Choosing Flooring You Will Love
A Quick Guide To Making The Right Decision
It's time to refresh the flooring in your home, perhaps the kitchen, living room, bathroom, or all rooms! You've got lots of great ideas from decorating magazines and websites, and you're anxious to get going on this renovation. But how to choose the right flooring and installation type for your home? What factors should you consider? Flooring has a huge impact on the decor of your home, its resale value, and your enjoyment of it. Based on your needs and lifestyle, making the right selection depends on a number of factors. Here's a brief outline of what to keep in mind when you're making this important decision for your home's new look.
Is The Budget Big Or Small?
How much have you got to spend on the new flooring, and is your budget flexible? If you have a firm ceiling on what you can spend, you won't be able to splurge on fine timber, like black butt or spotted gum timber flooring. But there are still lots of beautiful options available to you, like laminate, which is far less expensive than timber floor and is also much easier to maintain. And laminate comes in numerous styles and widths, and if you want to install it yourself, it's an easier choice than wood.
Are You Installing It Yourself?
Some floors are easier to lay than others, and particularly if this is your first installation project, you shouldn't tackle wood, which really requires an experienced professional to lay correctly. However, if you are keen to do this yourself, opt for a floor like laminate or tile or vinyl planks, all of which are fairly easy for the handy do it yourself home owner to install. Luxury woods like oak and red mahogany take a great deal of skill to install properly, so unless you've got a lot of experience at this kind of project, it's best to leave those trickier types of flooring to the professionals.
How Durable Must It Be?
If you have two dogs, a cat and three kids, you probably want a new floor that can withstand everything from "accidents" your toddler has to juice spills to scratches from "Mitzy's" claws. Choosing a shiny, aged, expensive timber, like oak, which requires lots of polishing is not the best decision. Your best bet is to go with a laminate flooring or vinyl planks that stands up well to all kinds of daily punishment and generally easy and cheap on installation. Remember: wood scratches quite easily, and you don't want to install a beautiful new floor only to have it marred by pets and children -- that's no fun for anyone in the family, and the floor won't last.
How Moist Is The Area?
Some homes tend to be more damp than others, and this is a vital consideration when choosing your new floor. Let's say you've remodelled the family room on the lower level, but there are doors exiting from it onto the patio. Chances are, the floor will be more moist than a room on, for example, an upper level.
In this case, don't choose wood, choose something that withstands moisture well, vinyl sheets or luxury planks, or even porcelain. Waterproof or water-resistant laminate flooring is a possibility, too. Whatever you decide upon, be sure you take the floor's moisture level into account before making your purchase.
These are important considerations for you to take into account before deciding on new flooring. Sometimes, it's easy to be tempted by a gorgeous, shiny, wide wooden plank floor but a vinyl option is wiser. It's important that you do lots of research -- reading this article is a great start! -- and make your decision based on a number of factors, like durability, maintenance, and expense, rather than only how the flooring's appearance.
Once you do make your choice and it is installed, you'll be amazed at the difference a new floor can make to the beauty and livability of your home. Before you know it, you'll want to put a new floor in every room. Whether you do it yourself or hire a professional to install it, new flooring is sure to bring years of satisfaction and enjoyment to every area of your home!