What’s under your feet?
Print
Email
Save
Share
Del.icio.us
Digg
Facebook
Reddit
Most people don’t know where to begin when it comes to finding the perfect flooring for their homes.
Options today come in a variety styles and colors. Consumers can be as creative or traditional as they please.
According to Ken Edenfield of Floorscapes, there are some basic tips for consumers who are planning to purchase new flooring.
“I think you need to have contact with a full-service company – one that can take you from measuring to helping you select the item you’re looking for and the installation process,” Edenfield said. “The main thing is that when you start shopping for floors, tell your salesperson the number of people in the family, whether you have pets and what kind of traffic situation you have. It’s to give us a better idea of where to point you.”
Carpet
Carpet offers homeowners several advantages, including comfort, softness, warmth and, most important, quiet.
When it comes to carpet, tighter is better. The tighter the twist, the longer the carpet will perform. There are five basic styles, each offering a unique look and function:
- Berber: Berber uses loop pile yarn. It’s durable, a good choice for a household with children, stain resistant and great for heavy traffic.
- Texture: Texture carpet is tough enough for any room, and the sculpted design won’t show dirt or footprints easily.
- Saxony: For a formal, luxurious velvet appearance, saxony carpet is perfect. It has a high-end feel, solid look and is stain resistant. Saxony will show footprints more easily than a textured style.
- Frieze: Frieze has a luxurious look but requires little maintenance. It’s a smart choice for any high-traffic area. Frieze is less likely to show vacuum marks or footprints.
- Cut and loop: Cut-and-loop carpet has a pattern, sculpted design and is low maintenance.
Almost everyone loves the look of hardwood floors. Hardwood never seems to go out of style and can easily enhance a room’s overall color scheme.
Edenfield said the most popular types of hardwood floors include oak, South American hardwoods and exotics such as Brazilian Cherry and Tigerwood. Handscrapped wood, where the soft part of the grain is scraped out to achieve an antiqued finish, is becoming popular with consumers.
The basic types of hardwood are solid and engineered.
- Solid: Solid wood is the traditional flooring application. It’s nonlayered and refinishable.
- Engineered: Engineered flooring can be broken down into two groups: processed wood application and floating. Processed wood application is multilayered for stability and has factory applied prefinish. It is glued or nailed to an existing floor. Floating floors can be installed over any surface. The installation doesn’t adhere to the existing floor and is simple and quicker to install.
Tile is a favorite among consumers who are looking for elegance. It is available in three main groups: porcelain, ceramic and stone.
- Porcelain: Porcelain tile is a manmade product with heavy residential and commercial value. It’s highly resistant to moisture, bacteria, odors, stains and harsh cleaners.
- Ceramic: Ceramic tile is made of clay and is most commonly used in residential areas. It offers unlimited decorating possibilities.
- Stone: Stone tile is a natural, timeless fashion classic that has been used for centuries. Some examples of stone are marble, travertine, granite and slate.
Vinyl floors equal variety and unlimited style and color. New manufacturing technology allows vinyl floors to replicate the textures of stone, wood and ceramic tile. Vinyl floors can be purchased in both sheet and tile.
Laminate floors
Laminate flooring is offered in a wide range of colors in realistic stone, slate and tile designs with grout lines. The advantage of laminate floors is having a realistic look without the hassle of cleaning soiled grout joints. Also no glue, nails or staples are needed for installation because of the special tongue-and-groove locking system.
Thursday, Mar 06, 2008
2:45 PM