Looking for kid-friendly flooring options? If you have a busy household, selecting the best type of flooring can be tricky. Obviously, the comfort, health, and safety of your kids is the highest priority. Many types of flooring can withstand high traffic. We’re talking about roller skates, toys with wheels and sharp edges, and heavy footfall. With kids at home, durability and avoiding signs of wear ranks high on the flooring selection checklist.
Many parents, as well as grandparents or other caregivers, imagine that aesthetic preferences will have to be sacrificed for flooring that is durable, functional, and easy to maintain, but this is not the case. Read on to learn why tile flooring can check off most, if not all of the boxes for families with kids. In this article, we’ll also compare tile to other types of flooring.
Flooring options on the market today come in a variety of designs and finishes that allow you to maintain a stylish home environment while also providing the convenience of easy cleaning and care.
The Comfort Factor
Stylish floors that feel cool under your child’s feet include wood, vinyl, laminate, concrete, and tile. Remember that radiant heat can be installed under hard floors (and certain types of carpet), if desired.
Wood, vinyl, and laminate are a little softer than concrete or tile. (Wood is a component of laminate.) You can place area rugs with padding anywhere you want to create little islands of softness and comfort on hard flooring.
Carpet is soft and comfortable and reduces the risk of injury from falls.
Of all the flooring options, laminate is easiest on the pocketbook, but wood and tile are the most elegant and increase the value of your home.
Handling Spills and Splashes
When it comes to spills, splashes, dirt, grime, and contaminants, the lower the porosity of the material the better. Since kids are notoriously messy, you will really need to think things through before making your final decision on material.
Regardless of what type of flooring you choose, it is a good idea to place high-quality walk-off mats in entryways to help minimize the amount of abrasives and contaminants brought in on the bottoms of shoes after outside play time.
Vinyl, concrete, and tile are generally better options if your highest concern is easily maintaining the cleanliness and like-new appearance of your floors. If you’re going for low porosity tile, porcelain or epoxy-based terrazzo are great options.
Wood, carpet, laminate, and certain types of porous tile are more absorbent than low porosity materials like porcelain tile. It’s certainly possible to apply protection to porous flooring, take precautions, and spend a little extra time cleaning to keep these surfaces looking their best, but busy or budget-conscious folks should consider the time investment for care, as well as professional cleaning costs for porous surfaces.
Customizable Looks
The appearance of concrete, as well as certain types of wood and tiles made from natural stone can be altered after installation. For example, suppose you have matte finish natural stone tiles installed, because you know that trying to maintain a polished finish with kids at home would be an exercise in futility. You chose the matte finish because you knew it would hide imperfections. After the kids have grown and moved out, you might opt to have the tile refinished to a mirror-like, high gloss finish. Keep this concept in mind while you shop for your flooring.
Carpet, vinyl, laminate, and certain types of tile typically cannot be customized once they are installed. However, if you opt for a budget-friendly floor covering, you might find it feasible to replace it with another style of the same material when you want a change. This approach, though, could lead to more flooring material ending up in landfills.
Health and Safety
To ensure a healthier home environment, we can provide a low VOC installation using tiles and setting materials made without harmful chemicals. Concerned about safety with slip and fall accidents? Consider selecting textured tiles or having us apply non-slip treatments to your floors.
Reduce the Noise
Noise reduction is also a consideration, when it comes to tile floors and enthusiastic, vocal kids. If you have a second or third story in your home, the noise kids generate can travel. Should you decide to go with tile for your flooring, we can install special sound-absorbing materials under tile to reduce noise.
Flooring for Playrooms
Choosing the ideal flooring for playrooms is different from choosing the ideal flooring for the rest of the home. While you’ll still be considering how durable and comfortable the flooring will be, as well as how easily it can be maintained, safety ranks very high on the list of concerns for a playroom. It’s where children cut loose. It’s their space, designed specifically for activities like running, climbing, tumbling, and the like.
While our company might financially benefit from recommending tile for playrooms, the truth is, playrooms need flooring that will cushion falls effectively. Consider rubber flooring to provide the necessary shock absorption. Tile can pose a risk of injuries compared to softer surfaces when the little ones plan to get rough and tumbly.
Another option is to choose whatever flooring you want and then install foam mats over the flooring. That way, when the kids grow out of the playroom, the mats can be removed, and the room can be repurposed.
Be sure to carefully read through manufacturer’s information, recommendations, and guidelines before selecting flooring materials for a playroom.
Tile is the Best Flooring Choice for Families with Kids
Selecting the right flooring for homes with kids requires careful consideration of comfort, health, safety, and durability. Which of these factors are most important to you? All materials will have benefits and drawbacks. Consider your family’s lifestyle and needs. From active toddlers to laid back pre-teens to high schoolers who always seem to be accompanied by a half-dozen friends, your flooring choice should reflect what life is like in your home.
Among the many flooring options available, low porosity, high-quality tile flooring stands out as a fantastic choice. Just add a few area rugs, some radiant underfloor heating, and you’re good to go — even long after the kids move out.
by Alice Dean
Copher Tile & Stone proudly stays up to date on tile installation with ongoing education with Mapei Technical Institute, Ardex Academy, the National Tile Contractors Association, Laticrete, and Schluter. Copher is a Certified Tile Installer (#1644).
