Types Of Flooring - Which Flooring Is Right For You?

Flooring is one of the most critical features of your home. If it's dirty, old, dated, aged or ragged, your entire house appears that way to guests and prospective buyers. This improvement should take precedence over all others.

It's no mystery that there are entire retail outlets devoted solely to the flooring market-the choices are considerable. Following is an overview of the various flooring materials available and their benefits and shortcomings.

Nothing ages a home more than old worn-out carpeting. Years of wear, grime, spots and stains, give a ragged appearance to an otherwise nice house. If it's time for this improvement, you truly have innumerable options at widely varying prices.

Carpeting is arguably one of the most popular flooring alternatives. There are synthetic as well as natural choices: nylon, olefin (polypropylene), polyester, acrylic, and wool. Nylon is generally the least expensive and the easiest to maintain, but nothing can match the luxurious look and feel of wool carpeting.

The choices in carpeting involve lots of thought about your lifestyle. If you still have kids at home, have pets who track in dirt and mud on their paws, allow eating and drinking all over your house, or if you entertain a lot you may need to think long and hard about what carpet you want to put down. All of these events and situations create risk for your carpet.

Traffic and dirt can age carpet within a year, and that beautiful effect you created is now marred. If traffic and dirt are issues, be careful about color selection. Find a light brown carpet with a great pile and, that will go with your furniture, it will look great! White and cream are not good colors for high traffic areas - save those for your bedroom or other seldom-used rooms. You can't afford to use cream carpeting in the entryway - what a disaster! Remove and replace it with a vinyl tile.

If you decide upon carpeting, choose a high quality one, with the best pad available. This will prove its worth over time. Be certain that it is stain-guarded or, if not, do it yourself. Daily vacuuming is the single most important thing you can do to preserve your carpet. If you are preparing your home for sale, you may want to think twice about the highest quality. Use professional carpet installers. The installation is tricky and, if not done well, you will have ridges and loose spots - really a problem as the years go on.

Nothing is more beautiful than glowing hardwood flooring. Nothing distracts more from a home's beauty than an aged, pocked, scarred floor.

Available in natural wood and engineered wood, this flooring choice today is so finely finished and easy to care for that it can be an option even in the kitchen and bathroom. Popular species choices include oak, maple, and pine, but many exotic woods abound as well.

If you are considering new hardwood flooring, shop around, and be certain that the flooring has a laminate finish. This will allow you to damp mop the floor without any damage, and it glows all the time. Installation can be easier than you think, but consider taking a short course offered by the major home improvement centers before you begin this project yourself.

An existing hardwood floor can get a face lift however doing it yourself can be tricky. Usually, these floors have to be sanded, re-stained and then coated with a laminate. The effect is amazing, but, if professionally done, it is costly. The sanding process itself is a mess, and you should be prepared for dust all over your home for weeks. If you do it yourself, begin in an unseen place, like a closet, until you get the hang of the sanding - that is the trickiest part if you are not experienced.

Great improvements have been made in quality over the years. Originally used in Scandinavia, it has become extremely popular in the U.S. because of the ease with which it is installed and the simplicity of maintenance.

For a more natural looking material with the convenience and economy of vinyl, laminate flooring is the best of both worlds. It can mimic the look of wood, stone, or ceramic tile, but it is actually layers of plastic laminate adhered to a board backer.

As in anything, there are levels of quality, so be careful in selection. You want at least a 20-year warranty, so do not select the thinnest, though least expensive, product. A mid-priced flooring will maintain its appearance for years.

And do not scrimp on the under-lament. It is inexpensive but critical! Of all floorings, this is the easiest for do-it-yourselfers. The "floating" laminate floor is not nailed or glued to the floor. It is installed with tongue and groove fittings and "floats" on top of the under lament. Instructions for installation are clear and easily understandable, but be certain to follow them. Non-floating floors are attached to the sub-floor by finish nails or glue, and these are trickier. If you make a mistake, it's hard to fix without some damage to the piece.

The beauty of laminate flooring is its maintenance. And the look can be changed easily with area rugs or re-arrangement of your furniture. Your home has a clean appearance all the time!

With the many styles, sizes, colors, and patterns of tile on the market, it is easy to see why many homeowners love this choice throughout their homes. Among the more interesting versions are ceramic, porcelain, and quarry tile. Tiles are fade and wear resistant and very easy to maintain.

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Economical and resilient, vinyl is the workhorse of flooring choices. It is amazingly easy to maintain, resists scratches and dents, and comes in a dizzying array of patterns and colors.

Both sheet and tile vinyl is do-it-yourself easy to install and requires no special sealant. The more expensive options feature colors and patterns that go all the way through the material so that wear areas are not as obvious.

Other flooring options include bamboo flooring, cork, linoleum (a popular retro choice), concrete, natural stone, and even leather flooring.

When making flooring decisions for your home, investigate all the options and narrow down your favorites. You may decide that a few choices will work best for you: carpet in the bedrooms; ceramic tile in the kitchen and baths; hardwood flooring in the living and dining areas. Consulting a flooring specialist or interior designer will help you make the best decisions.