It's been said that love makes a house a home. But, after love, other things such as paint, good curtains and beautiful floor coverings go a long way toward taking a house from an empty shell to a comfortable living space.
When a family is deciding on what floor covering to use, many factors come to mind. Floors can be expensive, and need to be extremely durable, since they must withstand foot traffic for many years or decades.
The first floors were dirt. This is the most durable material - when it wears out, you scrape off a layer and lo and behold, there is more underneath. Unfortunately dirt floors are completely out of style now, and are likely to remain that way for the foreseeable future. After dirt floors (or above them, as the case may be), stone floors came into fashion. Adorning the floors of castles and other buildings throughout the Middle Ages, stone floors were durable and attractive, but cold, hard, and expensive.
Today, a good rug on a stone floor is a comfortable compromise, but the options for flooring have greatly expanded since the days when kings entertained their minions on expanses of bear-hide covered granite.
One material that gets strong opinions is wood. "Material" is a bit of a misnomer, as there are many kinds of wood that can be made into flooring. Wood has plenty of advantages over other types of flooring, but also a number of downsides.
One advantage of a wood floor is its attractive finish. It's hard to feel uncomfortable in a house that has all wood floors, buffed to a high polish. For some people, wood floors are reminiscent of grandma's house, and the fun of sliding around in your socks. Although fairly hard and durable, and actually cool to the touch, wood floors feel comfortable, and make a room seem warmer. Wood floors will stay nice looking much longer than carpet, and can be customized with rugs.
One drawback wood floors have is their perceived environmental impact. For every wood floor, trees have to be cut down. However, one could make the argument that there are actually more trees in the world because of wood floors, because floor manufacturers plant plenty of them to ensure that their supply doesn't run out. But this is not the only downside. Wood comes from trees such as the red oak, white oak, or maple. These trees take a long time to grow, and require significant work to cut down and finish. This makes wood floors expensive.
One alternative to wood floors that has increased in popularity recently is bamboo. When people unacquainted with bamboo flooring first hear of the concept, the thought of something like a Polynesian woven hut might come to mind. But bamboo floors look no different from wood flooring. The difference and advantage that bamboo floors have is in the process the material takes before it is flooring.
Bamboo is a grass, and as such it grows more like a weed than an oak tree. While a tree requires plenty of years and water and care, bamboo needs little more than sufficient water.
Hardwoods take about 20 to 120 years to reach maturity; bamboo needs only five years at the most. This means that production costs are much less.
Bamboo also meets environmental standards meant to monitor how much carbon is consumed from the atmosphere. Since bamboo requires less cultivation, pesticides and other intervention to grow well, and since it tends to grow faster, it represents a much smaller carbon footprint than hardwoods.
When a family is deciding on what floor covering to use, many factors come to mind. Floors can be expensive, and need to be extremely durable, since they must withstand foot traffic for many years or decades.
The first floors were dirt. This is the most durable material - when it wears out, you scrape off a layer and lo and behold, there is more underneath. Unfortunately dirt floors are completely out of style now, and are likely to remain that way for the foreseeable future. After dirt floors (or above them, as the case may be), stone floors came into fashion. Adorning the floors of castles and other buildings throughout the Middle Ages, stone floors were durable and attractive, but cold, hard, and expensive.
Today, a good rug on a stone floor is a comfortable compromise, but the options for flooring have greatly expanded since the days when kings entertained their minions on expanses of bear-hide covered granite.
One material that gets strong opinions is wood. "Material" is a bit of a misnomer, as there are many kinds of wood that can be made into flooring. Wood has plenty of advantages over other types of flooring, but also a number of downsides.
One advantage of a wood floor is its attractive finish. It's hard to feel uncomfortable in a house that has all wood floors, buffed to a high polish. For some people, wood floors are reminiscent of grandma's house, and the fun of sliding around in your socks. Although fairly hard and durable, and actually cool to the touch, wood floors feel comfortable, and make a room seem warmer. Wood floors will stay nice looking much longer than carpet, and can be customized with rugs.
One drawback wood floors have is their perceived environmental impact. For every wood floor, trees have to be cut down. However, one could make the argument that there are actually more trees in the world because of wood floors, because floor manufacturers plant plenty of them to ensure that their supply doesn't run out. But this is not the only downside. Wood comes from trees such as the red oak, white oak, or maple. These trees take a long time to grow, and require significant work to cut down and finish. This makes wood floors expensive.
One alternative to wood floors that has increased in popularity recently is bamboo. When people unacquainted with bamboo flooring first hear of the concept, the thought of something like a Polynesian woven hut might come to mind. But bamboo floors look no different from wood flooring. The difference and advantage that bamboo floors have is in the process the material takes before it is flooring.
Bamboo is a grass, and as such it grows more like a weed than an oak tree. While a tree requires plenty of years and water and care, bamboo needs little more than sufficient water.
Hardwoods take about 20 to 120 years to reach maturity; bamboo needs only five years at the most. This means that production costs are much less.
Bamboo also meets environmental standards meant to monitor how much carbon is consumed from the atmosphere. Since bamboo requires less cultivation, pesticides and other intervention to grow well, and since it tends to grow faster, it represents a much smaller carbon footprint than hardwoods.
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