Flooring Choices

In the world of building materials, genetic engineering is a constant.  The products may look traditional, but underneath their skins lie bonded, laminated, foamed, recycled and reconsidered cores.  Nowhere is this ferment of product development more robust than in the flooring business.  Floors have been to the lab and come back smarter, stronger and so much easier to care for.  Even linoleum, the flooring a previous generation mopped and waxed on a regular basis, is back in an easy-care formulation.  New products such as snap-together laminates have the old-time look of fumed oak, or not.  You also can find Italian laminates the color of mint gelato, with a sprinkling of burlap for a nonskid surface.

When choosing your flooring, consider appearance, practicality, comfort, "green-ness", antiallergen properties, resale value, maintenance, individuality, ease of installation, ease of removal, longevity, historical suitability and price.

Thanks to the extensive information available on the internet today, many answers to your questions can be found....if you can sort through the many shopping sites.  We have included links below to many of the informational sites that are not associated with one product brand or another so that you may learn about the materials and processes in order to help you make the right decisions and have the correct knowledge and expectations from the products you are interested in.

National Wood Flooring Association