Flooring Basics: Our Flooring Solutions

Flooring basics provides flooring solutions homeowners and property owners a knowledge source for those that are looking to renovate or purchase new flooring. There are many types of flooring available and we hope our information can help find some flooring solutions for you. Popular flooring materials that are available include: carpet, area rugs, and resilient flooring such as linoleum or vinyl flooring. Materials commonly called flooring include wood flooring, ceramic tile, stone, terrazzo, and various seamless chemical floor coatings.

The choice of material for floor covering is affected by factors such as cost, endurance, noise insulation, comfort and cleaning effort. Some types of flooring must not be installed below grade (lower than ground level), and laminate or hardwood should be avoided where there may be moisture or condensation. It is important to check with the weather and where the locations is to install these types of materials; this is the best way in finding the best flooring solutions for your home.

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Popular Types of Flooring Solutions:

Soft coverings (Carpet and Rugs)Carpet is a floor covering woven or felted from natural or man-made fibers. Fitted carpet is attached to the floor structure, extends wall-to-wall, and cannot be moved from place to place. An underlay will extend carpet life, improve comfort and has become a big factor in flooring solutions for indoor use. Rugs are also woven or felted from fibers, but are smaller than the room in which they are located, have a finished edge, and usually lie over another finished floor such as wood flooring. Rugs may either be temporarily attached to the flooring below by adhesive tape or other methods to prevent creep, or may be loose-laid.

Wood Flooring and Alternative Flooring Solutions

Many different species of wood are fabricated into wood flooring in two primary forms: plank and parquet. Hardwoods are typically much more durable than softwoods and are great flooring solutions. Reclaimed lumber has a unique appearance and is used in green (environmentally responsible) building.

Laminate is a floor covering that appears similar to hardwood but is made with a plywood or medium density fiberboard (“MDF”) core with a plastic laminate top layer. HDF laminate consists of high density fiberboard topped by one or more layers of decorative paper and a transparent protective layer. Laminate may be more durable than hardwood, but cannot be refinished like hardwood. Laminate flooring is available in many different patterns which can resemble different woods or even ceramic tile. It usually locks or taps together.

Bamboo flooring is a floor manufactured from the bamboo plant and is a type of hardwood flooring, though technically not a wood. Bamboo is known to be durable and environmentally friendly. It is available in many different patterns, colors, and textures. Because of its eco-friendly characteristic, it has become a rather popular flooring solution.

Cork Flooring is a flooring material manufactured from the by-product of the cork oak tree. Cork floors are considered to be eco-friendly since the cork oak tree bark is stripped every nine to ten years and doesn’t damage the tree. Cork flooring comes in both tiles and planks, and can have glue or glues-less installation.

Resilient flooring is made of material that has some elasticity. It includes many different manufactured products including linoleum, sheet vinyl, vinyl composition tile (VCT), cork (sheet or tile), rubber, and others. Performance surfaces used for dance or athletics are made of either wood or resilient flooring.

Hard Flooring Solutions

Flooring solutions with ceramic tile includes a wide variety of clay products fired into thin units which are set in beds of mortar or mastic with the joints between tiles grouted. Varieties include quarry tile, porcelain tile, terracotta tile, and others.

Many different natural stones are cut into a variety of sizes, shapes, and thicknesses for use as flooring. Stone flooring is usually set in mortar and grouted similar to ceramic tile. Slate and marble are popular types of stone flooring.

New technologies are emerging since 2004 to produce hard floorings and other types of flooring solutions. Some even going as far as having the ability to light up when needed. These security glazing materials contain transparent LED embedded films laminated between glass.

Flooring Solutions Summary

Above are arguably the most popular types of flooring materials and flooring solutions that are available in the marketplace today.It is important to know what type of style and type of flooring that will match and work well with your home. Certain types of flooring solutions and materials will work and provide better comfort, while others provide other benefits. Do consult with your local flooring companies and home improvement shops for advice and tips when choosing and installing.

Please visit our other pages for more specific and in-depth information regarding other flooring materials and flooring solutions.