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Flooring of house sets mood of interior decoration |
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The flooring of a room creates the very `mood` of a room so it should be taken care to see that the flooring matches the interior design and furnishing and accentuates the overall aesthetic look and feel of the room.
The choice of the flooring material should be as per the purpose of the room and on the frequency of use. For example, materials like granite are appropriate for rooms like the living room and the veranda, which are frequently used.
A wide variety of flooring materials are available in the Indian market today. In addition to conventional materials like marble and granite, manufactured flooring materials like ceramic tiles, vitrified tiles and terazo are widely used today. The type of flooring used depends on two main factors-functionality and aesthetic appeal.
Granite flooring is not at all slippery and it comes in over 45 shades. The most commonly used shades are black, tan brown and red. Quality-wise, all granites are same, just the look is different. The rates of granites vary on colours.
Granites are maintenance free and are long lasting. They are scratch resistant, durable and very easy to clean. A variety of colours to choose from and easy on your budget, granite is undoubtedly the best and the strongest material available today when compared to others like marble or mosaic.
Granites come in two forms, one in tile form and the other in slabs. In the tile form, the thickness is around 10 mm. This type of granite can be used for flooring and cladding. The price for tile ranges between Rs.25 per square feet to Rs.75 per square feet depending on the colour and size.
The thickness of the slab is between 17 mm and 18 mm. It is used for counters, kitchen platforms, tabletops, pillars and walls. This is priced at Rs.50 per square feet to Rs.150 per square feet depending on the colour and size.
Indian marble is certainly stronger, less porous and economical. But today there is more demand for the beautiful shades of Italian marble that is softer and more porous. Marble flooring is a descendent of limestone and is hard. It comes in a number of shades and hues, ranging from off-white to brown, grey or pink. Stone with different coloured streaks is termed statuary marble.
Ceramic tiles are essentially clay tiles with ceramic coatings of 80 micron thickness. Over a period of time, the coating withers away. But ceramic tiles are easy to maintain. A simple mopping is enough to keep them in good condition. They are best used in toilets. Laying them with proper packing is vital.
Vitrified tiles compressed under 5,000 tonne pressure are the strongest among the manmade tiles and are scratch-resistant. They also have glossy finish. They are not porous and absorption is only 0.05 per cent or less. This means that coffee or lemon spills hardly cause any harm to them. Semi-vitrified tiles have this quality only on the surface while fully-vitrified varieties have it across the section. The latter can be polished again and again to retain the original look.
Hardwood tiles are quite fashionable these days as they give an elegant look to your floor. But their maintenance is not that easy. Though they come with polyurethane coat, it hardly stays long and wears out fast. Termites can damage them and are inflammable.
(Posted on : 04/04/2009)
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| Flooring of house sets mood of interior decoration |
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