Which flooring choice should I make?
The daunting question a lot of customers ask us is "Which floor covering is right for me"? The answer to such a question is no easy one, however, there are many choices right for each and every application. The easiest to address is which sub floor you are on, as the sub floor will determine whether or not to use specific products.
Consumers with wood sub floors are open to many products such as Solid wood flooring, engineered wood flooring, floating laminate floors, vinyl, tile & carpet. The disadvantage to wood sub floors over concrete is the flexibility requires a cement board such as DuRock to be used underneath tile to prevent cracking. when installing vinyl plank, it is often required to use 1/4" wood boards to even out the cracks and defects in the ply-wood. A wood sub floor poses great results for solid wood flooring which cannot be achieved easily with a concrete sub floor. Solid wood flooring can be nailed or stapled into the wood sub floor, which is an ideal installation for hardwood flooring. Moisture is generally not an issue with a wood sub floor and will likely not cause any cupping issues or de-laminating problems with your solid wood flooring.
Consumers with a concrete sub floor have just as many positives as they do negatives for installation of their product. A concrete sub floor is often smooth and can be used for any product most of the time without any requirements such as durock for tile. Tile can be laid directly to the concrete, saving a lot of money in the installation process. Vinyl products such as sheet vinyl & vinyl plank will go easily over concrete and will require less preparation work to make the floor as smooth as possible. The one downfall of a concrete sub floor is that they often contain moisture from the environment underneath of them. Solid hardwood flooring is extremely sensitive to moisture and can start cupping at the edges of each board once moisture has entered the wood. A great solution to a semi-wet concrete slab is using engineered wood flooring. The structure of engineered wood floors allows for harsher environments as they are built to withstand more abuse. Another great method and reassurance is using an adhesive that works in high moisture applications such as Wakol our Stauf adhesive. A moisture barrier or concrete sealer are often required and/or recommended by the manufacturer of their product to be installed over concrete slab due to many moisture related problems.
Once the sub floor has been addressed, the next question is often in the case of a wood product, are you interested in smooth or hand-scraped. Smooth woods are traditional and can have square edges that simulated a sand and finished hardwood flooring, micro-beveled to show the edge of the board with a slight edge, or kissed to round the edges of each board. Hand-scraped wood flooring can bring a modern or rustic look to any home depending on the style of the hand-scraping. A hand-scraped wood has grooves in the plank and can have different degrees of imperfections that give the wood character. Every wood floor has it's own special characteristics that can make a home look the best it can.
A third question we often get is "what color should I go with?" We often recommend lighter colored flooring as it gives the eye and illusion that makes a room seem larger. When picking out a tile, the color of the tile can set the mood for the entire room, such as a neutral beige or cream can give calming vibes or a rusty orange or brown can bring our a Tuscan look to your home. A modern tile such as a solid glass tile can really shine in the right application or a traditional black and white solid tile can bring back an older nostalgic era. Hardwood flooring coloring can often be a difficult decision as there are so many stains in the industry. The natural color of each wood can very from one extreme to another which often will cause darker woods to not have many available colors to pick from. Traditional oaks generally have 6-8 color choices all of which start at a blonde color and go to a smokey gray or midnight black coloring. We recommend shaping a room to the floor that is in it. You can always repaint, replacing a floor can be costly and a lot of time unaffordable, especially when it comes to the cost of a gallon of paint versus a floor being removed, prepared an installed. Large rooms often look great with a darker color, that can give a rich and grand look to a room, where smaller rooms showing off lighter colors often give the illusion that the are bigger than they really are.
Whatever your choice in flooring, you can be sure to find it at the best price at our online flooring store http://floorsbybluewater.com .
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