Thursday, September 13, 2012
Choosing the right flooring for your Ball Home can be a tough decision. It has a major role in the look, feel, and the ambiance of a room in your home. Flooring materials are more varied than ever and offers both fashion and function. But all the attractive new options may leave you feeling confused about what best suits your needs. Depending on your lifestyle, budget, and the amount of traffic your floor will endure, will dictate the perfect flooring for you. Below are tips and some questions to ask yourself when choosing the right flooring for your home.
Lifestyle: How you and your family live and use your home is the most significant factor in choosing flooring. If your family has heavy traffic, pets, kids, and is very active – plush carpet may not be ideal. Heavy traffic areas should consider resilient flooring, such as ceramic tile, vinyl, or wood flooring. While there are some pre-finished wood floors that have durable top coatings, laminate floors or ceramic tile get the nod here for being the most durable relative to scratches and wear and tear. If your home has minimal traffic, and you enjoy having softness underfoot, carpeting or area rugs over wood flooring may be ideal for your home.
Location in Home: Flooring that is at the entry or foyer of your home should have a “wow” factor, but be durable to outdoor elements. If snow, rain, and mud are a factor in the entry to your home, consider using durable flooring, such as tile or wood. Entry mats outside of the home should be placed to remove the majority of outdoor moisture; this will help keep your floors cleaner too! Flooring in bedrooms, and kid’s rooms should be comfortable for bare feet. Flooring in utility, laundry and bathrooms should be able to resist water. Hardwood and laminate wood flooring in not recommended in areas of high moisture, as warping and damage can occur.
Maintenance and Upkeep: It'd be great if there was such a thing as a zero-maintenance floor, but unfortunately, there isn't. Some level of work will be required to keep any type of floor looking good. If you prefer a mop-and-go approach, vinyl may be a better option in some areas of your home to keep cleaning time to a minimum. It’s easy to do a quick sweep of the vacuum over carpets, but lighter colors show more stains than a darker color does.
Cost: Flooring is priced per square foot and can add up quickly! All flooring materials have ‘grades’ of quality. Synthetic carpet is cheaper than Berber carpet that contains big and small tufts of pile. The plusher or more durable the carpet – naturally the more expensive it will be. When choosing carpet, don’t forget about the carpet pad beneath. The carpet pad will make your steps more comfortable, and will make your carpet last longer. Tile is very low maintenance and doesn’t usually have to be replaced, unless it cracks. Wood and laminate flooring has become more affordable over the years, due to new products entering the flooring market.
The type of flooring you choose for your home depends on a lot of different factors. Doing a little bit of research on the different types of flooring ensures that your floors will stay looking fresh and your home looking new!