Choosing a floor covering

Faced with the need to carry out repairs, any owner sooner or later has to make a difficult choice of flooring. The vast majority of people do not particularly bother and choose a banal linoleum, carpet or tile. Statistics show that 90% of homeowners make this choice. However, few people are interested in the pros and cons of these coatings, not to mention the fact that there are other more attractive options for finishing the floor. Take, for example, a laminate, which today does not cost more than linoleum, parquet with its environmental friendliness, a cork that can retain its original form after deformation. There are many novelties in the construction market, which have completely unique properties and consumer qualities.

linoleum. What are the requirements for flooring in different rooms?

All rooms in the house have their own function. For this reason, absolutely different requirements are imposed on the floor covering. The floor in the corridor must be quite different than in the children's room. Proceeding from this, we will consider separately and in more detail the purpose of the premises and what coverage will suit each of them.

The entrance hall plays the function of a gateway between the house and the street. It is the first room, which includes everyone who opens the doors of an apartment or house. Therefore here there is a precipitation of sand and dirt, falling from the shoes, to the floor. All this can seriously damage the floor covering, so for this room it is worth choosing a very durable and durable material that is not afraid of moisture and is very convenient in cleaning.

Toilet and bathroom have almost constant contact with water. At the same time, there can be floods with the leakage of a large amount of liquid. All this imposes special requirements on the floor covering: ideal resistance to moisture, complete tightness, no possibility of fungus and mold, convenient cleaning.

The floor covering in the kitchen should have the same properties as in the bathroom, but in addition, oil and grease should be easily removed from its surface.

The balcony, as well as the loggia, require the use of a long-lasting and temperature-resistant floor covering. These characteristics will be enough if the balcony is insulated, glazed or even converted into an additional heated room. In the absence of any glazing, it is necessary to put materials that are resistant to rain: tiles, stone.

Most of the time all the inhabitants of the house, as well as their guests, flow in the living room, hall or dining room. This imposes on the flooring the requirement of special durability and resistance to abrasion. For the bedroom, you should choose a coating that is as environmentally friendly as possible and very easy to clean from dust. He should accumulate as little dirt as possible.

Special attention should be paid to the floor covering in the children's room. After all, it must have the same qualities as the material for the living room, in terms of resistance to abrasion, and be environmentally friendly, like in the bedroom. In addition, it should not pose a danger to children in terms of trauma in the fall.

In addition to the features listed for various floor coverings, there are general requirements, such as affordable price and ease of installation. To understand well, in which space of your apartment the material of which property will be most appropriate, you need to familiarize yourself with the available varieties of floor coverings, their pros and cons.

What kinds of floor coverings exist for

? The modern high-tech industry produces a large number of floor coverings with a huge range of qualities. Among them, the following are often used:

• Wooden floorboard.
• Several varieties of laminate.
• Parquet.
• Linoleum of various types.
• Carpet cover.
• Ceramic tiles.
• Marmoleum.
• Different types of self-leveling floors.
• Cork cover.

Next, we will consider the main characteristics of all listed types of flooring and determine where it is best to use each of them.

Wooden flooring board

This is one of the oldest floor coverings. Previously, the floorboard was made from solid wood by the usual sawing of logs. Today, most often the floorboard is made of glued wood, which greatly improves its quality, since the knots are practically absent, and the risk of deformation of the material is minimal. Sex from the floorboard requires periodic renovation of the paintwork. As advantages of a board floor it is necessary to note its durability and simplicity in leaving. Appearing with time rubbing and chips can be painted over or varnished. Among the shortcomings of this material, the most significant is the scarcity of design choices. After all, she is the board. In addition, high-quality and even lay the floor of the boards can not independently each, so you will have to resort to the help of a specialist.

scrap. Laminate and its

grades. To make a laminate, MDF panels need to be treated with a special resin, then paste a layer of paper on them, compress them at high temperature and varnish. This technology allows you to obtain several classes of laminate. They differ in strength and depend on the choice of MDF panels. Classification is required for the use of laminate in different rooms. So, 21-23 classes are used for living quarters, and for the corridor and kitchen the most rational material is seen in 31-33 classes.

Advantages of laminate, mainly, are the simplicity of its laying. It's quite easy to do this if you read the rules. You can mount the laminate with or without glue. True, in the first case, the coating is even more durable, but it will not be possible to disassemble it. The second option allows you to create a disassembled coating, which makes it possible to replace one of the panels, if it is damaged. Any laminate has an antistatic coating on it, which facilitates the care of it. And finally, there is a huge number of design solutions for the appearance of the laminate, which allows you to choose it for almost any interior.

There are flaws in the laminate, among them: low environmental compatibility associated with the use of resins, impregnations and varnishes in its manufacture, poor resistance to water, weak ergonomics, low durability, which, however, strongly depends on the class of the laminate. High classes are the most wear-resistant, but they are an order of magnitude higher than low grades.

Parquet and parquet board

Parquet board is made by gluing a thin layer( 3 - 5 mm) of valuable wood onto an ordinary wooden substrate. Mount the parquet board by gluing with glue on a flat bottom of the rough floor. Parquet board has at the ends of the locks, like a laminate, so its installation is quite convenient. Unlike the board, the parquet is a small plank, collected in a mosaic on the surface. They are glued to it with a special mastic.

Advantages of parquet in its ecological compatibility, cleanliness and durability. It is very easy to fit and easy to care for. At the same time, parquet board and parquet have a rather limited design, which is associated with the naturalness of this coating.

Linoleum

Linoleum is an artificial material that is sold in rolls with a width of 1 to 6 meters. Its thickness is from 1.5 to 5 mm. In addition, linoleum is also available in the form of tiles, the so-called PVC tiles. Laying of linoleum is carried out by gluing with special adhesive compositions. Linoleum is made from rubber, alkyd resins, nitrocellulose, and most often from polyvinyl chloride.

Note the advantages of this coating:

• Easy installation.
• Loyal requirements for the base.
• Easy to clean.
• Large selection of design options.
• Water resistance.
• Resistance to wear in some high-end types.

The disadvantages of the material include : low environmental friendliness and ergonomics.

Carpet and its properties

As a matter of fact it is the same carpet, consisting of natural or artificial components. Unlike ordinary carpets, carpet is able to repel dirt and can be used for a long time without any special consequences for appearance. It is produced in the form of rolls like linoleum and is laid on the floor in a similar way.

Let's list the advantages of this material:

• Ease of installation.
• Ergonomics.
• Trauma safety.
• Large selection of colors.
• Environmentally friendly carpet with natural fibers.

At the same time carpet is afraid of moisture, it is difficult to clean, and its synthetic types also have low ecological compatibility.

Different types of ceramic tiles

With the advent of underfloor heating systems in recent years, many have begun to give preference to ceramic tiles. There are many different types of it. Lay the tile with glue on the concrete base. Its advantages are that it is durable, environmentally friendly, not afraid of moisture, easy to operate and maintain. At the same time, tiles require special skills when laying and is quite traumatic.

Marmoleum

The material is similar to linoleum, but made of natural components, such as: linen, jute and hemp fibers. They are fastened with the resin of coniferous trees in a mixture with vegetable oils and wood flour. Marmoleum is produced in the same way as ordinary linoleum in rolls and tiles.

The material does not cause any difficulties in laying, does not impose special requirements on the base, has a long enough life, increased moisture resistance. It allows you to easily clean the room, without giving any trouble to the owners. It is a very environmentally friendly material. He has only one serious drawback - this is a high traumatic danger, since the surface of the marmoleum is very hard, and eventually hardens even more.

Self-leveling floors

Self-leveling floors come in several types depending on the main component: polyurethane, methyl methacrylate, epoxy and cement-acrylic. The latter are the most environmentally friendly, but epoxy floors have the widest choice in design. The most rarely used are methyl methacrylate floors, because they are very expensive.

The advantages of self-leveling floors are their durability and environmental friendliness, resistance to water, oil, chemicals, organic solvents. Among other things, it's easy to take care of them.

The disadvantages are low ergonomics and high demands on the base, which must be perfectly even, clean and dry.

Floors with cork coating

This coating is made of veneer or cork bark, which indicates the full naturalness of this material. Cork floors are:

• Roll and tile, which are glued directly to the base.
• Floating sheets of MDF, on which the "plug" layer is glued. Such sheets are simply laid on the floor.

Cork floors have many advantages:

• Good sound insulation.
• Environmentally friendly.
• A wide variety of design options.
• Easy to clean.

Cork has a very unusual feature - the ability to restore the original shape after deforming effects. Laying floating types of floors is quite simple. Adhesive coating has increased resistance to water.

The drawbacks are that the adhesive coating when laying it can cause some difficulties: it requires a good alignment of the surface of the base. Negative property of floating floors is too low level of moisture resistance.

Having analyzed the pros and cons of all types of flooring, we can summarize that the linoleum, the marmoleum and the floor are the best for the hallway. For the kitchen and bathrooms - tiles, flooring, linoleum and marmoleum. For the living room - laminate, parquet and carpet. For the bedroom - carpet made of natural fibers and parquet. For children - carpet made of natural fibers.