What is the healthiest type of flooring?

How to pick the healthiest type of flooring?

Everyone wants to know what is the healthiest type of flooring? Of course, choosing the right flooring can not only ensure that your home looks good, but can also guarantee it is healthy and safe for your family as well. Choosing the healthiest type of flooring depends on balancing many different factors and weighing up a number of different flooring qualities that meet your family needs, as well. This is your chance to keep your home free of allergies, disease, and injuries, whereas the wrong flooring choice can detract from the health, safety and appearance of your environment. Let’s look at different flooring types, weight their cons and pros, and decide which of them will be the healthiest choice for you.

Pros and Cons of different flooring

1. Choosing carpets

Carpet is favorite flooring for all homes that brings a warm, cozy and soft atmosphere to any space. Healthy carpet is made in a range of natural fibers that are gentle on your skin and better for you.

Pros:

• Carpet is soft and easy on the joints.
• Carpet prevents kids and the elderly of falling.
• Carpet can stay relatively free of dust, dirt, and pathogens if regularly cleaned with professional carpet cleaning.
• Carpets are easy to clean.

Cons:

• Natural carpets absorb dirt, dust very quickly.
• Bacteria and germs should be cleaned professionally.

2. Choosing tiles and stone

These hard flooring options are made of natural materials so that they are healthy. Also, this type of flooring is easy to keep clean and hygienic. Is this the healthiest type of flooring? It depends on what materials you choose.

Pros:

• Extremely easy to clean without professional help.
• Low dust, dirt and pathogen retention.

Cons:

• Hard to clean on the joints.
• No cushioning for falls.
• Some sealing agents can contain VOC’s (volatile organic compounds – which contribute to a number of health issues).

3. Choosing hardwood floors

Hardwood floors look stylish and elegant. They are easy to clean and maintain. Hardwood floors can boast their practical properties. They can be half-natural so that not very healthy, as well. Choose carefully.

Pros:

• Oiled floors are healthier than polyurethane.
• Dust, dirt and pathogen retention is minimal.
• Professional hardwood floor cleaning can reach deep into cracks to remove old dirt and dust.

Cons:

• Dirt and dust can penetrate into cracks and cause allergies without professional help.
• The top layer may contain health damaging VOC’s.

4. Choosing engineered hardwood floors & luxury vinyl tiles

These types of modern flooring can be named a cost-effective alternative to hardwood or stone floors. There are millions of designs but it can be hardly named the healthiest type of flooring.

Pros:

• Easy to clean.
• Not that hard as tile or stone.
• Finishes can contain natural, anti-allergenic and anti-bacterial properties to keep your home hygienic.

Cons:

Some layers may contain VOC’s.

When choosing the healthiest flooring, pay attention to these factors

So, you’ve already picked the healthiest type of flooring for your house. Not that fast! There are several factors you should also consider. Of course, healthy components are on the TOP of your choosing list.

Natural elements

If you really want to find the healthiest type of flooring, never forget to check on the flooring inside and outside your homes as well. Your patios and entrances will benefit from having the right flooring type as natural elements play a huge role in making your in-house atmosphere healthy.

Temperature

Sadly, a lot of homeowners overlook the effects that temperature plays in the kind of flooring they have. Installing natural wood flooring is healthy, but extremely hot or cold temperature can damage wood surfaces. Wood has always been a common choice for flooring, but they are not as durable as compared to tiles and vinyl in places where the temperature goes extremely high or low. So before you go about installing any kind of flooring in your whole home, ask yourself, will it be able to lay one or another type of flooring in the rooms with different temperature conditions.

Moisture

Moisture means as much as temperature for your home flooring. For example, a home with a wooden theme would be exquisite, so is home with a modern contemporary vibe that uses classic marble in the whole area. But when it comes to bathrooms, the practicality should always be a priority. Having wooden floorings in your bathroom is definitely out of the picture, so is having marble floorings as it can be very slippery when wet. Checking your floor materials by actually testing how it feels when wet, before installing them is recommended.

Usage and traffic

Usage and traffic are also very important factors in choosing flooring material for your home. The kitchen is always one of the busiest areas in a home, and it is also one of the messiest. Do you have a dog? Does he eat in the kitchen? That pasta sauce that spilled on the counter managed to reach the ground and can cause a stain in some surface types, especially carpets. You can step them and scatter across the room. Of course, you may pick the healthiest flooring for each room in your house, but try to evaluate the foot traffic and the usage in your home first.

If you want to pick the healthiest flooring for your home, NOTE THAT:

• Instead of carpet, chose hard-surfaced flooring and rugs that can be removed and cleaned outside.
• Look for non-toxic and eco-friendly options. Ask questions of manufacturers and installers regarding materials used, safety and environmental claims.
• Decline any stain-resistance treatments.
• Look for products made without vinyl such as hardwood, linoleum and ceramic tile.
• For the health of our families, please continue to support meaningful legislation that prevents these chemicals from ending up in our home

Finding the healthiest flooring for your home depends on a number of different factors, and requires you to consider your needs, lifestyle, budget and current health status. By seeing the pros and cons and understanding the maintenance needs of each flooring type, you are better equipped to choose really the healthiest flooring for you.