into the flooring by “banding” the wood planking on every four tiles.  This way, you have introduced the existing wood in your home into the newly tiled entry thereby giving it a more cohesive look rather than adding just the tile as the flooring selection.

There are also natural stone tiles to consider such as slate, granite and marble.  However, there are also maintenance issues with each of these.  Be sure that you know what each of the stones that you select require for maintenance before making a decision.  For example, while granite is very durable you might not want to put it on a bathroom floor where cleaning materials as well as our daily hygiene products could “etch” the granite if alcohols or acids are spilled on the floor.  This is not an inexpensive repair and quite often there are acids in our products that we use for our bathroom cleaning.

The sky is the limit in creating “patterns” using your floor tile.  You can incorporate different tiles in various sizes to create a rug or border look however, you must be sure that the height of the tiles is consistent or else you could end up spending more money than you wish on extra labor and materials to elevate the tiles to the same height.  You must also be aware that tiles come in various edges such as cushioned, square, undulated, chiseled, rectified, etc. and to introduce too many “edges” in your selection could create issues that might be hard to solve.

There are so many varieties and species of woods to choose from for your project that, again, will provide different looks and serve different functions.  Planks come in various widths from a thin bamboo look to a wide hickory or heart of pine wood selection.  Some of these wood planks will also come in various finishes or sealers.  The longest lasting warranty on these finishes can be from fifteen to thirty years.  Of course you will be paying extra for this product but then, there is no maintenance except a light dusting.  Just remember that wood is a product of nature and therefore will have natural variations in grain and color. 

Laminate floors come in a variety of wood and natural stone looks as well as tile looks and are easily maintained.  These floors resist scratching and love kids and dogs.  Just don’t put them in an area where water might be an issue.
Carpeting is available in all kinds of sizes as well as patterns. Shag carpeting is very popular in bound area rugs and for small areas.  Carpeting choices include plush, frieze, sculptured, looped, patterned, etc.  They come in a variety of fiber choices such as wool, nylon, olefin, engineered blends, etc.  Again, be aware of their care in the area you will be selecting carpeting for.

One last reminder in selecting flooring is to request same dye lots for correct color matching which includes all of the above flooring descriptions.