Tips from the Experts: What to Expect When Shopping for Flooring

WRITTEN BY: CARPET ONE FLOOR & HOME

Shopping for flooring can be exciting, fun, and challenging all at the same time, but where do you begin your search, and how do you know what to look for? With so many styles, types of floors, and ways to shop for flooring, there are a seemingly endless number of ways to find the floors that fit your home best, so knowing what to expect before you dive in is half the battle! To help you become better equipped to find the perfect flooring for your home, we’ve put together some ideas on what you can expect when you’re looking for new floors. Whether you’re getting ready to upgrade your living room, bedroom, or bathroom, or you’re searching for a solution for our whole-home renovation, you’ll be ready to explore the many options after knowing more about what to expect.

HOW TO SHOP FOR FLOORING

ONLINE: One of the first things to consider when you’re on the hunt for flooring is how to shop for flooring. Online shopping is becoming more and more prevalent in today’s world, and you can expect shopping for flooring to be no different. Many flooring websites allow you to view flooring samples online, which can help you narrow down your flooring options before you see floors inperson. Flooring retailers also allow you to see what a specific product would look like in your home by asking you to take a photo of the room where you’ll be installing the new flooring. You may be surprised at just how accurate these visualizers can be. Often, you can even order flooring samples directly from the website so you can see what they’ll look like in your home. This is just one of the many ways you can begin your flooring search.

IN-STORE: While online shopping is on the rise, an in-store shopping experience is still an excellent way to search for the perfect floors. You can expect to find flooring in a store to be similar to other retail experiences, where a dedicated salesperson will be there to learn more about you and your home. The benefit of the in-person shopping experience is that you’ll get to learn more about recommended products that fit your lifestyle, and you can expect to get all your questions answered in real time. With this type of shopping, you can also expect to see and feel the samples in your hands, meaning you can narrow down your search without waiting for samples to come in the mail.

DIFFERENT TYPES OF FLOORING

Whether you choose to shop for flooring online, in-store, or using a combination of both is up to you, but one thing you can expect when you’re searching for the best flooring for your home is a vast variety of types of flooring. In today’s market, there is a wide range of both soft- and hard-surface flooring options available. And within those two categories, there are also a number of flooring types, including carpet, luxury vinyl, solid and engineered hardwood, and tile. While these five common options may not seem overwhelming from the get-go, you may be surprised to learn that you can expect there to be hundreds of options available to you at almost any flooring retailer.

Even though there are so many different types of flooring, you can expect that you’ll be able to narrow down your search for the perfect product based on your style, where you plan to install the flooring, your budget, your maintenance expectations, and a few other lifestyle factors.

A WIDE VARIETY OF FLOORING STYLES

No matter what type of flooring you choose, one expectation you can have when looking at all the flooring products available is that each and every product will be one-of-a-kind. Whether it’s carpet, luxury vinyl, hardwood, or tile, you’ll find tons of styles to choose from. Each type of flooring offers unique appearance characteristics, from a range of colors to several sizes, shapes, and more.

Carpet is available in a range of colors, shades, and fibers. Whether you’re looking for the perfect neutral shade to match any design or you are looking for something modern and unique, there’s likely a carpet style out there for you. Along with the vast number of styles, expect to find wool, nylon, polyester, polypropylene, and triexta fibers in cut-loop, loop-pile, and cut-pile carpet constructions.

When it comes to luxury vinyl, you can expect to find many designs that mimic genuine hardwood floors. These luxury vinyl planks appear like natural hardwood with artificial graining and stain colors, but are made with different materials. Luxury vinyl tiles that mimic the look of tile or other products are also available.

If you’re shopping for genuine hardwood, you’ll find a number of stains, species, widths, and finishes. Red oak, white oak, hickory, and cherry are some of the species you can expect to find, while stains vary in color from light to medium and dark. The finish on the surface of wood floors can also be matte, semi-gloss, or glossy, depending on the hardwood product. Textures on the surface of wood floors like hand-scrapes, coarseness, and mineral streaks are also common with hardwood planks. Common plank widths for both engineered and solid wood floors include 2 ¼ inches, 3 inches, 5 inches, and even 7 inches.

For tile, there are different materials, shapes, sizes, and finishes. Glass, natural stone, porcelain, and ceramic are four common tile materials, while octagons, rectangles, squares, and circles are popular shapes. Tile ranges in size, anywhere from small mosaics on sheets to large 24-inch tiles, depending on the use, and matte and gloss finishes are both found in a few tile designs.

A VARIETY OF FLOORING PRODUCTS WITH VARYING FEATURES AND WARRANTIES

With so many flooring products available, it’s no surprise that there are also varying features and warranties depending on the product. Carpet features include unique durability ratings, stain resistance for some products, different levels of softness, fade resistance, and performance. Luxury vinyl features include stain resistance or waterproof protection; varying thicknesses; resistance to dents, scratches, and other wear; and different constructions. Genuine hardwood floors have varying hardnesses depending on the species, as well as different finishes that can affect the durability of the floors. Tile can be 100% waterproof or waterresistant, and its durability depends on the product.

Along with these features, expect each product to have a unique warranty. If you are interested in purchasing flooring for a home with kids or pets, or you’re simply interested in long-lasting flooring options, be sure to consider the warranty. Warranties often have a different number of years for wear, stain, and soil resistance, and some warranties are specific to the types of damages, cleaning methods used, and more. No matter what type of flooring you choose to purchase, you can certainly expect some kind of flooring warranty.

A MEASURE OF YOUR HOME

If you want to move forward with your project, one of the next steps you can expect to take is to schedule a measure of your space. Initiating the task of measuring the area where you want to install new flooring with a flooring retailer will allow you and the retailer to determine the total and exact square footage. With the square footage, you can then get an estimate on the overall cost of your flooring project. You can expect these estimates to include the cost of the flooring multiplied by the square footage, which is the total cost of the flooring, the cost of the removal of old flooring, the cost of the removal and installation of moldings, if applicable, the cost of installation, and more, depending on the retailer.

Whether you’re on the hunt for the perfect carpet, luxury vinyl, hardwood, or tile, or if you’re not quite sure yet, having a better idea of what to expect before starting on your flooring journey is valuable knowledge that will aid in your search. No matter your style, home, or lifestyle, don’t worry; there’s a flooring solution out there for you just waiting to be found!