Important Factors for Selecting Flooring Materials: Choosing flooring for your home can be a challenge. At the end, you would like to have a nice-looking flooring that will stay long enough without any maintenance and takes the minimum cost from your budget. There are different materials can be used for flooring such as concrete, cork, glass, stone, terrazzo, tiles, timber, etc. which make it even more difficult to choose a certain type over another. In this article, we will provide you with at list of 10 important items to bear in mind during the process of choosing your flooring.
Table of Contents
10 Important Factors in Selecting the Flooring Material
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Location
Not all floors are equal for different types of rooms. For example, while tile and laminate floors are long lasting and flexible, they won’t be high-quality for a children’s room that could benefit from the softness of carpet. Also, for clear reasons, carpet is not at all suitable for kitchens. You want to select the type of flooring will be suitable according to the use of the room.
Something to bear in mind is that you may make use of rugs on top of tile or laminate flooring to make the surface soft, lessen the quantity of echo in your house, or simply to make a room more comfortable.
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Durability
You, the homeowner, would like to have your floors last and look great for many years to come. Thus, choosing a durable floor that this is strong enough to resist different wear and tear factors such as loads, decaying, etc., is essential. In addition, the quality of the flooring material can have a great impact on the value of your house in case you wanted to sell it.
Tile is one of the most durable materials for flooring. Also, vinyl and laminate give both the finishing of wood with excellent durability, water resistance making them ideal for water – exposed locations such as kitchens and bathrooms. In addition, laminate floors resist scratching or damage from dropped objects. So, if you have children, we think this might be the type of flooring you get. Marble, concrete, mosaic floors are also durable materials to consider.
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Aesthetics
For sure, you want something that looks nice, stylish and new. Different finishing materials can give many styles and look. For example, there are different colors and sizes for tile and laminate floors. In addition, you can match the color of your flooring with the furniture and kitchen cabinets. Other finishing materials that give a nice looking and a good appearance are marble and terrazzo.
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Price
There is a wide range of cost for flooring materials depending on which type you use. For example, stone floors are very high in price, while tile have reasonable price that many can’t afford.
Another factor to consider is where are you going to get the flooring? Stores can have at various range of prices even for the same kind of material so make sure to ask more than once to get an idea of the price range and go for what works for you.
Another note to consider is the lifecycle cost, which means you may get a cheap material at the beginning but not durable which will lead to sooner replacement unlike an expensive and a durable material that will stay for very long time without any maintenance in between.
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Water Resistance
As we mentioned in the durability point, places that are going to be exposed to moisture need to have some resistance to dampness such as bathrooms and kitchens. Otherwise, floors will get damaged.
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Toughness
toughness or hardness of your measures etc. resistance to dents and scratches. Something you should know is that although some flooring materials are much harder than others, all of them would be susceptible to dents to some extent if high-pressure is applied.
Dents can be caused by moving objects such as furniture or machines or maybe your child is scratching the flooring with his toys. There are different ratings for various types of finishing materials. For example, the hardness of hardwood floors is measured using Janka scale. This scale that their minds the force that is required to push a 0.444” steel ball into the wood to a distance of a 0.222”.
On the other hand, laminate floors do not use Janka; another scale comes in place developed by European Producers of Laminate Flooring (EPLF). This scale has a score from 1 to 5, with 1 means the flooring is suitable for light home use while 5 works for locations with heavy traffic such as commercial areas.
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Fireproof
One very important factor to consider when buying a new flooring is your safety and the safety of those you love. No one is waiting for a black day but sometimes it happens, and fires can happen in those days. Usually, floorings are not the initiate source of fire however, the flooring material can affect how such a fire spreads throughout the house.
Thus, getting a fire-resistant carpets or floors is essential to you safety in case of fires. Concrete is an example of a good material in case of fire away would is weak when it comes to fire. Do you research first before getting a flooring!
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Easiness to Clean
at the end of a long day, you might need to get you flooring cleaned. Some floors are easier for cleaning than others. It would like to get a flooring that doesn’t take so much time and effort when it comes to cleaning. Ceramic tiles are a great option if you are looking for an easy to clean flooring with low maintenance.
For example, ceramics are difficult to screech and you can do the cleaning process with a lot of products or even vinegar/water mixture. Concrete flooring will need to get sealed before you begin to use it. This makes it easy to clean and prevents liquids and oils from getting through the concrete and of cause stains. You might need to do the seating process periodically to ensure that the flooring is protected.
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Thermal and Sound Insulation
Insulation is an advantage that you might want to get as an extra for your flooring. Thermal insulation refers to the reduction of heat transfer through the flooring material and sound insulation means reduction in the intensity of sound coming from external sources sufficiently outside of your home. Rubber is an example of a good thermal insulator and wood is an example of a good insulating material for sound.
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Slipperiness
floors may get slippery when the liquid gets spelled over them. However, some materials are good in this case compared to others. For example, tiles can be more slippery more than concrete.
References: Here’s what to consider when choosing flooring for your home; The Brinell Method for Determining Hardness of Wood Flooring Materials;