There is a wide range of flooring available for the home. Which type of flooring you choose will depend on the room in which it is to be laid and your own preferences as to colour and style.

Laminate flooring is a popular choice because it is cheaper than hardwood flooring. Hardwood flooring can also be more expensive to maintain. Laminate flooring comes in a wide range of colours and styles and modern designs can be hard to tell from real wood floors. Laminate comes in a range of thicknesses and generally the thicker it is, the better the quality is. Thicker laminate flooring is less likely to buckle and will feel more like hardwood flooring. Laminate flooring is fairly easy to install and you can do it yourself. However, there are many professional flooring companies who will be able to install it for you. If you are having the laminate installed in a bathroom, a professional installer is a better option because the seams need to be glued together carefully to prevent moisture penetrating and causing bubbles.

Wood flooring is also becoming very popular even in areas where it would not traditionally have been considered, such as kitchens and bathrooms. Hardwood flooring is hard wearing and beautiful, and it can be made waterproof by the application of certain coatings. The only problem with hardwood is that it can be scratched. If you want to have a new hardwood floor fitted it is best to get a professional to lay the floor.

Vinyl used to be considered tacky, but modern vinyl is much more attractive and can be made to look like just about any type of flooring including wood, slate or ceramic tiles. Vinyl is good for areas that have a moisture problem, and it can be laid over old vinyl. It is also easy to repair providing the seams are sealed properly. Vinyl is a soft type of flooring so it can be dented if you stand heavy objects on it.

Like vinyl, modern tiles are available in a dazzling array of colours and styles. Generally there are two types of tiles – unglazed tiles that take their colour from the clay or pigments added to the clay and glazed tiles that take their colour from the glaze. For areas where moisture is a problem glazed tiles are best, but in other areas it is simply a matter of preference. Tiles can be cold if you don’t have under-floor heating. Unless you are good at DIY it is best to get a professional to lay your floor.

The bathroom is an area of the home that needs special consideration because of the likelihood of water spills. However, with modern flooring you have a wide range of options from rubber, vinyl or wood to porcelain tiles and travertine tiles. Wood can be used as bathroom flooring, but if you do choose wood it should be laid professionally to ensure that there are no gaps. Rubber and vinyl can be quite attractive and tiled floors such as travertine can give a much more contemporary look and feel.

Tags: Flooring, hardwood floor, hardwood flooring, Laminate Flooring, porcelain tiles, professional flooring companies, real wood floors, rubber, Tiles, travertine, travertine tiles, vinyl, Wood Flooring

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 1st, 2009 at 2:47 pm and is filed under Tiles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.