Flooring Guide

• Carpet Guide
• Hardwood Flooring Guide
• Laminate Flooring Guide
• Ceramic Tile Guide
• Vinyl Flooring Guide
• Area Rug Guide
• Cork Flooring Guide
• Bamboo Floor Guide

See what your Local Carpet and Flooring Retailer has in Store for you...

Style, fashion, color, performance. Today's flooring offers all that and more. With a virtually limitless color palette and a variety of types to choose from, flooring lays the groundwork for any interior design scheme — including one that is uniquely your own. From broadloom carpet and area rugs to hard-surface flooring, such as hardwood, laminate, vinyl, or ceramic tile and stone — you're sure to find the perfect choice to make your home beautiful and comfortable.

In order to help you choose, we've put together this Flooring Buyers' Guide. We think you'll find the answer to most of your questions here. Once you've done your research, we'll help you find a local specialty flooring retailer you can trust. Our easy-to-use database has the largest listing of specialty retailers on the web, putting the information of literally thousands of retailers at your fingertips.

How Much Flooring do I Need?

All flooring is essentially custom designed to fit your particular space. As such, you'll often need to buy more materials than the actual square footage indicates. Most retailers figure anywhere from 5 percent to 10 percent additional, depending on the specifics of the job. In the case of carpet and sheet vinyl, it's like making a dress from a pattern — you'll need more fabric than the finished dress calls for. For hard surface flooring the spoilage takes into account sawn planks or broken tiles. There's nothing wrong with a little left over product in case you damage the floor and need to make repairs at some later date. Additional carpet can be used in the closet.

Square Yard vs. Square Foot

The price of flooring is moving toward square foot pricing. It helps you evaluate on an apple-to-apple basis the relative price of different sorts of flooring.

Square yard pricing can be confusing so remember this simple formula: one square yard equals nine square feet. Comparing an inexpensive carpet at 17.99 a square yard versus an inexpensive laminate at $1.99 a square foot you'll find that they are virtually the same price.

Professioanl Flooring Installation

Probably the most critical part of any successful and beautiful floor is a quality installation. Prices vary widely depending on product and region as well as the complexity of the installation — this applies particularly for complex jobs which are generally not that common. For example, you can expect to pay more for customized hardwood floor installations and for ceramic tile in cases where complexity can arise due to existing plumbing, work space requirements and more. Chances are your specialty flooring retailer is already working with the best installers in the region. Why not let them provide you with the complete package of services?

Ask yourself this question: If installation is the most important part of the job, why would you leave it to some contractor you otherwise have no relationship with (in the case of BIY — buy it yourself, where you select an installer from some ragtag list tied to a rack in someone's warehouse). For DIYers (do-it-yourselfers) unless your spouse is an experienced remodeler, craftsman or some other qualified tradesman, are you sure you really want them putting down your gorgeous new floor? Maybe. Then again, maybe not.

If you're like most shoppers, our next step is to find a list of retailers where you live and work. No need to go any further than FloorSource.com. Find Local Carpet and Flooring Retailers By State

And keep an eye out for online specials, discounts and free offers and even a special FloorSource.com survey.

Enjoy your shopping experience and most of all, enjoy your gorgeous new floor. Let us know how it all turned out by emailing us: FloorSource.com.