What should I look for when buying laminate flooring?

Laminate floors are a popular choice for homes and commercial spaces. This is because they are a cost-effective option that is also durable and relatively low maintenance. You will find several different laminate flooring products available from providers, and here’s what you should look into if you are planning to install laminate floors in your home.

How long they will last

The way to determine how hard-wearing a laminate will be is by looking for its AC rating. These rank from AC1 to AC5, with AC5 being the most durable and AC1 the least.

This does not mean that you should automatically select an AC5 laminate flooring option just because it will last for a long time, however. It is important to consider where it will be installed and how much wear and tear it will be subject to.

An AC1 level laminate will be a fine and cost-effective selection for somewhere like a bedroom. It is really only busy commercial spaces used by the public that require AC5 laminate floors.

A medium AC3 floor will be the most suitable and most financially sound pick for the main rooms in a residential property.

Suitable style

Laminate flooring comes in a wide variety of different styles, with simulations of everything from stone, marble, tiling and wood all available. This means you should look for a style of laminate floor that suits the overall look of your home or business.

Consider whether you want to make the rooms brighter or offset lively wall colouring with a cooler shade and style of flooring, for example. Whatever look and effect you are aiming for, there is a laminate that will provide it.

How easy it is to install and maintain

Overall, laminate is one of the simplest types of flooring to maintain, as the presence of a protective-wear layer means the majority of dirt is kept away from the surface of the material. This means cleaning usually just involves dry mopping or vacuuming.

The exception will be if it is in a room where the floor gets very wet, such as a bathroom. Water will damage laminate flooring and make maintenance harder.

Installing laminate flooring is not always quite so straightforward. Any patterns – whether it is tiling or wooden planks – must match when the floor is laid.

It may also be necessary to trim the bottoms of doors slightly to prevent these scratching the surface when being opened or closed. In that situation, professional installation will be best.

By considering these options, you should be able to find the most suitable laminate floor for your home.

What is the difference between residential and commercial flooring?

Professional flooring companies will usually install floors for both residential and commercial properties, but there are a number of key differences between these two kinds of floors. Most of them come down to the intended use of the room the floors are being put into. These are the main ways in which residential and commercial floors differ.

Durability

No one wants to have to replace floors on a regular basis, but there is no question that durability is much more of an issue when it comes to commercial flooring. This is because places like shops and other businesses experience much greater footfall than homes, as well as often having heavy objects moved across them.

This means the preference is usually for hard-wearing materials like luxury vinyl tiling (LVT), which can cope with heavy use and is easy to keep clean.

Durability is less of an issue with residential floors, although the flooring in rooms such as kitchens and bathrooms must be highly resistant to staining and water damage.

Look

A key difference between floors for home and commercial properties is that the latter will be primarily about functionality, while an appealing look will be important factor with residential floors.

This is particularly true of living room, hallway and bedroom areas. In those parts of a home, people generally want floors that add warmth, such as carpeting, or those that look stylish, such as solid or engineered wooden ones.

Residential floors are designed to be lived with, while commercial ones are intended to do the necessary job.

Features

Floors for commercial use often come with a range of additional features that are not commonly part of residential flooring. This is particularly true of industrial floors, where everything from sound-proofing to corrosion resistance and heat-proofing can be part of the installation.

Price

There is usually a difference in cost between the two types, with commercial floors being more costly. This is because the spaces that have to be floored are larger, so more material is needed to be able to complete the job.

Some rooms within a home are often quite small, such as bathrooms. These rooms are also usually fitted with simple flooring options like laminates that are not expensive.

The price variation between residential and commercial flooring will depend both on size and the chosen materials.

Opting for a flooring company without the standard shop overheads can significantly reduce the price that you have to pay for your floors.

What is the difference between vinyl plank flooring and luxury vinyl plank flooring?

Vinyl flooring is a common choice for rooms where the floors are likely to come into contact with water or spillages. This is because it is durable, easy to wipe and mop clean and does not rot when wet. A relatively new addition to the vinyl options is vinyl plank flooring. Both in its standard and luxury versions, this is now becoming a much sought-after flooring solution.

Just as vinyl tile floors are sheets of vinyl designed to replicate the look of ceramic or stone tiles, vinyl plank floors recreate the look of flooring made from individual wooden planks. This type of floor is available in standard or luxury form, and there are some key differences between them.

Material thickness

Luxury vinyl plank floors utilise vinyl that is considerably thicker than that used for the standard variety. Whereas the latter will involve vinyl with a thickness of roughly 1mm, the former will give you a 5mm thick vinyl floor.

While the difference is not detectable to the eye, the increased thickness does capture the feel of solid wood planks much more effectively.

Look

The variance between standard vinyl plank flooring and the luxury type does become noticeable when you look more closely at them. As the wear layer on standard vinyl plank flooring is solid and smooth, the fact that the breaks between the planks are not real is very easy to spot.

In contrast, luxury vinyl plank floors use 3D printing to capture an idea of individual planks, complete with different wood grain depths and colours. This ensures that they recreate the look of an actual wood floor much more convincingly.

Overall durability

Again, there is a definite difference in how hard-wearing the two types of flooring are. A standard vinyl plank floor will last for roughly 15 years in most settings, but eventually, the thinner vinyl sheets used will become worn and scratched.

The much thicker material used in luxury vinyl plank flooring was created specifically because of that issue. In addition to more durable vinyl, it also offers thicker and better lasting film and wear layers underneath it. This will ensure it is much longer before a luxury vinyl plank floor needs to be replaced.

Whether you have a home or business in Oswestry or Chester, vinyl plank flooring will be an efficient and stylish option. For the highest quality flooring option, luxury vinyl plank floors are the choice to make.

Sawdust carpets decorate Guatemalan streets

Every Easter, the residents of Antigua in Guatemala make carpets from sawdust, which are displayed in the streets.

The tradition of making colourful carpets started in 1524 when soldiers of the Spanish conquistadors who had invaded Guatemala imported the tradition of making outdoor carpets at Easter. This originated in the Canary Islands and its capital, Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

Modern-day street carpets in Antigua can take days to complete using brightly coloured sawdust.

Elizabeth Bell from Antigua Tours said:

“At one time, the carpets were quite simple, but now they’ve crescendoed and have become the backbone of Antigua’s cultural traditions.”

Many of the carpets have religious-themed designs in keeping with the origins of the tradition, while others are more secular and abstract. As well as carpets made from sawdust, some are constructed using flowers and other natural materials. Processions of residents and visitors walk the streets admiring the carpets.

As with many events, the tradition was suspended for two years due to the Covid pandemic, but in 2022 hundreds of carpets were displayed on the city streets. After Easter, workers with trucks and sweepers remove the carpets, recycling the sawdust and other materials in the carpets.

Modern quality carpets in North Wales and Chester homes last many years, a lot longer than the few days’ life of the sawdust carpets of Antigua. Many types of carpets can be recycled at the end of their life with the materials extracted from them used to make other products.

What type of flooring adds the most value to a home?

Whether you are looking to sell your home now or just want to increase its market value in the longer term, décor can really help. While many homeowners look to improve furnishings to increase their property’s value, the floors are often neglected. The fact is that some types of flooring will add value, while others will subtract it, and this can vary depending on what rooms in the house are being re-floored.

These are the top floors that you can choose for increasing the value of your home.

Solid wood

Wooden floors are a strong pick for increasing the value of a home – especially in bedrooms and living rooms. This is despite the fact that they can be quite high maintenance. Data shows that having solid wood floors can raise the price of a home by up to 10%, making them a worthwhile investment, even if they are costlier to install than other types of flooring. Solid wood must be maintained, but it’s hard wearing and also looks stylish, adding appeal in the eyes of buyers.

Engineered wood

Opting to have engineered wooden floors installed in those rooms will be a strong alternative if solid wood is outside your budget. It is every bit as pleasing to the eye as solid wood flooring and also has the real advantage of much easier maintenance. Many flooring companies will put in underfloor heating at the same time, which can further add to the value if you live somewhere in the north of England like Chester, where the weather during the winter months can tend to be very cold.

Laminate

The next best option if you want to raise the asking price for your house would be laminate flooring. Indeed, this will be a better option for the bathroom in particular, as the water in that room will cause a solid wood floor to rot, which will reduce any valuation. Laminate can also help to add value if it is installed to replace carpeting in a kitchen, as it combines the practicality of being easy to clean with an attractive look.

There are certain types of flooring – most notably solid and engineered wood – that really increase the market value of a home. However, that will depend on where they are fitted. In bedrooms and living rooms they will be an asset, but in a bathroom they are a liability compared with laminate flooring.