Today's flooring choices and costs are varied.

by Bill Jablonski

With the winter weather coming to a close, as a home owners, you are probably starting to see the effects from snow covered shoes that have left a worn look on your floors, and you may be thinking of changing the floor's look which can alter the appearance of an entire room.

The price range for flooring can be very economical to excessively expensive. Some of the most popular types of flooring home owners select include hardwood, ceramic tile, vinyl carpet and carpeting.

Dan Stifter of Salida Hardwood Floors and Remodeling located at 146 W. 10th St. has been in the flooring business for the past seven years and says that most of people these days have a preference for wood flooring because of it's appearance and lasting durability.

"A lot of the people who call us are usually looking to put wood floors in every room," Dan said, "Suggestions we usually give are to put hardwood tile in specific ares that would be better than wood. For instance a bathroom, a foyer and a laundry room due to the possibilities of water over flowing which could damage hardwood floors."

Most flooring is priced according to square-foot measurements or per tile. Price range for a cheaper grade vinyl covering can be as low as $5 per square foot up to $12 per square foot for quality carpet tile or hardwood.

"Hardwood flooring for the more common applications is going to run in the $7 range," Dan stated.

Customers typically will use a vinyl covering because it is a more economical alternative. This type of flooring also is used when a customer wants to keep actually height of the floor to a minimum. The thickness of vinyl flooring usually can run from 1/16 of an inch to 1/8 of an inch as opposed to hardwood or tile which would increase your floor height by as much as 3/4 of an inch.

Raising floor height should be one of the considerations taken, because most of the time you will have to cut down the height of your doors in order for them to open and close properly.

Vinyl flooring also allows less inconvenience time to install, usually taking only one day. Hardwood flooring, on the other hand, can run into multiple days for installation depending upon the amount of space that is going to be covered.

According to Stifter, "Normal times for installation of hardwood flooring on a small job is at least three days, whereas vinyl flooring can be laid down in the morning and be finished later that day unless there is sub-flooring to go down with it."

With a variety of wood used in hardwood flooring, oak is typically the one most often used due to it's immense popularity. Red oak or a white oak flooring are the two most commonly used.

"This type of wood flooring is a good middle of the road price and has very good durability," Stifter said, "Oak is excellent in all weather conditions, it doesn't grow and shrink a lot and it has a varying number of character grades, size, widths and prices."

An example of a character grade is a number three common, which is a lower grade and it is going to have more knots and character. A higher grade like a number one type of floor will be a clearer wood and more plain in that it has less grain and colorations vary.

Hardwood floors can be stained or unstained depending on your preference, and than are typically finished with a water based finish. A water based finish is also less toxic than a polyurethane finish and will not yellow or orange the wood over time. Ultraviolet rays coming in from sunlight through windows do not have as much effect on the wood if a water-based finish is used.

"Basically finish can last for a long time, depending how hard you are on your floor," Dan said, "If you've got kids running around on your floor with 'Big Wheels' or pets running around the finish will break down a lot quicker."

Most finishes will last approximately for six years.

"What we suggest is that people call us once every three to four years and have us buff their floor out and apply another top coat of water based finish," said Stifter, "What that does is keeps you from having to re-sand your floor which is a much higher cost."

It takes approximately three hours to allow the finish to dry and set.

Ceramic tile is also growing fast as a popular choice of flooring. This product is excellent to use in high water areas of your home because there is not any sort of finish on it to cause any lifting. One thing to consider is the down side of ceramic tile in that it can be cold at times.

Ceramic tile, which can vary in size from 4 inches to 18 inches, also offers you a material that will last you indefinitely as opposed to carpet or vinyl.

Stifter feels that, "A lot of people feel that from the day you put in carpet or vinyl it begins to depreciate, whereas hardwood and ceramic typically are going to last longer and does add value to your house."

For more information regarding flooring call Stifter at Salida Hardwood Floors and Remodeling at 539-6909