Tips from best interior designers on choosing floor material for your home!
Home is something that most people get to have once in their lives. We put money, and care, and hopes, and dreams into it. And then after all this long the so-called-heaven calls us in. But sometimes a little neglect costs us – neglect shown towards choosing the right things for home. And one such thing that gets ignored the most is the flooring. We get the best architect builders, but we fail to get the best interior designers in India. Flooring is something that can either beautify all of your home building efforts, or ruin it. We spoke to Radvi about it – Radvi is partners in your home building dream. All the wisdom that we got around flooring, we will share it here.
So, the floor says, “If you fall, I’ll be there for you.” And you won’t want to fall on a badly chosen floor.
Best Interior designers tips on how to choose flooring for your home!
When you choose flooring for your home, there are two things that you consider at the very first step. These two are the choices to make if you want
- Hard Flooring / Non-resilient Flooring
- Soft Flooring / Resilient Flooring
But, what difference do these flooring make to your choices? Well, there are benefits and there are troubles that these flooring types provide. The best interior designers in India always speak it all to their clients. It helps. Here is a brief about these two flooring types.
The pros and cons of hard / non-resilient flooring!
The first thing is that one must know is that different flooring types suit different locations. When it comes to hard flooring, it is provides the following benefits,
- Hard Flooring is strong and durable. This provides a long life to your flooring.
- This flooring type is non-absorbent and you won’t have to worry about spillages.
- They require less maintenance and are easily cleaned.
- hard floorings provide an aesthetic timeless appeal to the home.
- Depending upon the location, different types serve different requirements. For example, it may serve as a formal flooring or an informal flooring, structural or decorative, etc.
Now, there is not one thing in this world that provides benefits alone. Thus, here are the disadvantage of having hard flooring –
- The initial cost of non-resilient flooring remains comparatively high.
- Because this flooring is hard, objects or people falling on it are prone to break.
- hard flooring remains cold in cold temperatures. It retains the cold and thus needs heating.
- This flooring does not absorb the sound and leads to echo and high noises.
The pros and cons of soft / resilient flooring!
A home can have a combination of soft and hard floorings. Thus, before you choose soft flooring it is good to know what goods and bads it offers. Here are the benefits that you get from soft flooring–
- The initial cost of soft flooring generally remains on the lower side.
- They work best in cold climates because they retain heat and are warmer.
- Soft flooring absorbs sound and thus provides a calmer environment.
- If you or some item falls on it, it will break less often.
- They absorb the feet pressure and thus help in standing for longer.
- Soft flooring also provides a lot of design, pattern, and texture options. But to ensure this, you must look for the best interior designers in India, like Radvi.
- They sometimes need less maintenance depending upon how the finishing gets done and its durability.
Now, just like hard floorings, soft floorings have disadvantages too. Here are the disadvantages of resilient flooring –
- Soft flooring often requires more maintenance when the finishing gets no protection layer, for example wax surface.
- This flooring type gets damaged easily when faced with sharp or hard objects.
- Because they are less durable, they won’t have a comparatively longer life and thus will cost you more.
- Poorly installed flooring leads to opening up of seams.
It is all about what you want for your home. At some places soft flooring provides warmth and class, at others it is hard flooring. We will suggest you to get in touch with an interior designer in India and see what works best for you. If you ask us, we say Radvi will be partners in your home building dream. It will help you avoid the future hassles because they hold the expertise.
But, what are the different options available in both the cases?
The materials available for hard or non-resilient flooring!
These materials sometimes get subjected to the location too. Some materials might not be available to you at a certain location or they might cost you comparatively higher. It is better to get consulted with an architect builder in such cases.
Here are most of the materials that get used for hard flooring –
1 – Exposed Aggregate
This flooring type is also called pebble concrete or pebble tile. Why? Because smooth rocks and pebbles get spread over the flooring and then the top layer of concrete gets sprayed out before it dries out.
2 – FlagStone
Flagstones are naturally forming stones in nature that form in layers. Their shapes are irregular, but generally square, rectangular, rhombus, etc. For example, bluestone, sandstone, slate, quartzite, etc. could be some of the options. Consult the best interior designers in India to discuss which stone works best for which area.
3 – Granite
This is a very hard crystalline rock and is non-porous in nature. This means that it could be used at places where spillages happen, like kitchen or bathroom.
4 – Limestone
It is a calcium carbonate (calcite) stone with a light grayish tone to it. The finishing looks like dull or matte.
5 – Marble or Terrazzo
This flooring type is the most used in India. Marble has different patterns to it. For example, you might find lines on it.
Terrazzo on the other hand are marble crystals set with cement and thus polished to sheen.
6 – Travertine
A stone formed from natural deposits of streams and thus cut and shaped. This stone forms near natural mineral springs.
7 – Tiles, Bricks, and Concrete
Tiles are made of baked clay and then finished to shine. They come in varieties.
Bricks are clay, shale, and water mixed, fired, hardened, and cut into pieces.
Concrete is cement, sand, gravel, and water mixed and thus given a finishing.
8 – Wood and Laminate flooring
Wood flooring can have anything from hardwood like cherry, oak, maple, etc. Bamboo is used too for flooring. Parquet Flooring is when we place wood planks into a mosaic. Many interior designers in India choose this flooring type for residential purposes.
Laminate is when we use hard wood and then laminate it with a vinyl layer.
The materials available for Resilient or Soft Flooring!
Now, soft flooring has many options available to it. But the thing to take care of is the budget, the need and the requirements.
- Cork – The outer layer of cork oak tree is used for the flooring purpose. This flooring works best where you need a quiet environment.
- Leather – This flooring was widely used in the vintage times but is now less prevalent considering the environmental needs.
- Linoleum – A cocktail of linseed oil, cork and wood, gum, color, etc.
- Rubber – Rubber tiles are made from butadiene styrene rubber and other synthetic materials.
- Vinyl – PVC. Ever heard of? It is a shortened form of Polyvinyl Chloride. A blend of vinyl, resin, bonding agents, coloring agents, etc. Comes in sheets and tiles.
- Carpets – Carpets are often used over other types of soft floorings. The different materials available are wool, nylon, acrylic, polyester, etc. If you are planning to get carpeting done, make sure to contact an interior designer because it involves fabric choices, pattern choices, need, etc.
One must know that a home speaks soothing symphonies when all the different elements come together and harmonize. This is no shallow work but requires expertise. If you are already looking for a web designer, we suggest you Radvi. Radvi is partners in your home building dream and is one of the best interior designers in India.