As a pet owner, you want your furry friends to feel comfortable and safe in your home, while at the same time protecting your nice floors from scratches, spills, and accidents. If you’re planning on installing new flooring, you need to think about the pet-friendliness of your flooring choice. Important Flooring Factors To ConsiderScratch Resistant Flooring
Many dogs, cats, and other animals have an instinct to scratch. Your pet-friendly flooring should be resistant to scratches if you want it to last.
Stain Resistant Flooring
Even our most well-behaved furry friends can sometimes cause accidents that leave food, drinks, and other substances on your floor. If you’ve just brought home a baby furball, you’ll want a stain-resistant floor while they’re being house trained.
Flooring That’s Comfortable & Safe For Pets
Our dogs and cats are part of our family, and their comfort and safety is a top priority. The floor they live on needs to offer at least some traction to avoid injury from slips and falls.
Want the rundown on all things flooring? – Check out our free Flooring Buyers & Maintenance Guide
Flooring Choices For Pets
Vinyl Flooring
Vinyl flooring just might be the best all-rounder option for great pet flooring. One of the pet owners’ biggest concerns is scratch damage to their floors. But even for big dogs or animals with long sharp nails, vinyl flooring holds up better than any other flooring to resist scratches and stay in good condition.
Your dogs and cats will love the softness and good traction of vinyl flooring. And if you’re worried about your pet having accidents inside, vinyl won’t damage, warp, or develop mold. Just make sure you don’t leave urine on the floor for too long.
Vinyl is an extremely affordable price with a great ability to mimic other flooring types like stone, tile, or hardwood. It’s tough enough to protect against both scratching and stains and is our top flooring option for your pets.
Laminate Flooring
With an uncanny ability to mimic hardwood flooring, laminate is can be a surprisingly good pick for your dogs and cats. Like vinyl, laminate flooring is also very easy to clean and maintain.
However, there are some downsides to using laminate flooring for your pets. Laminate is very slippery and not very comfortable for pets to walk on. If you’re going with laminate, it’s recommended that you purchase a textured finish for additional grip and avoid high gloss or smooth finishes. Additionally, frequent spills can damage laminate flooring by seeping between the planks. Stone, Ceramic Tile & Porcelain TileStone and tile flooring can be one of the best choices of flooring for your pets. They score among the best flooring types for their durability, water resistance, ease of clean-up, and is nearly impervious to even the largest dog nail scratches.
Keep in mind a few of the downsides to stone, ceramic, and porcelain. Stone is one of the most expensive types of flooring you can buy and is not also not the softest or most comfortable material for your pet to lay on. While stone and tile are cold and hard to lay on directly, this can easily be remedied by strategically placing some softer rugs and mats around your home for your fur friends to lay on.
CorkCork is considered another top flooring choice for pets partly due to its high anti-microbial and hypo-allergenic qualities. That means less chance of your floor harboring viruses and bacteria that you or your pet bring into your home.
Like Bamboo, cork is environmentally friendly, and one of the most comfortable flooring types for your pet to walk on. Cork is also quite a sound-absorbent floor, meaning less noise when running around or playing.
While Cork is a good all-around choice for your pets, there are a few things to consider. Cork dents under extremely heavy furniture, and with certain finishes, cork can be quite slippery for your pet. Cork is also resistant to scratches but not immune. And cork is also water-resistant but not water-proof, meaning you must clean up skills and accidents quickly or risk damages.
CarpetEveryone (including your pets) loves the soft and plush feel of the carpet under their feet. And though it provides great insulation and coziness, most people understand that carpet is otherwise not one of the best choices for your home if you have pets.
Carpet wears and tears easily, and is easy damaged by spills, urine, and other accidents. Carpet also attracts and holds onto bacteria, pests (mites, ticks, & fleas), and allergens like dust, dander, and pollen. Depending on the type of carpeting you have, pet hair can be a bit of a nightmare to remove and a constant struggle to keep clean.
If you are going to choose carpet for your pets, make sure you choose a non-loop or low pile carpet type that’s odor and stain-treated.
Considering new a flooring option for your home? Contact your local flooring experts at Specialty Interiors for great flooring advice tailored to your needs.
You May Also Like – How To Choose The Right Flooring For Your Home The post The Best Pet-Friendly Flooring For Your Furry Friends first appeared on Winnipeg's Leader in Flooring & Ceiling Tiles.Via https://specialtyinteriors.ca/2021/08/the-best-pet-friendly-flooring-for-your-furry-friends/
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Choosing your new floor is an exciting experience. Flooring is one of your home’s most eye-catching features, but with so many options available, it can be difficult to decide which is best.
When deciding on the right floor for a particular space, here is a list of 9 things to think about before you buy. Which Rooms Are You Considering?Flooring options heavily depend on the room type and location. Room shape, design, size, and function all play important roles when choosing your flooring.
An obvious example is rarely seeing carpet installed in the kitchen or bathroom. The entrances of your home should be durable and strong enough to withstand high traffic impact from shoes and be easily cleanable. Wood flooring for example rarely gets installed in the basement due to the high moisture content below ground. Family Lifestyle & NeedsConsidering the type of people who live in your home can also impact your flooring choice. If you have children or pets, you may want to consider flooring with high impact resistance such as Luxury Vinyl Planks and Luxury Vinyl Tiles.
If you live with someone with a disability, you’ll want to identify any mobility issues with the flooring you are considering. AllergiesDoes anyone in your family suffer from allergies? If so, you’ll want to consider what type of flooring you install. Carpet more easily harbors allergens and is harder to remove than hard surfaces.
Some flooring contains VOCs (volatile organic compounds) that may cause issues with heightened sensitivities. Look for products with lower VOC levels. Durability & LongevityBefore you decide on your flooring, you’ll want to be thinking about the future. If you don’t intend to stay for long, you may not want to invest in expensive flooring.
If you are planning long term, you’ll want to invest in a more durable and sturdy floor to avoid repair and replacement costs later on. Care & MaintenanceYou should determine in advance how much time you are willing to invest on your floor before you buy it. Resilient flooring like Luxury Vinyl Planks and Luxury Vinyl Tiles require little maintenance and are easy to clean. Square Foot BudgetFlooring can be very expensive. Knowing your budget, total square meters, and price per square meter ahead of time will prevent wasted time and blowing out costs.
Flooring comes with a huge range of costs from under $20 per square meter for more budget-friendly Luxury Vinyl Planks and Luxury Vinyl Tiles, to over $200 per square meter for hardwoods. Consider Fashion TrendsLike fashion and other industries, flooring is affected by what’s trending at any given moment. Environmentally friendly floors like recyclable and renewable floors are also gaining popularity, as is water-resistant flooring, Get Flooring SamplesThe last thing you want is to purchase and install your flooring only to discover it didn’t look the way you wanted. Gauging how your floor will look from photos or reading alone is a risky business.
Avoid disappointment by asking stores for samples you can take home to try it out for yourself. Many stores let you take home samples (that you don’t need to return) where you can look at them up close, see how it blends with the design and décor of your room, and test them stain and scratch resistance. Find A Good Local ContractorInstalling flooring on your own may save a buck or two upfront, but even easier to install flooring is time-consuming and difficult to get right the first time.
Choosing a reputable and professional flooring installer will take the stress out of the process, and give you the peace of mind to know your floor will be installed right the first time.
Whether you know the flooring option you’re interested in or need help deciding, Specialty Interiors is here to help you get the flooring of your dreams. No matter what your budget or style, we have options to match your needs. Request a quote or call us at 204-783-1300. The post How To Choose The Right Flooring For Your Home first appeared on Winnipeg's Leader in Flooring & Ceiling Tiles.Via https://specialtyinteriors.ca/2021/07/how-to-choose-the-right-flooring-for-your-home/ With so many flooring choices available these days, it can be hard to know what the best suited for your project. If you’ve been shopping around for flooring, you may have come across the acronyms LVP and LVT. Both of these acronyms describe types of vinyl flooring called luxury vinyl planks and luxury vinyl tiles.
LVT and LVP flooring are becoming an extremely popular choice for their ability to mimic other more expensive floors like hardwood, stone, and ceramic at a fraction of the cost. They’re also extremely durable, realistic, and low maintenance.
But what exactly are LVP and LVT, and what are the differences between them? Read on to find out more.
What Is Luxury Vinyl?
Luxury vinyl is a more upscale version of the old standard vinyl flooring. This newer luxury version of standard vinyl is much better able to mimic the realistic qualities of other types of wood like hardwood. Luxury vinyl comes in a virtually endless variety of colors, textures, and patterns, designed and crafted to look just like other more expensive flooring types.
Luxury vinyl flooring comes in two distinct styles and can be customized to match any decor preference. These are Luxury Vinyl Planks (LVP) and Luxury Vinyl Tiles (LVT). Let’s take a closer look at the differences and similarities between these two.
Luxury Vinyl PlankLVP flooring or Luxury vinyl plank flooring is constructed and designed to imitate hardwood floor planks. LVP can closely match the texture, color, and grain of any number of hardwood species bringing a touch of elegance and class to your home with several added benefits.
Unlike hardwood floors, luxury vinyl plank is water-resistant and scratch-resistant, making it an ideal choice for homes with small children, pets, or heavy furniture. Cleaning LVP is also a breeze requiring only a simple sweep, mop, or vacuuming to keep looking its best.
RELATED – Reasons Why Luxury Vinyl Planks & Tile Is A Popular Flooring Type
Luxury Vinyl TileLVT flooring or luxury vinyl plank flooring is designed to imitate tile and stone but at a much lower cost. LVP can closely match the texture, color, and patterns found in stone and tile flooring with some taking the realistic design even further by installing it with grout. Like LVP, LVT is easy to maintain, clean, and is highly scratch and water-resistant.
LVP Vs LVTSo from these two descriptions, it seems that LVP and LVT are pretty similar right? Well, that’s because they are!
Luxury vinyl planks and luxury vinyl tiles are constructed the same way and made from the same materials. The main difference is the shape, colors, textures, and what medium they’re trying to mimic. Planks are cut much longer to mimic hardwood while tiles are cut smaller to better resemble ceramic and stone.
Both are constructed with several layers and consist of
Both come with optional sound suppressing backing to reduce noise and for additional comfort.
While it’s common to think of LVP only mimicking hardwood and LVT mimicking stone and ceramic, the options are truly endless. From bamboo to fabric, animal prints to other art, the technology used to make luxury vinyl flooring is advanced enough to mimic anything you want!
This technology lets your creative juices flow through all the different textures and patterns available. But the choices don’t stop there. Cut and shape your planks and tiles into whatever shape you want. The herringbone pattern is one of the most popular flooring trends for 2021.
The durability of this flooring allows you to install it in places that you couldn’t traditionally install hardwood flooring like the kitchen, playrooms, utility rooms, and the bathroom.
Add Luxury Vinyl Planks & Tiles To Your Next ProjectEndless design possibilities, tough and durable materials, and an affordable cost all point to LVP and LVT being excellent choices for your next flooring project. With the prices of hardwood on the rise, these flooring alternatives are becoming the go-to flooring choice. The post Luxury Vinyl Plank Vs Luxury Vinyl Tile first appeared on Winnipeg's Leader in Flooring & Ceiling Tiles.Via https://specialtyinteriors.ca/2021/06/luxury-vinyl-plank-vs-luxury-vinyl-tile/ A common question we hear when discussing flooring installation is “can’t I just install it myself?”
The answer is… well yes you can, but it’s highly recommended to call in professionals who have the tools, the industry knowledge, and years of experience to do the job right the first time.
Why? Because flooring installation is hard, complicated, and expensive work requiring specific technical tools and expertise. There’s no easy cookie-cutter option for flooring installation. Every install is unique with its challenges and problems to solve. And hardwood is one of the hardest of all flooring materials to install correctly.
So before you decide you want to tackle installing your hardwood floors, take a few minutes to consider some of the benefits of hiring professional flooring installers, and understand the risks involved with doing it yourself. Quality Of MaterialsNot all hardwood is created equal or is suitable for your home or business. A professional flooring company has the industry knowledge and experience to help you choose the right type of wood for your flooring. They’ll take into consideration the climate you live in and if a particular type of wood is suitable for your home.
Professionals have a keen eye for the quality of products they choose for your flooring. They can tell if a piece of wood is well-made or prone to splinters and warping.
Experienced InstallersWhen you’re dealing with something as complex and precise as hardwood flooring, experience does matter. Contractors from a reputable flooring company in Winnipeg have years if not decades of training and experience. They do this day in and day out and understand how to problem solve and install your flooring properly and precisely.
Professionals are also covered and protected by installation warranties, so you know your floors are going to be installed correctly. If you install it on your own, the costs of fixing mistakes come directly out of your pocket.
Hardwood is a challenge for a DIY’er to get perfect. You need to understand a variety of techniques and make decisions like whether to staple, glue, nail, etc.
Hardwood isn’t cheap, so you want it done right and look amazing.
Save Time & MoneyIf you know what you’re doing, it is possible to save some money by installing your floors by yourself. However, you need all the specialized equipment and know exactly what products and techniques to use.
Chances are you don’t just have the specialty flooring tools just laying around the house. If you don’t, you’ll need to buy a range of expensive flooring level tools, saws, nailers, staplers, sanders, and buffers to name a few. If you need to buy all these yourself, you’ll eat away at all your savings.
If you don’t prepare your floor properly before installation, you risk doing it wrong, costing you more time and money. If you’re not accustomed to cutting and shaping, you’ll end up wasting a lot of products with offcuts.
Not only is there potential for financial disaster, but you’ll spend many hours learning the techniques and doing the installation at a fraction of the pace a professional flooring installer would.
Get It Done On TimeAs stated above, professionals have the tools and experience to install your floors quickly. Ripping up your flooring can be a very disruptive home improvement. Especially if work needs to be done on the subfloors, this is no small-time home renovation project. Doing this yourself could render your space unusable for weeks or months.
Get your flooring done by professionals with minimal disruption and get your new finished flooring faster.
Final ThoughtsInstalling your flooring can at first seem like a good way to save some money. But unless you already have the tools to do the job, and the experience to do it quickly and accurately, the risks usually outweigh the reward.
Your floor is one of the main features of your home. Leave big projects like this to the professionals and rest easy knowing your floor will be installed on budget, on time, and exactly how you want it. If you’re looking for a flooring company in Winnipeg that only uses the best products, the most experienced skilled contractors, contact the experts at Specialty Interiors today. The post Hardwood Flooring Installation – Why You Should Leave It To The Pros first appeared on Winnipeg's Leader in Flooring & Ceiling Tiles.Via https://specialtyinteriors.ca/2021/05/hardwood-flooring-installation-why-you-should-leave-it-to-the-pros/ Flooring trends are a subsection of fashion trends. In the past, flooring trends did not change that often, but technological advancements have turned this around. Flooring inventors are constantly creating new innovative products that can change with the broader fashion trends. Flooring options today are affordable, durable, low maintenance, and water-proof, yet still luxurious. Luxury Vinyl Tiles & Luxury Vinyl Planks (LVT & LVP) have been around since 2009 and gaining more market share with each passing year. This is because LVT manufacturers have continued to improve their features. Luxury vinyl is more durable than other vinyl flooring types and therefore can be used in a broader range of flooring setups including colleges, hospitals, and hotels to name a few. Below we discuss factors why LVT is gaining more market share from hardwoods and carpets. Luxury Aesthetic & AppealOver the last two years, technology is pushing the hardwood industry with wood-look-alike products from vinyl sheets, ceramic tile, and laminate flooring. Hardwood manufacturers have had to think out of the box to stay competitive and cater to a wide range of budgets, style preferences, sustainability, and availability. LVT is a versatile flooring option that allows customers to be creative and choose from a wide range of colors and patterns. Customers love that they can get this faux-wood look at a much cheaper price than traditional hardwood yet achieve the same aesthetic appeal. Even more appealing, you can have luxury wood patterned flooring in water-prone areas that you don’t normally install real wood. These areas include the kitchen, bathroom, mudroom, and laundry room. LVT comes in many designs, textures, and patterns including blonde, stone-look alike, and textured flooring to give customers unparalleled versatility and choice. Blonde flooring has become one of the biggest flooring trends in recent years due to its ability to work well with nearly any decor. Textured flooring is also trending in 2021 because of its close resemblance to classic hardwood. Tough As NailsLuxury vinyl’s mass appeal has led manufacturers to put more time and effort into designing more durable models. LVT is made from sturdy advanced materials making it a tough flooring option. The tile is made with five layers and then fused with pressure and heat. The layers include a vinyl backing, a vinyl core, a print film layer, a wear layer that is the protective layer, and a final coating. The advanced durability makes LVT suitable for high-traffic areas including offices and institutions. The protective layer protects the floor’s normal wear and tear including stains, chips, scuffs, and dents. Easy To Maintain & CleanLow maintenance is another key feature of LVT. Luxury vinyl tile & planks are less expensive and easier to maintain than hardwood floors and carpets. Hardwood floors require regular polishing, waxing, and refinishing for protection and to maintain their shine. LVT on the other hand is designed with an in-built protective layer making it essentially maintenance and hassle-free. LVT is also easier to clean than hardwoods and carpets. Just give it a sweep and mop and you’re good to go. Lower Volume AcousticsOther floors like tiles and hardwood do not have a quiet profile. For office setups, LVT provides a quiet floor and it is ideal for organizations with an open office plan to minimize footfall traffic. WaterproofFor decades, contractors and property owners only had only one waterproof option of using tiles. But modern models of vinyl are waterproof and are ideal for kitchens, bathrooms, mudrooms, and laundry rooms. It gives interior designers and owners the capacity to achieve the theme of wood in any room on a premise. Oh So ComfortableLVT has an amazing ability to keep warm during cold months and cool in hot weather. The construction and makeup of this flooring make it ideal to use in any climate. Lower Price PointLVT is affordable in comparison to hardwood yet provides the same luxurious effect as wood. Compared to wood, LVT is also much easier to install, making it the perfect flooring option for contractors or homeowners with smaller budgets. Can you see why luxury vinyl tiles & planks are growing in popularity? Versatile, durability and unlimited design options make it a perfect fit for any room in a house or business. Are you ready to get great flooring at an affordable price? Call Specialty Interiors today and speak to one of our representatives or book an appointment. The post Why Are Luxury Vinyl Tiles & Planks So Popular These Days? first appeared on Winnipeg's Leader in Flooring & Ceiling Tiles.Via https://specialtyinteriors.ca/2021/05/why-are-luxury-vinyl-tiles-planks-so-popular-these-days/ |
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