Sunday News (Zimbabwe)

Floors and value of your home

- Amanda Ncube

THE type of flooring that you use for your home determines the value and the owner of the house. The type of flooring could make a significan­t difference in the appearance of your space. Good-looking flooring could enhance the value of the home at the same time make it look elegant. However, it may be difficult to choose the right type of floor to use for your home. Here are some of the types that one can consider using when renovating or designing space.

The type of flooring you choose can heavily impact the value of your home for the better. Basically, there are six types of flooring that are used in most homes; these include hardwood, laminate, stone, tiles, carpet and cork.

enhances the value of your home, it makes your home feel expensive. It is one of those home improvemen­ts that will actually be a selling point if you are about to put your house on the market. This type of flooring, even if it’s old and worn has another positive — you can refinish it. Using hardwood in a business environmen­t has mixed blessings. While it gives off an inviting look, since it’s sensitive to warping from too much moisture, it may become a problem. Hardwood flooring is not too eyefriendl­y when it comes to dings and dents. Hardwood flooring gives value, but it also takes it away at the very beginning of its life-cycle. In other words, it’s one of the more-expensive options to cover your floor.

also known as the cheap version of wood . . . it is truly a mainstay. This type of flooring is robust, always looks new regardless of how long you have had it. This substance rarely fades — it is resistant to stains and is pretty easy to install. One should take note of the fact that this type of flooring does not add value to your home even if you want to put it on the market. If it discolours, it’s not possible to rehabilita­te or refinish the material. Another

disadvanta­ge is that it is very susceptibl­e to damage from stagnant water.

is one of the strongest flooring that anyone can choose. When you use this type you are guaranteed that it is there for a long run . . . it’s nearly indestruct­ible. The history of stone floors gives them a classic appearance, but is increasing­ly thought of as having a contempora­ry side, too. Like hardwood, stone floors can add value to your existing home. The good thing about this is that it is water resistant. The disadvanta­ge of stone floor is that it is expensive, it retains cold and it is slippery when it’s wet. This type is difficult to install which means it requires experts. Not only will it require regular cleaning, it can chip, causing the owner to have to take extra care in maintainin­g the floor.

is the softest of all the options. It can be an economical way to cover your space. This is a popular choice and an economical way to cover a room or entire house. Compared to other materials it is cheap. The patterns, colours, textures and designs make a carpet the perfect addition as it can get along with the interior. However, with modular carpet tiles, this issue might be on-the-way to being solved. In a worn spot, using the modular method, it’s relatively easy to popout the bad piece, replacing it with a new tile. Whatever your choice, you can always mix-and-match carpets with hardwood, or tiles with stone. The possibilit­ies are many and just depend on what you will be using the room for or the image you are trying to create.

are very sensitive yet the best choice to make. For a house which has many people, it is the solution. A benefit over stones is that tiles can be fairly easy to replace. Tiles were meant for wet places. Tiles, nonetheles­s, are not indestruct­ible. Chipping and cracking are common when heavy objects are dropped on them, or something that weighs a lot shatters an individual tile. These are very noisy floors that can become slippery when fluids are spilled on them.

— is a great choice for play areas or commercial spaces where there is a desire for comfortabl­e walking and standing. Cork flooring is an expensive flooring material; however, sometimes they can be as cheap depending on the characteri­stics and colour of the material. eg POST-HALT=STOP

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