Floors; A Design Source Book

The format is approximately 9.75 inches by 11.75 inches. 192 pages. Illustrated endpapers. Illustrations (400 full-color photographs) and 75 illustrations. Sources. Index. The floor is quite literally the foundation of the room, and, aside from the ceiling, is its single largest surface. This guide tells how to choose and maintain a floor that works both visually and practically. A complete inventory of every type of flooring material available is featured, including brick, stone, tile, concrete, metal, wood (both old and new), rubber, linoleum, vinyl, and textiles of every description. Elizabeth Wilhide is an author and novelist who has written extensively about design and decoration. Wilhide's first novel, Ashenden, was published by Penguin in June 2012. Her second novel, If I Could Tell You, was published by Fig Tree Penguin in February 2016. She was born in the United States and has lived in the United Kingdom since 1967. In a 1995 review in The New York Times, Michael Owens describes her "fully researched" book The Mackintosh Style: Design and Decor as "a keeper". Her book, Scandinavian Modern Home, was Book of the Week at the Evening Standard in September 2008. An article written by Wilhide on tiles appeared in the Evening Standard at the same time as the publication of her book Surface & Finish. Flooring is the general term for a permanent covering of a floor, or for the work of installing such a floor covering. Floor covering is a term to generically describe any finish material applied over a floor structure to provide a walking surface. Both terms are used interchangeably but floor covering refers more to loose-laid materials. Materials almost always classified as flooring include carpet, laminate, tile, and vinyl. The floor under the flooring is called the subfloor, which provides the support for the flooring. Special purpose subfloors like floating floors, raised floors or sprung floors may be laid upon another underlying subfloor which provides the structural strength. Subfloors that are below grade (underground) or ground level floors in buildings without basements typically have a concrete subfloor. Subfloors above grade (above ground) typically have a plywood subfloor. The choice of materials for floor covering is affected by factors such as cost, endurance, noise insulation, comfort, and cleaning effort. Some types of flooring must not be installed below grade, including laminate and hardwood due to potential damage from moisture. The sub-floor may be finished in a way that makes it usable without any extra work. Solid ground floor, cementitious levelling/wearing/granolithic screeds, polymer-modified concretes and levelling/wearing screeds. Carpet is a soft floor covering made of bound carpet fibers or stapled fibers. Carpeting refers to wall-to-wall coverage, whereas a rug is simply used to cover a space. This type of flooring is typically used indoors and can be used in both high and low-traffic areas. It typically lasts for 1518 years before it needs to be replaced. The quality of a carpet is usually measured in face weight, or how many fibers there are per square inch. The higher the face weight the more plush a carpet will feel. Carpets come in a variety of materials including wool, nylon, olefin, and polyester. There are different types of carpet like twists, which is commonly referred to as berber. Twist carpeting is composed of multiple twisted fibers set into the carpet backing. It is typically used in low-traffic areas. Another type of carpeting is looped carpets, which are composed of looped fibers set into the carpet backing. This type of carpeting is typically used in high-traffic areas as it is easy to clean. Presumed First U. S. Edition, First printing [stated].…