Keep it clean
When you are hoovering, check your carpets for any stains or marks that may have appeared. As soon as you do spot a stain, make sure to treat it as soon as possible. Ensure that you always have carpet cleaners to hand, and use the right formulation for your carpet, according to what material it is made of. Likewise when spillages happen, act fast to help prevent permanent staining to your carpet. Follow the specific instructions on your carpet cleaner so that you get the full effect.

Avoid marks
Heavy furniture such as sofas and tables can leave dents in your carpet that are hard to get rid of. Try to move furniture regularly, even if only by a few inches, to avoid damage to your carpet. Similarly, sunlight can bleach coloured carpets. As well as causing the colour to fade, UV rays can actually damage the carpet fibres. Minimise this by keeping windows or blinds closed during the sunniest parts of the day, or consider applying a protective window treatments such as ultraviolet blocking film to your windows.

Protect
If you are buying a new carpet, many companies now offer stain-resistant materials. Alternatively, carpets that are already in place can benefit from stain protection treatments. Consider using rugs to protect specific sections of your carpet such as high-traffic areas, or areas more at risk of spillages such as next to the sofa. Make sure the room is well ventilated to help prevent a build-up of moisture, as this can affect carpets. Keep your carpet fresh and free from bacteria by regularly using a carpet cleaner. If you do not have your own carpet cleaner you can easily rent one to use, or hire a professional. Consider it a worthwhile investment as it will prolong the life of your carpet.

1. Your Lifestyle

First and foremost, make sure you think about how you and your family use your home. For example, if you have a couple of pets and some very active children then deep, plush carpeting might not make the best choice.
Think about how the flooring will be used on a day to day basis, and take into account how much maintenance and cleaning you’ll need to put up with for each material.

2. The Location

Of course, those lifestyle considerations will differ depending on the location in your home which you’re looking at.
In general, it’s best to reserve more upscale options for areas such as the living room, while high traffic areas should use flooring with more durable options, such as slate, tile, or wood. Similarly, rooms which are likely to experience higher than normal levels of moisture should avoid materials which may warp.

3. The Cost

Cost is always going to be a concern, and you should remember that, since flooring is priced per square foot, your costs can rise quickly. On the plus side, this often means that you can afford to use more expensive materials in smaller areas.
Luckily, you should be able to choose most materials without cost being a factor. This is because nearly all will come in several grades of quality; synthetic carpet is cheaper than wool, and laminate wood is cheaper than hardwood.

4. The Environmental Factor

Not always something which homeowners spend too long thinking about, but certainly something that you should take into account.
It’s becoming increasingly important to make your flooring eco-friendly, and there are several great options available. Recycled glass tiles, cork, and bamboo are all options for the eco-conscious.

Picking out flooring might seem tricky, but all you have to do is think about these four main areas to have your choices whittled down in just a few minutes.

You’ll almost certainly need to replace any water damaged carpet padding, but replacing the carpet itself – a much more expensive undertaking – can often be avoided when you know how.

Remove Water Quickly

A wet/dry vacuum can remove water extremely quickly and efficiently. They can be rented from water damage repair companies. Of course, you won’t be able to get one straight away. Until yours arrives, use towels to soak up water, squeeze that water into a bucket, then empty the bucket into the sink.

Utilise Fans to Speed Things Up

Fans can help facilitate the drying process, even after the water seems to have been removed. You can rent a high-power drying fan, but even standard ones can be useful. They will circulate fresh air throughout the room, making it harder for mould to develop, all while reducing the level of residual moisture.

Use a Dehumidifier

As well as a fan, homeowners can take advantage of a dehumidifier. While fans work well, a dehumidifier is often a better choice when water damage has been extreme. They work by removing moisture and making the air feel cooler. Mould won’t stand a chance.

Steam Clean Your Carpet

Once the room has been thoroughly dried out, you’ll still want to take a few steps to ensure that the carpets are completely safe. Most importantly, you should consider having them steam cleaned. You can either do this yourself or hire in a professional.

Water damaged carpets and floors can quickly become a fertile breeding ground for mould. This can trigger certain health problems by irritating the nose, eyes, throat, or lungs, and can also quickly destroy parts of your home. Follow the steps laid out in this guide to make sure that water damage doesn’t make your carpets a magnet for mould.

Of course, if possible, you should definitely consider buying pre-distressed wood and then having it installed instead of purchasing pristine wood and then distressing it yourself. However, there’s no need to worry if you already have the wood laid down.

For starters, scrape the wood with a floor-scraping tool. You might want to start with a small area first to get a feel for it. Walnut, pine, hickory, and oak all take to distressing well, but hardwoods, such as maple and teak, are usually a little trickier.

Scrape with the direction of the grain instead of going against it – this will create jarring scratches which don’t appear authentic. You’ll also need to avoid knots in the wood. It should be possible to adjust the angle and pressure which you’re using to achieve the look you’re after. Everyone wants their distressed wood flooring to look a little different, so there’s no right answer here.
Other options include using a wire brush, which gives a grainy, aged feel to the flooring. Chains, drills, and hammers can also be used to make chips and scratches, while a soldering iron or other hot pieces of metal can add character with small burns. For a little more fun, anyone with a dog can let their pooches nails go unclipped for a little, then toss a ball around so they slide across the floor. This will help produce a weathered look, and it’s far more fun than scraping.

Just remember to practice your techniques – minus the dog option – on an old piece of furniture before you start on the flooring itself. It’s relatively easy to achieve the distressed look which you’re after, but it is also well worth making sure you know what you’re doing before you begin.

Pliable and Practical

Cork flooring is incredibly durable since it resists cracks and is impermeable to gases and liquids. It’s also quite flexible, which means that indentations caused by furniture will quickly bounce back. If you don’t like the way a room is arranged, just change it around without worrying about sunken marks!
Additionally, cork is practical in the long run since its colour penetrates the whole way through. This means that it won’t change as it becomes worn down, unlike wood and vinyl, substantially extending its life. Its millions of air-filled chambers will even act as barriers against both sound and heat-loss.

Sanitary and Safe

Cork is also resistant to mould and termites, so you won’t have to worry about your flooring damaging either the health of your house or its inhabitants. Cork is actually anti-microbial, meaning that it either kills off microorganisms or stops them from growing.
It’s also safer under more threatening situations. Incredibly resistant to fire, cork will only ever ignite or melt if subjected to extraordinarily high temperatures. Even if it does combust, cork only releases a very small amount of smoke, as well as far fewer toxic chemicals than vinyl.

Comfy and Cool

Okay, cork is practical, but you’re probably more concerned with how it looks and feels than how it reacts to fire. Well, good news – cork is also pretty cool. Essentially, people tend to use it because of its ability to provide a natural look which is reminiscent of wood but doesn’t involve tearing down trees.
It’s also lovely to walk on. The fact that cork has a slight give to it means that each footfall is pleasantly cushioned, and it tends to stay far warmer than other types of flooring.

Taking the benefits into account, it isn’t hard to see why cork is becoming the next big thing in interior design.

Floating Floor Advantages

The most obvious advantage associated with floating floors is that they can be laid down quickly and easily to achieve the look of real timber flooring. This means that you can give a room an upscale look without spending too much time or money. You won’t even necessarily have to hire anybody to help.
Additionally, floating floors generally offer strong sound insulation due to the fact that they have been laid over a subfloor system. Wooden flooring can often be noisy for anyone living below you, so it’s nice to have this problem mitigated. Any movement will even be spread across the floor, so unsightly gaps are less likely.
Floating floors are usually pre-coated to provide superior durability, and there are numerous styles to choose from.

Floating Floor Disadvantages

Unfortunately, some of the advantages of floating floors create their own drawbacks. The flexibility of this option means gaps are less likely to appear, but it also means that the boards typically wear out faster. This is especially true in environments which experience frequent variations in temperature, or in those where moisture levels are high.
Additionally, unlike structural wood flooring, a floating floor cannot be sanded once it starts to break down. The sealed finish will offer protection, but you’ll still need to replace the boards once they become too worn. For this reason, structural wood flooring could be considered a better long term investment.

Floating floors are popular for a reason. Not only do they look great, they achieve their style without putting you, or your bank account, through much strain. Just take the drawbacks into account, then consider exactly where you’ll be placing your flooring and how long you’d like it to last.

Ceramic

Ceramic tiles are made from hardened clay – normally mixtures of red or white – and usually feature a decorative glaze. They are baked on the top only, meaning that colour does not run all the way through the tile.

Ceramic tiles are less expensive than other options, and they’re also extremely easy to install. This means they can be purchased and laid down with no need for employing additional labour. However, these tiles are far less durable than stone or porcelain, both breaking and taking stains much more easily. It’s generally best to use them in interior spaces with low levels of foot traffic.

Porcelain

Porcelain is technically a ceramic as well, but is made of white clay using a dust pressing method. This produces a smoothly finished tile which is both denser and more durable than ceramic.

Unlike ceramic tiles, porcelain tiles can be used in both interior and exterior locations due to its strength, and holds up far better in busy areas. Its density makes it less absorbent, and therefore more stain-resistant, and people generally prefer the more upscale look compared to ceramic. However, it is trickier and more expensive to install. This is not a material which is suitable for a DIY job.

Stone

Stone tiles are made from a variety of natural materials, usually either slate, marble, or granite. Easily the most sought after tiling material, stone has a timeless beauty whichboth porcelain and ceramic usually attempt to mimic.

Stone is notably more durable than ceramic, and, while porcelain is technically harder, it’s worth remembering that chips in porcelain will be far more apparent. Of course, stone tiles are extremely heavy, making them the most expensive to install by a wide margin. You’ll certainly need to employ additional help, and may even need the stone to be reworked.

Each material has its own benefits, so all you need to do is decide which benefits are going to benefit you.

Light
One of the most common things people want when they’re renovating a room is far more light. Of course, structural limitations usually mean that this can’t be done directly, but soft, natural colours can create the appearance of light, and capture all the sunshine which does enter your space.
If you want to enliven a poorly lit room, try using a pale pastel colour for the floor. This reflects light, so it makes the room appear optically larger. Laminate or tiling is often best for this task, since it is more reflective and less dense than carpeting.

Space
Yellows and blues tend to make spaces feel much larger and more open, so they can be a good choice for rooms which are a little boxy, or those with dimensions which create tight corners.
For an expansive interior, try using yellow or blue for your flooring – perhaps utilizing tiles or slate. Remember, the effect will become greater as the tone gets lighter. This often proves popular in bathrooms and toilets, since those rooms are usually on the smaller sider.

Isolation
Deep colours such as red and brown serve to contract a room’s space, so using those colours for your flooring is perfect for places in which you would like to foster a degree of seclusion. This is why dark wood is often used in libraries and studies.
Many people find that using either dark brown laminate or dark red carpeting is ideal for creating their own private sanctuary. For added tranquillity, remember to use plenty of soft fabrics and warm tones elsewhere in the room, so things don’t feel too sparse.

If you’re trying to decide which type of flooring is right for you, try thinking about how you want to feel when you walk into the room, then use this guide to narrow things down. Happy decorating!

Here are a few handy ways to let you have your wooden flooring without complaints from below.

Place Strategic Rugs

Obviously you won’t want to place rugs across all of your floor space – that would defeat the whole purpose of laying down wooden flooring in the first place. However, you should consider buying some rugs to place in areas which experience high footfall, especially around entrance ways.

Rugs won’t eliminate the problem entirely, but they’re sure to cut down on the amount of noise when placed correctly. Taking this step will also demonstrate to downstairs neighbours that you’re trying your best to accommodate them.

Install an Underlay

This will obviously be easier if you’re just about to install your flooring, but installing an underlay can be advantageous even if it does necessitate some extra work, especially if you plan on staying in the property for some time.

An underlay fits beneath your floor, and is typically made of either foam, plastic, or a combination of the two. They can be used in any room except the bathroom, which is normally not a high-traffic area anyway, and can be extremely effective.

Remove Your Shoes

Sometimes the easiest solutions are right in front of your nose – or right beneath your feet. It might seem obvious, but remember to take off your shoes whenever you enter the house, and ask any guests to do so too.

Shoes make your feet heavier, and can dramatically increase the amount of noise which the people downstairs need to put up with. This is especially true when hard-bottomed shoes or high heels are involved, as the resultant tapping against your wooden floor can become particularly aggravating.

Take one or more of these steps, and you’ll be able to enjoy the benefits of wooden flooring in peace and quiet – and so will your neighbours.

It may seem unlikely, but some of the best floors we’ve ever seen are those that have employed unusual materials rather than your standard wood, tiles, carpet or linoleum. Here’s some of the most outlandish we can think of, and we think you’ll agree that the creativity behind of these ideas is off the scale!

Old Leather Belts
TING is a design company that creates luxury products from salvaged materials. Recently they’ve been sourcing old leather belts, removing the metalwork, hand-cleaning them and then processing them as flooring. What you’re left with is an attractive, subtle and hard-wearing floor, with the colour and pattern balance predetermined before a single one is laid down. Ideal for a clothing store!

Bottle Caps
Take a look at the Bone House in Texas, an artists’ studio with an eye-catching bathroom floor created from thousands of colourful bottle caps. As an example of sustainable architecture this is hard to beat, very low-cost, zero carbon use, and removing waste from the environment. But given the amount of time you’d need to spend finding all the caps, it’s probably only suitable for very small rooms. A similar but more neutral effect could be gleaned by using pennies.

Paper Bags
Tearing old brown paper bags into shapes and laying them down allows for beautiful patterns. You simply arrange them however you want and then put a thin layer of polyurethane over them to seal the floor. Owners of floors such as this reckon they look like a hybrid of cork, hardwood and leather, and we’d imagine they’re pretty pleased with the price-tag as well!

Wine Corks
The perfect flooring solution for a vineyard, or anyone with a passion for the fruits of the vine, wine cork floors look lovely, and feel great beneath your feet too. A floor of this was created for another room at the Bone House, with around 72 corks per square foot needed, so if you’d like to follow suit, better start drinking.