When buying a new home, home builders will often encourage the buyer to take full advantage of customizing specific features, such as cabinet colors, countertops, fans, paint schemes, and, of course, floorings. Selecting the right flooring is important for most homeowners, not only because of the added value a well-decorated home offers, but because of the self gratifying sense of accomplishment that comes with decorating your own home.
These days the options for fashionable floors are endless. Acid-stained concrete, vintage hardwood, and high tech environmentally friendly laminates in an array of textures and colors are just to name a few. Floors are a design element that’s too often ignored by many homeowners, but that doesn’t have to be the case for you. Below is information on what’s hot in the exciting world of flooring.
Hardwood Flooring
Classic Wood – If you have the resources, and the time, hardwood flooring is considered by many industry professionals as the best flooring option for kitchens, entryways, and living areas. Many homeowners will opt for hardwood floors throughout their entire house, including bathrooms and bedrooms.
Installation and staining the wood is a messy job, which can often be expensive in comparison to other flooring options; however, the results are worth the while. A variation on traditional hardwood is hardwood veneers. Hardwood veneers are made from a thin layer of real hardwood attached to boards made of engineered wood or pressboard. Hardwood veneers are less expensive and easier to install than traditional hardwood floors.
Concrete Flooring
Concrete – Concrete floors can be casual or elegant, they last for life, and they are very hard to damage. A common misconception about concrete flooring is that all concrete floors look the same. This, however, is not true. The customizable options for concrete floors are nearly endless. A popular option that many homeowners are going with is the wet look, which is accomplished by applying a high-gloss clear coat finish. This option also makes the room appear bigger than it is by reflecting more light around the space in the room.
Flor Tile Flooring
Rugs & Tile – Area rugs are popular in many shapes, patterns, colors, and textures. Area rugs are often a good idea if you have young children, pets, or high traffic areas where you would like to prevent damage to the underlying floor. Area rugs are often as easy to clean as hosing them off and letting them dry outside.
Flor Tiles, modular squares with a carpet like texture are simple to install, durable, easy to replace and can even be taken with you if you decide to move. With tile carpeting, if a section of your floor is damaged, you don’t need to replace the whole thing, you simply need to pull-up the damaged tile are replace it. Similarly to ceramic tile, it is a good idea to have half a dozen to a dozen extra tiles, just in case a section does need to be replaced.
Laminate Wood Flooring
Go Fake – If you love the look of wood floors, but you just don’t want to pay for something that involves days of installation, sanding, and finishing; you should definitely consider looking into pre-finished laminates that will mimic the look of exotic hardwoods. Laminates such as these are usually installed with tongue-and-groove joints that often only need a table saw to properly cut end pieces. Laminates are often installed as “floating” over the existing floor. In other words the laminate flooring is not nailed or glued to the existing floor, rather the laminate boards are glued to one another in order to keep them in place. The average cost for pre-finished laminates is around three to four dollars per square foot, which is considerable lower than traditional hardwood flooring.
from: http://www.newhomessection.com/washington-real-estate/which-flooring-do-i-want-in-my-new-home/