How to Choose the Right Flooring for your Home

How to Choose the Right Flooring for Your Room

Flooring can not only have a brilliant visual impact on your room, but it also has to be a practical solution. And as you don’t change flooring regularly, it is a decision you will have to stick with for quite a while.

If you’re ready for a flooring makeover but don’t know where to start, we have everything covered below. We also have all the tools you need to remove the old flooring and install the new. Just create an account with Speedy to start hiring today!

 

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Types of flooring

Firstly, you must know all the available flooring choices to ensure you pick the best option.

For most homes, these are:

1. tiles
2. vinyl
3. wood
4. carpet.

​Then there are the sub-types. For wood, this includes laminate, solid wood, hardwood, boards, or even imitation wood vinyl. Carpet includes nylon (which is stain resistant), polypropylene (which is hardwearing) or polyester (which looks more natural but isn’t hardwearing).

It’s a huge decision and can be overwhelming. If cost is a factor, you could save money if you remove the old flooring, fit the new flooring yourself and hire the tools you need from Speedy Hire.

• How to fit laminate flooring
• How to tile a floor
• How to remove tiles

 

How to choose flooring

1. Practicality

A key first consideration is practicality and how the room is used. If you’re reflooring the entry room to your house or where the back door leads out into the garden, you have to consider whether dirty footprints and paw prints will be a regular occurrence.

Likewise, kitchens and dining areas could encounter regular spills and stains, so you will need something easy to clean and won’t stain. For both of these, hardwood could be practical.

Yet, a bedroom or living room may need to feel cosy, warm, and a bit more soundproof, so you may choose carpet.

 

2. Lifestyle

Is your home busy, with pets, kids, and adults constantly coming and going? Or is the home quiet? The former could see heavy footfall, so it needs something that won’t wear away and will look worn after a few months.

With the latter, stains, spills, and footfall may not be an issue, giving you more freedom to choose something like a heavy pile carpet.

 

3. Space

Larger rooms will obviously be more expensive to cover. If you have a budget, this can help you make the decision. Laminate will be cheaper than real wood, and lower-pile synthetic carpets can be more affordable than high-pile or wool carpets.

Also, lighter colours can make a room look larger, whereas darker colours can bring a room in and create a cosier feel.

 

4. Style

If you’re keeping your existing surroundings or have a room design in mind, flooring can intertwine with this. Older-style natural wood flooring with a vintage room design in an older property can bring everything together. In contrast, a modern room can look great with a lighter-coloured laminate or carpet.

 

5. DIY or Professional fitting?

Most flooring is easy enough to DIY fit. However, if you’re relatively new to DIY, you may want something simple to fit.

Laminate flooring is seen as the easiest to work with, especially if you purchase a style that clicks together or has a tongue-and-groove design. All you will need to hire is a jigsaw to cut the planks to size after measuring.

When fitting flooring, ensure you wear PPE. You will need gloves, eye protection, and a mask when cutting the flooring.

If you choose a professional, shop around. Weigh up how much it would cost to buy the flooring as a full fitted package versus purchasing both separately.

 

6. Maintenance

Is upkeep a chore? Or do you have the time to keep your floor in good condition?

If you have carpets, hiring a carpet cleaner and steamer on rotation every few months is a good idea. This will keep your carpets hygienically clean and looking their best. Although hiring a professional carpet cleaning machine when needed is an additional annual cost, it is cheaper than buying one.

• Carpet cleaning tips
• How to remove stains from a carpet

Laminate, vinyl, or tile just require a mop, but ideally, this should be done daily. Spills will have to be cleaned up ASAP to prevent marking or staining. Occasionally, steam cleaning tiles is good for getting grout clean again.

Hardwood is often classed as a low-maintenance option, which is true, but when it starts looking past its best, you may need to hire a floor sander bundle to get it back to its original state and then seal it again.

• How to use a floor sander
• Floorboard restoration guide

Don’t worry; whatever your choice, we have the tools to help both fit and maintain your new flooring. With professional-standard tools available and advice to help you every step of the way, all that is left down to you is deciding what to go for!

 

READY TO HIRE?

Speedy has more than 200 local service centres nationwide and 4-hour delivery. Why not start planning your flooring project and open a Speedy account online or on the app for all your tool hire needs?