Choosing the right flooring for each room in your Northern Territory home is always a major concern. You want your home to look and feel comfortable. There are a number of materials on the market to choose from so knowing what to buy can leave you scratching your head. To help you decide which type of flooring works best where, here is some flooring food for thought.
Soft Flooring Options
You may want to opt for carpet, jute or sisal for a comfortable and homely feel in living spaces. Carpet is great for maintaining heat in the home during the winter and keeping living rooms cool in the summer months. It’s also non-slip, which is great if you have kids or family members with disabilities.
You can go the natural route with either jute or sisal. With sisal you will have carpet like material that is durable and has great stain resistance. It is not as soft as carpet, but it may be worth the sacrifice for long lasting flooring. Jute is better suited to low traffic areas and is softer than sisal. Neither of these soft flooring options should be used in wet areas or rooms.
Hard Flooring Options
Polished concrete is an excellent option for rooms that get plenty of sun. You can pay more for hard wearing polished concrete, which has a better quality seal. You will find that polished concrete is hard on the feet; however, you can still have it in living spaces and compliment the material with rugs. Polished concrete also works well in kitchens.
Timber flooring is always a popular choice. You can use it in most rooms and hallways. If you decide to choose timber flooring for a living space, make sure to accompany it with some rugs to trap heat in the winter months. Opt for sealed timber flooring with high durability that will resist staining from spills.
Ideal for kitchens, bathrooms and even hallways, tiles are incredibly resistant to moisture and stay cool in summer, which is great in a hot, humid climate. This hard flooring option is another that may require the accompaniment of rugs to stave off the cold in winter.
If you want comfortable flooring that is durable, consider opting for cork. Choosing sealed cork will make your life easier as it is easier to clean and resists fading. However, it is always best not to leave stains on flooring as stubborn stains may take longer to shift. You may find that cork flooring will begin to darken if it is in direct sunlight. Cork will work in kitchens, hallways, living rooms and even bedrooms.
Rubber flooring is another option that is soft to walk on. The material is not prone to fading and is durable. The main problem with rubber is that it does stain easily and is vulnerable to damage. You may want to reserve rubber flooring for low traffic areas.
If you like choice, vinyl flooring comes in a massive range of styles, colours and designs. There aren’t really any maintenance issues and it isn’t too hard on the feet. Vinyl is fairly fade resistant and is one of the cheaper options in hard flooring. Vinyl is ideal for most rooms in a home.
It should be noted that new studies are constantly coming out on the subject of carpeting and allergens. For now, the consensus still states that people with serious allergies, breathing or lung conditions should avoid wall-to-wall carpeting.
