What Floor Covering Is Best For You?

Floor covering comes in many styles; laminates, pre-finished hard wood, solid vinyl tile, ceramic tile and carpet. They all offer many qualities and benefits depending upon your need for durability, warmth and comfort. First, let's look at laminate floor covering.  Laminate is made up of several layers of resin materials that are thermo-fused together. Laminate is designed to look like wood or ceramic. Laminate has a wear layer of melanine (just like a kitchen counter top) that has aluminum oxide topically applied to disguise signs of damage. The backing layer and inner layer are really what secures the product and are measured from 8mm to 12mm in thickness. The higher the rating the better the laminate.  Laminate floor covering is extremely durable but a bit noisy as you are walking on a solid surface that is floating above the subfloor with an underlay separating the two. The underlay comes in different qualities which will help eliminate sound and moisture issues.  Kids and pets and heavy traffic areas do well with a laminate floor covering.

Pre-finished Hardwood Floor covering is engineered out of veneers of real wood with

the desired species ply on the top layer.  These plies of wood are cross applied in manufacturing to give the pre-finished wood floor covering strength in structure and durability.  The top lay is finished with 4-5 costs of polyurethane baked into the wood at high heat with aluminum oxide added for extra resistance to scratches and damage. The appeal of pre-finished hardwood is its beauty and warmth that it adds to a room.

Carpet is the most economical of the floor covering offered. It brings a feeling of warmth and cohesiveness to a setting. Carpet is extruded out of liquid polymer or nylon into a fiber that is tufted to a backing.

A latex is applied to the primary backing and adheres to the final backing to add to its durability.  Nylon and Polyester are to main fibers offered in the industry. Stainmaster and Antron Fibers compete in the marketplace as being the best fibers offered.  They have the 6.6 fibers that are structurally the strongest fiber made. Polyesters are inherently stain resistant and are gaining market share with new polymers of Triexta that offer beauty and durability. There are thousands of styles and colors to chose to complete any Floor covering  and environment. Ceramic tile is made from clay fired in kilns for durability. The better the clay the better the tile be it porcelain or ceramic. Porcelain tiles are strong and wear longer and can be installed in settings of temperature change such as outdoor patios or restaurants and other commercial spaces. There are mosaic style tiles and tiles ranging from 1x1 to 20x20 to suit any space. There are glass and subway tiles; your imagination is your limit in choosing a tile floor covering. Tile floors are extremely durable but can be cold to the touch and breakables suffer when dropped on ceramic floor covering.

Vinyl tile floors are fused together under high heat. From vinyl composition tiles (vct) to solid vinyl there is a large array of styles in differing qualities. Solid vinyls are extremely durable

and do not require buffing as vcts require for durability of wear, Solid vinyls come in square looks and wood looks embossed to mimic these floor coverings.  You have to touch them to see that they not the real McCoy! You see that there are a lot of floor covering choices to be considered. The durability and wearability are always important as well as a feeling of warmth and touch when deciding what floor covering is best for your needs.  Together we can look at your environment, your design ideas and color distinctions, price and quality, and find the perfect floor covering for you!