analysis: Wood, Tile, or Carpet: Choosing Flooring for Your Home

Kitchens and Entryways

[same win]

Notes:

• Many feet over the years subject your floors to a beatdown. Depending on the room, food, dirt, water, and worse can be tracked in, smeared across, or dumped onto your clean floors. In these cases, tile is the obvious choice.
• It’s available in vinyl, glass, metal, ceramic, and other materials, but your best bet is porcelain tile. It retains its look and luster for a long time, is stain resistant, easy to clean, and versatile.
• If you love a wood floor but don’t want to deal with staining and water damage, vinyl plank flooring can look like the real thing but has all the benefits of tile.

• Other kitchen flooring options to consider:

  • engineered wood view samples
  • stone tiles view samples
  • polished concrete view samples
  • cork view samples
  • laminate planks view samples
  • sheet vinyl view samples

• Quik scroll to next topic about choosing flooring for your home …

  

•    ideas to view and compare from the photo above      

  porcelain tile stylesceramic floor tileluxury vinyl plank flooring

Bathrooms

Notes:

• With less traffic but countless opportunities for stains, spills, and potential slips, tile is the traditional choice for bathrooms.
• Water and steam are wood’s biggest enemies, eventually making it warped, slippery, and subject to rot.
• Porcelain tile makes another appearance here, being mostly waterproof and exceptionally durable. Textured porcelain tile is your best choice but requires a higher investment. If you want an inexpensive alternative, investigate ceramic tile, which is less sturdy but still safe and available in many designs.

• Some bathroom ideas from the photo above: [ scroll back up ]

  • note the large tiles that have been installed in the shower area and along halfway up the walls that surround the room
  • the flooring looks like luxury vinyl sheeting that is another option for bathroom floors
  • all of this tile and tile-styled flooring can make the room feel a little cold
  • warm it up with a nice bathroom rug that adds foot comfort and color

• Quik scroll to next topic about choosing flooring for your home …

  

•    ideas to view and compare from the photo above      

  bathroom rugsfreestanding bathtubsbathroom hardware – brushed nickel

Main rooms

Notes:

• For the places where your family gathers for special occasions, class and comfort are a must. Hardwood flooring promises both.
• Choosing hardwood for the floors in these and other rooms can dramatically increase the value of your home, but it’s no small investment.
• Figure out a budget, then decide what wood and finish—dark, bleached, oak, maple, walnut, ash, and others—is best. Keep wood choice consistent for different rooms. Future buyers may be turned off by unusual combinations, so keep it classic!

• What do this hardwoods look like:

  • oak view sample
  • maple view sample
  • walnut view sample
  • hickory view sample
  • ash view sample
  • cheery view sample

• Quik scroll to next topic about choosing flooring for your home …

  

•    ideas to view and compare from the photo above      

  solid wood flooringengineered wood flooringwood floor maintenance

Basement

Notes:

• It may be out of sight, but your basement floor should never be out of mind. Being below ground level subjects this room to the risk of seepage, leaks, and dampness.
• Unless your basement is completely waterproof, you don’t want to risk wrecking and losing freshly installed carpet or wood floors to the first major rainstorm. Vinyl tile may not offer the warmth and plushness of carpeting, but it will resist moisture and cleans up nicely.

• What goes into the basement: [ scroll back up ]

  • Media:
    the basement is the perfect spot for home media or home theater where carpet would be nice. Again if water becomes an issue, you might consider elevating your home theater floor in the event of a basement flood
  • Gaming:
    you might want a gaming room with billiard, table tennis and other game tables. Vinyl flooring would work nice with area rugs for color and comfort.
  • Home Bar:
    your home bar and lounge is mostly sitting – so vinyl flooring works best. Vinyl allows easy maneuvering of bar stools
  • Laundry:
    laundry and other home utility needs – no flooring necessary except concrete coating for color and protection
  • Storage:
    the basement is perfect for wine, cheese, and basic food storage. These items will be placed on racks that protect again potential basement water. No flooring option needed; you can use the concrete floor with an epoxy coating for desired results.

• Quik scroll to next topic about choosing flooring for your home …

  

•    ideas to view and compare from the photo above      

  waterproof vinyl flooringconcrete sealerconcrete epoxy

Bedrooms, Living Rooms, and Playrooms

Notes:

• When considering wood, tile, or carpet in choosing flooring for your home, you have a little more freedom with side rooms that visitors may not necessarily enter. Hardwood provides a more durable surface, but perhaps the space calls for the comfort of carpeting.
• If carpeting is your answer, choose the proper pile. Low- and medium-pile carpeting is best for high- to moderate-traffic areas, respectively. A nice high-pile carpet might be best for the living room, providing a pleasant warmth and cutting down on noise.

• Quik scroll to next topic about design options for concrete flooring …

  

•    ideas to view and compare from the photo above      

  carpet samplescarpet tilesarea rugs

• What comments can you share about
  your choosing flooring for your home and the options you used