Flooring
[citation needed] The choice of materials for floor covering is affected by factors such as cost, endurance, noise insulation, comfort, and cleaning effort.
Some types of flooring must not be installed below grade, including laminate and hardwood due to potential damage from moisture.
Padding can be placed underneath the carpet to add comfort and provide some noise insulation.
The level of comfort is determined by the type of material used, which can include memory foam and rubber regrind.
[4] Engineered hardwood has a thin solid wood layer on top with a composite core, which is generally plywood, but can be high density fiberboard, stone polymer composite, or strips of a solid wood such as spruce or birch.
The composite core increases the dimensional stability of the planks, which expand and contract less than those of solid wood flooring.
Hardwood durability and hardness is determined by a ranking system called the Janka scale.
Manufacturers of pre-finished hardwood floors use varying materials for the finish, which usually include layers of polyurethane and aluminum oxide.
Underlayment is required for laminate flooring to provide moisture and noise control.
Hybrid combines the best attributes of both laminate and vinyl to create a rigid floating floor that can be installed throughout the entire home.
Hybrid is made of multiple layers of materials pressed together for an extremely hard wearing floor.
Many different natural stones are cut into a variety of sizes, shapes, and thicknesses for use as flooring.
Slate and marble are popular types of stone flooring that requires polishing and sealing.
[citation needed] Unlike ceramic and stone tiles, which are made of minerals, resilient flooring is made of materials that have some elasticity, giving the flooring a degree of flexibility called resilience.
Performance surfaces used for dance or athletics are usually made of wood or resilient flooring.
Resilient flooring includes many different manufactured products including linoleum, sheet vinyl, vinyl composition tile (VCT)[dubious – discuss], cork (sheet or tile), and rubber.
Many different seamless flooring materials are available that vary from air-drying latex emulsion polymers to reactive thermoset resins such as waterborne, solvents or solvent-free urethanes, polyaspartics , and epoxies.
[7] Applied in liquid form, when allowed to dry and/or cure to provide a completely seamless floor covering.
They are also used to solve a vast array of problems in industry such as wet areas in laboratories or food processing plants where spillages of oils and fats tend to be easily absorbed and/or difficult to clean.
Seamless polymer flooring can take many forms:[8] They typically have granular or rubberized particles added to give better traction/slip resistance on walkways and steps especially in areas subject to frequent washing, and for better traction/skid resistance in traffic aisles.
