Choosing the right flooring for a particular room in your house or commercial space may seem like an overwhelming decision. It’s a process that combines your personal preference with careful thinking and practicality. Nevertheless, it’s a surface you, your family and colleagues use but asking yourself a few key queries at the initial stages of the process should help reduce your worry, ease your choice and increase your long-term satisfaction with your new floor.
Today in the flooring industry, carpeting is becoming softer, wood is getting somehow roughed-up while Luxury vinyl is becoming more luxurious especially for the home buyers but luxury vinyl is far from the only flooring product that is drawing consumers attention.
Wood
Wood-look laminates are a great option for any room in your house however; oak laminate flooring is one of the fashionable and preferred styles of laminate wood. The classic wood species with an open grain pattern, accented by dark swirls, can be tinted in a range of colors and goes well with any décor.
Pine is another trendy choice for laminate flooring. The light color that it has brightens a room and can make a small room appear bigger. Also, rooms that unite families and friends like the kitchen and family rooms can benefit from the warm and expansive feel that hardwoods can offer.
Wood laminate on the other hand is less expensive than solid hardwood and it creates structural stability hence making you have less movement in the floor. The trends are also moving towards larger planks or multiple-sized planks which have more exotic species and darker stains, with a growing interest in gray tones.
Corporate offices are nowadays considering new hardwood for their office space for that old worn look that is today trendy and fashionable.
Bamboo is another wood option that is being considered by buyers since an array of colors and plank widths can be created from it and it is cheap since it comes from an effortlessly renewable resource. While technically from a fast-growing grass, bamboo is harder than most hardwoods when it is dried. Newer products called strand-woven bamboo which is a highly engineered product which uses the inner fibers is twice as hard as traditional bamboo flooring. In addition, bamboo is offered in wide-plank styles that imitate the look of classic hardwoods. As with all wood flooring, it’s best to keep bamboo out of rooms that are moisture-prone like kitchens and baths.
EGGER which is a flooring company will launch a wood-based design floor called EGGER Design+ Flooring. When developing the new flooring class, they focused on diverse customer needs and reacted to these needs with this wood-based design floor. The characteristics of EGGER Design+ Flooring include, being compact, water resistant, comfortable, easy-care, flexible in use, naturally based on wood, 100% free of PVC and plasticisers. This product can be used commercially and privately.
A unique memory function makes this stand out when compared to other design floors: The so-called SelfRepair effect which means if there are surface deformations, for example the marks of furniture feet, the molecules pushed in the given place their initial position and return to it fairly soon. The floor looks new again.
Tile
Ceramic and porcelain tiles are versatile, durable and stylish. One can choose from hundreds of colours and styles to make any room look elegant and stylish. From wood-look to polish, contemporary to the timeless look of stone, most tile manufacturers have sizes ranging from traditional 12×12 to large format and rectangular tile.
These types of tiles can add an eye-catching touch to floors and walls throughout your home. They are ideal for people who house pets or people who suffer from allergies because they are simple to clean- the dirt can be swept, vacuumed and wiped away. The designs are perfect for a modern home, and complex tiling designs are ideal for a classic, complicated style in a bathroom or kitchen setting.
Ceramic tile is literally getting bigger, better and more fashionable. Tile in formats larger than the standard 12-by-12 inches are growing immensely in popularity even though there is a lot of variation in regional preferences and those digital prints that you at times spot on laminate countertops and vinyl tile are also applied on ceramic tile so that you may see tiles that look like hardwoods as well.
The interesting thing about the ceramic and porcelain is that they do not fade in sunlight, are stain resistant and fire resistant.
The Porcelain tiles can also withstand higher foot traffic just like the hardwood or bamboo since they are denser. They are made of finer clays that are produced at a very high pressure and cooked at equally high temperatures, forming a greater density. Porcelain is also more moisture resistant and for these reasons, porcelain can be used outdoors, while it’s best to use ceramic indoors only.
However, for high traffic regions in your house or commercial space where tiles will be positioned, you can view the tile’s PEI rating, which measures resistance to damage. PEI is usually calculated from 1-5, where 1 is the least durable and 5 being the most durable. Porcelain and ceramic tiles having high PEI ratings will equally be able to withstand high traffic. Porcelain can sometimes be at a higher price point than ceramic, depending on the choice of tile.
Carpeting
Carpeting is a type of flooring that is becoming softer and is getting more environmentally friendly and many manufacturers are creating fiber combinations that take softness to a whole new level. In terms of carpet styles, the current favorite probably is a broad genre called cut-and-loop, where by the pile is partially cut and partially looped to create a sculpted look or pattern, they are multi-tonal and the trend is more towards the patterned carpet, with a cleaner finish with some personality to it.
Most buyers who favour and prefer carpeting tend to use it in bedrooms and on stairs in their homes or commercial spaces like offices.
Nowadays, with the emergence of technology, there are stain resistant carpets available in the market, so you do not have to worry about removing the carpets during house parties or about the spills that your children might accidentally put. Some carpets now have a guard that acts as a protective layer of polyester which resists stains hence keeping your carpet new, durable and clean.
Luxury Vinyl
The luxury angle of vinyl may somehow be a stretch, but technology unquestionably has given some vinyl’s a whole new attractive and trendy look. At its most basic, the process of producing it amounts to taking a photo of the type of wood and printing it into the extensively less expensive vinyl flooring, usually in the form of squares or planks.
For high or severe traffic, high performance vinyl flooring would be the best type or option while for the lighter traffic, the denser the product, the better the performance. Less traffic goes with a more comfortable flooring material which can have a cushioned backing. In entryways, opt for a hard surface product together with an entry-type flooring material at the doorway.
On flooring space in hospitals, for example; hard surface for the patient rooms with very heavy beds can fit in well, however it might not fit for all rooms so you must contact your manufacturer for advice.
Heavy duty flooring
All said and done, if it is a problem choosing the right or trendy floor for your space, then it is advisable to contact a manufacturer. HARDFLEX type of flooring from Sogega Italy may be the solution.
Hardflex which is a durable, heavy duty flooring is particularly suitable for high traffic areas such as offices, hospitals, schools, shops and department stores, leisure centres, public buildings and in every place where heavy foot traffic is expected.
International Sales Manager SOGEGA SRL, Mr. Tommaso Zinna,points out that the product concept and styling of the recently introduced HARDFLEX range is unique in that it offers, within a single colour range, a number of features and benefits to the end-user client.
Specifically, the facility to use rigid pvc (rather than highly plasticized pvc) in the chip lay-up creates a very durable product suitable for most commercial applications. HARDFLEX is especially suitable for educational, commercial, retail and healthcare projects and for hospitality and leisure locations where the ability to hot or cold weld the product will provide for an impermeable floor finish.
The manufacturing process allows for the production of ‘specials’, in both colour and surface finish, for as little as 250 m2. The facility to manufacture ‘specials’ for very limited volume allows also for the production of both anti-static and conductive versions of the HARDFLEX range and with the option of 8 surface textures, slip resistant versions as well.
In addition the application of a foamed backing will create an acoustic version of HARDFLEX.
Thus, with HARDFLEX, areas in a project requiring flooring to meet different end-user requirements may be installed offering, for the first time, a floor finish that meets a variety of performance standards BUT in a single colourway, if that is what the client may favour.
Just as in the case of any other building material, flooring has come a long way and manufacturers are experimenting with different materials that can give the look and feel of natural products while having enhanced performance properties in wear and tear while being cost effective and mindful of the environment
