Planning flooring for your residential or commercial space? Here is a complete guide on how to lay flooring. Get information on how to install flooring by professional assistance or by yourself. Get guidance on laying the best floors for your property.
Find expert assistance in:
- Confirming on the best floor types
- Getting insight on floor installation and know how to install flooring
- Understanding how to lay flooring and the simple steps included in floor setting.
What is flooring
Flooring is a permanent covering on the ground structure of buildings that provide a surface for living and other activities. Different types of flooring are used to make the surface beautiful and lasting.
Why flooring is important
- Flooring provides structural support for buildings
- The surface finish of floors provide best appeal to residential or commercial structures
- Floors provide resistance to the moisture and heat conduction in buildings
- Each flooring type has unique features and opting them can be beneficial to improve the comfort and appeal of your interiors.
Different Types of Flooring Options
Considering flooring for your residential or commercial spaces? There are plenty of different flooring options such as wood floors, tile floors, laminate floors, Vinyl floors ideal for your purposes.
Hardwood Flooring
Hardwood flooring is manufactured from timber of Maple, Oak, Walnut and Cherry. The quality of hardwood makes them ideal choice for lasting wooden floors. If a fresh coat of finish is applied every 3 to 5 years, the flooring will look the finest.
Average cost of hardwood flooring is $5 to $ 10 per Square foot.
Pros
- Tough and durable floors
- Can be refinished many times
- Adds value to your living spaces
- Many hardwood varieties for attractive flooring
Cons
- Moisture damage can incur
- Not ideal for bathrooms, laundry or basements
- Prone to scratches and surface damage
Engineered wood flooring
Engineered wood flooring in uk is more affordable than solid hardwood. But it is as lasting as solid hardwood with some good care. This type of flooring can be installed easier compared to other wood flooring.
Average expense of engineered wood flooring installation is $4 to $ 9 per Square foot.
Pros
- Easy installation
- Coated with hardwood layer
- High water and moisture resistance than other wood types
- Does not warp easily
- Several installation methods
Cons
- Single refinishing
- May fade
- Quality variations
- VOCs emission
- Hollow below foot sound
Tile flooring
Tiles are among the most preferred flooring where liquid spillage is high. The tiles are smart options for kitchen, bathrooms, laundry rooms and toilets which are water prone areas. Tiles can withstand any amount of water and moisture as a water-resistant option, are durable, available in attractive designs and color variations.
Average expense of installation is $ 1.50 to $ 6 per Vinyl sheet
Pros
- Waterproof
- Lasting
- Tough
Cons
- Can be costly
- Not ideal as compared to wood flooring
How to install Flooring
Decided on wood floor installation for your residential or commercial space? You may be eager to know the steps involved in the process.
Prime steps in wood floor installation
Here are the prime steps in wood floor installation:
- Step 1: Find joists – get clues to joist locations using nails and measuring tapes
- Step 2: Cut the bottom portion of casing
- Step 3: Secure underlayment by stapling one of the layers to the sub-floor
- Step 4: Mark joists with chalk line
- Step 5: Develop chalk guide to ensure boards are installed in a straight line
- Step 6: Align planks
- Step7: Make pilot holes
- Step 8: Start laying the first boards
Where to start laying flooring in a room
Proper laying of floors in a room can keep the floors structurally perfect. Best laid wood floors prevent separating, sagging, or buckling. Here is the best way of floor laying:
- It is recommended to start laying flooring in the left corner of the longest floor in the room.
- For hardwood flooring, start laying along the most prominent and noticeable wall in the room.
- The common method of laying hardwood flooring is by keeping the planks parallel to the longest wall.
- The ideal way to lay wood floors is perpendicular to floor joists.
How to cut flooring materials
Want to cut your flooring material? You will need to use efficient tools such as the Compound Miter Saw which is widely used for flooring material cutting.
Tools used in cutting
For hardwood floor cutting Rip blade is most ideal. Other tools for floor cutting are:
- Saw blades
- Circular Saw
- Jigsaw Blade
- Compound Miter Saw
- Hack Saw
- Finish Cut Saw
What are things to consider while cutting floor materials?
You will need to consider some effective factors while cutting your floor materials. Some thin materials are easy to cut and they can be cut using a utility knife. Other materials need more powerful cutting saws to penetrate through the density of the materials.
Here is how to cut flooring materials…
- Be equipped with tape measure, washable marker, pen or pencil, straight edge
- Be accurate in your marking and measuring
- Assess the thickness and toughness of the materials
- Choose the best cutting tool
- For toughest materials, power saw may be required
Common mistakes when laying flooring
Not everyone is perfect… Thus, great attention and care is required when laying a floor. Understanding the common mistakes that can come between you and laying floors, you can plan perfect flooring. Here are some common mistakes:
- Not providing adequate curing time which is at least 24 hours
- Not using glue for wooden floors
- Derth of adequate sub-floor
- Beginning wooden floors in the inappropriate place.
With careful understanding on the common mistakes that can affect proper flooring installation, you are in way to set up your flooring expertly.
Flooring installation cost
It is a best idea to understand the flooring installation cost. The average cost can vary from one flooring material to another mostly based on the labor- intensiveness of each flooring type.
Here is the average cost of various flooring type:
Laminate flooring: Average laminate flooring cost is $3 to $8 per square ft.
Hardwood Flooring: Average cost of hardwood flooring is $ 0.60 to $ 4.00
Vinyl Plank Flooring: Average cost of $ 3,000 to $ 16, 000
Wood flooring is good value for the expense. You will be easily able to find labour for installation and your residential or commercial space will attain the best ambience post installation.
Conclusion
With an insight on varied flooring, it appears that wood flooring is topping the list of options and varieties. With inexpensive and tough wood flooring options, you can choose ambient wood floors for your residential and commercial spaces.