Flooring Ideas when Living in the Phoenix Area (house, landlord)

[ocngypz]

Tile belongs in wet areas only..............or the deep south and the southwest.

In Chicago..........you'd be whacking your resale value if you put tile in.

My hardwoods are over 100 years old..........and have held up to multitudes of children and pets over the years. I've got white oak and chestnut.

[JTW2013]

One thing that concerns me about tile is that any glass that falls on it will break. But I can't think of any other good alternatives to tile other than carpet which I don't want.

Is there an alternative that I'm missing? I don't want laminate although maybe it's nicer than I remember. What about those engineered wood floors? I know nothing about them.

Will glass shatter if it is dropped on tile?

[KurtAZ]

Originally Posted by JTW2013

One thing that concerns me about tile is that any glass that falls on it will break. But I can't think of any other good alternatives to tile other than carpet which I don't want.

Is there an alternative that I'm missing? I don't want laminate although maybe it's nicer than I remember. What about those engineered wood floors? I know nothing about them.

Will glass shatter if it is dropped on tile?

The wood laminate has gotten much better...and there are scraped and engineered laminate that looks just like wood but with less upkeep. Just an option of course and it has padding under it where tile does not. Not sure if actual wood flooring has a pad as well.

And yes, glass shatters when it hits tile...especially stemware

[Skeksil]

I have tile throughout my home. I like how it looks, and how easy it is to clean. Doesn't seem exceptionally slippery to me, have not had any slip issues. We go around barefoot or with socks or slippers on, either way. We have a rubbery sort of backing on the rugs we have, so they don't slide around.

It's dark grey, smooth stone-looking surface with a medium-lighter gray grout. Have not had to clean the grout at all, but I sealed it with a penetrating sealer. I am sure a glass would break if dropped on it, but have not had any drops.

Don't have kids, so can't comment on that part. The cats don't have any issues with it.

I vastly prefer it to carpet, and like it better than the laminates I have seen. Didn't really even consider hardwood after initial price research.

[R_Cowgirl]

I have 18" x 18" tiles and carpet. The tile is in the entryway, the dining room, the kitchen and bathrooms. Carpet in the bedrooms and the living room. I'm getting ready to pull the carpet and put in either matching tile or wood laminate where the carpeting is. Carpets in Phoenix tend to accumulate a lot of dirt, no matter how much you vacuum. I've never slipped on the tile, and I have a carpet runner in front of the sink. Never dropped anything on the tile. It usually just hits the carpet runner.

I solved the grout problem by putting in brown grout. Tiles are beige with a bit of a pattern, so it works. Problem solved. I wash the tile floors once a week. Have never scrubbed the grout. Who has time?!

[MNSvenska]

I had darker grout put down on my lighter tiles.
It looks nice and doesn't show dirt as much. jmho

[cjs123]

I have textured vinyl in the kitchen and bathrooms; it's 10 years old and has held up extremely well. Feels really nice to walk on and I still enjoy the tile pattern--and there are tons of options for colors and patterns, including tile.

Not Your Father's Vinyl Floor | Home Remodeling - Ideas for Basements, Home Theaters & More | HGTV

[stevek64]

We tiled 100% of our home and love it. Best decision we made to get rid of all carpet in our home. Ultra easy to clean. Get yourself a steam mop to clean the grout once in a while, especially if it's a light color grout. Yes it is unforgiving when you drop something on it though we don't have the habit of dropping dishes/glasses on it every other day. Once every year or other year maybe if we are lucky Cold? You're in the low desert here and it is either warm or hot most of the time. In the few months in the winter when tile gets "cold", wear something on your feet. We mostly walk around with bare feet year round in the house and it doesn't phase us, barely registers as anything but comfortable to us. Actually feels nice the coolness of it. As for tile being slippery, there are very slippery tiles and tiles that are non-slippery in all tile materials(ceramic, porcelain, etc). Just be aware of this when choosing a tile. The porcelain tile we choose for our entire house is almost impossible to slip on, even when wet.

[BlueCat1105]

I'm still getting used to tile in the living room (family room). We're from Chicago as well, where you don't have tile in the living areas. Have already broken a lovely Christmas ornament and another item that fell off of a table. We put hardwood in our game room; I wish I had been able to afford it for the living room as well. Maybe someday...

[43north87west]

Originally Posted by JTW2013

Our new house has tile in the kitchen, entryway and bathrooms and carpet everywhere else. I'd like to rip up the carpet and put in tile everywhere but the bedrooms.

We've got kids and cats.

I'm not used to tile outside of the bathrooms. We've got hardwood floors in our Chicago condo and had carpet in our old house. How slippery is tile? Is some tile less slippery than other kinds? I worry about the kids running around and slipping and falling. Our hardwood floors are slippery but they're soft and don't hurt if you fall. Like many midwesterners we don't wear shoes in our house. Is tile comfortable barefoot?

Is tile hard to keep clean? I look the look of the "wood" tiles but am afraid they might get covered with dust. I am not willing to commit to cleaning the floors everyday as I will be working full time.

What about tile in the bedrooms? I don't like putting my feet down on something cold when I first get out of bed. Do area rugs slide around on tile floors?

Tile is generally less slippery than (genuine) hardwoods. Especially if they have a nice hard wax on them. Then they are deadly.

Some tile is textured and seems less slippery (IMO). I had some textured tile in my bathrooms and it was really nice. Now I have some other much less textured tiles that aren't slippery either. If your kids run around with socks on then any hard surface is going to be kind of slick. You can check out tiles and figure out whether they will be slippery or not... pretty obvious. Put down some nice granite tiles and look out.

No floor is going to show dust and need to be cleaned every day unless you accidentally leave all the windows and doors open during a dust storm. Every week, maybe.

Area rugs don't slide around if they have non skid backing or a non skid pad...

Never knew that not wearing shoes in the house was a Midwestern thing.