Best flooring for house

[Caduceus]

What would be the nicest, lowest-maintenance option for flooring in a house, assuming cost isn't an issue?

One of the things I hated about our old house was the amount of time I spent cleaning the grout of the bathroom tiles, so it got me thinking that maybe when we are ready to buy a new house, I could get someone to install one large slab of slate stone or something like that and clean-up would be amazingly easy.

Another thing I ended up hating was the wood parquet flooring. It feels nice but with changes in humidity and just general aging, they develop gaps and cracks and dents (from people dropping stuff on the floor), and they are a pain to maintain with dust and small insects like silverfish finding the crevices to be perfect homes. I don't have that problem with marble flooring.

Hence my question. If cost were not a factor, what material do you think would look really good but still require very low amounts of maintenance? Marble comes to mind? I think the grout lines are really small for marble? I need to look at the tiling the next time I stay at an upscale hotel.

[retiredjg]

Nothing beats a wood floor in my book...for looks.

If you want something sturdy and low maintenance, check out luxury vinyl plank. Some patterns just look yucky, but many are nice. Almost entirely maintenance free and stands up to mud, snow, dogs, and people very well. And too tightly fit for silverfish I would think.

[Vinny_in_NJ]

People speak highly of vinyl plank flooring. I have 2 laminate floors and they are nice and have held up well. We have a wood plank style that looks great and a square style that looks OK, over the years the squares kind of shifted so the connecting lines and corners aren't aligned in a few areas. The wood plank one is glued together and the squares are snap together I think. They are both from the same manufacturer but the manufacturer is no longer in existence (Wilson Art). We also have porcelain tiles in our bathrooms that are supposed to wear really well. We have wood flooring throughout the house and haven't really had an issue. Wood flooring may be prone to scratching and definitely prone to wearing. We have had the floors refinished 2X since we live here - before we moved in and just recently but it was 23 years of living in it.

We were at Lowe's the other day and they have some HUGE tiles out now, less grout lines.

If you're going to be on a slab, I don't recommend anything that transfers heat/cold (tile). I put a tile floor into our last house that was on a slab and it made the house seem colder; I didn't think a 1/16" vinyl floor would make a big difference but to us it did.

[mjg]

We installed porcelain tile into our new house build 2019 - all 3750 sq ft, all with the same tile. We went with a 12" x 24" tile size with thin grout lines. And then we use various low pile area rugs (surprisingly inexpensive, and lots of choices at Amazon and other online stores) in various rooms (LR, DR, two offices (his/her), and bedrooms).

For our house with six double coated dogs that shed year round, this setup with a Eufy X10-pro pro robot vacuum and mop - it works great. The robot is programmed to vacuum every day, and I have a separate program that will mop as required (it lifts the mop pads on rugs which it automatically senses).

They have tiles that will look like just like wood plank flooring it that's your style.

[Kenkat]

If you want the lowest maintenance, they make some very nice vinyl based products in tile shapes that have worked great in a bath remodel for us as a replacement for the tile flooring. The product we used has the appearance of slate but provide a slight amount of give and are warmer than an actual stone product. I believe they get a realistic look by using a high resolution photo of an actual piece of slate and imbed that in the product.

We did a partial shower surround using a similar product that looks like marble.

Some people do not like man made materials for flooring so they are not for everyone, but my wife can’t wait until I agree to allow her to rip the tile flooring and grout out of our master bath someday. She would like to also replace our hardwood oak flooring with a vinyl plank but I’m not sold on that yet.

[enad]

Engineered hardwood offers better moisture resistance and stability, making it a good choice for various climates and areas, while solid hardwood offers a traditional aesthetic and can be refinished multiple times, each with its own pros and cons. Stained and polished concrete floors is another option

[MathWizard]

There isn't a best flooring, just a best fitting for you.

We bought a house from an elderly couple. Every floor on the main level was carpeted. Yes, the bathroom and kitchen. For them, I think it made for warmer floors and softer surfaces in case of a fall.

We replaced the bathroom and kitchen carpet with nice vinyl for
easy cleaning, and ripped up the thick carpet elsewhere revealing
3/4 oak flooring for the most part which needs refinishing about once every 10 to 12 years.

We replaced the grouted tiles with solid surface in the bathroom
shower and the kitchen counter. Much easier to keep clean, but in the kitchen you can't just put a hot pan on the counter.

[Wwwdotcom]

Even with my pets scratching up my engineered hardwood, I wouldn't give it up in most of my living areas. Wood absorbs impact in ways other materials don't. Being able to walk anywhere barefoot or sit down anywhere to start stretching is also important to me. I'm also sensitive to dust and mold so carpet isn't a reasonable option.

[Cletus Davenport]

If it was me, I’d go with real wood……

But I was thinking about this last night actually. Back when we were young and money was tight, the houses around us all had sheet vinyl flooring. And I just don’t see that anymore. Honestly though, I think sheet vinyl is the most comfortable, lowest maintenance flooring I’ve ever had. No seams. Kinda squishy. Some dishes don’t break if you drop them on it, etc. I’m guessing though it’s considered a “down market” product now.

It worked great in our foyer, our bathrooms, and our kitchen. We never worried about muddy/snowy boots on it, spilled spaghetti sauce, etc.

I just looked online, and Home Depot and Lowe’s do in fact sell it. They git some good looking patterns now too….

[Parkinglotracer]

Hardwood is great if water is not a factor (had have this for 20+ years) m. Scratches if you have dogs.

In south we have tile with very small grout lines / easy to clean. Hard if you drop your phone. Can be hard on bare feet.

Two bedrooms are carpeted / won’t do that again.

[Mr-et-Mrs-R]

While I would love to replace our floors with Steller hardwood floors, Mrs R has nixed that idea repetitively.
Add in radiant heating and you've got a real winner.

[rich126]

I've lived both back east and out west and prefer hardwood back east and out west stone/porcelain tile. I'm not a fan of the latest fad of luxury plank flooring. It just looks like a house someone is trying to flip. As soon as I enter a house for sale with it I just want to turn around leave.

I can understand some form of carpet/rug in bedrooms since if you fall on the stone/tile it will be painful but the flooring seems more cooling in hotter climates. If I had to pick one flooring it would be wood.

[Running Bum]

Look into cork. I considered it when I built 25 years ago but wasn't sure how long I'd stay. Now I wish I had done it. But I haven't looked into it since then.

[fasteddie911]

We have hardwood. I think it's the nicest and find it to be low maintenance. Don't get me wrong, we have those issues mentioned plus some cupping, lifting and fading in some areas, but we just don't care or think about it. The only "maintenance" we do is cleaning up spills quickly

[barnaclebob]

Another vote for hardwood. Nothing looks better than true hardwood. Both of my houses have had hardwood and I've treated it the same as tile basically. Just no full wet mopping, only damp mopping or using the steam mop not leaving it in one place for a long time.

But if you have big dogs you might not want hardwood or you really need to stay on top of nail clipping. The people who bought our first house had a big dog and those poor floors looked terrible just a couple years later.

[MJS]

Look into cork. I considered it when I built 25 years ago but wasn't sure how long I'd stay. Now I wish I had done it. But I haven't looked into it since then.

Unless you live in a very dry climate, cork is soft, durable, warm and natural. In Arizona, it will shrink. and can crumble.

For tile, very large "rectified" color-body tiles. Tiles will chip, and with a glazed-over-white tile ... chips are obvious.

Stone usually needs a hand-applied clear coat every year or so.

[jjj_22]

Polished concrete. Super easy maintenance. Not everyone likes how it looks but I love it. Can be chilly so if you’re somewhere where it gets cold, do radiant heat.

[lthenderson]

One of the things I hated about our old house was the amount of time I spent cleaning the grout of the bathroom tiles,

Hands down, the flooring that requires the least amount of maintenance over it's lifetime is polished concrete. I have been in homes where they tinted it and polished it to a high shine and it should last a lifetime with nothing more than an occasional sweeping. You can get patterns stamped into the concrete to make it look like various materials too but that makes it more difficult to sweep due to the added texture.

I think tile is probably my second choice but one must SEAL the grout and avoid white grout. The sealing of the grout prevents it from getting dirty and makes it easier to clean. But I rarely see people applying sealer outside of walk in showers. I never once cleaned the grout on my kitchen tile floor in my previous house in the 10+ years I lived there. It was sealed so just sweeping or moping up spills was all that was required.

My third choice is solid wood flooring.

Vinyl is a good choice for maintenance but feels exactly like walking on plastic.

[MikeTN]

I recommend a high quality engineered hardwood, or if you have wood subfloors, a prefinished 3/4"hardwood, Both will last much longer than an oak floor finished in place. I'm old enough to know this from personal experience. At age 80 we built a retirement home on a slab in SC. I specified white oak planks (engineered hardwood). Mine are from Mulligan, cost about $8 ft. in 2023, and have a top layer thick enough to sand and refinish once. They look great and feel good with bare feet. I installed high quality Bruce engineered hardwood in a new house in 1976 and it was still in great shape when I sold the house in 2015. Finished in place oak in another part of the house needed refinishing much sooner than that.

[Caduceus]

Interesting there are so many votes for hardwood and so few votes for stone.

Are hardwood floors pest resistant? Basically, I don't want to have to deal with insects camping inside the floors. That's a high (maybe even the top) priority for me.

My favorite floor was in a boutique hotel with stone floors. There was some uneven-ness to the surface and it was extremely textured and moderately rough. Also felt cold to the touch. I loved walking barefoot in that room. Wonder how I would ever locate those tiles again without booking the same room.

[id0ntkn0wjack]

What would be the nicest, lowest-maintenance option for flooring in a house, assuming cost isn't an issue?

For low maintenance, select any flooring that pleases you, but invest in a robo-vac. I have slate, bamboo, carpet and vinyl and it all looks great thanks to daily Eufy passes. My labor consists of emptying the Eufy and a weekly Bellawood damp mop of the bamboo.

[onourway]

I think it depends on your climate. In our northern climate, I would not want any stone/tile/concrete flooring unless it was heated. In warmer climates those materials are understandably more popular.

I don't think you can go wrong with hardwood though almost anywhere. IMO it looks the best, it feels great warm or cold. It's resilient and can be refinished over generations. If you are installing new, however, I think you really need to specify something at the higher end of the spectrum as the lower tiers seem to be problematic as people here report. We have owned two houses now with original hardwood, 80-100 years old, and even with multiple large dogs, scratches have never been an issue. I have never heard of pests being an issue in the flooring. They should be adequately sealed such that access shouldn't be possible.

[Isabelle77]

I like real wood or high end engineered wood. Concrete, tile, and stone all hurt my back after a while and carpet is just kind of gross

[White Coat Investor]

What would be the nicest, lowest-maintenance option for flooring in a house, assuming cost isn't an issue?

One of the things I hated about our old house was the amount of time I spent cleaning the grout of the bathroom tiles, so it got me thinking that maybe when we are ready to buy a new house, I could get someone to install one large slab of slate stone or something like that and clean-up would be amazingly easy.

Another thing I ended up hating was the wood parquet flooring. It feels nice but with changes in humidity and just general aging, they develop gaps and cracks and dents (from people dropping stuff on the floor), and they are a pain to maintain with dust and small insects like silverfish finding the crevices to be perfect homes. I don't have that problem with marble flooring.

Hence my question. If cost were not a factor, what material do you think would look really good but still require very low amounts of maintenance? Marble comes to mind? I think the grout lines are really small for marble? I need to look at the tiling the next time I stay at an upscale hotel.

I think tile (including marble) is probably best for nice and low maintenance. Can make for loud rooms though.

[MBB_Boy]

Polished concrete. Super easy maintenance. Not everyone likes how it looks but I love it. Can be chilly so if you’re somewhere where it gets cold, do radiant heat.

That's what we have, surprised to see you were the first to mention. Can't get lower maintenance and easier to clean spills / hair / mud etc. And it looks nice with all the swirls and such

[Duzz78]

One of the things I hated about our old house was the amount of time I spent cleaning the grout of the bathroom tiles, so it got me thinking that maybe when we are ready to buy a new house, I could get someone to install one large slab of slate stone or something like that and clean-up would be amazingly easy.

Don't discount grout. Grouts have changed since what you have in your current house. Today there are grouts that are stain resistant, mold and mildew resistant as well as they don't shrink or crack. Two brands to consider is Mapei Flexcolor CQ and InColor Advance Performance by TEC. The Mapei is sold at Floor & Decor and Lowes stores. InColor is sold by commercial distributors or some retail flooring stores.

I have a similar grout product of TEC for all tile in my house. That means floors and walls, especially bathrooms. After 6 years, I have yet to clean the grout on my floors. That said, you still need to do take care of the grout. I don't let water sit on my grout or tile to air dry. The water will evaporate, but any dirt in that water will be left behind sitting on your grout and tile. So you need to wipe up that water immediately with a towel. That means food spills as well. That means water in the shower as well. Squeegee, then use a towel to wipe away any water. This takes like 2-3 minutes. It also makes the shower tile much easier to clean as well.

I would not choose one large slab for the shower floor. Using the envelope method for the shower floor might better choice. This was recently done on This Old House Season 46 Episode 14 which aired Feb. 6 this year. Here there are 3 rows of tile (10 pieces of cut tile total) with just 6 straight grout lines.

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1023454079817256

[stan1]

Not sure there is one single "best" flooring that is universal for all locations, climates and lifestyles. I'd love to have solid wood plank but not feasible. We have "Crossvile Speakeasy" porcelain planks that look like wood planks on our slab foundation in a warmer climate with dogs and rocks/dirt that get tracked into the house. Very happy with it, and would do it again. Everyone who walks into the house likes it and says it is the best porcelain wood look tile they have seen installed. The planks are 36x6 ... and I'd definitely recommend a skilled installer if you have a large area and want it to be perfect.

Friends with dogs and kids have capitulated and just done "luxury vinyl plank" throughout. They are happy with it, and say they will replace it when the kids are older.

[snic]

Interesting there are so many votes for hardwood and so few votes for stone.

Are hardwood floors pest resistant? Basically, I don't want to have to deal with insects camping inside the floors. That's a high (maybe even the top) priority for me.

My favorite floor was in a boutique hotel with stone floors. There was some uneven-ness to the surface and it was extremely textured and moderately rough. Also felt cold to the touch. I loved walking barefoot in that room. Wonder how I would ever locate those tiles again without booking the same room.

If hardwood is installed properly and finished properly, there are no pest issues. Remember that the floor will get several coats of polyurethane, which is essentially a very tough plastic. So it will take a long time for a puddle of water to seep into the wood and cause damage. If water can't get in, neither can pests.

Perhaps older or incorrectly I stalled floors can have gaps that let pests in. But I've lived in 4 houses with wood floors and never noticed a pest issue.

(Now, of course you can't douse wood floors with water, and puddles should be cleaned up promptly. But modern finishes really do make the floor quite resistant to everyday spills.)

I'm a +1 for real wood floors. Really nothing is classier or more comfortable. They also last literally forever and can be refinished over and over again. I also find them easy to maintain - just regular sweeping or vacuuming is all they need, and clean up messes promptly. Maybe put a rug down in high-traffic areas that get some grime tracked in, like entryways. In my experience, modern finishes don't show much wear even in hallways.

[anoop]

I consulted this before buying my carpet (to replace old carpet). There are pros & cons for all flooring types so you have to decide what you want, but this might help.
https://www.mychemicalfreehouse.net/202 ... oring.html

I might research the polished concrete option next time I need to change the carpet.

Forbo Marmoleum (also discussed in the link above) was another option recommended by the flooring store I bought the carpet from as something they sell with zero VoC.

If you live in a cold climate and are putting tile or marble, you could also look at underfloor radiant heating.