FLOORING

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How to Choose the Right Flooring For Your Home

Choosing flooring is far more complicated than just finding the best-looking product. Several other factors—moisture, durability, costs, and more—greatly influence the decision. Since the floor is usually the largest surface in a room, it lays the foundation for the entire look of the space—color, style, texture, and pattern. Your floor choice is about balancing your needs with your style. Here are 3 things to consider before picking your flooring.

What is the primary use of the area where the flooring is being installed?

The first thing you want to consider is the function of the room where the flooring is being installed. Is the flooring for a bathroom, kitchen, bedroom or living room? With this information, you can now decide whether the flooring needs to be suited for a high to medium-moisture environment. If this is the case, you know you must select a product such as concrete, stone, ceramic or porcelain tile, or vinyl tile.

Do you need low-maintenance flooring?

It is important to choose the flooring that is going to meet your current needs: If having low-maintenance flooring is important, consider any form of resilient (vinyl) flooring such as tile or plank which are water-resistant and easy to clean. Laminate flooring is a close second choice only because it needs special cleaning methods since wet mops can ruin it.

What is your budget?

Calculate your budget. Keep in mind that along with the cost of the floor material, you may need to incorporate the cost of underlayment, delivery, and installation, as well as removal and disposal of your previous flooring. Don't forget to factor in any additional materials such as baseboards, stains, grout or adhesives.

Types of Flooring

There are so many types of flooring out there that it can be confusing to decide which one is right for you. Here are some of the most popular types of flooring and the advantages and disadvantages of each.

Solid Hardwood

Solid Hardwood

Advantages

  • Durable and elegant looking

  • Easy to maintain: vacuum and damp mop

  • Long-lasting and helps to increase your home’s resale value

Disadvantages

  • Hardwood flooring can be expensive to buy and install and can damage easily

  • Moisture will ruin hardwood if not tended to immediately

  • Hardwood also needs to be refinished occasionally

Engineered Hardwood

Engineered Hardwood

Advantages

  • Engineered wood is more stable than hardwood while offering the exact same appearance

  • This type of flooring is used by creating a thick base layer of plywood and then adding a thin veneer of real wood on top. Because it’s not hardwood all the way through, it’s not susceptible to expanding and contracting due to changes in humidity

Disadvantages

  • Engineered wood can still take a beating over time and can still scratch and dent

  • It can only be refinished a couple of times since that top layer is so thin, which eventually means you’ll have to replace it if and when damage occurs

  • Not waterproof

  • Expensive to buy and install

  • Helps increase your home’s resale value

Vinyl Plank

Vinyl Plank

Advantages

  • You’ve got a variety of options when it comes to vinyl, which allows you to work this option into a lot of budgets

  • With today’s luxury vinyl, you get a much more expensive-looking result for a relatively cheap price

  • Great for areas that are susceptible to water, therefore can be used in bathrooms and kitchens or mudrooms

Disadvantages

  • All flooring options have a lifespan, with vinyl’s being a bit lower than that of wood and tile

  • It’s also produced with petroleum, which means it’s not as sustainable or environmentally-friendly as other types of flooring

  • It’s not real wood so it lacks warmth and resale value

Laminate

Laminate

Advantages

  • Laminate is relatively inexpensive to purchase and have professionally installed, and can be adapted to give the appearance of a wide range of flooring options

  • It’s also quite durable, and is more resistant than many other materials to things like pets, kids, and shoes

Disadvantages

  • The plywood or fibreboard used to make laminate flooring is prone to water damage, and since it can be hard to repair, you’ll almost certainly have to completely replace the laminate in an area where there’s been any sort of standing water

  • Has a hollow sound

  • Lacks resale value

Tiles

Tile (ceramic/porcelain)

Advantages

  • Ceramic tile is incredibly versatile in appearance. It’s also easy to clean and quite durable

  • Ceramic tile is inexpensive to purchase

  • Porcelain tiles are dense, they are highly impervious to most substances and stains don’t have the chance to seep down in and set.

  • Porcelain tile can range from low to high to purchase and cost more than ceramic to lay

  • Porcelain tile can be used outdoors

  • Porcelain tile has its color go right through so chips are harder to detect

  • Porcelain tile combines the beauty and hardness of natural stone but it costs less and it's easier to maintain

Disadvantages

  • Ceramic tile is also a hard material so it’s not quite as comfortable to walk on as other flooring options

  • Ceramic tile is more dated looking in most of its color and patterns, grout lines are usually larger in a ceramic tile installation and therefore prone to look dirty faster

  • Ceramic tile has color only on the top and therefore chips easily and shows wear and tear very quickly

  • Even though porcelain tile is easy to maintain on its own, you need to consider the maintenance that grout adds to the equation. Grout is the filler material that must be used in between tiles for a good water-resistant installation

  • Even though porcelain tile is easy to maintain on its own, you need to consider the maintenance that grout adds to the equation. Grout is the filler material that must be used in between tiles for a good water-resistant installation

Porcelain Tile

Color goes right through

Ceramic Tile

Color sits on top

Natural Stone Tile

Natural Stone Tile

Advantages

  • Natural stone, such as granite, marble, travertine and sandstone, are popular flooring choices for both indoor and outdoor spaces

  • A natural stone floor provides a hard-wearing, easy to clean and maintain, durable floor covering

  • They won’t be susceptible to breaking or staining, giving you one less thing to worry about

  • A simple wipe down with a cloth or mop is all that is needed to remove any spills, no scrubbing or special cleaning products required

Disadvantages

  • Natural stone tiles can be very expensive

  • Natural stone are porous and as such has to be regularly treated with a sealing agent to prevent water damage or staining

Watch our full flooring video on YouTube where we talk in depth about flooring including how installation affects the overall cost.