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Floor Types

If you had the chance to place a new floor on your home what kinds of materials would you use? Some prefer the look and feel of carpet, but it is hard to maintain and gets dirty easily. Then others use terrazzo for the the very purpose of being able to clean it easily, but there are not many patterns. Tiles are a ready option for people that want color or feel and yet be able to clean easily. Lastly there is wood which handles temerature well, but after awhile it squeaks, expands and needs polishing / varnishing to maintain its' appearance. What is your choice?

Types Floor

If I had to rank the floor types listed above it would be as follows:

Wood
Carpet
Terrazzo
Tile

Tile floors are too cold and I like to walk around the house without shoes or socks on. Terrazzo is nice, but very expensive and limited as has been mentioned before. Carpet is what most houses have, and is currently what we have in our house now. It is nice, especially with small kids as it is very cushiony and warm. However, it is very difficult to clean and maintain, and accumulates dust and dirt. Eventually it wears out and needs to be replaced. Wood would be my choice of flooring as it is very easy to clean. The squeaking issue is not a huge one for me; currently I have carpet and my floors squeak anyway because of the wood underneath. Wood is a lot harder though that carpet, so I probably would wait till the kids are older, and not prone to falling as much before switching. I do like the look of finished wood the best.

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I love the look and feel of polished wood floors! They are the easiest, in my opinion, to keep clean. Wood floors can, of course, scratch and stain, but if you have a good surface of polish that can be minimized.

The grout in between ceramic or terazzo tiles inevitably collects dirt and grime and is extremely hard to clean. Tile is nice to have in the summer because it stays cool, but in the winter it is *icy*!

Vinyl flooring is very easy to clean and install, doesn't get as cold as tile, but can tear or have tiny pebbles and even food embedded in it.

Carpet is digusting. It may look nice and keep the house warm, but it's the worst for your health! Dust, dust mites, food, dirt, grime, small carpet beetles, fleas, silverfish, etc. etc. etc. -- bleagh! No thanks.

In my opinion, of course.
Roz

Types Floor

For people that can't afford an entire house full of hardwood floor but like the look of it, laminate floor is wonderful. In my first house I put a natural wood laminate floor throughout, even on the stairs to the second level and I loved it. Laminate floors are super easy to clean and they come in all styles from natural wood grain feel to super glossy. You cannot use regular floor cleaners like lysol or PineSol because that will streak it and it leaves a nasty film behind. Now in my new house we put a dark mahogany laminate with the natural grain finish and it looks great as well. It's sorta like Pergo if you ever heard of that brand. The only thing people may find unattractive of it is that it echos a lot, but it's worth the look and feel. ** My husband would kill me, but I also like to skate on it. We have a great room and it's fantastic for skating on. It's a little more slippery than a skating rink and you can do a lot more tricks with ease!

Types Floor

At the moment, I have got carpet in every room except for the kitchen, bathroom and toilet, and in there I have got vinyl flooring, which is so easy to clean.

I think in the future though, I would like to put some laminate flooring down in the hallway and living room. I think it not only looks nice, but the up keep of it is far better than carpet. The carpet in the hallway at the moment is getting too much abuse, so I think it'll be easier to keep clean with laminate down.

Floor Types

We used to have carpet and moved towards tiles and I'm so relieved we did. My husband misses the carpet but he wasn't the one having to clean it. Now a quick sweep and a mop and I don't have to worry about monthly deep washes and hearing the motor of the vacuum humming in my ears. The kids think they can use the tiles for sliding but that's slowly wearing off.