The Best Flooring for Home Projects - A Quick Guide

There is a lot to choose from when upgrading your home, from engineered wood flooring to vinyl oak effect flooring. Each type of wood flooring has its own pros and cons to suit various environments and budgets. Here is a quick guide to the best of the bunch.

In this article: 

• How to Choose Wood Flooring  
• 5 Types of Wood Flooring for the Home 

Wood flooring can significantly impact the look and feel of a space. The width and length of planks and the pattern on the floor all affect the final result. There are a lot of different choices for homeowners when it comes to wood flooring. You need to consider the following factors when making your decision: 

• Environment - different rooms of the house have varying temperatures, moisture levels, and uses. Not all wood flooring is suitable for every environment. 

• Cost - your budget will play a role in the type of quality and amount of flooring you can afford. 

• Installation process - think about what you need to install your flooring. Engineered wood tends to come with a tongue and groove installation system while installing solid wood flooring is a bigger task. 

• Colour and finish - you can get wood flooring in a ton of finishes and colours. The colour and finish can have a big impact on how your interior looks. 

• Pattern - with parquet wood flooring, you have the option to choose from various designs like herringbone and chevron. 

• Maintenance and care -  consider how easy the flooring is to maintain and care for. You may want to refinish or sand down the top layer of flooring in a few years. You can’t do this with all types of wood flooring. 

• Thickness - you can get floorboards in various thicknesses. It’s a good idea to look at the top layer thickness in engineered wood to get the most out of your flooring. 

If you’re considering installing wood flooring into your home, here are five options to consider. 

Herringbone parquet will never go out of style. It’s classic and timeless. If you’re looking for something, a little dramatic, parquet is durable, long-lasting, and looks fantastic. You install parquet flooring by laying down individual blocks into a geometric pattern. The engineered composition of Herringbone Oak Flooring increases structural stability for an open kitchen/dining room, living room, entrance hall, and bedroom. 

Engineered wood is an excellent alternative to solid wood. It features a stable plywood core for increased stability. On top of this, it has an ultra-thick layer of real wood that you can sand down again and again. A massive benefit of engineered wood is that you can use it in rooms with fluctuating temperature and moisture levels like kitchens and conservatories. Engineered wood tends to be more practical than solid wood and comes at a lower cost. 

Solid wood flooring is usually more expensive than engineered wood. Real hardwood flooring can be a real feature in a room and looks fantastic particularly in period homes. Because you’re using solid wood in each plank, the boards are typically very hard-wearing and should last for years. There is some solid wood flooring products which are not compatible with underfloor heating because it can shrink or warp with changing temperatures.

Although laminate flooring looks like wood, it doesn’t actually contain wood; it just mimics wood flooring. Laminate flooring is a photograph of wood transferred onto a resin surface and then glued to a fibreboard. In general, laminate flooring is a cheaper option, and easy to install. The downside is that they are not as long-lasting and durable as other flooring alternatives. Overall, laminate flooring is more slippery and not as hard-wearing. 

Although vinyl flooring isn’t technically wood, it can have a wood effect that looks fantastic. If you have an environment like a bathroom or kitchen, you can’t always use some wood flooring products due to moisture, temperature, and other environmental changes. RVP Vinyl is the next generation of vinyl that’s water-resistant and offers sound reduction. This makes it ideal for all rooms in the house, including the bathroom, kitchen, bedroom, and countless commercial settings. 

There are numerous carpet solutions on the market from twist to loop, berber and natural materials such as seagrass, jute and sisal.  These vary in suitability for different areas of your home for eg a stair area would benefit from a more durable, textured choice to withstand heavy traffic.  Carpets range from very cheap to highly expensive but a good quality carpet is generally affordable.  One of the downsides of carpets can be the stain factor.  Some materials can easily absorb spillages and be costly to remove successfuly.

When you’re searching for the right floor for your home, you have a few different options to consider. Your budget, room, and use play a big role in helping you make the best decision. All styles work equally well with most decor but it is really down to personal taste and fulfilling all the correct criteria in terms of price and functional suitability.