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Many times an all out floor replacement is not necessary. You may be surprised to learn that many types of flooring can be repaired and made to look just as good as new. You can literally bring your floors back to life; make them look new, for a fraction of the cost over totally replacing the floor.
Hardwood
The very best candidate for restoration over replacement are hard wood floors. Over years of use, hardwood can become scratched and damaged. Sometimes older homes have had the hardwood floors covered over with carpet. To bring them back to their former glory takes a lot of work, but the cost will be less than total replacement. It’s best to hire a professional to restore and repair hardwood than to try this project yourself. The results will be well worth it.
Tile
Tile can get worn and show use over time like most other flooring. But, there is no reason to replace it all when you can restore and repair tile flooring relatively inexpensively. Ideally you want to replace broken grout before any of your tiles are damaged. This is actually something you can do yourself, or you can hire a professional to do it. If the problems that your floor is uneven and that is what’s causing the damage, you may need to bring in a professional who will tear up the tile that exists and put it back down after leveling out the floor.
Vinyl
Many homes have vinyl flooring due to the inexpensive cost and the resiliency of vinyl flooring. Most of it is laid in one continuous piece, some come in tiles, and are glued down. Depending on what kind you’ve used will dictate how a repair is completed. If you used tile, you can take up the tiles that are damaged and replace them with undamaged tile. If you used the sheet tile, you can patch it, but there will be visible seams. seams, in and of themselves aren’t bad. Just plan for how you want it to look as you do your repairs. The most common issue is that vinyl gets loose on the edges and curls up, the fix is easy, just glue it back down.
Squeaky Floor
Sometimes the repair has nothing to do with the type of flooring you have but rather you want to fix a squeaky floor. If you have a squeaky floor considering hiring a contractor with experience in fixing subflooring, and re-nailing floor joists. It doesn’t matter if you have carpet or another type of flooring squeaky flooring should be repaired to avoid an increasing problem.
No matter what type of floor you have, repairing and restoring can be an option for you. Do be very careful about taking care of certain home repairs on your own in homes that were built before 1980 due to the possibility of asbestos. If you’re unsure, get someone to test your floors before you begin. You can also check with the (epa.gov) for more information.
