There’s no home decorating challenge quite so frustrating as old, worn-out floors. You can paint the walls, add accessories, and even replace furniture on a budget, but replacing an entire floor is a much bigger and costlier job. That doesn’t mean you just have to live with your ratty old carpeting or scuffed-up vinyl. These days, there are lots of different flooring options, including several that are very affordable. Vinyl, laminate, and some kinds of tile can all cost under $1 per square foot. In order to develop proper understanding of types of flooring and cost, search for Flooring Near Me Cold Spring Harbor NY.
However, you can’t just pick up one of these cheap flooring choices at random and expect it to work in any space where you plunk it down. Each type of flooring has advantages and disadvantages, and a type that’s ideal for one room could be a terrible choice for another. So, before you get started on your flooring project, it pays to do a little research on the different kinds of flooring and learn about their costs and benefits. Then, you can find a floor that fits both your space and your budget. It’s important to save up the money ahead of time or use the equity in your home to pay for flooring updates.
Types of Flooring:
No one type of flooring is ideal for every room. For example, hardwood is consistently popular because of its warm, classic look, but it doesn’t hold up well to moisture or rough treatment. Here’s a look at the pros, cons, and costs of several popular types of flooring, as well as some ideas about which are the best flooring options for specific areas.
Hardwood:
Solid wood has been one of the most popular types of flooring in the U.S. for decades. Its construction is about as simple as you can get — wooden boards or planks between 0.5 and 0.75 inches thick, which are installed by nailing them to a wooden subfloor.
Laminate flooring:
Laminate flooring is constructed much like engineered wood, with a thin veneer over layers of plywood or compressed fiber. However, the top layer is not wood but a photograph under a clear plastic coating. That means laminate can look like wood, stone, tile, or just about any other material. If you want to gather more information regarding the cost and nearby dealers then search for Laminate Flooring Near Me in Cold Spring Harbor NY.
Vinyl Flooring:
Vinyl is a type of resilient flooring, a flexible material that feels a bit softer underfoot than rigid wood or tile. It’s made from a layer of PVC (short for polyvinyl chloride) plastic over a layer of felt. Cushioned vinyl has a thin layer of foam as well, making it more comfortable to walk on. Thicker vinyl flooring can have a textured surface to make it look like wood or stone.
Engineered wood:
Engineered wood flooring looks just like solid wood, but it’s made in a different way. It has a thin veneer of natural wood on top, showing the grain, with layers of less expensive plywood underneath. That makes engineered wood both cheaper and sturdier. Some types of engineered wood have even more stability with backing made from recycled wood fiber mixed with stone dust.
Bamboo wood:
Bamboo is a fast-growing grass that can produce flooring with the look and feel of hardwood. It’s become popular recently as an eco-friendly alternative to wood flooring, but experts caution that it isn’t always a greener choice.
Linoleum flooring:
Linoleum is another type of resilient flooring that’s been around since the 1880s, though it only became widely available in the 1940s. Unlike vinyl, it’s made from natural, renewable materials, including cork powder and linseed oil. For decades, it mostly disappeared from homes as vinyl became more popular. However, concerns about the chemicals in vinyl flooring have revived interest in this old-fashioned alternative.
Inexpensive flooring:
Inexpensive flooring types such as vinyl and laminate can fit nearly any budget. However, if you’ve got your heart set on a pricier kind of flooring, there are ways to make it more affordable.
