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Flooring can be one of the most rewarding parts of your home to remodel… if done correctly. If you’ve ever been to a major department store, such as Lowes or Home Depot, you’ve probably seen there are dozens of flooring options to choose from.
Choosing the right flooring options can be difficult and intimidating if you don’t know what words like Travertine, engineered wood, and LVP mean. If this fits with where you’re at, today is your lucky day. My goal for this blog is to help our customers understand the different types of flooring so they choose which one fits their home the best. Whether you have an unlimited budget or need to count every dollar spent (like me), this blog is for you.
According to Home Advisor, the national average is anywhere between $3.00-$22.00 per square foot. This is a huge disparity between the cost of installation, but it all depends on the materials used.
The national average for a full floor installation is around $4,300, but you can spend as low as $2,000 if you install the right type of flooring.
I chose the top 5 ordered flooring materials, but I put them in no particular order because it’s all subjective on reporting. The point to take from this list is that these 5 materials are the most common flooring options for home remodels.
Laminate Flooring is the most affordable type of flooring that you can install in your home with an average cost of $1-$2 per square foot. Laminate is a synthetic material that is bonded with real wood fibers and particle board and set in multiple layers to add incredible durability.
You can choose from laminate that imitates almost any wood style, including cherry, hickory (most expensive), maple ( least expensive), red oak, white oak, and walnut.
Laminate is incredibly durable and it has a rating scale called the AC Rating. The AC Rating is the way contractors are able to give a grade for the durability to the laminate. It goes 1-5 with 5 being the most durable.
As you can imagine, a 5 AC Rating is going to cost the most and is meant for heavy foot traffic or industrial buildings. However, you can save thousands if you choose an AC Rating of 1 or 2 in your bedroom. Even at a 1 or 2, laminate is still durable enough for what you need in your bedroom.
Laminate can be beautiful and provide a great update to your bedroom if you have carpet or linoleum. I highly recommend contacting our flooring experts at Monumental Contractors to get an idea of how they can guide you to the most affordable and beautiful option for your bedroom.
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Hardwood flooring is expensive to buy, but not that expensive to install with an average labor cost of only $12 per square foot. Hardwood is meant for areas of your home that see heavy foot traffic such as hallways, dining room and the living room.
If someone asked me which type of hardwood floor would be the best, it has to be Hickory because of the color variation and contrast. In short, hickory is stunning and will be a crowd-pleaser for anyone stepping foot in your home.
Hickory is incredibly dense, doesn’t dent very easily, and has the highest return on investment of any other hardwood. The only problem with hickory is you’re going to spend upwards of $6,000-$12,000 for a 1,000 sq foot space.
If you’re wanting the elegance of a hardwood but don’t want to spend upwards of $10,000, my choice would be Maple. Maple will cost around $4,000-$7,000 for a 1,000 square foot space and provide a light red color that is beautiful when the sun hits it. It’s very durable and perfect for high foot traffic.
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LVT is perfect for areas of your home with moisture and water around, such as bathrooms and kitchens. I would use LVT in my bathroom because it’s waterproof, looks exactly like stone tile, and is incredibly easy to clean. I don’t mean to be graphic, but if you have kids, accidents are bound to happen in bathrooms and the inside of the toilet is often missed and spilled on the floor.
LVT is great because it won’t let urine or any other liquid soak into the flooring, making your bathroom smell awful. LVT costs about $3-$5 per square foot and with installation could cost as low as $1,500 for a large bathroom (10’x10’).
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I’m not going to sit here and tell you it’s the most affordable option for your kitchen flooring, but it’s hands down the most beautiful for a kitchen. Depending on the type of stone you use, it can cost as little as $2,000 and as much as $10,000 for a 12’x12’ kitchen.
The best stone to use is granite, by a mile, because it’s the most versatile, durable, and long lasting. Granite, just like any other stone, comes in 3 different ratings for quality, including the coefficient of friction, absorption rating, and the quality of stone. Each of these 3 scales are given a grade of 1-3, with 1 being the best and 3 being the lowest quality.
Many people prefer marble over granite, but don’t realize that even if marble is often more sleek and smooth, it’s much more prone to breaking and staining. For example, you can stain a marble tile floor if you spill a few drops of wine on the floor and don’t see it for an hour or so. Granite, on the other hand, will be fine with a spill.
My biggest suggestion is to contact our contractors because they’re the experts that can guide you to find the best rating for the stone you’d like in your kitchen. They’re very good at explaining everything you’d ever want to know with a level of clarity that will make you feel confident in your purchase.
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Engineered wood planks are made from a composite of layered core plywood and fiberboard, finished with a veneer of natural hardwood to provide the aesthetics of natural wood. I recommend engineered wood planks for the families that want the look of wood, but don’t want to spend the high price for it.
You’ll save thousands over time because engineered wood planks can last up to 50 years if taken care of properly! To make it even better it will only cost you about $4,000-$7,000 for a 1,000 square foot space.
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Monumental Contractors is a family owned and operated business with dozens of contractors that specialize in each type of flooring listed above. We don’t play games with our customers; we offer locked-in price quotes with complete transparency.
Monumental has graphic designers that are able to provide each customer with a 3D image of what their remodel will look like to give you a visual of the potential upgrade.
We pride ourselves in offering the most competitive pricing in the industry and serve the greater D.C./NOVA areas. We hope you choose Monumental Contractors for your next remodel and we’re confident you’ll be blown-away by our professional contractors.
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