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Interior Décor

Things to Keep in Mind Before Buying Wooden Flooring

April 12, 2021

Wood or hardwood is one of the most popular flooring materials for both residential and commercial properties. These wooden flooring have proven to be both aesthetic and durable. Hardwood flooring has many other advantages. Naturally, an increasing number of homeowners are opting for this as their flooring solution.

However, you should be cautious enough while buying hardwood flooring for your home or commercial property. After all, you are not going to install a new one every year. It’s a long-term investment that needs extreme care while buying. Here are a few important aspects that need to be kept in mind at the time of buying hardwood flooring:

The brand

The American market has several such brands of wooden flooring. To select the most appropriate one amongst them, you must carry out a detailed investigation of their brands. Find out how many years they are in the market, their certifications, the guarantee and the warranty they provide on their products and services, after-sales services, etc. It is advisable that before selecting a brand after going through their corporate website you must review what the previous buyers are saying about their products.

Color, texture, and finish

Color, texture, and finish affect the looks of the final product and also the kind of convenient usage you make of the flooring. While selecting the color of the floor bear attention to the decor of the rest of the room. Take notice of the color of the furniture and the walls before selecting the color shade. Choose from whites, browns, greys, etc. Go for lighter colors if you have a pet. Some of the textures you can select from are that of deep brushed, burnt, brushed, smoked, sawn, and stained. The texture will depend on the kind of usage you will make of the floor. For example, if the flooring is for a children’s room then the texture must be clean. It is best to go for a lacquered finish for the flooring. You can have it in matt or gloss. However, a matte one will offer more friction and hence is safer. A glossy one will look better.

The thickness

The thickness of the flooring will have a great impact on its strength and durability. Ideally, these floorings come with a 2- or 3-layer format that has an HDF core. The plank thickness ranges 7 to 21mm. The top layer comes around 2.5 to 8mm.

Installation

This is just an important aspect that must be taken into consideration at the time of buying a wooden floor. It is either glued or is kept floating. Ask the brand regarding the best way they will take up in your cases.

Maintenance

This is possibly one of the most important questions you must have in mind at the time of buying wooden flooring. Never forget to ask the brand from where you are buying about the guidelines to be kept in mind for maintenance of the floor. Ask them about the solutions you must use and the chemicals that must be avoided at all costs.

Wood flooring is a wonderful idea but it needs an expert team to install. Besides checking what you are buying, take care of these aspects too.

Home Improvement

Floor Maintenance: Keep Your Floors Clean and Scratch-Free

April 10, 2018

Emma K Loftus

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Installing new floors in your home is one of the happiest moments in everyone’s life and a chance to make a fresh start and leave all your troubles behind. However, this is just the first step in the process – keep in mind that you have to put in a lot of work into your floors later and make sure they’re always looked after. Keeping them clean and scratch-free is essential if you want your home to look appealing, welcoming and cosy, so here are a few tips that might help you in this process.

Hardwood floors

Wood floors are the most efficient way to make your home fancier and more elegant. They’re easy to install – though can be quite pricey – but maintaining them is a whole different story. Hardwood floors come with a sealant and a protective layer that keeps them shiny and prevents scratches, so their maintenance heavily depends on this. But, whichever finish you’ve opted for, don’t forget that vacuuming the floors regularly and meticulously, and applying dry wax from time to time are the first steps towards success. An additional protection could be a colourful rug or some other piece of fabric.

Vinyl floors

These may sound like an unusual idea at first, but are actually one of the best ways to make sure your floors are always tidy. Among the most valuable benefits of vinyl floors is the fact that they’re hard to damage and can withstand more than other floors – things like acids, solvents and minor scratches can’t really ruin them in the long run. The way to ensure vinyl floors always look new is by applying wax every once in awhile, or even covering them with a protective coating, just to be safe in the years to come.

Image source: homeflooringpros.com

Marble floors

If installed properly, marble floors could easily become the most attractive feature of your home, both indoors and outdoors. However, you need to be careful when cleaning them because some acid-based solutions can be rather dangerous and do more harm than good. That’s why a good solution would be to hire immaculate cleaning services.

Image source: girlsonit.com

Alternatively, if you install natural marble in your outdoor area, your patio will surely attract the attention of your neighbours, yet it can be easily cleaned with some water. An idea you should also try is using decorative outdoor mats that not only look amazing, but also help protect your floor against rain and snow.

Linoleum floors

For areas that get dirty often – the kitchen or kids’ room, for example – a linoleum floor might be perfect solution because it’s cheap, practical, easy to clean and installed in a matter of minutes. It’s made from renewable materials and can easily be recycled, and this is, if done properly, an ideal way to dispose of your old linoleum floor. The way to clean these floors is quite practical as well – all you need is a vacuum cleaner for excessive dirt, a natural cleaning solution mixed with some water, and that’s it! You can make this product on your own using vinegar, but you’ll also need a strong mop to get the work done properly.

Tile floors

This is another elegant solution that will elevate the quality of your life quite quickly, especially if you opt for an eye-catching combination of colours and patterns. Whether you have quarry, ceramic or porcelain tiles, the cleaning philosophy is almost the same – don’t use store-bought solutions that are often more harmful than you realise and can do a lot of damage to you, your tiles and the environment as well, so start making your own cleaning product using borax, vinegar, baking soda and water instead.

How often do I need to clean?

This may be the most important question when it comes to cleaning your floors, yet the answer is surprisingly simple – as often as you can. As soon as you see dirt, reach for your vacuum cleaner, but also remember waxing certain kinds of floors regularly in order to fully protect them.

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