How to choose the best type of flooring for your home
Whether you’re doing a renovation or building a new home, one of the decisions you’ll be faced with is what type of flooring you want to use. There are many different materials for your floors: hardwood, laminate, carpet, linoleum, tile, and more. There are several factors to consider when choosing the right one.
The first thing you’ll want to decide is how much upkeep and upkeep you want to do. Some types of flooring take more time to care for, so you’ll need to do that job yourself or pay someone to do it for you. Hardwood floors are one of the types that can require the most maintenance, especially if they are in a high-traffic area.
Which brings us to the next factor that will affect your decision: what kind of traffic and abuse will the floor withstand? If you are laying flooring in a room that has a lot of foot traffic, and maybe some of it is from children or pets that can be hard on the floors, some materials will hold up better than others. Tile and hardwood are susceptible to dents and chips, so they’re not really the best choice in high-traffic locations.
Laminate flooring is a better option in these rooms, especially since you can get laminate in wood and tile finishes that will look a lot like higher maintenance materials, without all the work.
If you’re laying flooring in a garage or workshop, where it could take quite a bit of abuse, rubber flooring tiles are a good choice. They’ll hold up better under heavy weights, but there are still plenty of colors and finishes to choose from if you’re concerned with looks and durability.
Your kitchen is another room that can take a lot of abuse, with spills and other things falling. And since some of these things can get pretty hot, you’ll want a flooring material that isn’t sensitive to higher heats. Linoleum has been around for a long time, but it is still one of the most effective types of flooring for a kitchen.
Be sure to do your homework before choosing your flooring. Knowing how you are going to use it and what types of flooring are best suited to your needs will save you a lot of hassle and give you a floor that will last for years to come.