Believe it or not, most home renovations go off the rails and overextend their gratitude in parts of the home that don’t necessarily need them, leading to unnecessary extra costs to the budget and an extended period for project completion. And while most homeowners score extra in terms of aesthetics and making everything come together, not you can help but notice that you can essentially accomplish the same goals without spending too much time or money.
In fact, one of the biggest culprits includes specific room overhauls. This is where homeowners break down everything and start from scratch when all they actually needed to replace was a couple of creaky floorboards and a fresh paint job. So today, let’s focus on knowing when your rooms need floor remodeling and how you can go about upgrading your floorboards without breaking out your entire savings.
How Do You Know If It’s Time To Change?
Luckily enough, knowing when it’s time to change out your floorboards is pretty easy to do. Since wear and tear typically give the situation away, all you have to look out for is a couple of indicators of age and deterioration. Specifically, some dead giveaways are some refinishing projects, evident wood discoloration spread everywhere, and extremely noisy creaking sounds wherever you step. Here’s how you can tell one sign from the other:
- If They’ve Been through a Couple Of Refinishing: The housing market has been erratic, to say the least. And while most thought home prices would only surge for two years, it seems that the surge in prices is making an early comeback. As a result, it’s no surprise if you’re among the homeowners who went above and beyond last year to increase their home value with a few renovation projects. However, if you’re currently looking at the third iteration of a floor refinishing project, that’s a clear sign of your floorboards overstaying their welcome.
- Evident Wood Discoloration and Damage: Apart from work you’ve finished to add extra value, if your floors are clearly discolored when looking underneath furniture and have some apparent areas of damage, it’s about time you get them changed. Sure, some might argue that if they’re out of harm’s way, it shouldn’t be much of a problem. But some experts recommend fixing it now before it escalates into something worse later. Plus, who knows what else is hiding underneath those old panels!
- Floorboards Get Too Noisy with Creaking Sounds: Although cartoons and films love to display creaky floorboards as some kind of funny joke or slapstick humor add-on, anything that gets too noisy is a clear sign to get them replaced. Often, this is an indication that your subfloors and underlayments are rubbing against each other, and when left unattended, could lead to more adverse structural issues in the long run. Furthermore, it could also be an indication of swelling and sinking in some areas, which poses a risk of you tripping or falling over the uneven surface.
Where Should You Start Changing Things Up?
With the primary reasons out the way, any combination of those indicators should warrant an immediate flooring project ASAP. Waiting around will only cause further damage beyond recognition. So to get you started on the right track, some of our best recommendations for flooring solutions are using raised subfloor panels, installing laminate flooring products, and investing in underfloor heating systems.
- Start from Scratch with Raised Subfloor Panels: When it comes to building a versatile base layer for all future flooring solutions, ripping out your old floorboards down to the base concrete and adding raised subfloor panels are your best choice. Besides the convenience and design benefits, it creates free airflow underneath to prevent the build-up of moisture and mildew growth. Plus, affordable hardware options are easy to come by with local stores and same-day shipping wholesalers like Banner Solutions.
- Experiment with Laminate Flooring Solutions: We won’t argue that high-quality hardwood flooring is an excellent investment, but if you’re value-conscious and in the market for something more affordable, then laminate flooring solutions are perfect. These are multilayer synthetic products tightly bonded with resins to be scratch and water-resistant while being highly durable. And since laminate floors float and flex, special underlayment can help the panels dampen noise and increase longevity.
- Try Underfloor Heating Systems to Fight the Cold: Last but not least, if you want to take your flooring project to the next level, we recommend trying underfloor heating systems to help fight the cold. We’ve all been through those chill moringa where going barefoot isn’t much of an option, even with the heater at full blast. But these warming systems require very little energy to function and are becoming increasingly affordable, working like a cozy heating mat to create a soothing underfoot.
Overall, when renovating our rooms, it’s best to check if it’s just the floorboards you need to change out or if something else needs fixing up. But if it’s only the former, feel free to mix and match what options work best for you to help save on money and improve your budget.
