How to Choose the Right Flooring for Your Home

Flooring Middletown NY is an important consideration for homeowners, especially in living rooms. How much wear and tear the room gets, whether children or pets live in the space, and how much warmth you want underfoot will inform your flooring choice.

Wood floors are beautiful and durable, but make sure to choose wood harvested from responsibly managed forests. Carpet tiles are a versatile option, but adding area rugs for traction and style is a good idea.

Flooring needs to withstand foot traffic, dirt, spills and other messes. It should also be able to withstand repeated scrubbing, sanding and cleaning. The best flooring is durable, easy to clean and will last for years or even decades. Wood and stone flooring are extremely durable, but they require a bit more maintenance than vinyl and laminate.

Hardwood flooring is a classic and will always add value to your home. This durable material can withstand most anything that comes its way, as long as it’s maintained properly. It’s important to mop and sweep hardwood floors often, and to clean up spills right away. Also, use felt pads on furniture legs to prevent scratches. Felt protectors can be purchased at most home improvement stores and come in a variety of sizes to suit most pieces of furniture.

Laminate is a multi-layered synthetic product that has gained popularity recently due to its durability. It consists of several layers that are fused together with a lamination process. The base layer or core is a rigid fiber board that is similar to engineered wood. The image layer is printed with a photographic applique that simulates wood or stone, while the top layer is a protective plasticate that guards against wear and fading.

Tile is another durable option that’s perfect for moisture-prone areas like bathrooms and kitchens. It’s available in a variety of colors and styles to match any decor. It’s easy to keep clean, as it’s water-resistant and can withstand frequent scrubbing.

Vinyl is another resilient flooring choice, which can be installed in sheets or tiles and comes in a wide array of colors and patterns. It can be a great substitute for wood or stone and it’s less expensive than other types of flooring. It’s also water-resistant, making it easy to wipe down with a damp cloth. It’s also softer and warmer than linoleum. Vinyl is a good alternative for areas that may experience a lot of foot traffic. It’s also inexpensive and easy to install.

Easy to Clean

A big factor in the overall appeal and value of flooring is how easily it can be cleaned. It’s not uncommon for dirt, grime, and bacteria to hide in cracks or crevices between carpet or planks of wood, but most floors are relatively easy to keep clean. The best option is to sweep or vacuum consistently, mop on a regular basis (typically twice per week), and wipe up spills as they occur.

Hardwood floors are a breeze to keep clean because there’s nowhere for dust and dirt to hide. Generally, they require little to no maintenance, but you should always use non-abrasive cleaning supplies and a soft brush or vacuum cleaner attachment to prevent scratching the finish. Vacuuming at least twice per week is recommended, and you should use a commercial hardwood floor cleanser once per week.

Tile is another one of the easiest flooring materials to maintain. Whether it’s vinyl, porcelain, or ceramic, tile is usually non-porous, meaning that spills and dirt stay on the surface and won’t sink into the material. Sweeping and mopping twice a week should keep your tile floors clean, but periodic deep cleaning is also a good idea.

Vinyl is a popular choice because it mimics more expensive flooring materials and is incredibly durable. It’s also very easy to clean – just sweep and mop, and you’re done! Vinyl can show some signs of wear and tear, though, so you may want to do a deeper clean every month or so.

Linoleum is another natural flooring option that’s easy to keep clean. It is made from linseed oil, resin, limestone, cork dust, and mineral pigments, so it’s naturally resistant to stains and other damage. You can mop a linoleum floor with almost any commercial cleanser and can even get away with using just water on a regular basis.

Laminate is another easy flooring material to keep clean. It’s a composite material that doesn’t stain or absorb moisture, and it doesn’t have the texture of traditional wood or carpet. It will show a bit of wear and tear over time, but sweeping on a daily basis and occasionally mopping with a damp microfiber cloth should keep it looking great.

Noise Reduction

In the modern world, sound control is crucial for productivity and privacy. The right flooring material can help buffer unwanted noise, improve acoustics and provide an organic and biophilic audio experience for the people who work and live in spaces.

When a space is untreated, sound can transmit across floors, through walls and between multiple floors in a building. This is called structure-borne sound and can be caused by footsteps, furniture movement, TV or music. Often times this type of sound can be distracting and can have a negative effect on productivity. In order to reduce this type of noise, acoustic flooring is designed with a cushioned surface and has excellent sound absorbing properties.

Carpets, cork and wood-plastic composite are common flooring materials that offer excellent sound reduction. These materials are softer and lighter than typical flooring options, which makes them great at absorbing sound waves and dissipating them over time. These types of materials also typically feature an acoustic underlay that helps further reduce noise transmission.

Another popular option for reducing noise is mass loaded vinyl (MLV). This underlay is made from a dense and limp vinyl sheet that contains heavy additives like barium sulfate or calcium carbonate to increase its weight. It can be affixed under floating floors to decouple the floor surfaces and reduce noise transmission or can be used to treat floor joists to prevent them from vibrating and transmitting sound. This type of underlay typically features an IIC rating of 50-61.

Using an acoustic underlay can also help reduce impact noise. This underlay is normally comprised of a high-density material that can be glued to the subfloor and attached to the existing ceilings with drywall. This technique eliminates the need to nail through the drywall and provides an effective acoustic barrier between the existing ceiling and the floor above. It is best to use an acoustic insulation that is not nailed or screwed into the timbers and joists as this can create a sealed chamber where the floor and ceiling interact and transfer vibration.

One of the most popular and cost-effective ways to reduce impact noise is to fit acoustic insulation between the floor joists. This can be done by fitting resilient channels spaced 24 in. (61 cm) on-centre and then affixing two layers of standard 1/2 in. (12 mm) Type X drywall. This technique will significantly reduce both impact and transmission noise and can be applied to most floors including LVT, hardwood, stone and ceramic tiles.

Comfort

Tiles are cold and hard underfoot, which can be a problem in areas where you spend a lot of time standing. Also, they are prone to cracks and chips. Cork flooring, on the other hand, has a soft feel underfoot and is a comfortable alternative to hard tiles. Additionally, wood products emit lower levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which can affect your health. They can improve your sleep, boost concentration and productivity, reduce stress and anxiety and promote healthy breathing. The colours of your floor can also influence your mood; reds and oranges energise and blues and greens pacify.