You can improve dramatically the look of your living space through many ways. The most common and fastest methods to change the feel and the look of a home are perhaps, painting and the installation of a new floor.
But unlike painting, the installation of a brand new kind of flooring is a quite expensive decision and can seriously affect the family budget, although hardwood flooring lasts long time and generally is a good and wise investment.
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Hardwood Floor Options
Moreover, hardwood floors come in a variety of designs, sizes and wood essences, which can further complicate your decision. Therefore, choosing a suitable and long lasting floor for your home can be a daunting and even overwhelming task.
However, hardwood floors are today, the most preferred flooring types.
Engineered Hardwood Floors
Nowadays, many homeowners are choosing engineered hardwood floors that are in fact, a more sustainable alternative than the traditional solid hardwood floors. Although engineered hardwood is and still remains a type of hardwood, the differences are significant and visible.
Besides, the benefits of this type of flooring will stand out shortly. Engineered hardwood flooring is more stable to temperature and humidity variations of the environment. In other words, it is less room for contraction or expansion. This is an important factor to be considered, especially by those living in areas adjacent oceans or lakes that have a high humidity level. It is well known that excessive moisture is the enemy number one for wood floors.
Wide planks are increasingly more popular among homeowners, and the engineered hardwood floor options are available in up to a 7-inch width. Actually today, engineering hardwood is preferred and used in full regardless of the specifics of that room where it is installed.
Hardwood Floor Prevention and Protection
A finishing protection topcoat is extremely important to prevent and protect from scratching, especially if you have pets or small children. It is recommended an acrylic or titanium finish that looks great and is very flexible being able to move with any damage or scratch that may occur.
Vinyl Planking Floors
For the basement floors, especially those in rooms used as playgrounds for children, thus subject to a heightened activity, it is highly recommended vinyl planking flooring that is one of the most popular flooring option today.
The benefits of having this kind of flooring are obvious. Vinyl planking looks pretty similar like hardwood with only one difference. It is more durable than any hardwood floor type. So it is not surprising that this type of flooring is becoming more preferred by homeowners.
Cork Flooring an Environmentally Flooring Type
Cork flooring is another type of flooring that deserves its place among the consumer preferences, particularly for those who are environmentally followers.
Why is cork flooring considered an environmentally friendly type of flooring?
The answer is simple. Cork flooring is made of the renewable resources, i.e. of cork tree bark, which can be harvested every nine or ten years, without jeopardizing the health of the tree. It is an ideal flooring surface for a bedroom and beyond. It has the firmness of a wooden surface and the warmth and feeling of of a carpeted surface.
Affordable Flooring Types
For those who have some basic skills and want to save some money there is also a wide range of products on the market.
Among them, we can mention DIY flooring products and synthetic tiles that are simple and easy to install by a homeowner. They do not require any special tools and are installed over a pressure-sensitive glue coat that changes its colour telling you when it is the right time to install the tiles. The grout used is an acrylic sand grout.
The Key to Longevity of Floors
The longevity of any kind of floor is prevention and a continue maintenance.
You should keep as much grit and dirt off your floor as you really can. Therefore, seep and vacuum regularly to remove as much as possible rough-edged debris that can scratch your floor.
It is also highly recommended to place rugs or floor mats in the areas with high traffic.
Living Room Flooring Types | How To Build A House (howtobuildahouseblog.com)
