When remodeling your kitchen, you’ll probably want to get rid of the old flooring. If you have a new kitchen, you will have to decide what flooring to install. Either way, you need to pay attention to the surface beneath the flooring. In an older house, often, but not always, you will have wooden beams running every 12 to 18 inches, parallel to each other, covered by thick plywood. In newer homes, the tendency is to make slab floors (solid concrete pours).
Check Your Floor First
It’s a good idea, unless you already have a great tile or hardwood floor, to check and make sure that the plywood underneath is in good condition. In an older house, humidity and water damage may have ended up warping or weakening it over the years. In that case, the first thing you should do is replace the plywood that is damaged. Once you are sure your substrate is okay, you need to begin prepping the floor for its new surface. This is to say, you have to choose that floor!
Types of Floors
There are a number of types of floors, and the costs can be pretty variable. Hardwood floors are classic and have great resale value, and are easy to maintain. They can be pretty expensive, though, at 3 to 15 dollars per square foot.
Tile floors are great, going from just a buck a foot up to 20 dollars and more. They don’t stain, they are water resistant, and you can get whatever look you want, and can get marble, slate, granite, travertine, porcelain, and more. They are difficult to repair if cracked, though, and grout can get stained (unless you seal the grout—something we recommend).
Laminate floors are a great choice, and are pretty easy to maintain. Scratch-resistant and hard to tell a difference from the original, it goes from 50 cents to 3 dollars a square foot.
The only problem with laminate is that you need to make sure you never have any standing water, such as if a leak pops up, you need to get those puddles off of it quickly, as they will ruin the floor. That being said, this is a very rare problem, and, at the cost, laminate flooring is quick and easy to replace.
Vinyl flooring is pretty inexpensive, and easy to install. It goes from one to five dollars a square foot, and is a great sound dampener. While it can dent and tear, it is also waterproof, making it fairly easy to clean.
The Choice Is Yours
There are many other choices as well, including cork, carpet, stone (including terrazzo and finished concrete). Industrial floors made of epoxy have also begun to make inroads into the home kitchen market. The best choice is mostly based on budget and personal preference. Have a group of kids who are tough on floors? You might want to go for stone or tile. Want a warm look to go with your RTA kitchen cabinets? Look at laminate or hardwood floors. Would you like to get a $500 kitchen design consultation (including the floor) for free? RTA Cabinet Store’s professional design consultants are happy to provide a customized design for your kitchen. Get started here!
