Flooring

You’ve got the property. Next, you secure the permits. Then you start to dig. Over to the construction, have the four walls, roof, etc., and now it’s time to make it pretty. The construction of a home can be a daunting task. Perhaps one of the most daunting is the flooring. And not daunting from a complexity point of view, but getting the flooring right is absolutely critical. Bad flooring will ruin a home, mainly because the first thing one keys in on upon entering a domicile is the floor. Keep it in mind next time you walk into someone’s house for the first time. You greet the resident, and then look down. It’s human, don’t argue with it.

Flooring is a generic term for whatever has been placed on the floor that covers up the unfinished, previous flooring. Flooring can be anything from tile to laminate, carpet or vinyl. Underneath the flooring is what is known as subflooring. This is not just an ugly base however. Subflooring provides critical support and in fact there is a whole line of special purpose subfloors such as raised floors, sprung floors and floating floors that can be applied on top of subflooring to make that transition from subflooring to flooring better.

When folks are choosing flooring it is natural to fixate on price first. We all do, after all, flooring that will run you north of $3,000 is $3,000 less in your bank account for that Hawaiian vacation the family has been riding you about. Do they want to walk on something pretty and safe or bask in the sand? If you put it to them like that, the latter would win out. But flooring lives with you, everyday, 365, 24/7. Skimping on this will be a constant reminder every time you’re conscious in your home.

One of the more popular types of flooring is wood flooring. Plank and parquet are the two prevailing types, and hardwood is generally more durable than softwoods. Bamboo flooring has caught on as of late, flooring manufactured from you guessed it – a bamboo plant. This type of flooring is extremely durable, environmentally friendly, and a great talking point. Not many folks have bamboo flooring in their home. If you’re a young man trying to impress a first date (slow down, why is your date already in your home on the first outing?), then mention the bamboo at their feet. If that doesn’t get you a second date odds are your small talk routine needs work.

Back to flooring. Laminate is another popular type of flooring. This is made of plywood or medium density fiberboard and the big daddy in the laminate world is HDF laminate. This is high-density fiberboard topped off with decorative paper layered transparently. Sounds complex, right? It is, but looks great, is easy to install, and best yet, light on the wallet or purse.

While this is all excellent information (don’t you agree?), the recommended next step is get in touch with vendors with this info at hand to guide the talks. While knowing the basics will help, only an expert in the flooring game will be able to really bring that project to fruition.