Before You Visit Braid

The type of information you may need prior to walking into the store is quite different if building your home or renovating an existing home. For this reason, we have provided you with the following elements to consider in each case.

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For Building Your Home
Before deciding on the type of flooring or window coverings to purchase you may want to consider the following elements of your home that may affect your flooring and window coverings choice.

1. Consider elements such as wall colour, cabinetry, woodwork, furniture and light sources. When entering the store, you may want to bring in samples of wall paint or a sample of your furniture (i.e. cushion, fabric, bedspread, etc.)

2. Inform the Design Consultant of all high-traffic areas, as it will impact the types of flooring your consultant will recommend.

3. Design Consultants and Window Fashions Specialists will often recommend different types of flooring and/or window coverings more suitable to your home depending on your window dimensions and the directions they face.

4. Design Consultants will often recommend different types of flooring depending on the number and age of family members and the number of pets.

5. Think about what role the space may play in the home. Is it a family room where kids will play and watch television? Or will the room be used solely for entertaining guests?

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For Renovating Your Home

Prior to tackling your renovation project, you should first take note of six elements within your home that will impact your overall purchase decision.

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1. Current Subfloor/Underlayment Needed for Different Flooring Types

Carpet: Carpet is by far the most forgiving flooring option available during an installation as it can be installed over any type of subfloor. However, when installing carpet it is important to choose the right type of cushion. Carpet cushion ranges from 4lb to 8lb cushion and is installed on top of the subfloor and below the new carpet. For longer wear, a heavier cushion is recommended for high-traffic areas.

Resilient: A K3, plywood or Fiberlay is the best subfloor to have when installing resilient flooring. This is because these surface types are smooth and have a consistent surface that the adhesive can stick to. Also, a smooth surface is very important, as resilient will take on the shape of what is underneath it. Any bumps or irregular surfaces that exist prior to installation will be visible once the flooring has been installed. If your current subfloor is Potlatch, it must be removed, and one of the other three subfloors must be laid. This is because Potlatch is installed in panels; therefore, any panel edges will be visible once the resilient is installed. Potlatch also does not adhere to the glue; therefore, the flooring will squeak.

Resilient flooring can also be laid over another resilient flooring but not on two layers of resilient flooring, because two layered surfaces are too soft. This is a risk as the new floor would then be highly susceptible to damage and would not be covered under warranty. If you do not want to rip up two layers of flooring before installing the new resilient, a new subfloor must be laid first.

If your current resilient flooring is loose, it must be removed and a new subfloor must be installed. Loose flooring is the result of a poor installation or improper underlayment. Installing a new subfloor will ensure that the new resilient will last longer. Waxed resilient floors will have to be stripped prior to the new installation to ensure that the glue will adhere to the surface.

Hardwood: A 5/8 sheeting of primary floor (o.s.b. - oriented strand board or plywood) must be installed over the floor joists prior to installing hardwood. The direction of your floor joists will determine the overall direction your hardwood will run, as hardwood must be installed perpendicular to the floor joists. If you want your hardwood to lie in the same direction as the joists, another subfloor must be laid underneath to add strength and support to the floor.

NOTE: If other subfloors exist underneath your flooring, come in to speak with a Design Consultant.

Laminate & Cork: Laminate and cork are floating floors, which means that they are not glued down to subfloors like hardwood and resilient. Therefore, they must be installed with mouldings to anchor the flooring from start to finish (wall to wall, surface to surface). Both types of flooring are easily installed over any type of hard-surface flooring.

Ceramic & Stone: The most important thing to know when purchasing ceramic or stone flooring is what type of subfloor you currently have. To ensure that your tiles and grout do not crack, one inch of subfloor above the sub joist is necessary to ensure no movement. It is also necessary that the top layer of that one-inch subfloor is plywood, other layers possibly being o.s.b or K3.

When having ceramic or stone installed, it is important to realize that these products will add up to one inch of height to your previous floor. Slight modifications might have to be made to existing countertops, cupboards or doors to ensure that the increase in height is accounted for.

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2. Traffic Patterns

Carpet: The amount of traffic in an area is an indication of the type and range of durability that your new flooring will need. As a result, certain products have been manufactured that are more conducive to high-traffic areas in the home.

Hardwood, Resilient & Laminate: Although hardwoods, resilient and laminate are durable products, high-traffic areas are susceptible to scratches. Choosing a hardwood with highly visible grains is one way to camouflage scratches. Without a grain, harder woods may show scratches more visibly.

Ceramic & Stone: Ceramic and stone are perfect for high-traffic areas, as they don't wear easily. You must also take into consideration the colour of the ceramic or stone tiles, as they are usually installed in high-traffic areas (dirt can easily been seen with some colours).

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3. Water Presence

Resilient: If resilient is installed in the bathroom, you must make sure that the tub, toilet and sink are all properly silicon-sealed to prevent moisture from damaging the subfloor. This will not only cause mould to grow, but will also cause the subfloor to bubble, which will ruin the resilient floor.

Laminate: With bathrooms, certain gluing procedures are needed to ensure the floor is not damaged from moisture.

Ceramic & Stone: When wet, certain high-polished tile becomes very slippery. Different variations of tile are available to avoid this. Although not slippery, rough tile is harder to clean because its rough surface tends to chew up rags. (Unless you clean with socks!)

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4. Natural Light

Carpet: The amount of natural light in the room or the height of the ceilings can allow for a darker shade of flooring to be chosen without making the room appear smaller. However, for smaller rooms, a lighter shade of flooring will make the room appear larger.

Resilient: Natural light will change the colour of your flooring. Southern exposure windows with less than double-paned patio doors will act as a magnifier and can cause the resilient floor to burn. As a result, if you are putting resilient in a southern room with an outside entrance, you will want to confirm that you have at least double-paned window coverings.

Hardwood: Depending on the amount of light in a room, different darkness of hardwoods is more appropriate. Some woods will change as a result of more light.

Laminate: Light does not affect the colour of laminate. Therefore, you can go with darker shades, if you have more sunlight, without making the room appear small.

Window Coverings: Consider how much light control you need - do you want the capacity to filter or block natural light? For instance,
North facing windows provide the most consistent light but also the coldest temperature. For these windows it's wise to consider energy efficient window treatments.

South facing windows receive good light year-round. Light diffusing treatments help to protect upholstered furniture and flooring from the sun.

East facing windows admit warm, bright light, especially in the morning. You will want to consider treatments that help block ultraviolet rays.

West facing windows admit the hottest, haziest light of day. Light diffusing window treatments are best in these areas.

Keep in mind that sunny windows make air conditioners work two to three times harder, while in colder seasons, heat lost through windows can account for 10 to 25 percent of your heating bill.

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5. Excessive Heat

Resilient: Excess heat from a furnace below may cause the floor to burn.

Hardwood: If you are having hardwood installed in a room with a fireplace, it is recommended that you also install a row of tile, separating the hardwood and fireplace. This is to protect your hardwood floor, as wood will gap when it dries out (loss of moisture) leaving spaces in between the boards.

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6. Home Built Prior to 1980 - Possible Presence of Asbestos

If your home was built prior to 1980, you must inform the Design Consultant, as there is an increased possibility that asbestos was laid on top of your subfloor and underneath your flooring. For health reasons, the installers would then have to also remove the subfloor instead of just peeling off the flooring.

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