June 25, 2009 · Flooring

Wood floors add to the beauty and sophistication of any house to a great extent. These floors have a different aura about them and can make even a really dull interior decoration look good. The floors are long lasting and can be maintained with very little strain on one’s pocket. The variety of wood floors allows people to pick and choose. The floors are of different types like the following:

1. Solid Parquet Floor 3/4 tum & less 2. Engineered Floor – Strip, Plank, Parquet 3. Solid Plank Floor 3/4 tum * 3 tum and up 4. Solid Strip Floor – T & G up to ¾ tum up to 3/4 tum

Wood floors can be unfinished, prefinished, impregnated or multiply. This kind of floors need to be installed in the rooms. According to personal choice, installations can be floated, glued, or nailed/stapled. Floated or glued installations can be laminated or engineered. But the nailed/stapled installation cannot be laminated. It can be engineered.

Wood floors are a lifetime and more importantly, one time investment. They enhance the value of the house, but definitely do not make the consumer go through recurring costs. These floors are easy to maintain. Just sweeping and cleaning with the specific products for this purpose is enough. Mopping with a damp broom or cloth should be avoided as water can harm the floor. Most floor manufacturers have specific cleaning products for the consumer. The entire house can have wood floors but it is always a good idea to leave the bathroom aside.

Floors and walls create a basic feel about a room. For example, grey walls create a melancholy feel in a room, again pink or lemon or sea green walls gives a much more cheerful and positive feel. This is something intangible, difficult to explain with words. The the same goes for floors.

These floors offer the consumers a great deal of variety in colour. Interior decoration will demand any pattern or colour, but generally red oak, natural, maple natural are very popular. It is better to remember that darker floors go well with traditional or formal interior decoration. Lighter colours are suitable for more casual rooms. Exotic wood like Brazilian Cherry, Brazilian Walnut, Santos Mahogany have gained acceptance. However the type of floor in the room will always be dictated by individual taste and needs. Hand painted wood floors add something special to the room and have become very popular. It is possible to have the floors painted, stained, tinted to have the desired effect. Painted floors give an impression of being a designer one by using different techniques.

Those who want wooden floors in their house should keep some points in mind: What areas of the home will have the floors, which colours to choose and what kind of finish? But it is a good idea to have the advice from a floor professional. It will help the consumers from becoming too confused about the nitty-gritty of the thing.

June 23, 2009 · Flooring

When you determine the style and material for your flooring, it is important to consider the areas to be floored, type of subfloor, your preference for pre-finished or unfinished flooring and stain color. The state-of-the-art technology coupled with an almost limitless choice of stains, finishes, styles and designs makes hardwood flooring one of the most practical and versatile floor coverings available. So if you want a home that is beautiful, if you want a home that stops people in their tracks when they walk in, then you need to put down exotic hardwood flooring.

The exotic hardwood flooring will give you that stopping power that you desire and crave. Hardwood flooring has an inverse relation with the moisture inherent in the wood and is independent of the engineering. Low hardness is chestnut, douglas fir, and north american cherry while hardwood from brazilian walnut, caribbean cherry and bloodwood is extremely hard.

Hopefully you can buy one of the popular types of flooring. As the cost of vinyl flooring and carpeting become lower the wooden floors were reserved for high-end applications. The ratio has changed slightly and now with a good quality engineered flooring it can be refinished two or three times depending on the subfloor’s smoothness and the experience of refinisher.

Laminate floors are ideal for those who want the style and look of hard wood floors but cannot afford the price. These floors are built with a core, sandwiched between a hardwood finish layer on the top and soft wood ply below.

Wood floors on the other hand is not so much more expensive but need to be installed in the rooms. Actually the entire house can now have wood floors but it is always a good idea to leave the bathroom aside. Except for the cost, another drawback of wood floors is that they can be easily gouged and scratched. But, there are century old homes that still have the original wood floors.

Wood floors have great value in several ways as they need no replacement over even a long time and their installment in a house can bring about an enhancement in the value of the house. This in turn will seriously affect the resell value of your home and make your home a health hazard to its occupants. Of course the appeal lies not only in its aesthetic value of its representation of real hardwood, but also due to its incredible durability and ease of maintenance. A good looking floor will add a lot of value to a home.

If you are interested in design a personally customized floor is easy to create by combining a choice of colors, colored chips, and even glitter options. You have dozens of colors to choose from. The darker colors are often found in formal or traditional interiors while lighter shades go well with a casual and contemporary set-up. Draw attention to your floors with dramatic coverings or soften the feel of the room with soft colors on the floor.

June 21, 2009 · Flooring

Bamboo wood flooring is fast becoming the preferred choice for home renovators. Given it’s environmental qualities, bamboo offers consumers the opportunity to enhance their homes both decoratively and practically.

Choosing bamboo wood flooring offers many advantages over traditional floors. Long lasting, beautiful and available in many colors, the value-added fact that bamboo can increase the worth of your home is driving many consumers towards installing it.

How To Buy Bamboo Flooring

The biggest hurdle facing many shoppers searching for bamboo wood flooring is where buy it. In many cases, there won’t be a supplier close by which begs the question…so how do you shop for it? Online of course. The internet has been a boon in many areas of people’s lives and shopping is one of them. There are some excellent retailers online and some that require some due diligence. But then, all selling outlets are not created equal.

When arriving at a website, you’ll need to determine: – how long they have been in business – their reputation, can they be contacted directly which is extremely important ( if no phone contact move on) – whether references are available from satisfied customers – whether they have a showroom base offline. – can they send you samples including grain styles and colors

Before Buying Bamboo Wood Flooring

There are a number of important factors to consider before purchasing. Here is a checklist:

1. Price will play a major part in your overall decision. You’ll need to work out your budget and coverage area before searching for your flooring. Prices can vary and beware of cheap imitations. Price can also be determined by the level of coating applied as well as whether the flooring is machine manufactured or hand crafted.

2. Installing bamboo wood flooring can be a little tricky depending on the type of installation you prefer. Floating a floor can be achieved usually with the minimum of fuss by someone with a little handyman knowledge as the product is usually pre prepared however, the more involved process of installing an unfinished product will require the services of an expert installer. Discuss this with your seller.

3. Color needs to be determined well before you even start looking at bamboo wood flooring. If you are giving your home a full renovation then your decor will want to match your floor and vice versa, if you are installing only the floor then it will need to match the home’s decor. Obvious but needs to be mentioned! Floor traffic is another aspect to consider when choosing color.

4. Considering the grain of the product is a factor in your overall choice. This is something you will need to decide for yourself.

Choosing bamboo wood flooring over traditional coverings could well be the best decision you ever made. It’s not a decision you should make haphazardly and the above guidelines will give you some idea of what’s involved.