kitchen flooring Archives - Page 3 of 3

Flooring Contractor Recommends Hard Surface Floors for Orange County Homes

By Inspired Remodels / Home Improvement / Comments Off

Wood, wood look tiles, marble, and porcelain tiles dominate remodeling trends for at least 10 years now. And that’s for good reason. Some designers and decorators are starting to introduce carpeting again. But Inspired Remodels, the expert flooring contractor in Orange County still recommends hard surface floors. There are many reasons to love hard floors. Here are three:

Hard Flooring Improves Air Quality

Californians concern themselves with air pollution. But most of the focus is on the outside air. Breather cleaner indoor air when you have hard surface floors.

Carpeting provides a safe harbor for dust, dust mites, pet allergens, mold spores, and grains of pollen. These common household allergens are hard to get out of rugs and carpets. Carpet cleaning companies promise to “clean” carpets, but no company actually removes all soil and allergens to the depth of the backing. Unfortunately, too many carpet cleaning methods make surfaces dirtier. Improper extraction methods leave behind water and cleaning solutions and this promotes the growth of mold and increases dust mite populations. Ewww!

On the other hand, clean a hard surface floor and it is clean. Vacuum, damp mop, and Swiffer to your heart’s content. These actions remove dirt, debris, and allergens from your floors. Removing dust and allergens from the floor improves indoor air quality because once they are gone, you can’t breathe them.

Vacuum wood or tile floors with a HEPA filtered vacuum and clean the air even more.

Hard Flooring is Easy to Maintain

Hard floors like wood, tile, polished cement or stone are relatively easy to maintain. Solid flooring resists stains. Even when you track dirt and debris inside, it’s easy to remove.

Spill red wine on the tile floor in the kitchen and just wipe it up. There’s no crying over spilled milk, splashed cereal, or dropped peanut butter sandwiches. Just clean it up with a damp rag or paper towel. Grout may need sealing, but your tile floors will continue to be worry-free.

When you have carpet or rugs on the floor, every party and every dinner is a disaster waiting to happen. Your guests feel terrible for staining the floors and you feel bad too. Any flooring contractor will tell you the way to avoid the drama is to avoid the carpet.

Talk to the Best Flooring Contractor About the Best Floors For You

Talk to the flooring experts at Inspired Remodels about your flooring project.

Based on your lifestyle, budget, design preferences, and other considerations you’ll receive a custom recommendation. Every lifestyle is different, every flooring install should reflect these differences.

Contact Inspired Remodels, the flooring contractor that knows flooring for Orange County homes.

Kitchen Renovation Company Explains Differences in Kitchen Flooring

By Inspired Remodels / Kitchen Remodel / Comments Off

Wood, tile, and other hard surfaces have made a comeback with a vengeance. And hard surfaces are great for kitchen flooring. When it comes to kitchen flooring, you want surfaces that stand up to moisture and are not easily scratched or dinged. If you are worried about damaging wood, then consider wood-look tile. It comes in many colors and sizes. Laminate flooring and luxury flooring are also popular in the kitchen. But which one is right for you? Inspired Remodels, an Orange County kitchen renovation company, explains the differences.

Hardwood

This flooring never goes out of style. It adds warmth and beauty. It lasts for years and can be sanded and refinished.

Hardwood flooring stands up to spills if they are wiped up right away. However, because it is so hard, it can be uncomfortable to stand on for hours at a time.

Cooks that spend considerable time standing in the kitchen will want to add padded mats for lower back and leg comfort. It is generally the most expensive kitchen flooring but it is also the longest lasting.

Tile

Ceramic or porcelain tiles are great for the kitchen. While porcelain is less impervious to water by definition, both can stand up to common kitchen spills. Since kitchen floors take a lot of abuse, look for tiles where the color permeates the tile. Otherwise, one dropped knife can mar the look. If you want the look of wood but want the durability of tile, look for wood-look tile. Tile requires the use of grout. To keep floors looking fresh, keep grout sealed.

Tile can easily last for up to 20 years, so it wins in the long-lasting category. It is generally less expensive than hardwood. Like hardwood, it is tough on the back and legs if you stand for long periods of time. Dedicated cooks will want to use padded mats for comfort.

Laminate Wood

Pergo is probably the most recognizable laminate brand. Their products made laminate flooring popular. Laminate flooring is also called wood composite flooring. That’s because it’s 99% wood byproducts. The name laminate also refers to it’s construction. Imagine layers of rigid, high-density fiber boards laminated together to make planks. The finished appearance comes from a photographic image that sits under the resin layer. It looks like stone or wood.

Install laminate over an existing floor without glue or nails. It usually floats. Just snap or click over an existing floor. You can glue to a subfloor if desired. Laminate wood can be applied over padding for comfort. It is an affordable alternative to hardwood.

Luxury Vinyl

Luxury vinyl isn’t the rolled flooring you remember from the 70’s and 80’s. This new stuff is awesome. It’s available in planks or tiles and is constructed of many layers of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and then coated with urethane.

Luxury vinyl planks can look like real hardwood flooring. Look for smooth or textured. It can also mimic other materials such as stone or tile. Install by gluing or floating. Luxury vinyl is installed over padding for comfort.

Luxury vinyl tiles are available in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. So, they mimic wood, stone, and concrete. In addition to gluing and floating, you can peel and stick these tiles.

Ask the Kitchen Renovation Company that Knows Flooring

Still not sure what flooring is right for your kitchen renovation project? Ask the kitchen renovation company that knows flooring. Ask Inspired Remodels.

Joe Mueller will help you pick and install the kitchen flooring that fits your style and budget. Call (949) 716-1938 and schedule an appointment today to discuss your options or Contact us online with your questions.

flooring contractor installed herringbone pattern wood planks in home entryway

Orange County Flooring Contractor Gives 3 Reasons to Love Hard Floors

By Inspired Remodels / Bathroom Remodel, Home Improvement, Kitchen Remodel / Comments Off

This article was originally published on April 8, 2016. It has been updated to reflect the most current trends in Orange County flooring.

Wood, wood-look tiles, and bamboo flooring continue to be trendy. Designers and homeowners love the way wood and bamboo flooring bring warmth to any room. If you ask a flooring contractor, they will tell you the benefits of hard surface floors for almost any home. Inspired Remodels, the expert flooring contractor in Orange County, shares 3 reasons to love hard surface flooring.

Hard Flooring For Better Health

Hard surface flooring offers health benefits you just can’t ignore. Every flooring contractor knows carpeting harbors dust, dust mites, pet allergens, mold spores, and pollen. These substances comprise the most common household allergens. So, why would you ever put them in a house where people with allergies live? Many companies offer products and surfaces to clean carpets. But no method or product can properly clean the carpet to the backing and remove allergens. Most carpet cleaning methods end up making allergies worse as they leave carpets and rugs damp and promote the growth of mold.

When you clean a hard surface floor, it is clean. While you might get mold growth in the grout between tiles (especially in a badly designed bathroom with poor circulation) mold will not grow on the tile itself. Vacuuming, damp mopping, and dry mopping remove dirt, debris, and allergens from a hard surface floor. Cleaner floors result in better indoor air quality, fewer allergies, and better health.

Ceramic and porcelain tile made to emulate wood creates a spa-like feeling to Orange County bathrooms. It looks like wood, some tiles even emulate the texture of wood grain, and only you will know its tile.

Hard Flooring is Easy to Maintain

Hard surface flooring such as wood, tile, polished cement, or stone is relatively easy to maintain. It resists stains. You can track in dirt and debris and it can be easily removed by cleaning.

Spill wine on your tile floor and it wipes up. No one cries over milk spilled on a wood, tile, or stone floor. Kitchens across Orange County cry out for hard surface floors!

With carpeting and rugs, you cry over every spill, every stain, and every footstep that dirties the surface. Not so with hard surface flooring.

Flooring Contractors Know Tile & Wood Flooring Lasts

When you hire a reputable Orange County flooring contractor like Inspired Remodels to install your floors, you know your flooring will last. Wood and bamboo flooring require acclimation before installation. If your flooring contractor skips this step, prepare for problems. That’s never a worry with Inspired Remodels.

With proper care and cleaning, your tile and stone floors last for 20 years or more. When wood floors become scuffed, scarred, and worn-looking, simply refinish them.

Can any carpet stand up to 20 years of daily use? When it looks bad, can you refinish your carpet?

No, of course not! When you consider higher initial cost over a much longer life, you’ll agree with flooring contractors that hard surface flooring provides a cost-effective option.

Best Flooring from the Best Flooring Contractor

If you are thinking about new flooring for your Orange County home, talk to the best Orange County flooring contractors. Make an appointment with Inspired Remodels. Inspired Remodels is the Orange County flooring expert.

Inspired Remodels recommends a hard flooring surface that fits your style and budget. Whether you need to replace the flooring in one room or the whole house, Inspired Remodels has you covered.

Need inspiration? Let an Inspired Remodels designer help you pick the hard surface flooring right for you.

Contact us today.