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Floor options for kitchens bear the heavy responsibilities of beauty and function. You want a stylish kitchen that not only presents well to guests but lifts your spirits. Flooring makes or breaks this.

However, just as important, you must count on the functionality of your floor. Does the surface stand up to high traffic? Is it easy to clean? Will it hurt your feet or back if you’re standing for long periods of time? These are all important questions to ask yourself.

Floor Options for Kitchens

To narrow the floor options for kitchens, you must prioritize your needs. If you entertain but rarely cook, hardwood and laminate show beautifully. However handsome, wood also raises the potential for water damage, regardless of seal. Laminate simulates wood’s attractiveness, with water resistance. Note that does not mean waterproof. Both of these materials risk damage with humidity or could have costly replacements following a broken pipe or leaking dishwasher.

If you have young chefs and their accompanying spills, you might want a floor that protects fumbled glasses. Cork provides a solid, environmentally-friendly option. While not waterproof, cork usually remains water resistant with a polyurethane topcoat. The natural give of cork also provides greater comfort for those who spend long hours on their feet in the kitchen.

If easy cleaning and stain resistance rank important, consider tile. The smooth, resilient surface allows for easy cleaning and water resistance. You can also enhance the safety of tile by purchasing those with a slip-resistant finish. Restaurant kitchens with high, fast-paced traffic often opt for this, and it’s ideal for home kitchens with children or elderly residents.

Today’s floor options for kitchens provide a wide range of choices to fit your family’s needs. Talk with a professional at US Hardwood and Carpet and find the surface that will keep you happy for years.

Home improvement, especially for a house where you currently live, requires an enormous amount of patience and financial flexibility. But investments into repairs and updates can certainly increase your home’s value, as well as your family’s comfort. Correct planning holds the key to a positive experience.

Home Improvement: Ready, Set, Go!

The first home improvement task always involves setting realistic goals. Although you may devote your weekends to DIY television or pour over P interest pages, make certain your remodeling plans fit with your home’s existing architecture, your available time, proven – not assumed – construction skills, and your budget. These questions become essential when investing time and money on a project.

Next, ask yourself about the benefits of the project. Some items, such as the addition of a bathroom increase both value and comfort. Others, such as adding a swimming pool, add little value but boost a family’s enjoyment of a home. Upgrading unsuitable flooring or replacing aging plumbing reduces the risk of costly future repairs. All of these serve as valid reasons for home improvements. Be honest about what you can achieve and you won’t be disappointed. .

Finally, determine if this is a do-it-yourself job or one for the professionals. A licensed contractor helps you identify any required permitting and also recognizes potential construction disasters on large jobs. (There’s a reason so many TV renovations reveal water damage!) You can also find help by consulting your material vendors. This is where big-box hardware stores often fall short. A teen working a summer job can’t always answer questions about framing a doorway or removing stairway carpeting. Ask advice from those with the most experience. .

Home improvement gives a great boost to your affection for your property and possibly your pocketbook. Plan wisely and reap the rewards.

When you are selecting the best flooring for bathrooms, you need to go a bit beyond the standard considerations for flooring. Be sure to consider how well the floor handles moisture and how easy it is to clean. Three materials top the list.

Ceramic Tile as the Best Flooring for Bathrooms

Ceramic tiles are often considered optimal and the best flooring for bathrooms, thanks to the variety of styles, sizes and colors. Ceramic tile stands up to water and use. Depending on the style and grout you select, it can be easily installed. It is easy to keep clean, adds an upscale look to the bathroom and maintains its beauty for a long time

Laminate Flooring Highlights Existing Decor

If you’re surprised that laminate flooring can be the best flooring choice for a bathroom, don’t be. The top rugged “wear layer” of laminate flooring is very strong and the bonding that holds the layers together can resist moderate moisture and spills.

Laminate flooring is attractive, easy to clean and because it is attractive, it extends your home’s décor. If it gets overly moist, however, it can mean an entire “redo” of the flooring, so many people consider it better for a half bath than one with a shower or tub.

Always Popular Vinyl

Vinyl offers many styles and colors, it is easy to clean, install and is generally economical. Many people like the “feel” of vinyl, because the soft backing provides a nice give when you walk. Still, it is vinyl and can be perceived as a lower-end choice.

When it comes to choosing the best flooring for bathrooms, you have great choices. While there is no perfect solution for every home, this is one element of your home that can easy fit function, décor and budget.

Selecting the best kitchen floor options is a very important part of your décor for many reasons, the key being that the kitchen is likely to be the soul of your house. It will see a lot of use, a lot of traffic and set the tone for many of your family’s events.

While many people first consider cork, stone, tile and vinyl (all excellent choices), it is increasingly stylish to choose hardwood flooring.

Why Hardwood Ranks Amongst the Best Kitchen Floor Options

Today’s home buyers and home owners consider wood a popular option and the best kitchen floor options. Not only because of the variety of looks available, but because wood “feels like home” to many people and feels natural to the feet. It also handles active lifestyles and extends the décor of your home.

Wood requires some care – especially in keeping it clean. But if you have ever walked into an older home and been impressed with the beautiful hardwood floors, you understand the elegance that makes wood floors a choice that never goes out of style.

Considering Hardwoods

Because wood is always in style, your initial investment will last through decades of use and lifestyle changes. Whether you go with maple or oaks, pin or even a more exotic wood such as Brazilian cherry or teak, you can match wood to your personal taste.

An important consideration is that wood floors need some special care: sweep them regularly, dust them, don’t drag anything across them, and always clean up spills quickly. In the rare plumbing emergency in your kitchen, you’ll need to make haste to avoid long-term damage.

Yet, despite some extra care, wood floors are a perennial popular choice and the best kitchen floor options. Warm, welcoming and a joy to walk into, hardwoods can be flooring you will enjoy and that will support the beauty and value of your home.

An oak wood floor is a home décor choice that adds beauty to many settings. The wood has a traditional appearance that presents itself with familiar marks and grain, and yet each piece of flooring is individual in its beauty. For many people, oak is what they imagine when they think about hardwood floors.

Why Oak Wood Floors Are So Popular

Oak wood floors remain popular because they can fit into so many styles. The fact that oak is considered traditional means that it enhances many home and furniture choices. Equally important, oak can be stained in a variety of hues and it is versatile.

In addition to its look, oak ranks at 1290 on the Janka scale. We’ve talked about the Janka scale in other posts, and explained it is the measure of how hardy a wood is. It is a factor all buyers should consider when making flooring decisions. Oak’s ranking indicates it will be successful with active, busy families

Other Considerations Include Style and Budget

Because oak is so popular, there are a variety of widths available giving you options for the décor. Narrow widths, 2 ¼” or 3”, are what many people think of as a traditional hardwood look. Wider planks present a different look and can help scale a room.

One final choice is whether you want hardwood, or engineered (laminated) oak. While both might look the same in a room, there are multiple factors to consider when you make your choice. These factors include budget and room use.

All of these choices – the color of the stain, the width of the planks, and whether you want hardwood or engineered flooring – are individual choices which don’t have a 100% right or wrong factor. Instead, when considering oak wood floors, the best place to start is to understand your lifestyle, the home where it is being placed, and the advice of your flooring professional.

There are a variety of excellent laminate flooring options for you to consider. However, like any significant choice in your home décor, be sure that you consider the practical aspects as well. Not sure where to start? Help is here.

Laminate Flooring and Your Lifestyle

Lifestyle has significant influence on your laminate flooring choice. There is a lot of wear and tear in the home of an active family with children, pets and activities. So, if your home is where the kids pile in after sports, or if there are multiple pets, keep in mind that light-colored floors show drips, spills and tracked-in dirt right away. Darker floors tend to show dust, “dust bunnies,” and animal hair.

Also take lifestyle into consideration when choosing the pattern, style and thickness of the planks that you choose.

The upshot: if you are decorating for a high-activity home, consider the mid-range of hues. Also consider the use of patterned flooring that looks like natural stone or other textures.

Flooring in a Room Remodel

If you are adding a room or remodeling a specific area, consider how the floor will look with the existing hallways and rooms. It is not necessary to match exactly, though that is always an option, but you do want a harmonious look throughout. You also want the floor to have the same sound and feel as the rest of the house. Thicker boards sound more natural, so consider boards that are 8mm (.32 in.) up to 12mm (.48 in.). Talk to your flooring professional about the thickness that is most durable for the activity in your household.

Ready to love your laminate flooring? The versatility and budget considerations are significant. Just be sure to do your homework up front and you’ll find yourself on solid footing for years to come.

Bamboo flooring installation is growing in popularity, as home owners become more familiar with the eco-friendly aspects of using bamboo. The more simple installation, hence less time and expense, comes with an engineered floor.

While several factors apply to the installation, today we’ll discuss two of them that are unique to bamboo: the expansion of bamboo planks and the hardness of the flooring.

Important Factors in Bamboo Flooring Installation

To understand bamboo flooring installation, remember this is an engineered floor. Several layers of product have been fused together, the top layer being bamboo which has been split and pressed flat. Another method of preparing bamboo, called strand-woven, weaves together strands for additional toughness. Some users claim strand-weaving gives the floors more of an appearance of a traditional hardwood floor.

The two types of bamboo floor planks react differently during installation. So, it is important for the installer to understand the differences: while both need time to acclimate to the home or room before installation, standard bamboo will expand both in width and length. Strand-woven acts more like traditional laminated flooring and expands primarily in width.

Bamboo Flooring and the Janka Scale

The second factor is the Janka Scale, the scale used to rank the hardness of flooring. The higher the Janka number, the harder (and hardier) is the floor.

However, when buying bamboo, you can’t rely on Janka alone. A typical bamboo floor might have a high Janka ranking, but it is still susceptible to sharp objects such as high heels or dropped items, because the bonding between the fibers is not as strong as the bamboo itself. This is not true in the case of strand-woven bamboo flooring.

Like many home projects, when considering bamboo flooring installation, it is best to become well-acquainted with the product and to consult a professional prior to beginning the project.

Is laminate flooring right for you? On many home projects, both in a new home or a remodeling project, homeowners naturally want to consider the best floor for the home.

For a variety of reasons, laminate flooring (also called engineered flooring) can be a very good option. It is easier to work with, less expensive to install, and the work can be done faster so it fits well into a time-sensitive project. Many homeowners also appreciate that the laminate is prefinished so the buyer can see exactly what it will look like.

Environmental Issues with Laminate Flooring

While all the above is true, it doesn’t mean that choosing the best laminate flooring can be done without careful consideration. For instance, not all laminate floors are good in all environments, which is why they are ranked by RH (relative humidity). RH includes the outside climate (heat, humidity) as well as the inside environment (furnaces and air conditioning). RH can also be affected by the work being done on the job site, because the floors are often laid early and are subject to inconsistent air/heat and exposure to the elements.

For instance, in a place where the furnace is running all winter, there are different levels of humidity than in a home that is in a moderate climate with a lot of moisture in the air. Likewise, a desert city such as Phoenix is very different than Houston. Both cities are hot, but you might not use the same laminate floor in both places because of the differences in humidity.

While many people praise the ease of installing laminate flooring, the same advice you would use with any important element in your home applies: work with, or seek the advice of, a professional before you make any buying choices.

There is a natural beauty and charm to an oak wood floor that translates into making a home charming and welcoming while adding to the resale value. If you are considering a hardwood floor from oak, you will find it naturally beautiful. You will also discover that the flooring can be stained any number of shades that add custom accents to your home.

Oak Wood Floor Care

As with most hardwood, you don’t need to pamper your oak wood floor, but you should keep it clean with a broom, dust mop, or slightly dampened hard wood floor cleaning mop. How much work your specific species of floor needs is a question you will want to ask your flooring professional before the job begins, especially if you are putting wood floors in highly trafficked areas such as the entry way or kitchen.

Oak is Great for Staining

When it comes to the color of your oak, there are several species to choose from and you also have a wide variety of stains. The stains will beautify and amplify the style you are looking for. Work with your flooring professional to determine the best look for your space.

Keep in mind that when you are working with a natural material such as oak, there are natural variations. This is part of the beauty of the species. Even with just a few pieces of the same oak there will be variations, and no stained floor will look exactly like the one you saw somewhere else. Wise decorators know to test a sample of the stain you choose on a small area first, to be sure that the stain is what you envision.

Whether you choose to stain or keep it natural with just a varnish, an oak wood floor is a popular and versatile addition to the beauty of your home.

If you want to get the best hardwood floors, today we will talk about one specific factor in choosing that flooring.

Best Hardwood Floors

When selecting the best hardwood floors for your home and the costs of maintaining the floors for years to come, what the professionals do: look at the hardness of the wood as measured on the Janka Scale, which ranks durability and hardness.

This insight can help you avoid the buyer’s remorse that comes because you saw a floor that is exactly what you want, only to discover that in your home, it is an impractical choice for your family’s lifestyle.

Janka Ranking

The Janka scale helps you understand how much wear a specific wood will show. A wood that ranks low on the Janka Scale indicates a soft wood (red cherry, has a beautiful grain, but its Janka Hardness rating of 950 indicates it is less suitable for homes with children and pets.)For that home with a lot of activity, you want to look at woods higher on the scale such as hickory (Janka Hardness rating 1820) or northern red oak (1290).

Not just the type of wood, but the source, will affect the Janka rating. The domestic black cherry comes in at a 950 Janka Harness, while the Brazilian cherry is ranked 2820

Yes, it’s a fact. You can get dizzy looking at all the domestic and imported types of wood flooring available. It’s always key to remember that paramount in your decision is your budget, your lifestyle and the style of your home. However, a little extra work to learn about hardness and style can pay off in a beautiful, and the best, hardwood floors for you.