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Are you ready to transform your property with the right flooring? There’s no one best flooring for every space. Instead, each floor type has characteristics best suited for a specific use.

Read this guide to understand the pros and cons of the main floor types and make an informed decision.

Laminate Flooring

Laminate is a versatile multilayer flooring. The base layer, typically plywood or high-density fiberboard, makes the flooring strong and stable. It’s then glued to a printed, high-resolution photo of real wood, stone, or other materials.

Laminate flooring is a good choice for living rooms, hallways, dining rooms, bedrooms, and entryways. You can even find speciality waterproof laminate flooring that’s usable in busy kitchens and bathrooms.

Laminate floors can be grouped based on the following:

Pros:

Cons:

The average cost of the best laminate flooring is £11.99 per m2. But it varies based on brand, quality, and other factors.

Vinyl Flooring

Vinyl is a synthetic multilayer flooring similar to laminate. However, vinyl is 100% synthetic, including the base layer, typically polyvinyl chloride (PVC), cork, or foam, while laminate’s core layer is a fibreboard made of wood byproducts.

Vinyl flooring is highly resistant to water and spills, making it suitable for high-moisture-prone areas, such as kitchens, bathrooms, and basements.

There are several variations of vinyl flooring, including:

Pros

Cons

Sheet vinyl flooring is typically the most budget-friendly option, followed by vinyl tiles and luxury vinyl planks/tiles. The average cost of vinyl flooring ranges from £2 to £10 per square foot, while fitting can be about £20 to £50 per square metre.

Carpet

A carpet is a soft floor covering made from fibres. It comes in various styles, textures, colours, and pile heights. The common materials used to make carpets include nylon, polyester, wool, or a blend of these textiles.

Carpets are perfect for areas where you desire comfort and warmth, such as bedrooms, living rooms, and family rooms.

They’re versatile based on the fibres they’re made of and the piling method, but the most common types are:

Pros

Cons

The carpet cost varies widely based on factors such as quality, brand, fibre type, pile height, and style.

LVT Flooring

LVT (Luxury vinyl tile) is a type of high-quality vinyl flooring. The tiles have incredible hardwood floors, ceramic tile, or natural stone visuals. LVT differs from traditional vinyl flooring (sheet vinyl) in that it’s thicker (5 mm up to 12 mm). It’s also easier to install LVT over existing floors, unlike sheet vinyl.

LVT flooring is ideal for residential and commercial spaces, including high-traffic areas such as kitchens, bathrooms, entryways, laundry rooms, dining rooms, hair salons, and hallways. It’s suitable for areas that require durable and moisture-resistant flooring options.

Here are the types of LVT based on installation methods:

Pros

Cons

LVT flooring costs about £20 to £60 per square metre.

Lino

Lino, short for linoleum, is a sustainable, durable, and resilient flooring material made from natural ingredients. The primary natural materials in most linoleum flooring are linseed oil, wood flour or cork dust, and pine resin.

Lino flooring is ideal for almost every room, including the kitchen. However, not all lino are suitable for damp and high-traffic areas.

There are three main types of lino flooring:

Pros

Cons

Lino flooring can cost £2 to £10 per square foot.

Wood Flooring

Wood flooring is a natural, durable, and eco-friendly option. It’s made from natural timber, and it offers a timeless aesthetic to spaces.

Wood flooring is perfect for properties and rooms where you desire a classic and elegant look. It’s a popular option for living rooms, bedrooms, dining areas, offices, or retail stores.

Here are the popular categories of wood flooring:

Pros

Cons

Wood flooring costs vary widely, but solid oak wood averages £30 and £40 per square metre.

Stone Flooring

Stone flooring comes in tiles cut from natural stone blocks. The most popular stone types are granite, marble, limestone, slate, travertine, or sandstone.

Stone flooring works well in commercial and residential properties, both indoors and outdoors. You can use it for the living room, hallway, and bedroom. However, most stone flooring doesn’t work well for the kitchen and bathroom as it’s easy to slip and fall.

We categorise natural stone flooring by the source, for instance:

Pros

Cons

The stone flooring cost depends on the type of stone, tile size, and brand. You can expect to pay about £8 to £50 per square foot.

Tile Flooring

Tile flooring is a general term for hard-wearing flooring cut into tiles with grout filling the gaps between them. It’s typically made of stone, ceramic, or porcelain.

Sealed tile flooring is popular for mudrooms, bathrooms, and kitchens.

The most common types of tile flooring include:

Pros

Cons

Depending on the type of tile flooring you opt for, you can pay £5 to £15 per square foot.

Concrete Flooring

Concrete flooring is primarily made from a mixture of cement, water, and aggregates (such as sand or gravel). It’s poured, levelled, and cured to create a solid, durable surface.

Concrete flooring is common in basements, garages, patios, warehouses, retail stores, showrooms, utility areas, and modern-style homes. You can polish, stain, and texture it for different aesthetic effects in home interiors.

Here’s an overview of different concrete flooring options by finishing type:

Pros

Cons

Concrete floors, on average, cost £5 to £30 depending on the finishing.

Resin Flooring

Resin flooring is plastic and uses epoxy or polyurethane resins as the primary material. It involves applying multiple layers of liquid resin onto a prepared surface, often concrete. It then cures to form a seamless, durable, and highly resistant floor coating.

Resin flooring is ideal for industrial and commercial spaces due to its affordability and durability. You’ll find resin floors in warehouses, manufacturing facilities, showrooms, garages, healthcare facilities, and retail spaces.

You’ll often encounter three types of resin floors, including:

Pros

Cons

The resin floor costs £7 and £20 per m2.

Rubber

Rubber floors are made of a flexible and elastic material extracted from certain trees or produced synthetically from petroleum-based compounds. It’s known for its resilience, durability, and ability to absorb impact and vibrations.

Rubber flooring is perfect for high-foot traffic areas that require a cushioned and resilient flooring surface. These places include gyms, fitness centres, playgrounds, sports facilities, commercial kitchens, hospitals, etc.

Types of rubber flooring include:

Pros

Cons

What Is the Best Flooring for Residential Properties?

The best flooring for residential properties depends on various factors, such as personal preferences, lifestyle, budget, and the specific requirements of each room.

What Is the Best Flooring for Kitchens?

Kitchens are high-traffic areas with exposure to spills, moisture, and heat.

Here are some of the best types of flooring that suit kitchens:

What Is the Best Flooring for Bedrooms?

Bedrooms are low-traffic spaces with a cosy and relaxing atmosphere. An excellent bedroom floor should create a warm and inviting environment.

Some of the best bedroom flooring include:

What Is the Best Flooring for Living Rooms?

Living rooms are typically the central gathering spaces in a home, where comfort, style, and versatility are essential.

Here are some of the best types of flooring for living rooms:

What Is the Best Flooring for Bathrooms?

Bathrooms have regular exposure to water, humidity, and potential spills. The bathrooms’ flooring should be highly moisture resistant, durable, easy to clean, and provide good traction to prevent slips and falls.

The best bathroom flooring ideas include:

What Is the Best Flooring for Hallways?

Hallways are high-traffic areas that connect different rooms within a home. The ideal hallway floor should withstand heavy foot traffic and be resistant to wear and tear.

Here are a few floor types that are excellent for hallways:

What Is the Best Flooring for Stairs?

Stairs are high-traffic areas with heavy foot traffic and potential impact from regular use.

Here are some of the best types of flooring for stairs:

What Is the Best Flooring for Commercial Properties?

The best flooring for commercial properties depends on various factors, such as the type of business, foot traffic levels, maintenance requirements, budget, and aesthetic preferences.

What Is the Best Flooring for Offices?

Most offices have moderate foot traffic. The flooring should contribute to a professional and productive work environment.

Here are great flooring options for offices:

What Is the Best Flooring for Sports Facilities?

Sports facilities’ flooring options should enhance performance, reduce injury risk, and provide the necessary traction and impact absorption for sports activities.

Below are great flooring options for sports facilities.

What Is the Best Flooring for Industrial Properties?

Industrial environments involve heavy machinery, chemicals, high foot traffic, and potential spills. You must consider the type of industry, specific requirements, and the nature of the work conducted in the facility to choose the best flooring for an industrial property.

What Is the Best Flooring for Factories?

Factories involve heavy machinery, production processes, high foot traffic, and potential exposure to chemicals, oils, and other contaminants.

Here are some of the best types of flooring that suit different areas in factories:

What Is the Best Flooring for Warehouses?

Warehouses are large industrial spaces primarily used for storage, distribution, and logistical operations.

Here are some of the best types of flooring that suit different warehouses:

What Is the Best Brand of Flooring?

There are several reputable brands in the flooring industry. The best flooring brand ultimately depends on individual preferences, specific needs, and budget. Here are a few of them.

Amtico Flooring

Amtico is a reputable flooring brand specialising in luxury vinyl tiles (LVT). It offers various aesthetically pleasing designs, including wood, stone, and abstract patterns.

The price of Amtico LVT flooring varies by product collection, design, and installation method. You can expect to pay £50-£90 per square metre. It’s slightly more expensive than the budget-friendly LVT options.

Quick-Step Flooring

Quick-Step is a top flooring brand owned by Unilin. It offers high-quality laminate, luxury vinyl, and engineered wood flooring. But Quick-Step’s most popular flooring is laminate which has a hydro seal surface, making it a great option for bathrooms and kitchens.

Quick-Step is one of the most affordable laminate and vinyl flooring brands, with prices as low as £20-70 per square metre.

Ted Todd

Ted Todd is a renowned brand specialising in high-quality hardwood flooring. It provides a wide selection of options for solid wood, engineered wood, reclaimed wood, and parquet flooring.

Ted Todd is also known for using responsibly sourced timber and implementing environmentally friendly production processes.

It’s a luxury brand, and pricing varies by the type of wood, grade, finish, antique, and plank size. The average cost of solid wood is £70-£90.

Moduleo

Moduleo is one of the best vinyl flooring brands in the UK. It offers a versatile collection of luxury vinyl flooring options, including realistic wood and stone designs. It’s known for its high-quality, water-resistant, and practical flooring solutions.

Moduleo offers some of the lowest prices in the UK for luxury vinyl tiles ranging from £20-£60 per square metre.

Kährs

Kährs is a pioneer of wood flooring. Its history dates back to 1857, making it one of the most well-established, high-quality hardwood flooring brands.

Kährs is particularly popular for its selection of engineered wood, finishes, and designs that suit various interior styles. The brand is known for its commitment to sustainable practices in sourcing its materials.

Its engineered wood floors can cost £80- £105 on average.

What Is the Best Colour for Flooring?

The best colour for flooring is subjective. It depends on personal preferences, the overall design concept, and the specific environment.

What Is the Best Way to Maintain Flooring?

The best way to maintain flooring depends on the specific type of flooring. But here are general floor maintenance tips that work for all:

What Is the Best Way to Clean Flooring?

Every floor type has its cleaning requirements. Below are floor cleaning tips that typically work for all.

What Are the Best Floor Cleaning Products?

The best floor cleaning products vary depending on the specific flooring type, but the commonly used options include:

What Is the Best Priced Flooring?

Here’s the average cost per square metre of some of the best priced flooring:

What Is the Best Budget Flooring?

Sheet vinyl is one of the most budget-friendly flooring options, costing £2 to £10 per square metre.

What Is the Best Luxury Flooring?

The best luxury flooring is exotic hardwood flooring and natural stone flooring.

What Is the Best Flooring for Kids?

The best flooring for kids depends on age, activities, and maintenance considerations. Carpet, LVT/LVP, laminate, cork, and rubber flooring are all suitable options.

Carpet provides a soft, comfortable surface for kids to play and crawl on. Choose a carpet with stain-resistant properties and durable fibres because kids can be prone to spills, accidents, and messes.

LVT and laminate flooring offer the look of hardwood but are more resistant to scratches and dents.

What Is the Best Flooring for Pets?

When selecting flooring for homes with pets, consider factors such as the type of pets, their size, and activity level.

LVT/LVP, laminate, tile, stone, and engineered hardwood are generally good flooring options for homes with pets. Stain-resistant carpets are also suitable, but they require diligent cleaning and maintenance.

What Is the Best Flooring for Dogs?

The best flooring options for homes with dogs include scratch-resistant choices such as LVT, laminate, tile or stone, bamboo, and engineered hardwood flooring.

What Is the Best Flooring for High Traffic?

The best flooring for high-traffic areas is typically durable and resistant to wear and tear. Options such as luxury vinyl tile (LVT), laminate, ceramic tile, or concrete are well-suited for high-traffic environments due to their strength, longevity, and ease of maintenance.

What Is the Best Flooring for Water?

The best flooring for areas prone to water exposure is typically waterproof or water-resistant options. These include luxury vinyl tile (LVT), ceramic or porcelain tile, concrete, or waterproof laminate flooring.

What Is the Best Insulated Flooring?

The best insulated flooring options include materials with inherent insulation properties, such as cork or certain types of carpets with padding. Underfloor heating systems can also enhance insulation.

What Is the Best Flooring for Retaining Heat?

The best flooring for retaining heat includes options with good thermal conductivity, such as tile, stone, or concrete. These materials can absorb and retain heat effectively.

What Is the Best Flooring Underlay?

The best flooring underlay depends on the specific flooring type and desired performance. Common options include foam, rubber, or cork underlays. They offer sound insulation, moisture protection, and added cushioning. It’s essential to choose an underlay that’s compatible with the flooring and meets specific needs.

What Are the Best Floor Coverings?

The best floor coverings depend on individual preferences and specific needs. Common options include carpet for comfort, hardwood for elegance, tile for durability, and vinyl for versatility. Each has its own advantages and suitability for different environments and design preferences.

Conclusion

Do you have a better idea of which floor type will suit your residential or commercial property? If you’re leaning towards wood or laminate flooring, take the next step and contact us for a free quote.

Our flooring experts will organise a free site visit to assess your space and provide tailored recommendations.

Flooring selections are a broad topic, one where there are no absolutes. The right floor for your property will differ according to various factors, which are space, practicality, style, type, budget, installation, and maintenance. And the wrong floor can mean a shorter flooring lifespan, less aesthetic appeal, more maintenance, and higher costs!

Understanding this will help you enhance your property by buying the right flooring type to install and maintain.

What Is Residential Flooring?

Simply put, residential flooring is designed to fit the needs of homes and accommodate domestic use.

To illustrate, flooring for homes usually doesn’t receive as much foot traffic as commercial floors. So, it tends to be thinner with less of a wear layer.

The popular materials for residential floors are vinyl, wood, and laminate flooring.

What Is Commercial Flooring?

Commercial floors are manufactured to accommodate the needs of commercial and industrial work sites, such as offices and warehouses.

As expected, such flooring tends to receive heavy foot traffic, which is why it’s relatively durable, featuring thick wear layers. It lasts for years and requires less frequent replacements than its counterparts.

Common industrial floor choices are vinyl, linoleum, and resilient (polymer flooring designed for comfort, flexibility, and aesthetics).

What Are the Different Flooring Types?

We’ll classify flooring products according to their materials. By choosing one, almost everything else falls into place, so understand each material, its features, its aesthetic appeal, and its drawbacks to get the right flooring for your property.

Laminate Flooring

Laminate flooring has printed images that give you the impression of hardwood, stone, or tile without their drawbacks and for a lower price. It’s one of the most durable flooring options, thanks to its extremely sturdy wear layer.

Vinyl Flooring

Vinyl flooring is found in sheets, planks, and tiles, imitating the look of wood and stone. These options are the most popular, which is understandable considering how affordable, easy to install, durable, and waterproof they are.

Carpeting

Laying carpets on your floor is a good idea if you want to enhance your home’s comfort and cosiness. It gives you a luxurious touch and a soft underfoot, reduces noises, and is kid-friendly (minimising accidents for the little ones).

Lino Flooring

Linoleum flooring is an all-natural alternative to vinyl composed of linseed oil and wood products. You’ll love its retro charm, longevity, environmental friendliness, and durability, which allow it to withstand heavy traffic.

Found in tiles and sheets, linoleum designs feature borders and insets, vibrant designs, and neutrals.

Wood Flooring

Timber flooring has a classic and timeless charm, emanating warmth into your house. It’s fashioned from many species and has two types: solid wood and engineered wood.

Solid wood has great underfoot and versatile designs and cuts. However, engineered wood is more durable and cheap.

Stone Flooring

Stone tiles are cool to the touch, luxurious, and versatile. They’re divided into sedimentary stones, such as limestone and travertine; igneous stones, such as granite; and metamorphic stones, such as slate and marble.

Concrete Flooring

Concrete flooring has that polished and elegant look, which matches contemporary styles perfectly. You can choose between different finishes and different colours (classic institutional grey tiles or dyed ones).

Concrete is durable, easy to clean, and heat-conductive, but it’s relatively pricey.

Resin Flooring

Resin flooring is a plastic surface which features a hard-wearing layer and is easy to maintain, chemical-resistant, impact-resistant, and abrasion-resistant. You’ll find it suitable for areas with heavy foot traffic.

What Are the Different Flooring Styles?

Flooring styles differ across flooring types. If you’re thinking laminate or vinyl, you’ll find it in all the wood and stone styles. Speaking of which, the main styles in wood flooring are:

As for stone patterns and styles, they include:

Otherwise, you might want carpeting, in which case you have a cut-twist pile, plush pile, textured pile, and loop-pile carpets.

Linoleum floors come in the following styles:

Last but not least, resin floors are available in the following plastics: PMMA, Polyurethane, and ebony.

What Are the Different Flooring Colours?

Home flooring products are available in more colours than we can count. Homeowners may opt for floors that feature several colours.

Grey is always popular. Other trendy hues are pale, espresso, and mid-toned brown in wood flooring.

For tiles, black and white, nearly black, green, and blue colours are in.

As for carpeting, you’ll find grey, cool tones, and pale beige trending.

What Are the Different Flooring Finishes?

A flooring finish coats your flooring to give it an aesthetically pleasing look and add to its benefits, such as durability and water resistance. Flooring finishes are especially important if you have wood or concrete floors.

On the one hand, some people leave their solid wood floors unfinished; others choose matte or satin lacquer or natural oil.

On the other hand, concrete floor finish types are:

What Are the Different Flooring Brands?

Because we can’t cover each flooring brand, we’ve narrowed it down to the best of the best. This way, you’ll know the biggest names in the market for your preferred flooring type.

Karndean Flooring

Karndean is a UK-based company that has been offering luxury vinyl flooring products since 1973. It delivers in terms of style without sacrificing functionality. Its highly realistic tiles and planks are excellent for modern and contemporary design.

Amtico Flooring

Another luxury vinyl tile manufacturer is Amtico International. Amtico Flooring designs are distinct and contemporary with an authentic feel. The brand cultivates creativity and inspiration through the collaboration of designers with manufacturing specialists.

Quick-Step Flooring

Motivated by its goal of carefree living, Quick-Step employs innovative flooring methods and strives for top-notch quality. The company has an exclusive parquet flooring range that is affordable and high-quality! And we can say the same for its laminate, vinyl, and wood flooring collections.

Ted Todd

Ted Todd’s beginning was reclaiming wood from Britain’s industrial mills. For about thirty years now, it has provided customers with a premium hardwood flooring range and prioritised finding sustainable products that protect the planet. This makes it the ideal link between innovation and nature.

Moduleo

Check out Moduleo if you want luxury vinyl tiles. Their collection is extensive and diverse, offering you durability and aesthetics with natural-looking products. Lastly, we can’t forget its environmental excellence and certified safety underfoot.

Kahrs

Based in the heart of the Swedish countryside, Kahrs is one of the oldest, most popular, and most creative wood floor brands. This quality is the fruit of 150 years of labour. In fact, it has multi-layer boards and glue-less Woodloc locking joints.

What Is the Best Flooring?

Put simply, there’s no one-size-fits-all flooring for homeowners. The best flooring depends on several factors, which are:

The Best Flooring for Different Rooms and Spaces

Since space is the first factor in this decision, let’s discuss the suitable flooring options for various rooms.

Kitchens

Since it’s a hardworking room, vinyl tiles are a great option for kitchens. For one, tiles can make your kitchen look bigger. As for vinyl, it’s high-performance, waterproof, and has a hard but comfortable underfoot, which is important because you’ll probably spend a lot of time in the kitchen.

Bedrooms

We love adding plush piles with a velvety look to the bedroom. It gives it warmth, comfort, soundproofing, and a luxurious touch!

Otherwise, hardwood is a way to give your bedroom character. It’s long-lasting and durable but expensive, LVT being the affordable alternative.

Living Rooms

Consider fitting your living room with a bold carpet! The plush pile is fancy, but it requires maintenance, so it won’t be a practical choice if you have kids. In that case, your best option is laminate, wood, or even high-end vinyl, as they’re easy to maintain and stain-resistant.

Bathrooms

For bathrooms, you want waterproof flooring. Tile flooring is great for that as it’s cool to the touch and easy to clean. Vinyl works, as well. Meanwhile, some sophisticated customers choose water-resistant linoleum for its sustainability and charm.

Hallways

Hallways are high-traffic areas requiring sturdy flooring. Solid stone, ceramic tiles, solid wood, and engineered wood all have the required durability for them.

We also recommend a cut-twist pile with its textured appearance and hard-wearing fibre if you want carpeting.

Stairs

Like hallways, stairs receive heavy foot traffic, so you’ll need a sturdy flooring material. You can lay carpeting, which reduces the risk of falls and slips and enhances the stairs’ comfort and soundproofing. It may attract dust and dirt, though, so ensure that it’s a dense, woollen carpet.

Other options include LVT, laminate, hardwood, and tile flooring.

Offices

Laminate flooring is excellent because of its soundproofing feature, easy installation, and high performance.

Vinyl flooring is also becoming a popular choice for offices because of its durability, cushioning, and easy maintenance.

Sports

Are you looking for a home gym flooring option? Rubber flooring is a good idea, and it comes in two main types. Firstly, vulcanised rubber has a soft underfoot and is durable, high-performance, and shock-absorbent. Secondly, recycled rubber is durable, easy to maintain, and water, stain, and shock resistant.

Vinyl and hardwood can work for home gyms, too.

Factories

Factories need industrial flooring to be wear-resistant, easy to maintain, and slip-resistant. Vacuum-dewatered flooring (VDF) is the most popular and cost-effective option. Another option is adding in-floor particle flooring to a concrete base.

The Best Flooring for Different Environments

To choose the perfect flooring product, you must consider the type of environment you want to install it in and find flooring that accommodates its particular needs. For instance, your environment might have the following:

Pets

If you’re a pet owner, you want floors that don’t scratch easily. So, consider ceramic or porcelain tiling, plank vinyl flooring, laminate flooring, linoleum, or carpeting (synthetic and nylon carpets).

Vinyl is both wear-resistant and comfortable for your pets. Linoleum also possesses both of those features and resists allergens like pet dander.

Finally, front halls should have concrete floors because pets might step on them with their muddy paws.

Kids

You need flooring that withstands kids’ messes. Laminate floors are a favourite, as they’re highly stain-resistant and sturdy.

If you have young children, synthetic and nylon carpets are great. They’re stain-resistant and more comfortable than other flooring types.

Luxury vinyl could also come in handy, with its easy maintenance and scratch resistance.

Heavy Foot Traffic

Areas with relatively heavy foot traffic in your home, such as kitchens and entryways, require wear resistance and durability. So, consider stone, laminate, and vinyl surfaces.

Additionally, you can lay throw rugs and runners or cut-twist pile carpets to minimise the floor maintenance required.

Wet Areas

Bathrooms, kitchens, wet rooms, basements, and other areas exposed to water and moisture need waterproof flooring. Vinyl and luxury vinyl flooring are popular choices, and tile flooring is both functional and aesthetically pleasing. Finally, rubber is a resilient, sleek, and interesting choice that resists water.

How Much Does Flooring Cost?

It’d be impossible to give a range since costs differ across flooring materials. You can buy carpeting as cheap as £5 or stone flooring as expensive as £500 per square metre! That’s a vastly different price point, which is indicative of the different tiers.

We can categorise flooring into three types.

Luxury Flooring

The first category is luxury flooring, which appeals to homeowners who don’t mind investing in their floors. The most expensive flooring option is timeless stone flooring and tiles, such as natural stone and designer ceramic tiles. So, if you want fancy stone floors, it’s £25 to £500 per square metre.

The most high-end options for stone are these highly individualistic tiles that you install in an otherwise basic wall to augment it. You can even install a row of them. Other expensive stone tiles are bespoke mosaics and Grespania tiles.

Wood floor prices range from £30 to £85 per square metre, depending on the subtype of wood.

Exotic hardwood flooring is a luxury choice. Extracted from diverse species around the world, you have:

Other luxury wood options are bamboo flooring, reclaimed hardwood, and hand-scraped wood, which looks like it was cut with hand tools.

Finally, we can’t forget luxury vinyl tiles and luxury vinyl planks.

Quality Flooring

Quality flooring options include vinyl, some laminate products, linoleum, and engineered wood flooring.

You’ll find vinyl flooring options ranging from £5 to £60 per square metre and laminate flooring options ranging from £15 to £55 per square metre. As for engineered wood flooring, you can expect to pay £10-£40 per metre square for it. Then, you have linoleum flooring costing £10 to £30 per square metre.

Cheap Flooring

For cheap and low-budget flooring, you want to purchase some laminate products, sheet vinyl, resin, or polished concrete floors.

You may look for laminate flooring that’s closer to the low-end prices (£15). Sheet vinyl may range from £7 to £15, and carpeting costs £5 to £35 per square metre. As for concrete floors, they may be £50. Finally, resin is £7 to £15 per square metre.

Installation and Fitting Costs

On average, flooring installation costs range from £400 to £1,000, but they can go lower or higher. The factors determining their prices include room size, flooring type, the contractors you work with, and more.

Speaking of flooring types, you may pay £90 to £450 for vinyl floor installation, £90 to £900 for carpet fitting, £170 to £800 for laminate floor installation, £400 to £1,380 for tiling installation, or £550 to £1,750 for hardwood floor installation.

Additional Costs

To accurately calculate your flooring costs, you can’t simply consider the cost of flooring materials and labour. You may need additional services, such as:

How Do You Install Flooring?

The installation process vastly differs across types of flooring, but here’s a general idea of how that process might unfold.

Firstly, you prepare the area for installation. So, remove the baseboards and ensure the subfloor is level and intact. If it isn’t level or even installed, you’ll need to install it. The same goes for underlayment, which protects your floor from moisture damage and provides a soft underfoot and some sound absorption. Then, sweeping and vacuuming are needed.

Secondly, start laying your flooring row by row. Your flooring may simply click together or require nails, glue, or other techniques (depending on its type). Also, you might need to install it horizontally, at 45-degree angles, or according to your flooring cut and layout. So, you must follow its installation manual.

When you reach the last rows, you’ll probably need to cut some flooring tiles, planks, or sheets to size. Then, you can cut any excess underlayment.

Thirdly, put the baseboards back, lining their lower edge with the flooring. And nail them in place.

The fourth and final step is installing threshold or transition strips. Look for areas where the flooring edge is exposed, and cover them with transition strips.

How Do You Maintain Flooring?

Flooring maintenance is crucial to its longevity, but how do you maintain your floor?

Floor Cleaning

Follow these measures to clean your floor:

Flooring Restoration

Floor restoration is an extensive rejuvenation process that improves the appearance of old wood flooring. This process includes sanding, evening out your subfloor, fixing damaged floorboards, replacing missing ones, filling large gaps, and staining your wood flooring.

Flooring Renovation

Floor renovation is a way to update your flooring. Renovations are less costly and leave your floor in a better state of repair.

Flooring Lifespan

Your flooring may last anything from five to over 80 years (depending on your flooring material and maintenance measures).

To elaborate, carpet may live five to eight years or more. Laminate can last 10 to 30 years, whereas LVT can last 10 to 25 years. Tile has a lifespan of 20 to 50 years and more. Finally, wood can live 20 to 80 years or even longer.

What Are Some Ideas for Flooring?

We’ll mention some of our favourite flooring ideas for residential and commercial settings.

You can consider these for your home or office:

Conclusion

There are no absolutes as to which flooring is best, but the wrong flooring choice can mean a shortened lifespan, undermined aesthetics, and more repercussions!

That’s why you must choose the right product for your space, environment, budget, and style.

If you need help doing that, contact us at The Ultimate Flooring. Our experts will be happy to help!

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