If you have an older home or are building a new one, what is under your feet can make a big difference in comfort, style, maintenance and durability. How do you make those choices? Do you need different flooring for different rooms? What about how flooring impacts allergies?
Dennis Booska, owner of Booska Flooring in Turners Falls, helped answer these and other flooring-related questions.
“The first thing I ask people is if they have kids or pets. A lot depends on those answers,” said Booska. New products have come onto the market that are more durable and easier to maintain and clean, he said.
One of these products is “luxury vinyl.”
“You can have it look like planks or tile and it’s super easy to repair or clean,” he said. Luxury vinyl is put down in a similar fashion as “putting a puzzle together,” he added.
Booska said there are two versions of luxury vinyl, one which has a limestone core, which makes it stiffer, or one without that is highly flexible. Booska said there was no real difference between the two outside of “stiffness.”
“There are no nails, no glue, no nothing you need to install,” he said.
Booska said that “actually, carpet is the best and cheapest way to go if you have a high traffic area, kids, or pets. You can easily replace carpet and it doesn’t kill you financially.”
More good news if you are someone who appreciates sustainable products and recycling, is carpets that have been made from plastic bottles. The carpeting is as soft as any (really) and keeps plastic bottles out of the landfills and oceans. PET plastic bottles, invented by Nathaniel Wyeth in 1973, was the first plastic bottle to be able to withstand carbonation, creating a cheaper way to bottle carbonated drinks.
In 2019, more than a million bottles sold every minute globally.
“The PET polyester carpeting is also inherently stain-resistant and easy to clean,” he said.
Booska mentioned that Frieze carpeting was the next most durable in terms of carpet for high traffic areas. Frieze carpeting is characterized by long fibers with a high twist. The fibers are twisted three to five times under steam conditions. Booska said aside from these two carpeting choices there are the more typical wools and nylon fiber carpets.
For many years it has been commonly thought that having hardwood or tile floors would lessen allergens. Booska said he has been reading there is new thinking on the topic that indicates carpets may be preferable for lessening allergens in your environment.
“At this point, it’s just my opinion, but it makes a lot of sense to me,” said Booska, explaining that dust, dander and hair move around every time someone walks across the floor instead of being trapped in carpet. The idea is if you keep your carpets well vacuumed, you will have fewer allergens in the air.
With newer products and materials, “aside from tile,” prep for laying down flooring and maintaining it once it’s down has become simpler and easier. Booska talked about the growing popularity of “floating floors,” which is a floor that does not need to be nailed or glued to the subfloor. Some also refer to it as “laminate” flooring.
“With floating flooring, all you need to do is take off the baseboards and everything just snaps together,” he said.
For vinyl or other planking, you can put down new quarter-inch subflooring first or you need to clean the existing surface, put a skim coat across the surface and make sure it is smooth.
That is the surface the planks would then be glued to Booska said.
In terms of maintenance, Booska said most floors can be cleaned with a damp mop and products suggested by the manufacturer.
“There isn’t anything really special you have to do. Just don’t leave water standing on hardwoods as that is damaging,” he said. He added that tile tends to be more labor-intensive to maintain a clean surface due to the grouting.
In regards to applying polyurethane to hardwood floors, Booska said how often that needs to take place depends on the wood. In an older home, you may need to apply one or two coats every few years, depending on traffic.
“The products coming out of the factory now have seven coats of aluminum oxide on them. With that, you shouldn’t have to refinish your flooring more than once in your lifetime,” he said.
Booska said the “rustic look is in,” and that all hardwoods now come with a “rustic grade,” which means it shows a lot more of the knots and streaks. He added that people often choose hardwoods for their main areas such as living rooms and bedrooms.
He does not suggest wood in bathrooms due to high moisture.
“Most people use vinyl, laminate, or tile in bathrooms for that reason,” he said.
As more people become interested in sustainable products, bamboo and cork have increased in popularity. Booska said a likely mix of popularity and the pandemic’s effect on manufacturing has made getting bamboo flooring more challenging recently.
“Bamboo is a lot like hardwood, it’s both soft and hard and has similar durability,” he said. In particular, “strand bamboo” is the most durable version, he said.
“Imagine a bunch of shoelaces laid out and stretched in a pile of 10 or 15 and then compressed together, you get the idea,” said Booska.
Bamboo is one of the most renewable flooring products and has a wide range of colors.
Cork, he said, has a similar appeal in regards to sustainability. The cork from the trees is harvested every nine years and not cut down.
“It’s soft, warm, and holds heat well,” he said adding the one downside is a lesser range of looks and color options.
Booska said he understands what people like about tile but he doesn’t feel it’s a practical option for people living in New England.
“It looks really good, but unless you go for the expense of having radiant heat installed under it, it’s just too cold,” he said.
In terms of putting down flooring, especially natural materials, Booska said his crews bring the materials to the site three or four days in advance to acclimate.
“For example, wood and other materials expand and contract with the temperature. You want the materials to get used to their new environment,” he said.
For more information call Booska Flooring at 413-863-3690.
Cris Carl is a local gardener, licensed therapist and certified herbalist. She has written for the Recorder for many years. Reach her at cstormfox57@gmail.com.