Choosing the right floor for the right area is critical to the enjoyment and life of your home. The wrong floor for a room is persistently annoying at best, and could even cause injury or permanent structural damage to your home.
Different rooms, different needs
Each room will have different needs. You will most likely want your bedrooms to be warm, with a soft feel underfoot. The main hallway to the front entrance needs to be sturdy because of all the foot traffic it will see, and it should also be designed in a way that helps to dampen noise. Think ahead to what your floors might be used for. You’re bound to have bedrooms, a bathroom, a kitchen, a laundry and a lounge. Do you have a rumpus room? What about a balcony?
The choices become easier when you consider how the floors might be used. Do you wear shoes in the house for instance? The soles of shoes, especially stilettos, can be harder wearing on a floor surface but bare feet like warmer, softer surfaces that may be more prone to wearing. Your bathroom will have to be easily waterproofed too, or moisture will seep into the floor and start causing damage very quickly.
Maintenance and durability
Another point to consider is maintenance; how much cleaning will a particular floor require? How easy will it be to wipe up spills? Does the floor type stain? This is particularly important in the kitchen where food and liquid spills are pretty much par for the course. Are there any special maintenance tasks you’ll need to do occasionally, such as polishing or recoating? A room with a lot of heavy furniture in it may have difficulty with these jobs. Movement and placement of furniture can be a factor too; many surfaces suffer badly under scratches, and even light furniture can easily leave permanent marks and damage.
Whichever part of the house you're selecting for, consider what the floor is going to be used for - both immediately and into the future. Weigh up how easy it will be to take care of in the short and long term too. In most cases, this should go a long way towards narrowing down your choices.
