If you’re doing a renovation or building a new house, one of the decisions you’re going to be faced with is what type of flooring you want to use. There are lots of 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 maintenance and upkeep you want to do. Some types of flooring require more time spent caring for them, so you’ll either need to do that work yourself or pay someone to do it for you. Hardwood flooring is one of the types that can require more maintenance, particularly if it is in a high traffic area.
Which brings us to the next factor that will affect your decision – what type of traffic and abuse will the flooring take? If you’re putting flooring in a room that gets a lot of foot traffic, and maybe some of it is from kids or pets that can be hard on floors, some materials will stand up better than others. Tile and hardwood are both susceptible to dings and chips, so they’re not really the best choice in high traffic spots.
Laminate flooring is a better option in these rooms, especially since you can get laminate in both wood and tile finishes that will look much the same as the higher maintenance materials, without all the work.
If you’re putting down flooring in a garage or workshop, where it could take quite a bit of abuse, rubber flooring tiles are a good option. They will stand up better to heavy weights, but there are still lots of colors and finishes to choose from if you’re concerned about appearances as well as durability.
Your kitchen is another room that can take a lot of abuse, with spills and other things dropped. And since some of these things can be quite hot, you’ll want a flooring material that is not sensitive to higher heats. Linoleum has been around for a long time, but it’s still one of the most effective types of flooring for a kitchen.
Make sure you do your homework before choosing your flooring. Knowing how you’re going to use it, and what types of flooring suit your needs the best will save you a lot of hassles and give you a floor that will last for years to come.