New Home Tips: Great Insight on Flooring Choices for Your New Home
Flooring Wear and Tear
After living in our new home for just over 1½ years, I decided to examine the condition of our floors. Having a blended family of the nineties, we have at times between 2 and 6 teenagers living under our roof. We took that into consideration when we chose our various types of flooring and also the fact that I work in construction, which means at times I come home dirty.
For our foyer we chose a ceramic tile. This choice has probably worked out the best because it does not show the dirt and still looks like new. The kitchen was a designer solarian vinyl sheet flooring. It is also still very attractive, does not show the dirt and is in great condition (except for one small tear made while wallpapering). Our living and dining area is prefinished hardwood flooring. There are some small scratches on it near our table. This is from sliding chairs over the floor even though
We have felt strips under the chair legs. I’m not overly concerned and I think the floor still looks great and is fairly easy to maintain. In the bedrooms we have a light coloured carpet. In the traffic areas it is showing some signs of wear and there is the odd blemish on it. This spring would be a good time to shampoo the carpets. Of all the flooring choices we made, I think I would rather have had hardwood in our bedroom. I believe its easier to keep clean and aesthetically more pleasing. Unfortunately money does have quite a bearing on flooring choices.
In the kids bedrooms I think more of a Berber type of carpet would have been better. Instead of the light coloured carpet we used I think more of a “Coke” coloured carpet would have been more appropriate, because quite a lot seems to have been spilt on it. Our basement rec.-room was set up for teenagers to be teenagers. We have some well-seasoned furniture for them to use and their own entrance door to come and go, as they will. We chose a corlon floor, which is thick and quite durable. There are a few gouges in the corlon from chairs being dragged around but all in all it has stood up quite well. It still looks good and was the right choice for us.
In summary you can see that most of our flooring choices were based on aesthetic appeal, our lifestyle and available money. I hope that what I have shared may help you make your flooring choices.