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Choosing the right flooring for your home can be challenging but it can also be a lot of fun. There's such a wide variety of flooring styles available to choose from that you're sure to find the perfect flooring type for every room of your home.
When shopping for flooring, consider your family composition. For example, if you have very young children or plan on having children in the future, you probably don't want to select ceramic tile flooring in every room of your home.
Tile is a hard surface when your child is first learning how to walk so we recommend you choose carpet instead.
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Flooring - Choosing The Right Floors for Your Home
Carpet padding allows carpet flooring to be quite resilient and reduces the potential of serious injury when children tumble and fall down. You may want to consider a non-slip vinyl tile floor for the children's bathroom instead of ceramic which can be quite slick when wet. Carpet makes little sense for any bathroom because the damp environment can promote mold and mildew.
Flooring for Each Room
You also want to consider the primary use of each room for which you're selecting your flooring. For example, when choosing flooring for the kitchen, vinyl tile, ceramic tile, hardwood floors, or hardwood parquet tiles are practical for easy cleaning when spills occur; and spills do happen no matter how careful you may be when cooking and preparing foods.
Hardwood flooring works great in dining areas, and looks great too. Carpet, however, is not very practical for areas in which food is eaten because of the constant need for vacuuming and removal of stains from spilled foods.
Bedrooms feel cozy with carpeting. Because bedrooms are not usually high traffic areas, there is no need for frequent carpet cleaning if normal maintenance is performed regularly, making this type of flooring quite practical for bedroom applications.
Entrances, mud rooms, and foyers experience extremely high traffic and collect all the dirt brought in from outdoors when coming into the home. Practical choices for these areas include vinyl tile, ceramic tile, hardwood flooring, or laminate flooring.
Maintenance Concerns for Your Floors
Flooring maintenance is another thing to consider when selecting floors for your home. In today's busy world, most of us have little time to spend maintaining the flooring throughout our home's and prefer easy-to-clean floors. In some cases, this may cause you to select certain colors of carpet for frequently used rooms. For example, white carpet is nearly impossible to keep clean unless you're lucky enough to have a full-time housekeeper to take care of cleaning it for you. Berber carpet, which blends at least two colors of yarn, especially when earth tones are selected, is wonderful for disguising and blending normal wear and tear. Carpets with various fiber lengths hide traffic patterns extremely well.
Hardwood or ceramic floors are easy to clean with a broom and damp mop. Vinyl or laminate covering for the floors are also easy to clean.
Flooring Budget
Budget is an issue that must be considered when selecting flooring for your home. Some flooring requires a large investment while other types of flooring are quite inexpensive. Marble or granite flooring is among the most expensive selections. Vinyl tile, discount hardwood flooring, carpet on sale or from discount warehouse outlets, and other flooring found on sale can be easy on the budget.
Flooring Installation Tips
Flooring installation must be done properly in order for your investment in the flooring of your choice to pay off in years of enjoyment and attractiveness. Of course, floor installation techniques depend upon the flooring material, but here are tips from professional floor installers for the most common types of floor coverings.
No matter what type of flooring you're installing, you must prepare the substrate properly. Substrate simply means the material which is underneath the existing flooring or, in the case of a new home where no flooring has been installed, that surface onto which the flooring will be installed. It's usually made of plywood, however in some cases, the substrate may be concrete.
If the substrate is wood, be sure to check for any termite damage or wood rot. It is crucial that flooring installation be accomplished on a sturdy, supportive sub-floor in order to maintain your new flooring in a level plane. Tiles can easily crack or experience adhesive failure if installed on a surface which is not level.
In most cases, removal of the old floor material should be completed before beginning flooring installation. There are a few exceptions; you might choose to install vinyl tile over old, worn vinyl tile or carpet over other flooring. However, it's always best to completely remove the old flooring material first.
Be sure the substrate is level and smooth prior to starting installation of any type of flooring. If necessary, correct any problems with the substrate prior to beginning the flooring installation.
As a final step in substrate preparation, be sure to thoroughly clean the substrate. Installing new floors over a dirty surface will cause the adhesive to fail. Installing carpet over substrate which has not been properly cleaned can allow debris to be felt through the carpet padding and rugs.
Flooring installation of all types requires use of at least a few tools. Installing new floors should be done while wearing safety glasses to protect your eyes. You'll need a tape measure, pencil, and carpenters square for any type of installation. Clean up rags and a trash container will also be needed. Each type of flooring will require tools specifically designed for flooring installation for that given that type of flooring.
Flooring installation which involves use of adhesive, for example ceramic tile, vinyl tile, or laminate flooring, will require a trowel for spreading the adhesive. Ceramic tile requires a special tile cutter to create custom-sized tiles while vinyl and laminate can be cut with a vinyl tile or utility knife.
In the case of carpet installation, you'll probably need to rent two tools in order to ensure your flooring installation looks professional. A knee kicker is a tool which helps you stretch the carpet over the tackless strip along each wall. A carpet stretcher helps ensure the carpet is smooth and evenly stretched over the carpet padding in every direction.
You'll need to obtain detailed instructions on flooring installation if you're a novice and most can be found from various carpet manufacturers. If you have questions for which you are unable to locate answers, most home improvement stores are happy to assist you by providing advice and often offer workshops. Some places charge a small fee to help the handyperson who is tackling their first flooring installation project get a handle on the situation.
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