Floor Finishes
and how to choose them
When choosing a floor finish, keep in mind the following:
A detailed description of each of the most important floor finishes follows.
- How slippery or smooth it is; do not use very smooth finishes in bathrooms and balconies
- How abrasion resistant it is - do not use soft, quick wearing finishes in areas with heavy foot traffic. Marble and wood have low abrasion resistance, for example, and granite and cement tiles have high abrasion resistance.
- Whether it is chemically neutral - some finishes react with acids, and should not be used in kitchens
- The climate: wood and carpets are perceived to be warm, so use them in cold climates, and stone and tile are perceived to be cool, so use them in warm climates - unless you have underfloor heating or cooling, which changes things.
A detailed description of each of the most important floor finishes follows.
Stone
Stone is a great floor finish and is affordable in many countries; Italy and India are both known for the variety and quality of stone they produce. There is a great advantage to stone that is almost unique to floor finishes: you can polish it, and thus make it look and feel like new, at any time in its life.
Granite is a volcanic rock (it was originally lava, that cooled to form solid rock) that has the following properties:
Its surface can also be worked to produce a variety of textures other than smooth: granite can be flamed, water blasted, sand blasted, bush hammered, or tumbled. These rough finishes are mostly used outdoors, on pathways. The famous cobblestones of Europe are granite, for instance.
Marble is a metamorphic rock (meaning that it was made by the intense pressures and heat deep within the earth), and has the following properties:
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock (rock formed by ancient rivers that slowly deposited material on their beds, that built up layer by layer over millions of years). It has the following properties:
Granite is a volcanic rock (it was originally lava, that cooled to form solid rock) that has the following properties:
- It is very hard, strong, and abrasion resistant
- It is resistant to acids
- It can be polished to a mirror-like smoothness
Its surface can also be worked to produce a variety of textures other than smooth: granite can be flamed, water blasted, sand blasted, bush hammered, or tumbled. These rough finishes are mostly used outdoors, on pathways. The famous cobblestones of Europe are granite, for instance.
Marble is a metamorphic rock (meaning that it was made by the intense pressures and heat deep within the earth), and has the following properties:
- Most marbles are soft, and not very abrasion resistant
- They are not resistant to acids
- They can be polished to a mirror finish
- It is translucent - light can pass through it to the extent of a few millimeters
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock (rock formed by ancient rivers that slowly deposited material on their beds, that built up layer by layer over millions of years). It has the following properties:
- It is abrasion resistant, but not always strong, as it is formed in layers.
- It is usually highly resistant to acids
- It has a rough finish, and cannot be mirror-polished, as it consists of grains
