Replacing flooring is a significant investment, so you want to choose flooring options you love that will also stand the test of time.
With that in mind, why make your own costly flooring mistakes when you can learn from others’? In this post, we’ll walk you through some of the most common flooring regrets homeowners end up with after installing their new floors – so you can avoid the pitfalls and choose the best flooring for you.
What Not To Do: 5 Top Flooring Regrets Homeowners Have After Flooring Installation
The team at Creative Floors is considered a “regret-proof” partner when it comes to helping our clients select flooring that will look great and serve the needs of their household today, tomorrow, and many years in the future.
Here are some of the most common flooring mistakes people come to us for help with after the initial damage has been done:
1. Shopping For Flooring Online
These days, one of the most common flooring mistakes is shopping for flooring online.
There are so many things that can go wrong when you don’t let experts guide you through the flooring selection process based on your tastes, lifestyle, and other goals.
Some of the biggest risks are:
- False advertising about a product’s quality (or available quantity).
- Inaccurate measurements.
- Inadequate information about the pros and cons of the material for your lifestyle.
- Damaged products upon delivery.
- Receiving the wrong quantity (which can leave you hanging).
- Unprofessional flooring installation.
- Loss of manufacturer’s warranties due to a discount warehouse purchase or not using a licensed flooring installer.
- Horrible after-market customer service.
And the list goes on!
We’ve heard so many horror stories from customers who tried to take advantage of online flooring deals that seemed “too good to be true” – and they were! This includes being stuck with pallets of flooring they can’t return but can’t use, or having the installer they hired run out of material before the project was complete. Yikes!
Never, ever shop for flooring online. When deciding between flooring options, which impact both the aesthetic and functional aspects of your home’s interior design, you deserve to work with licensed flooring professionals. We make it easy for you to shop for the best flooring because we go the extra mile from start to finish, ensuring you’re 100% satisfied with the final product.
2. Forgoing Consultations With Professional Flooring Experts
Our commitment to quality and personalized service is a good reminder about the next big mistake: Skipping valuable consultations with flooring professionals. Taking advantage of free, no-obligation flooring consultations, whether in our showroom or at your home, is the best way to avoid bad flooring decisions. You want to work with flooring pros who provide quality service and in-home consultations, and who partner with the area’s best flooring installers so you have real peace of mind.
Sometimes, customers visit our showroom with notes or sketches about their flooring measurements and a list of the flooring materials they want to order – without ever meeting with us first. This puts them in a vulnerable position because, despite all the best online research or well-meant recommendations from friends and family, those may not be the best products for their home, their location, or their lifestyle.
Plus, we can’t trust any measurements other than our own.
During our consultations, we have the opportunity to ask the important questions that will guide your direction.
These include things like:
- Do you have young children?
- What about pets?
- Which living spaces are adjacent to outdoor living areas?
- Are there plans to rent the home or sell it in the next five to 10 years?
- Will you be aging in place, or do you have parents or in-laws who stay with you often?
- What level of maintenance (or lack thereof) are you interested in?
For example, you shouldn’t install a high-shag carpet if you don’t want to see foot and paw impressions daily or if little ones will be eating or drinking near the space. You also want to think about transitions from one space to the next if you’re changing materials; different flooring thicknesses require the right subflooring materials to avoid unsightly, uneven transitions or trip hazards.
Even if you’re 100% set on the flooring materials you’ve already selected, it’s still worth scheduling a consultation at Creative Floors. We can give additional flooring tips for your Casselberry home you might not have thought about – like which professional flooring installers to use to ensure the job’s done right!
3. Rushing Into Your Decision Without Samples
Online interior design galleries or your neighbor’s home can present one view of flooring, but that’s not your home. You’d be amazed at what a difference lighting angles, cabinet finishes, or color palettes have on the way the flooring looks in a space.
Here’s another example: Did you know that within the luxury vinyl plank category, there are two different types: WPC (wood core) and SPC (limestone base)? If you’re sound-sensitive or the flooring will be on an upper-story floor, SPC products will be louder than WPC options. This may affect a particular flooring option’s selection or placement to minimize the clickety-clack of hard-soled shoes or pets’ nails, to reduce the noise from a child’s room, and so on.
Rushing into a decision based on what you’ve heard or seen elsewhere isn’t smart. Bringing samples home and “living with them” for a bit gives you a much better idea of what things will look, sound, and feel like. Better yet, in-home flooring consultations give you the chance to see any type of flooring you want in a space, while also having the benefit of an expert’s advice on how to choose the right flooring for a particular space and – as we mentioned above – knowing the measurements are 100% accurate.
We get it: once you’ve decided you want to replace the flooring in your home, you want it done now. There are situations where flooding or another emergency means time is of the essence. Even so, it’s always worth it to slow down, meet with flooring experts, and make sure your final choice is exactly right. You’ll never regret it.
4. Prioritizing Trendy Over Timeless
After many decades providing expert flooring tips, Casselberry homeowners can count on us. We adhere to the same tenets as interior design professionals: focus on timeless over trendy.
Unfortunately, homeowners get so excited about current trends that they overlook what will happen when trends move on, but they’re stuck with colors or patterns that no longer reflect what’s current.
We recommend choosing flooring materials where timeless style appeal is matched with durability. You can always use decorative area rugs and other easily-changeable accents (like colorful or boldly patterned accent pillow covers or drapes) to honor your current favorite trend.
Another benefit to focusing on timeless flooring options is that your home will be that much more appealing to future renters or prospective home buyers if your plans for the home change in the next five or 10 years.
5. Underestimating Your Commitment To Maintenance
Once you have your heart set on that gorgeous marble entryway, it’s easy to downplay the level of maintenance required to keep it looking as it did back when it was brand new. “Stone sealing once per year? No problem. Who doesn’t have time for that?”
We’ve witnessed over and over again through the years that many people don’t have the time required to maintain their flooring per the manufacturer’s instructions. That results in flooring that’s threadbare, looks dirty all the time, stains or chips easily, suffers moisture damage, or winds up causing excessive allergies or respiratory issues because it isn’t vacuumed or cleaned as often as it should be.
As flooring pros, our job is to ensure our customers invest in stylish flooring that lives up to their lifestyle and doesn’t require more maintenance than they can truly commit to.
Creative Floors Helps Casselberry Homeowners Make Confident Flooring Selections
There’s no need to “cross your fingers and click Submit,” or to wade through the comprehensive flooring selection process on your own.
The Creative Floors team is here to help. Come on by our showroom or contact us to schedule a personalized in-home consultation. We promise we’ll efficiently guide you through the flooring selection process so your new flooring is installed in no time and without any regrets.
