These days in home design, flooring options extend beyond simple carpet and hardwoods. From environmentally friendly to engineered wood, check out some of these additional choices to help you find the best flooring for your home.
Hardwoods
Solid hardwoods are an elegant flooring option that adds depth and character to any space, but they will also add considerable value to your home’s worth. With a wide variety of hardwood types, this flooring can be tailored to your individual taste.
Stone
Natural stone tile is timeless and exudes organic beauty. No two tiles are the same, and they come in a wide array of choices, including granite, slate, marble, travertine, limestone and onyx. Stone tile is easy to clean, extremely durable and fire-resistant. Long-lasting and always in style, it can bring a rich and luxurious feel to any home.
Engineered
Similar in appearance to solid hardwood, engineered hardwood is composed of a core of hardwood, plywood or high-density fiberboard and a top layer of hardwood veneer, which comes in almost any wood grain. Due to its construction progress, engineered flooring is sturdy and completely resistant to humidity. This unique feature could be beneficial in parts of the home where humidity and heat could be detrimental to solid hardwood floors, such as the kitchen or basement.
Linoleum
This extremely durable and low-maintenance flooring option is composed of materials like linseed oil, cork, limestone, and wood flour and tree resins. It comes in countless patterns and colors, making it easily compatible with most home styles.
Ceramic
Ceramic tile is easy to maintain and extremely durable if properly cared for. Ceramic tiles come in a wide variety of shapes, sizes, finishes and colors, which make this type of flooring easily compatible with almost any design style. Ceramic flooring is finished with a glaze that comes in high-gloss, semigloss and matte formats to make the floor water-resistant and easy to clean.
Laminate
Laminate is a great option for those on a budget because it can duplicate the look of hardwood, natural stone and many other types of flooring. Laminate is durable, low-maintenance, but it will still provide an upscale look.
Marmoleum
All-natural marmoleum is a renewable resource, composed of recycled materials that are beneficial to the environment. Unlike linoleum, marmoleum is resistant to dust and dirt, making it allergen-free, and doesn’t have a strong odor. Available in sheets or tiles, marmoleum is low-maintenance and makes a reliable choice for high-traffic areas.
Bamboo
Bamboo is a grass, which only takes three to five years from plant to harvest, which makes it a very eco-friendly flooring option. Bamboo is also fire-resistant, comes in easy-to-install planks, and is considerably harder and more durable than solid hardwoods.
Cork
All-natural cork flooring comes from the cork oak, a native of the Mediterranean region, and naturally splits from the tree every nine to 15 years. Because there’s no harm to the trees, cork flooring is very environmentally-friendly. It’s also hypoallergenic and resistant to mold and mildew. Cork flooring has a soft and forgiving texture, so it’s perfect for families with young children or those who just prefer to reduce the amount of noise in the home.
Carpet
Although carpet is becoming more of a past-time, it is still a viable flooring option for many homes. The six basic styles of carpet are textured, saxony, frieze, cable, looped, and cut and loop. Thanks to advances in style and texture, these fibers can now blend in well with any home decor.