By LAUREN ODDO

Budget

Whether you’re remodeling an existing building or home or starting brand-new, it’s time to make a decision! One of the most obvious things to base your flooring decision on is going to be cost or budget. But what does that mean? There’s so much more that goes into the cost of flooring than just the flooring itself! Perhaps you’ve heard the phrase from a painter, “only the rich can afford cheap paint”? Well, the same goes for flooring!

When considering the cost of a floor you must factor in the cleaning and maintenance costs as well as the cost of flooring, install and any necessary installation and floor prep supplies. A great example that’s often used for a floor that is CHEAP to put in but expensive to maintain is commercial VCT (think Publix supermarkets, schools and cafeterias). VCT stands for Vinyl Composition Tile and is extremely inexpensive on the front side. That said, as soon as it’s installed, it has to have multiple coats of wax applied and re-applied throughout its lifespan to be maintained the way it is meant to be.

Not only does waxing the floor add cost to the maintenance aspect of the floor, it also puts your floors out of commission for some time while the process is completed. If your operations shut down at night, this may be a non-issue but if you’re running 24/7 this could create a logistics nightmare!

If you’re looking for a floor that is fairly low cost on the front AND backside luxury vinyl is the way to go. Starting as low as $1 per square foot and virtually no required maintenance process, it’s easy on the pocketbook before and after installation. Replacement is also fairly easy, especially for click-lock products.

If you go even further and spend a bit more on the front side for an easy to maintain, extremely durable product like porcelain tile, the durability will allow the floor to outlive a product at a lesser cost and, while difficult to replace, it is unlikely you will ever need to because it will truly last a lifetime.

Durability

Once you’ve determined a budget and have found a few options within the budget, the next thing to do is determine how durable you need the product to be. In most applications, the more durable the better. That said, there are different types of durability to consider. For example: foot traffic, rolling loads, scratch resistance, dent resistance, etc.

For example, while click-lock luxury vinyl is soft underfoot and perfect for high traffic areas, rolling loads tend to compromise the locking mechanism causing the floors to spread apart over time.

Another thing to consider is the maintenance requirements the flooring manufacturer outlines to keep the look and durability of your flooring the same as the day you installed it. For example, a natural oil wood will perform beautifully in a residential application but in a high traffic commercial application, the floor will need to be re-oiled so often that it will be difficult to keep up with the maintenance and will look dull and unfinished within a few months at most. Likewise, VCT is extremely durable unless maintained improperly, which will lead to scratching, stains, chipping, etc.

While durability is important, on the opposite end of the spectrum is softness, and softness may also be something to looking for in a floor. And while tile is at the top of the list for durability, it’s at the bottom for softness! A great compromise between durability and softness is a click-lock luxury vinyl with an attached pad. While durable enough to withstand heavy foot traffic, it is also extremely soft underfoot.

Design

Now that you’ve got a type of flooring figured out, now it’s time to focus on color, texture and design. One of the best things about luxury vinyl is that it has come a long way in the past 20 years. From wood, stone and tile looks to abstract and fabric textures, there are thousands of looks to choose from. Many manufacturers provide room scene visualizer tools to allow you to see their flooring in your space. This is a cool tool for anyone who has trouble envisioning things on a larger scale.

The most common trend currently, especially in homes, is for the same flooring to go throughout all spaces in a home or workspace. That said, using different floors can help separate an otherwise open area. Overall, it is important to think of your flooring as the backwash for the rest of your design. Sometimes the backwash can to the talking, but in most cases you want it to be simple and complimentary to the rest of the details in the design.

Now let’s pick some floors!

Lauren Oddo has been with US Design Source for six years managing sales and specifying products. Upon graduating from the University of Central Florida with a bachelor's degree in entrepreneurship, she sought a career that would allow her to combine her love for home design and education in entrepreneurship into one passion. The owners of US Design Source, Michael and Ginny Hill, have been part of the Orlando flooring and building industry for over 50 years. As a company, we've installed hundreds of thousands of square feet of flooring throughout Central Florida.