Choosing Your Floors

Floor covering longevity

All flooring products are designed for a specific use. Generally products are grouped for either commercial use (offices, schools, hospitals etc) or for residential use. Manufacturers will grade their products in respect of their durability and performance.

Selecting the appropriate grade of flooring product to meet your needs is essential. There are numerous flooring products that appear the same but, in terms of their grading and durability, they can vary significantly.

Costs

Setting a budget will help you decide on your choice of flooring products but not limit your choices. Cheapest is not always the best or most suitable and you need to make sure you are comparing products that are of the same grade.

Preparation of the substrate is crucial before the flooring product is installed. If you don’t allocate a budget for this properly you will be disappointed in the look of your floor.

Volume and type of floor traffic

The type and amount of traffic your floor will receive will impact on it’s appearance general effectiveness. Heavy traffic areas are important to identify. These areas typically include entrances, corridors, stairs and areas where people tend to walk, stand or sit for long periods of time.

In New Zealand we live a unique indoors-outdoors lifestyle. The environmental impact of people constantly flowing between indoors and outdoors should also be considered when selecting your floor coverings. Family pets could also impact on the wear and look of your floor.

Textures, patterns and colours

All of these factors are fundamental in getting the feel and visual impact you want in the area where you are having flooring installed.

Selecting colours from sample cards needs to be done cautiously. Manufacturers work very hard to get their samples as close as possible to the colour/s that will end up in your product on the floor. Small variances can occur between samples you view and the product that turns up to be installed.

Lighting can also change the look of a floor covering. External light and natural light are both contributing factors. If possible try to view a flooring sample at different times of the day as the sun changes position.

Similarly, the colour and texture of a flooring product may be amplified or equally lose their visual impact depending on the size of the area they are being installed into. Smaller narrower areas may intensify texture and colour, while large areas may minimise these features due to the increase in surface area.

Environmental
considerations

New Zealand has one of the highest levels of UV light exposure in the world so choosing a flooring product that is able to stand up to exposure from that light spectrum is vital to the longevity of your flooring.