Flooring For Beginners

As can be guessed from the name, floating floors are not directly connected to the sub-floor with any glue or screws, just kept over that. You can find offices and homes installed with such floors. An outstanding feature of these floors is that they help absorbing noise and are therefore often used at public places like gaming rooms, theatres and party floors. These are not appropriate for bathrooms since water could leak from the edges to harm their shock absorbing middle layer on getting collected therein.

Floating Bamboo Floor

With this kind of flooring you don’t actually attach bamboo planks to the sub floor. Instead, you use glue to attach the planks together or simply interlock those and keep over the floor as one piece. The sub floor may comprise of any regular flooring material including wood, tiles and concrete. A layer of foam and plastic comes in between the sub floor and the single piece made from planks. The middle layer could be made using cork or from recycled car tires. This works as an effective shock absorbing material. Variations of humidity level make bamboo contract or expand. So, the floor made from bamboo is exposed to such variations. However, floating bamboo flooring is better that the normal bamboo flooring as the planks making a single piece are not joined to the sub-floor, they won’t bend to lose their shape. Nevertheless, it is recommended to keep a gap of an inch or half between the edges of the floor and the walls, thus keeping room for any expansion or contraction that may take place.

Strand Woven Bamboo Floor

This is easily the most interesting and cost effective kind of bamboo flooring. This is derived from Moso bamboo which is first boiled to get rid of any sugar content that could attract termites. Subsequently it is dried for a long time. Dried bamboos are subjected to high pressure to flatten the same and planks are cut from the flattened bamboo and treated with low VOC (volatile organic compounds) adhesives. This treatment enhances the strength of woven strands to twice of normal strands. Moreover, they become more water resistant than normal bamboo. Now the planks are ready to be glued or nailed straightway to the sub floor or you may install those as floating floor. These are exceptionally strong and long lasting and fit for use in areas that attract high traffic.

Another convenient feature of bamboo flooring is that it presents easy installation and requires no professional help. Despite its being prone to attracting moisture, people prefer using bamboo flooring because of its aesthetic appeal. After all, every product has its own benefits and drawbacks and this flooring is no exception!

Cork flooring was first introduced during the beginning of the 20th century. It became widely accepted as cork proved to be a durable material. Some of the original cork floors can still be seen in commercial and residential buildings. With the introduction of new flooring materials like vinyl, cork lost its popularity but is again emerging because of its durability and cost-effectiveness.

Cork is a very interesting flooring material, though also used for making wine corks. Cork is derived from the bark of cork trees that mainly grow in the countries of West Mediterranean. A unique characteristic of this tree is that it gives up its bark every nine to ten years and new layer comes up on harvesting the earlier bark. This characteristic makes cork a renewable and sustainable resource.

Durability of Cork Flooring

One of the most important characteristic that we look for when choosing a flooring material is its durability. The reason for that is not difficult to guess, flooring of any residential or commercial building forms a big chunk of investment. Then, we also want the flooring material to be easy to maintain. Cork is among the strongest material that one get these days. It has inherent property of durability. If you are wondering what makes it so durable, here are the reasons:

Resilient

Cork is a very resilient material. Since it contains more than fifty percent of air, it is lightweight and exceptionally resilient to pressure. You’ll notice that on placing a piece of heavy furniture on a cork floor it develops slight dent or depression but as soon as the furniture is removed, the floor regains its original shape and looks as good as new. This is not the case in case of other flooring materials like carpets whereon the furniture leaves an everlasting mark.
Water Resistant: Another characteristic that makes cork flooring durable is its capacity to resist moisture. Cork has a natural material known as suberin, which is a kind of wax that enables cork to resist most fluids. Now, we are aware that hardwood flooring rots when exposed to water or moisture, but cork remains unaffected. That makes cork a very versatile and ideal option for flooring of your bathroom and kitchen.

Easily Renewable

Avery helpful feature of cork flooring is that it can be covered with a coating of polyurethane that further adds to its durability. Once the provided coating starts wearing off, another fresh coating can be provided.

Sound and Temperature Insulator

One more useful quality of cork flooring is that it absorbs sound and insulates temperature. That’s because of its cellular honeycomb like structure that contains millions of minute air pockets. That makes it preferable to have cork flooring on first and higher floors of any building because people on the floor below will not get disturbed by the footfalls of those walking on the upper floor.

People usually think of hiring the services of professionals for repairs of a hardwood floor that has developed scratches over a period of time. Well, professional services are indeed required for a severely damaged floor, but floor with minor scratches caused by normal use can surely be repaired by the homeowners on their own and thus save money. It’s not at all a difficult project provided you have the appropriate tools and are willing to put in some efforts.

Here are the steps you need to follow for repairing your damaged floor due scratches:

* First of all you should collect all the following items needed for repairing scratched hard floor.
* Fine sandpaper, though some people like to use steel wool, sandpaper is a better choice for wooden floors.
* Hardwood floor finish matching the damaged floor
* You are going to need a brush, its size depending upon the extent of the scratches
* You also need to have rags to wipe off the area or any stain spills that could occur
* A bucket of water at room temperature
* Remove all the furniture from the room so that you can clearly see the damage caused to the floor.
* Using the fine sandpaper, sand up the area that has been scratched. As a matter of fact you should make the area around the scratch a bit rough so that the finish takes up the floor and covers the scratch completely. Care should be taken to rub the area around the scratched floor in circular motions or rub it with the grain, else you are most likely to scratch the floor further.

* Moisten the rags, using water in the bucket and thoroughly clean the sanded area around the scratch to get rid of all the clutter caused by use of sandpaper. Before proceeding any further, allow the area to get dried naturally.

* After all the moisture has evaporated and the affected area is completely dry, apply hardwood floor finish with the help of paint brush. Use as small quantity of finish as you can so that the area is covered and dries quickly. Use of excessive finish could discolor the affected area. Instead of using more paint in one stroke it’s better to be using many strokes with small amount of paint.

* Let the affected area become completely dry. You can facilitate drying by leaving the windows open but take precautions to prevent dust from getting collected over there.

The above procedure helps getting rid of most usual scratches leaving the floor free of any visible scratches. If you fail in your first attempt to get satisfactory result, you may repeat the process. Otherwise, you may consider opting for the services of a professional to get the desired effect.

It’s heartening to note that more and more people are opting to use green products wherever possible. Now, they have the option of using some of the green building materials and that include Marmoleum flooring.

You may recall having used or heard of linoleum, but it’s very different from that and is available in a wide range of attractive colors to suit your particular home décor. It’s sold in form of rolls as well sections, known as Marmoleum Click flooring. You get innumerable design options.

The best thing is that unlike vinyl it doesn’t release any VOCs. So, you get attractive floors without harming the environments. Here’s more about this green product.

What is Marmoleum?

From the point of view of a common homeowner Marmoleum is long lasting that can be cleaned easily. It can bear heavy footfalls without losing its looks. This floor doesn’t get stained and you don’t have to wax it. Just dust off with a mop regularly or use a moist mop whenever required and the spills may be wiped off.

Marmoleum has antibacterial characteristics, meaning it won’t attract salmonella and the like. That’s because it contains linseed oil, which keeps the floor oxidized all the time and prevents formation of bacteria. On getting oxidized, linseed oil hardens and that further makes the floor durable. You can use any color of your choice and expect the floor to last for fifty years!

This reincarnation of linoleum resists burning. What it means is that in the unfortunate incident of a fire, the entire house may get burnt but the floor doesn’t melt even when subjected to high heat. That means a burning cigarette, curling iron, glue gun and hot grease won’t result to replacing of floor. You can buff out minor marks and simply clean up anything that drops accidentally. As the color goes deep into the floor, even deeper damages can be sanded out.

You can cut this material to create borders by combining different shapes and colors. For instance, you could get a vintage look by using small checkerboards. Or you may get a Pop 60s look by using rectangles and large circles.

Marmoleum has anti static characteristics, meaning that dirt and dust doesn’t stick to the floor, resulting to less effort for its cleaning. That helps people having allergies issues of any kind. This property has encouraged hospitals to use Marmoleum.

Marmoleum can also be used for countertops.

This green material made using natural materials doesn’t release toxic gases and can be installed using solvent free adhesive, offering clean installation.

The product remains cent percent biodegradable and doesn’t involve any serious health issue right from its manufacturing installation and final disposal.

Marmoleum maintains ecological balance. It is made from natural materials like linseed oil, pine rosin, pine flour and color pigments. All these items are derived from forests in Europe. Linseed oil is derived from flax plant. The heated mixture is passed through rollers and gets transformed to sheets. Finally, it’s given a backing of jute and cured for sometime before being used.

Are There Any Negative Aspects?

Yes, there are a few negative aspects too.

This is a very heavy material which most DIY enthusiast would find difficult to handle independently. Its installation necessarily requires the services of professional and that adds to its cost. But considering that it’s going to last two to three times the life of vinyl makes it a financially viable proposition.

Like most other materials, this too requires a good subfloor. Any defect in the subfloor will get reflected on the final flooring made of marmoleum. Once again, one is prompted to hire a professional for doing the installation.

As it’s made in Europe, you can say that its transportation causes adverse effects on environments. Yet, it’s difficult to ignore the positive points of this kind of flooring material.

Some people are not very comfortable with the smell of linseed oil and the floor does emit an odor at the time of its installation, though it disappears after a few days.

Marmoleum Click

Marmoleum Click, on the other hand, is an easy to fit edition of the large sheets of marmoleum. It’s available in many colors. At times one may be able to fix it on top of the existing floor.

The tiles are available in two sizes: 12 x 36 or 12 x 12. You can fashion several patterns on the floor. You don’t need any adhesive as it just clicks into place. It is appropriate for installation wherever you think marmoleum could be installed and remains equally durable. One can walk on the floor soon after installation. Excluding installation charges, it costs about five to six dollars a square foot.

While considering flooring options for stairs, decorative elements take a back seat, as the important factors needing your attention in the case are functionality and structure of the staircase. There are many flooring option for stairs, depending on the function of the stairs and the overall décor of the area. Here are some of your options:

1. Carpeting – It seems to be the most popular option for flooring, and the main reasons for that its availability in infinite number of colors, styles available, and patterns too. Moreover it’s among the most affordable options one could have. Then, it also has the special quality of absorbing sound. All these characteristics make it a favorite of homeowners. It radically adds to the safety of using the staircase. But on comparing to other flooring options for stairs, it demands much more maintenance and cleaning as it tends to collect dirt and it gets stained easily. And, on its getting stained it’s quite a challenge to remove those stains. This limitation dissuades a lot many DIY enthusiasts.

2. Hardwood – Anyone with a taste for traditional old items will find this to be best option. It easily goes well with most themes of décor. Moreover the availability of large species of wood, allows you to create diverse color shades from it. For giving an exclusive look, you may stain it. Such flooring is extremely tough and durable and its cleaning is the easiest. In a jiffy you can make it look squeaking clean. That prompts its use in high traffic areas that get any number of footfalls. In the long run it works out to be the moist economical option because when it wears out, you need replace it straight away. You can always sand it and re-seal it to make it look brand new again. Its installation too poses no problems, as it’s an easy DIY project.

3. Concrete – There is no better option than concrete for outdoor stairways because that’s easily the most durable product to have. Moreover you can change the color of the concrete to your preference. You may even emboss it with patterns to create variety of designs. However, the drawback with concrete is its weight. It’s a very heavy material that many of the staircases may not be able to support. To support the weight of concrete one normally needs to use a metal stringer.

You’ll surely find this article handy when considering your options of installing flooring for the stairs of your home.

Usually, the normal activities of most households are confined to the living room. When they have visitors who can’t be entertained in the kitchen, they are taken to the coziest part of the house. Living room reflects the personality of the homeowner. Often, people find it quite difficult to decide what kind of flooring would be most appropriate for the living room.

The choice of right flooring is governed by quite a few factors. Something that goes well in your living room may not be appropriate in your mother’s home. An important consideration is the size of the room. Having a carpet in a small sized room further makes it look smaller. Of course, coziness is desirable; the final outcome may be somewhat claustrophobic. Under such circumstances, the best choice would be laminate or hardwood flooring.

Then, you have to consider who all are occupying the house. If you have growing children or pets at home, the carpet is likely to get damaged sooner than expectations. Children may accidentally spill drinks, causing stains on the carpet, but the worst of accidents occur due pets. Their urine not only soaks the carpet but also the padding underneath that. For long the room continues to smell unpleasantly, despite your best efforts to overcome it by use of sprays.

Conversely, if you are living by yourself without any young children or pets around, a carpet adds an element of warmth in your interiors. You may choose patterns in different colors that could highlight certain areas of the room or you may opt for carpet with different textures to get the desired atmosphere. Naturally, you have very many options in the absence of pets and children. You may like considering ceramic tiles, depending on the style you have in mind.

Choosing appropriate flooring for your living room may be a bit difficult with so many options available these days. Yet, the process can be simple and easy if you proceed logically and spend a bit of time considering various options. Do keep in mind the maintenance part and of course your budget!

Though it’s usually the smallest room in the house, a bathroom can yet have fantastic visual impact. Any changes that you may incorporate there in its design and décor, appreciably transform an area of that size. More than anything else, it’s the flooring of the bathroom that can dramatically change the looks of a bathroom. Appropriately selected bathroom flooring enables you to have of your dreams – or a place that temporarily meets your requirements.

Those buying homes before the same are renovated for subsequent reselling, (termed as flipping a property) also realize that renovating a bathroom radically adds to the value of the property. The term renovation here goes to include the replacement of the bathroom flooring, vanity, toilet, and incorporating lighting and decorative changes, all going a long way to transforming the area. In such a case, bathroom flooring neither has to be neither pricey nor complex. Neutral, reasonably priced bathroom flooring that can be easily installed will add to the value of the property without causing much of an effort or expense.

When considering options for modifying the bathrooms, the options for bathroom flooring are numerous. You may choose to have ceramic and marble tiles or linoleum and hardwood flooring. The choice is restricted by your budget and personal preferences.

It’s important to keep an overall picture and functionality in mind while deciding the kind of bathroom flooring. Of course ceramic tiles look beautiful but could cause serious consequences if somebody slipped over that kind of a floor.

If you opt for ceramic tile you would like considering an area rug for the point of stepping out of the shower. The same thoughts would come to mind when considering hardwood or marble. Then, you always have the option of expensive looking laminate bathroom flooring that imitates ceramic tiles but at much affordable price that is safer to use also.

The most important factor that you can ill afford to overlook in case of bathroom is the presence of humidity caused by water therein. As the area is rather small, water could cause considerable damage to bathroom flooring. So, one has to choose a material that can survive that level of humidity without getting affected.

Bathroom floors can entirely renovate a bathroom. The choice of flooring you opt to have contributes to defining your theme and finalizing plans for your dream bathroom.

An important element of any finished basement is its flooring. When considering the installation of befitting basement flooring, it’s of prime importance to know if a moisture barrier has been provided underneath the basement floor. In the absence of such a barrier, the moisture level could be high and water could rise up to the installed flooring.

Before undertaking any basement flooring project it’s vitally important to ensure that there is no humidity or moisture therein. You can check it out by cutting open a couple of plastic bags from the trash at home and spreading those over to a number of points and seal these by using tape on the floor of the basement. Remove the tape to get the plastic sheets after a couple of days. Closely observe the bottom end of these for moisture content. Presence of any moisture proves the absence of moisture barrier beneath the basement concrete slabs. In those circumstances your choices for basement flooring are rather restricted.

However, application of waterproofing sealer on the floor and walls of the basement gives you more options of basement floorings. Another way to insulate basement against water is to install a French drain around the foundation of the basement. However, this is an expensive project, needing excavation for installation of PVC pipes and gravel.

On confirming that there surely is a moisture barrier below the basement concrete slab you have many options of flooring. Here are some of those:

Carpeting

Though carpeting is not the best option for basement flooring, these days it’s being widely used for the purpose because of its durability and comfort. Carpeting may even be used in cases where the absence of any moisture barrier under the concrete slab has been confirmed. In such circumstances a layer of cellulose is installed on the concrete floor before installing the carpet padding and carpet to create a moisture barrier.

Carpeting offers the great benefit of absorbing sounds that are often associated with basements, like the turning on and off of furnaces, and water going down the drainpipes.

Free Floating Engineered Flooring

Engineered flooring is perfect for basements. It floats over an under layer of foam that is first installed on the basement floor. The advantage of using under layer is two fold: it provides an even floor and helps to reduce sound too. The engineered flooring that floats on this under layer can efficiently breathe in changed moisture levels of basement.

The way engineered flooring is made makes it ideal for basement flooring. It comprises of a number of layers of wood materials, which help to reduce the chances of the flooring due warping or twisting. The top layer generally comprises of striking wood veneer finish, giving it the look of a solid hardwood floor, minus the fears of likely damage that may be caused by high moisture levels.

Laminate Flooring

Similar to engineered flooring, laminate flooring too floats on an under layer. This kind of flooring has wood based central part with a photographic resin layer on the top surface that looks like a hardwood floor or vinyl floor. Laminate floorings are recommended for installation in dry basements with low humidity, as it is likely to get spoiled on coming in contact with water.

The laminate and engineered flooring are so designed that any DIY homeowner can install these.

Ceramic Tile Floors

Another superb option for basement flooring comes by way of ceramic floor tiles. But, mind you, these will be cold on bare feet. Moisture, if any, in the basement adversely affects the life of ceramic tiles. So, make sure to get rid of that before hand. Another important issue with installation of tiles is the perfect leveling of floor prior to their installation. It may become necessary to apply leveling grout before installing tiles. Moreover, cracks in the basement floor need to be filled and sealed, as ceramic floor tiles tend to crack along its cracks.

Painting Basement Floors

An economical substitute is to apply a few coats of paint on the floor. This is usually suitable for a low-end basement remodeling project, and could be the only logical solution if you fear of high level of moisture or the threat of an occasional flood.

You can brighten it up and give a personal touch by having two color tones and or producing attractive patterns.

Hardwood Flooring

It’s good to avoid Hardwood flooring as an option for basement flooring material because it’s very vulnerable to moisture and should not get in touch with water, else the wood gets warped and ruined quickly.

When considering remodeling of floors of home one often faces the problem of looking for an appropriate flooring style that would blend well with surroundings. This is mainly because of the fact that one manufacturer would usually produce only one style of flooring, leaving the customers no choice but to go for different floor styles offered by different manufacturers utilizing varied color schemes.

While undertaking a large scale flooring project it would certainly be of great help to find a flooring company that satisfies all of your flooring requirements. Now, that’s possible with Mannington flooring. Mannington flooring is reputed for the quality of its products and has flooring options such as Mannington vinyl flooring and Mannington floors.

The advantage of Mannington vinyl flooring is their cost effectiveness and the options of choosing from a large variety to satisfy your flooring demands. The feature that homeowners appreciate the most is its durability and lifespan. Mannington vinyl flooring is a popular option for installation in the bathroom, kitchen or laundry room. The process of installation is so simple that many home owners prefer installing on their own to further save their money. Their luxury line of Mannington vinyl flooring comes with a new feature. This has the looks of higher priced surfaces like ceramic, stone, and wood, thus encouraging you to patronize Mannington vinyl flooring in other areas of the home while still continuing to have the high level of quality and durability that Mannington vinyl flooring is known for.

Apart from the quality products that come to you by way of Mannington vinyl flooring, there is another flooring option in the form of Mannington wood floors. Homeowners who like to use wood for its appearance would find Mannington wood floors appealing. With Mannington wood floors again you have option of choosing the Mannington hardwood flooring or engineered Mannington wood floors. Mannington hardwood flooring makes the traditional flooring that many prefer to follow as it gives an attractive floor that can go in almost any room of the house.

Though Mannington hardwood flooring has since long been considered the standard for wood floor installation, additional benefits can be derived with the installation of engineered Mannington floors. Engineered Mannington floors comprise of layers of low cost woods with a quality wood at the top surface to keep low the cost of wood flooring. The engineered Mannington wood floors provide the consumers a wood plank that is stronger because of its cross-ply assembly that makes it less vulnerable to fluctuations of climate and humidity.

Since centuries natural stones have been used for floors. Buildings from pre-historic times are found to have stone slabs carefully laid flat on the ground and offer a good stable floor. These days also we are using stones for flooring but these are processed or engineered stones available in the form of stone tiles. Since they are man-made, you get a very large variety of colors and materials.

These days you get a large variety of stone flooring in varying colors and textures. They have built-in sturdiness and aptness for different conditions. When looking for a flooring material you should not overlook the fact that natural stone flooring is the only material that really improves over time. It lasts forever. That’s why we find even the floors of pre-historic houses looking surprisingly modern.

There aren’t many flooring options with hard-wearing qualities of natural stone. Over a period of time it acquires its own distinctive finish, adding a distinct characteristic that gets associated with flooring made from natural stone. It is easily kept clean and there are many who find it stylish and as modern looking as any other type of flooring.

Stone floors can be formed by three types of basic rocks, namely: sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic. Examples of sedimentary stone would be limestone and travertine, whereas granite is an example of igneous stone, and marble and slate are examples of metamorphic stone.

Reprocessed or machine made stones are not real stones. Tiles made from such materials could never compete with the natural beauty of stone that remains just as nature made it. Though technological processes have facilitated the manufacturing of near natural stones, which are quite good to be true, but they are not real stones.

Engineered stone tiles are new. Real stone on the other hand takes generations to get formed with nature taking its own time. But if you look at the results, you will most certainly agree that they are truly matchless. There is nothing to compete natural stone flooring and that is not likely to change ever.

Flooring made from real stone need not necessarily be rough. In fact, it need not really look like our idea of stone at all. You can have it polished to get a high shine finish, or even given a matte finish for the texture to shine through. It may be dark, black, or light colored, or almost anything in between.

Floors made from natural stone are easy to maintain and remain trouble-free. Once it has been sealed to maintain its integrity, cleaning is no problem at all. Using an appropriate sealant helps preventing staining, maintaining its natural color, and will also help to prolong the life of the floor.

If you are looking for sustainable flooring you won’t find anything better than natural stone. It lasts for as many lifetimes as you wish it to. As a proof, look at the oldest stone floor in Britain, one made of limestone that’s around 7,000 years old and still in amazingly good condition. Could anything be more sustainable!