Floor Guide

In the process of construction, there are many aspects involved. As important is the engineering of the building, equally important is the furnishing. After all it’s the furnishing that provides aesthetics to any place. The overall look of your living/working space is determined by the flooring, the colors you use for painting, the kind of furniture, and other small things such as curtains, lights and other fixtures.

Flooring plays a vital role in home decor and choosing right flooring can set the tone of the room. Basically you have to choose one that can do wonders for the décor of your house. The flooring you opt should meet functional and visual requirements of the room. While choosing from different options there are some points you to consider. While paint, furniture and other things can be easily changed multiple times, your flooring is one thing which is not changed at least for a decade if not permanent. So you would sure love to be certain that you choose the best possible flooring.

Tilesandslabs.com is a platform designed in the most simplistic manner, where you can choose from the various flooring options such as Granite, Marble, Tiles, Artificial Quartz, Wood etc. Needless to say for wall cladding and Kitchen/Bar Countertops as well.

Granite:

Granite Flooring is magnificent. The value of your home definitely increases when you use granite in your home. In fact, it has been shown that you will recoup your entire investment when you install granite flooring and/or countertops in your home. But is granite for you? Let’s consider some of the advantages and disadvantages of granite.

Advantages:

1. Beautiful - Never will you hear someone say that granite is ugly. You can have the ugliest furniture and appliances, but still people will love the room because of the granite flooring..
2. Colors and patterns - Granite comes in a variety of colors and patterns that will make matching it to its surroundings easy.
3. Hard and durable - Granite is a stone and because of that, it is one of the hardest flooring materials. It is nearly impossible to break granite. With proper care, your granite flooring will last a lifetime.
4. Bacteria resistant - So if you have asthma or any other allergies, feel good in knowing that your granite flooring is hypoallergenic, allergen, and bacteria resistant.

Disadvantages:

1. Maintenance - Needs to be maintained regularly. This is not so much of a disadvantage because all floors need to be cared for regularly. But you do not want your granite floors to be neglected. Expect more than the usual time cleaning granite flooring.
2. Characteristic Limitations - Though granite is one of the strongest flooring option some granites are prone to problems such as rust formation, wear and tear of the surface, water absorptions etc. because of its characteristics. Do check and understand about these before buying.

Marble:

There are a variety of options regarding the different kinds of flooring, and then going for marble flooring would certainly sound to be a better option. Not only is it extremely good to look at, but it can also give you the necessary amount of durability.

Advantages:

1. Exquisite Designs - The first advantage is that you would find about marble flooring is the design patterns that it can form on the floor. It is extremely good, and with a little spending power, quality of marble gets better. The designs which are typical of marble flooring are exquisite, and with a very good budget, you would be able to go for good exquisite Marbles which can adorn your floor. It is actually one of the most elegant flooring styles, and can certainly give your house the look of prosperity and ensure that you would be able to get a good value for the resale of that house.
2. Everlasting Appeal - Marble has an everlasting appeal. It does not get older very easily, and it can certainly bring about the necessary elegance to a particular floor.

Disadvantages:

1. Expensive - Marbles do not come cheap. Good quality and colors are much costlier than other options such as granites or tiles.
2. Installation - Inserting marble is very much time consuming and it would require only skilled technicians and laborers, which escalates the cost even further.
3. Maintenance - It requires high maintenance. Most of the marbles easily catch stains. Even in high traffic areas the sheen tends to lose out, though it can be re-polished to get the same shine.

Tiles:

There has been a wide usage of the Ceramic/Vitrified Tiles for flooring, and it has become an integral part of the decor of each and every floor dotting the landscape. When you find the houses lined with tiles, you may be wondering as to what are the advantages of using such a fragile looking product to cover your floors? While the question may seem to be a very thought provoking one, the answer is extremely simple and has been given below.

Advantages:

1. Cost – Tiles are relatively cheaper and they come in pieces, so there is little to no wastage that you would encounter when you go set up the flooring. This is a very good way to keep the cost of the building to a bare minimum and also to look into the variety of cost burdening factors when you do get to building your home. Moreover, if a tile gets damaged while installation or even after, its easy to replace when compared to granite or marble. The process of installation is extremely quick and easy.
2. Easy Maintenance - The use of the Tiles is justified as you would be able to get a product that is not only averse to a lot of wear and tear but is also stain free and non porous.
3. Variety and Choice - There are a lot of varieties of the Ceramic Tiles. With a whole range of colors that can be given to the Ceramic Tiles, you would be spoilt for choice. Contrary to popular beliefs, you can get a whole range of colors from the rainbow to be the base color of your tiles. In this manner, the perfect décor of your room can easily be managed if you are on the lookout for the flooring to display a certain range of color.

Disadvantages:

1. Simplistic Designs – It doesn’t have the character of a granite or marble. You would find it extremely tacky and also sometimes plain boring if you go for tiles. The look and the decor may not match up to your expectations.
2. Not quite strong - They are unable to take heavy loads in their surface. Hence if by accident there is any stuff dropped in it, and then a crack would be likely developed, and the entire surface would look bad.

Hardwood:

Advantages:

1. Aesthetic - Hardwood flooring gives a rich look to your home interior.
2. Evergreen - Unlike other flooring it does not look dull after few years. In fact it looks graceful over a period of time due to ageing.
3. Shelf Life - Hardwood flooring is known to last for a lifetime. It has long shelf life.
4. Healthy - Hardwood floors are healthiest floors possible given its organic origin and non-electromagnetic nature tend to attract less dust. Hence they do not attract allergens, or molds that cause allergies which tend to travel with dust. It is recommended to use by doctors all over the world.

Disadvantages:

1 Maintenance - The hardwood floors require regular polishing every 3-4 years to maintain its finish especially if it is high traffic area. The cost and process makes it a tedious process.
2 Protection against termites - They also require regular maintenance to prevent termite attack.
3 Durability - Hardwood flooring will be damaged in the event of any water seepage and hence stagnant pools of water should not be allowed. While regular moping with wet cloth is permitted but makes sure water is not dripping from the mop.
4 Easily scratched - Hardwood floor’s finish is susceptible to scratching from heavy traffic, high heeled foot wears or pet nails.