How to Choose the Right Flooring for Your Property

Selecting the right flooring for your property is not as simple as looking for a product that looks good. There are many different factors that need to be considered, including durability, moisture, and cost. The size of your flooring in comparison to the room size can also be a significant factor, in that using large tiles for a small room could make the area appear to be larger.

Here are some of the variables that you need to consider when selecting the flooring that is appropriate for your room.

General considerations

Carefully consider your floor’s location. Basements, for example, are more susceptible than upper-floor bedrooms to ground moisture, and so their flooring requirements likely will be different. The same goes for bathroom and kitchen flooring, which are also prone to humid conditions and water damage.

Determine if the area of your flooring receives or will receive radiant heat, because some flooring types are not compatible with exposure to radiant heat. Direct sunlight and UV light may darken or fade certain types of flooring that are not UV-resistant.

Whatever flooring type you eventually choose, you should always remember to get coordinating transitions, accessories, and moulding. These may include quarter rounds, thresholds, T-moulding, reducers, four-in-one moulding, wall base, and underlayment, as well as maintenance and care accessories.

High-moisture areas

There are flooring materials that are well-suited for environments that have medium to high moisture content. These include ceramic, porcelain, and vinyl tiles as well as concrete. If the areas do not have high moisture, then most flooring types can be appropriate to use.

Pet-friendliness

If you have pets in your property, your floor should have superior resistance to wear. Be aware that there are some types of flooring that may appear to have such resistance but are often susceptible to be easily damaged by pets.

One example is solid site-finished hardwood. This type of flooring can easily be scratched, although scratches on its surface could be removed by sanding. But then, are you comfortable with repeatedly sanding your floor?

For a pet-friendly flooring, you may try durable types such as porcelain or ceramic tile, plank vinyl, or laminate flooring. You may even opt to use carpeting, as it can be more easily discarded or replaced if it is damaged by your furry friends.

Budget considerations

If budget is an issue, you can opt for bargain variety laminate flooring. Even if it is not as beautiful as more expensive options, this type of flooring still generally has the appearance of wood.

Other budget-friendly options include tile and sheet resilient flooring as well as porcelain and ceramic tile. Just keep in mind that installing tile flooring can be significantly labour-intensive.

When you have a slightly higher budget to devote to your floor, you can indulge in engineered wood flooring or domestic solid hardwood, although there would not be much imported or rare woods available at a lower price range. You may select more attractive laminates and luxury vinyl tiles as well.

If you can spare even more budget for your flooring, you can consider using engineered wood and the harder, and rarer, imported hardwoods. These options include ipe, kempas, Brazilian cherry, and mahogany. You can also opt for the highest quality luxury vinyl flooring and premium laminate products.

Installation considerations

Another aspect that involves budget is the option to install your flooring yourself. Deciding to do your flooring on your own can usually reduce your total flooring cost by half. The floor coverings that can be most easily installed by homeowners are plank vinyl flooring and laminate flooring. They are also easily available. Both of these floor types are floating; that is, every board is connected to its adjacent board, instead of the subfloor. This is not the case, however, with porcelain and ceramic tiles.

You can hone your self-installing skills on the flooring by using areas in your home that are inconspicuous, such as the basement bathroom.

For other types of flooring, such as engineered wood floors and solid hardwood that are nailed down, it is best to leave the installation to professionals. Wall-to-wall carpeting is also considerably harder to perfectly lay down flat if you are not an expert at it.

As previously mentioned, self-installing porcelain and ceramic tiles have the possibility that they will not be installed well if not professionally installed.

Regardless of the flooring type, it is always safer to leave installation to professional contractors, whether they are in-house installers from the flooring supplier or a separate contracting entity.

Choosing low-maintenance flooring

Low-maintenance floors are attractive to many homeowners. Any kind of vinyl resilient flooring is good to select, including tile, plank, and sheet. You can also benefit from selecting laminate flooring, although it requires special methods to clean because it can be ruined with the use of wet mops. Instead, it needs an exceptionally damp mop.

A type of flooring that requires high maintenance is solid hardwood; the trade-off, however, is its aesthetic quality. The beauty of solid and engineered wood is worth its high-maintenance needs. To mitigate the need to maintain it, you may put runners or throw rugs on high-traffic areas.

Remember to look up Proline Floors when you are shopping for the ideal flooring type for your home or building.

Here are some additional ideas for you to consider!