Flooring for Living Room

Your living room is a high traffic area as it is where family and friends gather so the flooring in this room must be durable and comfortable. If you have small children you must consider safety first; stone or stained concrete is trendy but is it practical for young children who sit on the floor, in the winter the stone is cold. Your flooring for your living room should appeal to the needs of your family. Here are some floor options for living room.

Consider radiant heated floors in your living room. The radiant heated floors will provide you with comfortable heat without the dust that occurs with forced-air furnaces. Your family will be warm and comfortable during the winter months.

Another practical floor for the living room would be vinyl floor tiles. The tile is easy to install as most of them interlock and are peel and stick. Shop for a textured tile for your flooring and prevent your children from slipping and or falling. Vinyl tile is easy to keep clean; hot soapy water will enable you to wipe the stains off.

For high traffic living rooms you may want to consider carpet tiles. Carpet tiles are really easy to install as they interlock, plus if one tile is damaged or stained you can remove the tile and replace it with another. Carpet tiles are available in many designs and textures. The Berber tile is quite nice, I found one I liked at Lowes.com You can also shop for carpet tiles at Walmart.com Look for home improvement 18 x 18 carpet tile.  I like this tile because it is a good neutral and the cost for 16 tiles is reasonable.

Another flooring for your living room would be laminated wood. This floor type is good for high traffic rooms. The wood plank flooring interlocks and is easy to install. The laminated protects the wood floors from stains and scuff marks. Wood floors will add timeless beauty to your living room.

Wall to wall, carpeting is a good way to control the noise level in the living room. There are many types and textures of carpet, however the most durable carpet is the Berber. This carpet is woven that's soft to the touch and has a soft woolly texture; Berber carpet is a good choice for living rooms because this hard-wearing carpet will hold up and look good as new after years of foot, including paw traffic.

Radiant Heated Flooring Remodeling Tips

Radiant heated floors are steam pipes that are filled with hot water from your water heater. These electric coils are then used to heat the floors. The radiant heated floors will allow you and your family to feel the warmth when you step out of the shower or sit on the floor. Know that heat rises and these heated floors are a good way to keep your home warm.

I learned about heated floors while visiting friends in Colorado. Where they resided the winters were very cold however they heated their entire home with radiant heat in the flooring and walls. I assumed that I would be cold but will tell you the home was warm and cozy. So when it came time for our bathroom remodel my husband and I decided to install radiant flooring.

View this video to learn more about the benefits of radiant heat.

If you are interested in learning more about radiant flooring, then I would recommend that before you choose your  flooring look at the variety of products that are available for this type of floor. You can choose from Pergo laminated, ceramic, porcelain, stone, marble, granite, concrete and slate floors make good choices for  radiant heated floors because they are great conductors of heat.

Choose the flooring color and style that complements your home décor and also appeals to your needs. Heated flooring is a onetime installation and it is wise to choose a product that you will not grow tired of.

Know that shopping for flooring is like going to a candy store.  We all want what we cannot afford.  So before you shop for flooring it is best to know your budget for the remodel. Plus you will need to determine if you will be installing the heated flooring yourself or will you need to hire a contractor? If you are knowledgeable about this type of remodel then you may be able to install the heated floors otherwise I would recommend a contractor.

When it came time to update our bathroom my husband hired a contractor to install radiant heated concrete slaps that were then stained. We loved the look of the modern floors plus they are easy to maintain. I noticed that there is no dust buildup. Unlike forced air from a furnace that is a carrier for dust, radiant heated floors are cleaner, no dust bunnies.

Learn more about radiant heated flooring by reading this article EnergyGOV/ energy saving radiant heating