Friday 26 April 2013

The Pros and Cons of Floating Floors

Floating Floors are not actually a type of flooring, but a term used to describe the method of laying a floor in which floor boards or planks are joined to each other but are not attached to the underlying original flooring. Literally speaking, a floating floor is a floor that “floats” on top of your original floor.

While flooring options such as hardwood or ceramic tiles actually need to be nailed onto or joined to the original floor, the concept of a floating floor is different. Similar to a jigsaw puzzle, in which the jigsaw pieces are connected to each other but not to the table on which they are placed, Floating Floors follow the same principle. An example of a floating floor is laminated flooring. Some types of tiled flooring also follow the floating principle, where instead of being stuck against the floor, the tiles are joined to each other using interlocking plastic trays.

Like all other types of flooring, a floating floor can have both advantages as well as disadvantages. One of the major advantages of installing a floating floor is that it provides space for expansion to withstand variations in humidity. More importantly, a floating floor is easier to install especially if you have opted for do-it-yourself installation. For instance, nailing down Hardwood Flooring can be a tiring task for first time installers. But in the case of a floating laminated floor, the floorboards can be easily joined to each other without the use of any specialized tools and the entire process is also less time-consuming. Apart from this important advantage, this type of flooring is available in a rich variety of colours, widths and finishes, so choosing a particular type which is suitable for your home or office will not be a difficult task. Another benefit of a floating floor is that one is able to walk on it or move your furniture back in almost immediately after it has been installed, unless of course the boards require to be glued together, which means that they need time to dry.

Now that you have taken a look at the advantages of Timber Floating Floors, let us take a look the negatives. A floating floor is actually much thinner and less voluminous than other types of flooring which are joined to the underlying floor. Apart from this, a floating floor also generally has a lower resale value than the classical types of hardwood timber or tiled flooring that are nailed down or mortared onto the sub floor. Besides, Floating Floors can work out to be quite expensive. Many people now prefer a more cost-effective and practical option, namely engineered timber flooring, which also lasts long.

However, all said and done, if you planning to install Timber Floating Floors on your own, you need to keep in mind certain instructions that are easily available in do-it-yourself furniture magazines or on the internet. Despite the minor negatives that it may have, a floating floor is actually a simple and trendy flooring option.

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This content has been taken from http://victoriandesignerfloors.wordpress.com/2013/04/26/the-pros-and-cons-of-floating-floors/

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