Friday, June 22, 2007

Flooring Materials

If you like the flooring already provided for in your new home you had purchased, you are indeed a fortunate person. If you do not like them nor want what has been provided and consider a change, then let me share with you the various choices and options you might be able to take.

Firstly, an important point to consider is your immediate family members. If you have young children and/or elderly parents around the home, then perhaps a smooth marble floor may not be ideal unless you are very meticulous person who keeps them dry all the time. If you are that sort of person that entertains frequently with those barbeque get-together's in your garden or yard etc, then having carpets may not be a suitable flooring finish in your living room.

If you have the air-conditioner switched on regularly in the night, then perhaps a timber floor will be kinder to the feet of an elderly in the morning compared to marble. Should there be some history of breathing difficulties or sensitive nose in the family circle, then certain types of carpets would not be recommended. If you fancy mopping to vacuuming, then your choice also points to certain directions.

Secondly, is your choice of decor and the colours. If you are that sort that prefers dark natural wood furniture like mahogany or an avid collector of antique furniture with ornate carvings, then a dark coloured timber floor will not bring out the best of those furniture. Similarly if you lean towards a minimalist or zen look, then floorings with intricate design or patterns on them will not be so suitable unless it is well incorporated as part of the overall look of your home.

Lastly but not the least, is the time constraints to consider when deciding to do this. It will take more time naturally and not forgetting adding your cost and inconvenience to hack and remove the existing materials. Some, but not all flooring materials can be laid over the existing floors thereby avoiding all this mess. If it's possible, go through with your contractor thoroughly to make sure that when they overlay, the installation method which they are using is something that is recommended by the flooring materials manufacturer. Another important fact to note is that when you overlay one material over another, you can have an in-built potential of a debonding problem in the near future. In addition, you definitely lose some headroom as the floor levels are naturally raised and some of your doors have to be modified to correct this.

Eventually when you finally decide on this, you would most likely be given a sample piece of the flooring material, maybe from a size of 30cm X 30cm (12" X 12"), therefore unless you are very good in visualizing the whole floor in your mind (and that is not something so easy to do, trust me..), it would be better off to ask for more pieces. Then what you do is piece them together on the floor and take a step back to try and get a better idea, and if that is not helpful then try this, visit the showrooms of some tile supplier in the market. Another alternative would be to see some pictures of completed floors; be it from a brochure, catalogue or a plain photograph. The ideal scenario would be, if your contractor could bring you to another house where he has done a same or similar floor, you would by then be able to grasp a better idea of the intended end result.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ughh, re-flooring is a pain in the ass, lol. I remember when we ripped out all the carpets in our old home and replaced them with cusion flooring. What a job! I was certainly glad when it was over and done with. Of course I did most of the work myself - couldn't afford a contractor! lol.

Have a great day, Nihal!
Anna

darlene said...

hi, yep we know all about this , as my husband is the expert, as does home renovations!....you seem to have done your homework,!!

NIHAL said...

Hi Anna.

Sounds like you're a 'DIY' expert, not bad! I on the other hand, had to learn all this the hard way ..... pay the contractor!

NIHAL said...

Hello Darlene!

Wow, would love to have your husband contribute some of his 'know-how's' on renovation tips at my Life Style Column???

Any BBQ's this weekend? :))

darlene said...

well my husband never comes near the computer , nor is he interested, which is good for me, we never have to fight over the use of it...lol
and yep, plently of BBQing this weekend , the weather was amazing!!!
ta ta for now
Darlene

NIHAL said...

Hello Darlene,

You're such a Darling when it comes to comments, what would we do without you??? Yup, I know how your hubby feels, I for one was one such person, sometime back. That's all changed now, as you can see. ha ha ha :)

Esther Garvi said...

Tell me Nihal, what do you have to offer that is termite-proof? :-)

Ishtar

NIHAL said...

Hi Ishtar!

Sorry I totally overlooked your comment. Anyway, that's a good question. My best answer to that ... move out!

That's if money is not an issue because these things can wreck your whole home structure if it's not treated quickly.

Well you could also try, Bamboo floorings for a change, coz normally termites attack their native woods and at the same time do a couple of treatments such as, Wood Treatments, Soil Treatments or the latest thing, Baits.