Flooring Facts
By Pallavii Pitale
Flooring can add a lot of characteristics to any space if used wisely. It can also be a strong focal point in a room due to its pattern, colour or texture. The feel of the flooring can be warm or cold which further adds a touch of cozyness or coldness to the interiors. Flooring with added carpets, rugs, mats, dhurries or any other types of floor coverings can add a lot of functional as well as aesthetic value to any place.
Flooring, especially the hard one can be in many materials. natural stone, with high or less polish, Ceramic tiles of various kinds whether plain glazed, textured or patterned, poly vinyl chloride ( PVC ) tiles or rolls, solid wooden flooring, laminated board flooring, P.C.C. flooring whether plain and coloured, Terra cotta tiles, Glass tiles, Metal tiles or sheets, Artificial stones and surfaces like agglomerated stones, materials like corian, synthetic marbles etc.( mostly for interiors) , P.C.C. flooring rough or textured, mosaic, terrazzo and pebbled tiles.paved concrete flooring ( mostly for exteriors) and many more can be used to achieve some sort of comfort and functionability in the space. Like walls, ceilings, fenestrations, flooring is also an important element that is mostly left untouched and unexplored by many people.
When used wisely flooring creates a harmony and sets a particular mood within the space.
Natural stones, Ceramic and Terracotta tiles, wooden and laminated flooring, agglomerated and mosaic marble stones, coloured P.C.C.and glass are the options that would suit the residential interiors as they are easy to clean and maintain. The natural stones like Marbles, Granites and others along with all the artificial stones and glass adds coldness to the space where as wooden and similar floor finishes add warmth to any space due to their innate material properties. The coldness of the stone, ceramic and artificial floor surfaces can be reduced by adding grass mats or chatais, rugs and dhurries on it.
The natural and artificial stone and ceramic flooring with high gloss and polish can turn out to be highly slippery if comes in contact with soapy solutions or water. So best to be avoided in areas like kitchens, toilets, balconies and kid’s room especially. Such floor surfaces are ideal for the foyers, entrance lobbies, living, dining and drawing areas where the grand looks along with coldness and enough strength is expected.
The service areas like kitchen, toilets and dry yards are mostly exposed to water and soaps. The flooring here should be strong, non glossy, with anti skid finish, should resist formation of fungus and other micro and bacterial organisms, should be easy to clean and maintain yet should have high aesthetic appeal. Ceramic tiles of various types with exotic finishes are available in the market to be used both on the flooring as well as on the walls, called as dado for the toilets and kitchens. Certain exclusive and niche market products are also available such as handcrafted, hand painted, screen printed tiles with customised designs. The tiles for flooring and dado in the service areas should be non porous, resistant to the micro organism growth and yet should match the decor.
Areas like the bedrooms, den and study can have flooring with softer and warm feeling. As the person should feel more relaxed here, Wooden,cork and laminated flooring and floor coverings such as carpets, leather tiles are the right choice for these areas.
The commercial interiors like offices, business centres, retail spaces etc. must have floor surfaces that are hard, strong and sturdy to take the heavy traffic, have excellent gloss or otherwise finish and must have very high aesthetic appeal with minimum maintenance. Agglomerated stones, various types of ceramic tiles, artificial and synthetic stones and in some proportion even smart metallic tiles can be the ideal choices for such spaces.
The Industrial areas prefer ceramic tiles as they are inert with most of the chemicals or metal tiles which are strong, sturdy and last longer. Natural stones of cheaper qualities are also preferable in certain cases where the use of chemicals is not much involved.
Natural and artificial stones are easy to work with when intricate patterns are to be made in the flooring. Ceramic tiles should be avoided as far as intricate patterns are concerned. As the tile ends are curved and the tiles are with a top coat of glaze, without excellent workmanship they can’t be used for such options but for random patterns and china mosaic patterns they look absolutely stunning. Vitrified tiles to some extent can be used for creating such patterns. Glass flooring can be used to achieve a “see through” or transluscent effect for stair treads or for suspended floors especially in commercial interiors as well as for discotheques, dance floors and other entertainment related options.
For huge spaces, large flooring patterns with varied materials and colours can be made in order to create a centre of attraction or to create various paths to direct the traffic or to demarcate zones or specific areas or it also could be a general pattern. Huge slabs of flooring with less joints gives aesthetically better and spacious look. At times the flooring can follow a similar pattern that of the ceiling in order to create a strong design element in the space. Some times it can also be achieved by creating various levels in the ceiling as well as in the flooring.
Care should be taken while selecting the type and pattern for the smaller spaces. Flooring should be with minimum joints, too many colours, heavy patterns and floor levels should be avoided as this makes the space look shrunk and not spacious. Light coloured flooring brings about spaciousness whereas darker shades tend to make the space look smaller than the actual. One needs to avoid flooring tiles with intricate textures for interior spaces as these tend to accumulate the dirt and grim and are difficult to clean and maintain.
