Find Ways To Replace Your Floor With These Thrifty Flooring Tips
Probably the most useful flooring tips are those dealing with old or ruined carpet. Unless you never allowed anyone to walk on your carpet, chances are if it is 5 years old or more - it needs replaced. Since replacing carpet can be very costly, we will explore other alternatives.
Flooring Tip #1 - If you would like to get rid of old carpeting, go to the corner of the room, carefully lift the corner and see what is underneath. In newer homes you will find plywood, but in older homes you will often find hardwood floors. If you are one of the lucky ones to find hardwood floors, pull up that carpet, clean the wood, seal it and you have a beautiful new hardwood floor.
If you found plywood and you want wood but cannot afford hardwood floors, here's a way to get wood floors without the expense of the hardwood or the professional installers.
Use regular lumber like 2x6s or 1x6s. This may sound like it wouldn't work, but it does. Just stain the lumber whatever color you want the floor, let it dry then put a finish on it and start nailing it to your subfloor. You will be pleasantly surprised with how good it looks and how well it will hold up. Like any hardwood, it will dent and scratch, but it can be sanded and refinished anytime.
This wood can even be stained country white and the effect is beautiful.
Flooring Tip #2 - One way to protect (or hide) any flooring is with area rugs. These can be very expensive, so shop around. Find out if your local carpeting store has sales and purchase your rugs at discount prices.
Area rugs can add a lot of color to the room as well as pull the colors together. If you have an area rug you like, you can plan the room colors based on the colors in that rug.
Flooring Tip #3 - Linolium has come a long way since the 70's. You can now get squares of linolium that look like tiles. They are easier to lay than ever before with peel and stick backs and they come in a variety of styles. A much thriftier option than tile or stone.
Flooring Tip #4 - Painted concrete. This sounds crazy, but with the right technique, this is a wonderful option for those concrete floors you are trying to cover - especially in basements. Learn how to paint concrete for your next thrifty floor project.
With a painted concrete floor the whole area stays cooler in the summer months which reduces air conditioning bills. Just another bonus to the painted concrete floor idea.
Probably the most useful flooring tips are those dealing with old or ruined carpet. Unless you never allowed anyone to walk on your carpet, chances are if it is 5 years old or more - it needs replaced. Since replacing carpet can be very costly, we will explore other alternatives.
Flooring Tip #2 - One way to protect (or hide) any flooring is with area rugs. These can be very expensive, so shop around. Find out if your local carpeting store has sales and purchase your rugs at discount prices.
Area rugs can add a lot of color to the room as well as pull the colors together. If you have an area rug you like, you can plan the room colors based on the colors in that rug.
