Which floor suits your home?
A floor determines much more than just how a room looks.
The colour, the plank size, the laying pattern and the material have a big influence on the atmosphere of your home. But a good floor must not only be beautiful. It must also suit the way you live.
Do you have children? Pets? Underfloor heating? Do you want as little maintenance as possible? Or are you looking for the character of real wood?
That is why at NTU Vloeren we don't start with the question:
“Which floor do you like?”
But with:
“Which floor suits you?”
Because two floors that look almost the same in the showroom can be quite different in daily use.
In this article we compare four popular floor types:
- PVC
- Parquet
- Laminate
- Marmoleum
That gives you a better picture before you start laying dozens of samples side by side.
1. PVC: comfortable, strong and versatile
PVC has become one of the most popular choices for Dutch homes in recent years.
That is not surprising.
Modern PVC floors are available in very realistic wood and stone textures and can therefore combine the look of, for example, a wooden floor with practical ease of use.
PVC suits you when:
- you are looking for a low-maintenance floor;
- you have children or pets;
- the floor is used intensively;
- you want a wood look or concrete look;
- you have underfloor heating;
- you want one calm floor running through several rooms.
Many PVC floors are suitable for use in combination with underfloor heating. The chosen product, the subfloor and the way the floor is laid remain important.
Glue-down PVC or click PVC?
There are big differences within PVC too.
Glue-down PVC is bonded directly to a suitable, flat subfloor. This creates a sleek floor with a relatively low total build-up height.
Click PVC is laid floating and can be practical in certain situations where gluing is not desired or possible.
Which solution is best therefore depends not only on the floor you like, but also on the existing subfloor and the home.
2. Parquet: real wood with a character of its own
Anyone looking for a natural floor quickly ends up at parquet.
And you both see and feel that difference.
Every wooden plank has its own grain, colour variations and texture. This creates a floor that is never completely uniform.
That is precisely the charm.
A wooden floor also develops more and more character of its own over time.
Parquet suits you when:
- you find real wood important;
- you are looking for a warm and natural look;
- you like a material that is allowed to live;
- you are looking for a floor for the long term;
- you want the option of treating the floor again later.
With parquet an enormous number of choices are possible.
Think, for example, of:
- wide or narrow planks;
- natural oak;
- smoked wood;
- white-oiled wood;
- dark finishes;
- herringbone;
- Hungarian point;
- different gradings from calm to characterful.
Can parquet go on underfloor heating?
Yes, various wooden floors can be combined excellently with underfloor heating, provided the right floor construction, wood species and installation method are chosen.
With wood in particular, expert advice is important. Wood naturally reacts to temperature and humidity.
That is why at NTU we don't only look at the plank, but at the complete situation the floor ends up in.
3. Laminate: a lot of look within an attractive budget
Laminate has developed strongly.
The time when you could immediately see that a floor was laminate is far behind us with good collections.
Modern laminate floors can have deep wood textures, matt surfaces, subtle grooves and true-to-nature designs.
That gives you a lot of look for a relatively attractive budget.
Laminate suits you when:
- value for money is important;
- you want plenty of choice in colours and designs;
- you are looking for a strong floor;
- you want little maintenance;
- you want to be able to lay the floor relatively quickly;
- you are looking for a beautiful wood look without choosing real wood.
Various laminate floors are also suitable for use in combination with underfloor heating, as long as the complete floor system is suitable for it.
The underlay is also important here. Not every underlay is suitable for the same application.
4. Marmoleum: natural material with a very distinctive look
Marmoleum is perhaps a less obvious choice than PVC or laminate, but absolutely deserves a place among the main floor types.
Marmoleum is Forbo's brand name for linoleum and is largely made from natural raw materials, including linseed oil, wood flour, limestone, resin and jute.
The material therefore has a completely different basis from, for example, PVC.
Marmoleum suits you when:
- natural raw materials are important to you;
- you are looking for a calm and contemporary floor;
- you want plenty of choice in colours;
- you want a strong floor for intensive daily use;
- you are not necessarily looking for a wood look.
Marmoleum fits particularly well in modern, Scandinavian and minimalist interiors, but thanks to the wide colour range, bold combinations can also be made.
That makes it much more versatile than many people initially think.
Which floor is the best, then?
There isn't really one.
There is mainly a floor that suits your situation best.
A family with young children can have very different priorities from someone completely refurnishing an apartment.
And someone who mainly wants the maximum natural experience will probably make a different choice from someone who mainly wants practical ease.
That is why we look at, among other things:
- the room the floor is going in;
- the existing subfloor;
- whether or not you have underfloor heating;
- amount of daylight;
- children and pets;
- maintenance;
- desired lifespan;
- style of the interior;
- budget;
- plank size and laying pattern.
Only then does a comparison between different floors become really meaningful.
Don't just look at a single floor sample
A small sample can be beautiful.
But in the end you're not going to lay a 40-centimetre sample in your living room.
You lay dozens of square metres of floor.
A colour that looks dark on a small piece can turn out very calm in a large, bright living room. Conversely, a busy wood grain across a whole surface can be much more prominent than you expect from one plank.
The natural light in your home also plays an important role.
That is why we strongly believe in looking, comparing and combining before you choose.
Where possible, bring colours or photos of your kitchen, furniture, wall finish and interior. That makes it much quicker to see which direction works well.
Large samples make choosing easier
Online you can find excellent inspiration.
But a floor is a material you really have to experience.
You want to feel the texture.
See the difference between matt and glossy.
Lay colours side by side.
And above all see what happens when a larger surface becomes visible.
That is why we like to work with samples and combinations that let you look beyond just a small piece of floor.
The aim is not to show you as many floors as possible.
The aim is to be left with the right floors.
Understand the home first, then choose the floor
That is ultimately perhaps the most important advice.
Don't start with hundreds of designs.
Start with your home and your wishes.
First ask yourself:
How will this room be used?
How much maintenance do I want?
What atmosphere do I want to create?
Does the floor have to be suitable for underfloor heating?
Do I want real wood or mainly its look?
Roughly how much do I want to invest?
Once those answers are clear, selecting a floor suddenly becomes a lot easier.
See a floor in Utrecht?
Do you want to see PVC, parquet, laminate and Marmoleum side by side, not just compare them online?
Then visit NTU Vloeren in Utrecht.
In our showroom you can compare different materials, colours, sizes and laying patterns. We then look together at which floor suits your home, use and budget.
No endless search past hundreds of almost identical planks.
But a targeted narrowing down to a selection that really suits you.
Visit our showroom at the home-furnishing boulevard in Utrecht, next to IKEA, or contact us for personal flooring advice.
