Tile Flooring: Sophisticated and Appealing
Since earliest society tile flooring has been widely used because of its durability, beauty and practicality. These days, tile still personifies these practical and artistic properties.
Use it for old world appeal or for a post-modern feel and look.
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Basics of Tile Flooring
Whether you’re into DIY or plan to hire out your project, these basics will help you bring your new living room floor to life.
Most tiling projects start with a well-finished subfloor. Generally, there are three common subfloors: concrete, vinyl, and plywood. A word of caution, if your floor is linoleum, you cannot put tiles over the top. Get that vinyl floor out of there before you get started. In order to give the tiling mortar a better grip, tiles should always be placed on top of a rough surface.
By far, the easiest subfloors to work with are concrete because you’ll get the best adhesion. First, you must clean the concrete floor thoroughly. Adhesives, paints, fillers, sealers and cement substrates that are chemically composed are inept surfaces for ceramic tile flooring.
Next step, check for gaps and cracks. Revamp all cracks, or at least every one you can. Cracks, if too big to repair, may need a replacement of the damaged floor segment with a fresh concrete and it must be dried for not less than 24 hours before starting to tile over it.
Before tiling, take out your level and look for humps and dips to the concrete floor surface. Humps and dips create hollow points on the tile flooring and can cause damage later on. After all these, you can now start to bond the tiles to the surface of your subfloor.
Drying is a vital step in tile floor installation. There are two setting periods; the first being after you’ve layered emaciated set mortar on our tile and joined it to the subfloor. The second is after applying the grout, but before applying the sealant. Each of these setting periods should be at least overnight, and sometimes up to 24 hours. When everything has dried, you’re done.
Tile Flooring: What’s Good About It?
Ceramic tiles and natural stones are both very easy to maintain. Putting walk off mats on every entrance, regular sweeping and if tile flooring is stained, using an approved stain remover will do. That’s ll you need to do to maintain the tile itself.
You get a lot of design flexibility with tile. They come in a wide array of sizes from 1 x 1 up to 24 x 24 and many in between, along with octagons, circles, and rectangles. These shapes and sizes can be used alone or mixed together to come up with the design that’s best for you. Combines many sizes and shapes with a variety of color choices and tile flooring becomes one of the most flexible and designer-friendly flooring alternatives available.
Tiles make for a great living room floor, but can be installed in many other areas of your home, like walls, tubs, showers, ceilings, backsplashes, and even outdoors. Tile installations also work in countertops, fireplaces, hearths, tabletops, columns and more. Unlike wood, you won’t have to worry abot tile on wet surfaces. Installed correctly and over the proper subfloor, tiles go anywhere.
Cost effectiveness is another great benefit. Tiles don’t need any kind of refinishing, reglazing, resurfacing, or recoating. It is the most cost effective flooring in the market right now. Once installed properly you won’t spend anything on it again for its lifetime.
Repairs are simple. In most cases, it should be done by a professional, though. Professionals can repair a broken tile precisely without damaging other tiles around it, causing a bigger problem.
The Advantages and Disadvantages of Tile Flooring
To give you a little to ponder about, here are a few of the Pros and Cons of tile flooring contrasted with hardwood flooring and laminate flooring.
The Pros
- Relatively inexpensive compared to wood flooring
- Requires less maintenance because stains and dirt are relatively easier to remove and does not dent as easily as woods and laminates
- Unlimited design options with shapes, sizes and colors
- Repair is less expensive than hardwoods
- Upscale perception that enhances the value of your home; laminates look good, but are often looked at as budget flooring
- Moisture has less of an effect on tile than on woods/laminates
The Cons
- Cold to the touch most of the time; your unshod feet will need to get used to this vs wood that regulates temperature better
- Professionals need to repair damage and sometimes replacement is more practical; laminates are easily repaired or replaced with matching boards
- Redesigning tile flooring generally means starting over with new while wood can be refurbished and/or refinished to a different color
- Wood and laminates install faster and with fewer steps
Buying Tips
Number one, look for slip resistance when choosing a tile living room floor. Companies that produce tiles use rating systems to identify the level of slip resistance. The rating is based on coefficient of friction; the greater the number, the greater the resistance.
Number two, check the rating, which pertains to its scratch resistance. A rating of 5 is the strongest in terms of scratch resistance, traffic, and dirt. Of course, 1 is lowest rating, signifying the most fragility.
Time to Go Shopping
The fact that stands out with tile flooring, more than any other type of flooring, is the design flexibility. Tiles or natural stone have numerous outlines, sizes, shapes, profiles, installation patterns and colors, giving you an infinite number of design choices. Have fun, sounds like you’ve got a lot of choices to make
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