Flooring covers a significant amount of square footage in any given project, so it goes without saying that it has substantial impact on the end result. Consider the desired level of comfort, durability, longevity, maintenance, and cost when making your selection. Wood flooring, laminate flooring, masonry flooring, vinyl flooring, and resilient flooring offer long-lasting solutions; carpeting is a soft alternative; and area rugs provide a less permanent option with a transformative capacity. Don't be afraid to mix and match.
Whether large or small, area rugs provide an impermanent means of introducing color, pattern, and texture into a project: from hand-knotted rugs in traditional Oriental and Persian designs to wool/silk blend floral print rugs produced with high-tech machinery.
Likely the most comfortable flooring (and the best insulator too), carpeting is widely used everywhere from hotels and homes to educational institutions and commercial settings. Modular carpeting (carpet tiles) allows for more customization and ease of installation than traditional broadloom.
For both professional studios and home use, dance flooring must be durable, slip-resistant, and attractive. “Sprung” floors use springs or woven wooden panels beneath the surface, creating give in the floor to minimize impact and reduce injuries. Portable tile systems offer a DIY option for home use. For professional studios, sound-damping features are an additional consideration. Dance floor materials include rubber, vinyl, and hardwood.
Natural, beautiful, and easy to clean, wood flooring comes in many shapes, sizes, and species. Newly milled or reclaimed, local or exotic, wood floors vary in color from dark browns to rich reds, pale golds to weathered greys. With options like strip, plank, and parquet formats, as well as solid, antique, or engineered wood, wood flooring offers something for everyone - for commercial or residential spaces, in traditional, transitional, or contemporary styles.
Laminate flooring offers a less expensive alternative to the real thing, often mimicking wood (or stone) flooring in appearance. Multiple layers of synthetic flooring are fused together with a lamination process and topped with a photographic applique image under a clear protective layer. The inner core is generally comprised of melamine resin and fiber board compound.
Known for its exceptional strength and raw aesthetic, masonry flooring is made from rugged stone and clay in its authentic versions of marble and slate, or in the manmade flooring of brick or terrazzo. Masonry flooring boasts a higher price point, but its heat retaining and pure aesthetic properties allow this tough flooring to maintain popularity.
Modular products that are installed on architectural floors to provide routing and easy access to wiring, cables, and / or HVAC.
Boasting stain-resistance and durability, vinyl and resilient flooring are available at a variety of price points. The most widely known resilient flooring is made using linoleum, cork, rubber, and vinyl. Each option offers a natural shock-absorbing floor that is quite comfortable underfoot.
From solid rubber to solution-dyed polypropylene to artificial turf, specialty floors are required in venues with unconventional demands and heavy use. Examples include sports stadiums, fitness/rec centers, and automobile showrooms. Rubber offers excellent strength and durability and a huge range of aesthetic options. Artificial turf not only carpets football stadiums but also backyards in drought-prone areas. Cork is a sustainable solution with a compelling aesthetic and excellent acoustics.
Wooden stair treads offer a classically beautiful look and warmth underfoot. Common woods for custom treads include Tiger Maple, Birch, Ash, Walnut, and Pine. For durability and slip-resistance in commercial applications, molded fiberglass and metal treads may be installed over a cement or wooden sub-structure. Grate-style treads in galvanized metal act as boot/shoe scrapers, removing mud and snow to help keep indoor floors clean.
A versatile and beautiful material that suits residences as well as upscale commercial venues with heavy foot traffic. The basic formula involves an aggregate of marble, granite, or quartz that is mixed with cement, poured in place, then polished. Epoxy matrix systems offer enhanced binding, enabling the use of materials besides stone (shells, recycled glass, and even plastic). The epoxy binder may also be dyed to match or complement the color of the aggregate, thus expanding terrazzo’s aesthetic possibilities.
An expansive category with many different incarnations, vinyl refers to a synthetic material made of polyvinyl chloride (PVC), which is cost-effective and very durable. Homogenous sheets are a premium long-lasting product with a uniform material throughout its thickness, making it ideal for high-traffic. Heterogeneous sheets are made of different layers, thus providing design variability. Luxury Vinyl Tile (LVT) provides the look of real wood, stone, or ceramic. Woven Vinyl tile (WVT) uses a vinyl textile to create the look and texture of a woven material.
