2015 flooring trends in custom homes

2015 Floor trends

Now that we are well into the 2015 construction year there are trends that are emerging in what homeowners are choosing to be installed for flooring in their custom homes. There are some new trends that have appeared lately and are gaining momentum and there are the longer running trends that have been popular for many years. Custom homes are extremely trendy and these trends can come and go as fast as fashion trends do.

Here are the trends that have stayed constant over the last couple of years;

• Hardwood floors are still the most installed flooring for houses.

• Oiled floors have really taken off instead of just staining them. The difference is that when an oil floor ends up with a wear spot you don’t have to sand the entire floor and recoat it, all you do is buff the area and then reapply the oil on the affected area.

• Tile or natural stone is the most popular product that is used in bathroom floors.

• Mudrooms or entry ways into homes are still mostly tile or slate for the ease of clean up and longer durability of the product.

• The ensuite bathroom with tiled floors is now always laid with electric in-floor heating.

• Scandinavian Fumed White Oak is all the rage now. This is white oak that is milled in Scandinavia and shipped over to North America as engineered flooring without a finish on it. When it has arrived here it is finished with an oil finish before it is installed. The overall look is a smokey finish that is very unique.

• With engineered floors being so popular gluing floors down is become routine instead of nailing them.

• Oak floors are by far the most popular hardwood flooring installed. The reason for this is its durability and its availability.

• Cork flooring that started being installed in kitchens has also spread to other parts of the house because of the ease of installation and the cushioning it gives the feet.

• Pre-finished floors have almost completely eliminated the need to have raw wood installed and finished onsite. The finish on pre-finished lasts so much longer then the finish that is applied by hand.

• Carrera marble is commonly used in master ensuite to give it a luxurious look like a high end hotel room.

• Distressed or reclaimed wood is still popular in new homes.

Here is a list of the new trends in the flooring for custom homes;

• The 1/3 offset for brick patterns has basically become the rule of thumb when laying tile.

• Engineered flooring is winning the war with full bed hardwood. As recently as last year it was 50/50 being installed; now 75 percent of all hardwood floors are engineered. There are less and less full hardwood floors being installed, people are looking for flooring that will survive and engineered does that.

• Custom finished hardwood is really taking off. There are so many different looks to floors now with the ability to make original before they ever arrive onsite. Bombarding them with UV light or white washing the boards give hardwood floors a dramatic look.

• Dark floors, floors that are almost black are becoming very popular.

• The bevel which defines one board from the next is becoming smaller and smaller, the bevel is now a micro bevel.

• Hardwood flooring made from wood that has been recovered from the bottom of the great lakes. This wood is unique as it has aged for up to a 100 years.

• Tile floors that take the look of real wood are now popular in bathrooms and shower walls.

As there is always new flooring materials available on the market the trends of floors in new homes can change rather quickly. As certain materials gain popularity more suppliers start to offer that material, this brings the cost of the material down as the supply grows. This has the affect of flooring trends exploding in popularity almost out of nowhere.

Rob Abbott
Village Builders Inc.