Flooring buying guide
Traditional oak may still be the ultimate flooring for many homeowners. But you'll also see more bamboo, cork, merbau, and
Brazilian cherry among a growing array of alternatives. Our gauntlet of simulated kitchen abuse revealed which types of flooring
best resisted everyday wear, scuffs, and scratches.
Getting started
Begin by considering where the flooring will go and how much traffic, sunlight, and other wear and tear it will get. Vinyl proved tops in our moisture tests and most linoleum, plastic laminates, and solid wood fared nearly as well. But many engineered woods, a few solid woods, and a linoleum product we tested flubbed that test—a serious drawback in a busy kitchen. And while the best vinyls and plastic-laminates were better than solid wood at fending off wear, they can't be refinished when worn.
How to shop
Before settling on a product, spend a few dollars on two or three samples. That can be a lot less expensive than winding up with flooring that looks great in a catalog or on a Web site and then awful in your home. Manufacturers generally match most wood or engineered-wood flooring for color and grain. But variations can occur from one batch to the next, so buy the flooring you'll need all at once. All the plastic-laminate floorboards in a package often have a similar pattern, so you may want to pull from multiple packages to avoid repetition.
To determine how much flooring you'll need, measure the room's square footage by multiplying its length times its width. (Divide an irregularly shaped room into smaller rectangles, calculate the square footage of each rectangle, and then add them together.) Then Buy 7 to 10 percent extra to allow for mistakes, bad samples, and waste. You might also want to invest in an extra box of flooring for future repairs or additions.
Where to save
One way to save is on overstocks. Discounters such as iFloor (www.ifloor.com) and Lumber Liquidators (www.lumberliquidators.com) buy directly from manufacturers, and they may also buy overstocked flooring and sell it below list price. Also, take advantage of mistakes. You can often save on opened or damaged boxes or on flooring with minor flaws that no one will notice.
Hiring a pro to do the installation? You can trim hundreds of dollars off the job by doing the time-consuming prep work like prying up the old flooring, leveling or filling the subfloor, and removing any baseboard that's in the way.
Going green
Manufacturers heavily promote bamboo as a renewable resource because they can harvest this fast-growing grass in as little as four years. While the best topped our tests, some is still prone to denting and sun-induced color change. Cork is considered a renewable resource as well because it's cut from the bark without killing the tree. But the best we tested was expensive. Merbau, a Pacific hardwood, is known for its hardness, durability, and attractiveness. But environmentalists worry that illegal logging of this fancy wood may render the species extinct.
When you get it home
Before installing wood or laminate flooring, unpack it and let it sit for one to three days in the space where it will be installed so that its temperature and moisture match the levels in the room.
Keeping new floors looking good
If you need to heat the room soon after installation, raise the temperature gradually over the course of a week—especially if you have radiant heat—to allow the flooring to adjust. Sweep or vacuum floors with a soft broom or brush, and clean with a damp but not overly wet mop. Check the manufacturer's guidelines for recommended cleaning products. And put felt pads under furniture to prevent scratching.
