Buying a new floor covering for your home is a critical decision to make. Since you’re the one who has to live with the choice you make for the amount of time you’re in the home, it’s important to consider everything that goes into choosing your floor.
With this in mind, we put together a list of six things you should never do when buying new flooring. Refer to this list, and getting the perfect flooring for your home will be a breeze.
1. Choosing a Flooring Product without Considering your Lifestyle
The best type of flooring for your home is the one that works efficiently with your lifestyle. If you have kids, pets, or areas prone to high-traffic, certain flooring types may not perform as well as you’d expect.
You wouldn’t select a high-end hardwood floor for a room that receives heavy foot traffic and dirt intrusion from your kids, right? That’s the kind of lifestyle consideration we’re talking about. Keep an open mind to other flooring products you may not have considered in the past if you can relate to the above example.
2. Buying Cheap, Poor Quality Products
Ever heard the term “you get what you pay for”? Taking the cheap route when selecting a new flooring product for your home typically gets you a poor quality product.
It’s a simple fact that getting new flooring installed in your home can be a costly project, but you’re better off investing in your floors and loving them for a long period of time rather than trashing a two-year-old floor because the quality is garbage.
3. Not Doing Your Homework
Homeowners that research what they want in their home will always have a one up on those who don’t. Brushing up on some carpet and flooring knowledge will always help you make the right decision in the long run.
If you’re not sure where to look for research, snag a free copy of our carpet buying guide down at the bottom of this page. It’s basically carpet buying 101 in a well put together PDF.
4. Ignoring Warranties
Warranties are put in place to protect you, the customer, and the flooring manufacturer. It’s important to know what warranties you receive upon purchasing your new floor and what it entails.
For example, our carpet installations come with a lifetime installation warranty, meaning if anything goes awry after the installation, we’ll come out and fix it. If you don’t know what warranties you will be getting from the company you’re working with, ask them.
5. Skimping on a Professional Installation
It doesn’t matter how high-quality the product you purchase is. If you opt out of a professional install, there’s no guarantee your flooring will perform the way it was designed to.
Flooring installation is a trade skill and takes work to perfect. If you’re investing a decent amount of money into your product, don’t ruin it by choosing a poor installation over a professional one. You’ll be thankful you had a proper craftsman install your flooring in the long run.
6. Overlooking Carpet Seams
A carpet seam is required to install two pieces of carpet together. The style and color of the carpet you choose plays a role in how visible the carpet seams will be.
Some carpet styles may need extra product to be purchased to get the most aesthetically pleasing result at the end of the installation. No matter what, carpet seams will be there, but an educated carpet installer will be able to hide them well.
