Making the floor in the nursery: a comparative overview of suitable flooring

The choice of gender in the children's room is another task! The wrong approach to this issue in the future can lead to problems such as asthma and allergic reactions in a child, expensive coating damaged in the first year, rotten floorboards under the laminate and noticeable scratches. That is why this choice must be approached with special responsibility, if you are not eager to make new repairs every summer.

Children's room: one thousand and one requirement

So, what is the difference between a children's room and any other? And why is so much attention always paid to the choice of flooring? The fact is that in this room always:

• High dynamic load (children run, jump, and sometimes with friends).
• The risk of moisture getting into the coating (children draw and drink juice).
• Scratches, chips and scuffs in the most unexpected places (children always play outdoor games).
• Marble stains from felt-tip pens (a favorite pastime of kids).

This is us to how resistant to abrasion and stains should be the coating in the children's room. But it also has its own specific requirements:

1. Environmental friendliness. After a few months, the child should not begin to suffocate from dust or allergens.
2. Depreciation of steps. For young children, too hard a coating is even dangerous for health: this is a serious burden on the spine and the risk of flat feet.
3. The coating should not be slippery - to avoid accidental injuries.

But, if you add together all these requirements, then, perhaps, there is no such flooring all over the world. Each of the existing species today has one or another advantage, and for the right choice you need to focus more not on the pros, but on what disadvantages you can put up with. In addition, for each age - its own requirements.

Overview of suitable traditional flooring

Therefore, let's take a closer look at what floor coverings are popular for children today, what is their composition and laying process, what substances are used in the installation process (an important issue) and much more. Let's hit the road!

Cork - Heat and Cushioning

This is by far the most sought after coating for a nursery. Soft, eco-friendly and quiet - what could be better? Here is just a situation where in one family the cork lay for only two years and already has a tortured appearance, and in the other it has been faithfully serving for ten years, and the children in both families are equally active. So where does, in fact, come from so many negative reviews about this coverage, when along with no less laudatory?

It's simple: cork cork is different. Those. You can get really high-quality material, or you can stumble upon a fake. Let's take a little look at all this.

So, there is such a thing as technical bung. It is made of residues and is used as a substrate for a laminate.It performs its soundproofing and softening functions well, and it is it that can be purchased cheaply from unscrupulous sellers under the guise of full coverage. But in a normal children's room, such a traffic jam will not last long.

The second type of cork flooring - glue. They can be found on sale in the form of tiles that are fastened with glue joint to joint. No cracks can be seen, such a floor is not afraid of moisture, but the very presence of glue is confusing for many parents.

Cork flooring (cork laminate) - This is a cork floor from individual panels. It’s already afraid of moisture, and the seams become deformed over time due to the slightest dampness, and therefore it is suitable only for the bedroom and living room. If you remember Dr. Komarovsky with his calls to make the air in the children's rooms moist and even control it with a hygrometer, then you will understand that you will have to forget about cork flooring.

Also, the cork is different in the way of laying: castle and glue, and in the first case, low-ecological glue is not needed. But in the second and even the cork itself in the coating composition is very small, pay attention to this fact. Here is one of the styling options:

This cork floor has some great advantages:

• Soundproofing. The result is grateful neighbors from below.
• Heat. Less typical childhood illnesses.
• Depreciation of a step. A healthier spine in a child.
• Environmental friendliness. There is no fear for all sorts of different volatile and dangerous substances.
• Elasticity. Any dents will level out quickly enough.

But of the minuses, it is worth noting that under the cork coating you can not install a warm floor. Moreover, cork laminate can be placed on the underfloor heating system, but cork sheets - no. It’s just that this material will let out no more than 20% of thermal energy, it has such a property. And the price, of course, is high, given that the cork is also wear-resistant. And alsothe cork surface is rather rough, the child will not slip once again, but slippers and slippers will be washed quickly.

A cork floor has been around for about ten years, and partial repairs are possible - today a special varnish is sold for it. Modern cork floors are not at all similar to the only loose surface of terracotta color - they are produced today with beautiful photo printing and with a variety of colors.

Laminate - practicality and shock resistance

This is by far the most popular choice for children's rooms. It is easy to clean, looks beautiful, you can put some rugs on top. Laminate is the most suitable for underfloor heating systems, it easily tolerates temperature fluctuations and fits even with the most complicated schemes without any special difficulties. You can not put on a warm floor only a laminate of a cheap series - from 8 mm.

And now about the cons. Let's just say that not everyone puts laminate flooring in bedrooms or children's rooms - more because of the fear that this material emits formaldehyde, acrylic and melamine resins. Although the manufacturers themselves do not confirm this information. Therefore, if you are going to lay the laminate flooring, buy it only from a well-known brand and ask the seller to see the relevant quality certificates.

Laminate flooring is also quite noisy. He loves to creak, fades in the sun, and requires a perfectly even base. Even a cat that just walked around the room can make a sound no worse than heels. And, if you do not think of high-quality sound insulation for the neighbors below - they will be angry with you. The laminate is also slippery, which is not very good for the nursery.

But there is still such a “but”: a laminate is a compressed cardboard impregnated with glue and coated with melamine resin. Those. for all its appeal, it is not the most environmentally friendly product. But practical and able to withstand pranks of more than one child.

Today there are already so many brands of laminate flooring that it is not easy even for a specialist to understand them.Therefore, if you purchase this coverage, be sure to first go to the brand’s website (not the seller) and see the information about it. Counterfeits and low-quality product of their site, as a rule, do not. In the meantime, experts recommend brands such as Quick Step, Kronotex and Egger for children's rooms. Here is the styling of the first of the following:

Parquet board - style and solidity

Importantly, the noise from the floorboard is much less than from the laminate, on which the crash even from a falling pencil. Also you easy lay this cover yourself, unlike parquet. By the way, any scratches on the floorboard can be repaired - with special varnish and polishing.

Parquet board, due to a more natural basis, is subject to scratches and dents. You need to handle it carefully, and you can only make such a floor in the nursery if you have a very neat child. Moreover, the eco-friendly parquet board is designed more for bedrooms, where there is a small cross. Also, a parquet board does not tolerate fluctuations in humidity and air temperature - it quickly shrinks and swells.

Bottom line: parquet board - the floor is finicky, but beautiful and quite environmentally friendly. For children's rooms - for quiet and tidy children who spend almost all day in school-circles, and prefer active games in the open air. So, there are specially created collections of floorboards for children's rooms - for example, Barlinek Young and some others. Typically, such a floor consists of almost 100% wood, has an antibacterial system and antifungal properties.

And here is the styling process:

Carpet - comfort and safety

It’s not convenient for a child to play on a hard floor - after all, usually during all moving projects you have to crawl or lean on your knees. Warm is more suitable for such children carpet.

But many modern parents, taught by a variety of programs and the Internet, actively throw out all “dust collectors” from the nurseries, leaving only a sterile-clean space of plastic and wood. They just forget that children's rooms should not be like research laboratories or operating rooms - comfort is important here. And designers around the world will agree that the first steps in this direction are textiles and soft materials.

So, modern carpet manufacturers offer many options for coloring and design, thickness, quality and finish. Choose what you like! Indeed, in just a few years, when a grown-up child wants to radically change the interior of his room, it will be quite easy to dismantle this floor covering.

There are expensive types of carpet that are designed specifically for children and can be safely laid on the underfloor heating system. And the process of installing this coating is extremely simple:

Green market claims

And now - all about the news for children's rooms, and not only.

Marmoleum - eco-friendly linoleum

Just five to ten years ago, linoleum in a children's room was considered sacrilege. Non-ecological, sometimes with a well-perceptible chemical smell, cheap. Although so far, for the sake of economy, such a coating is also made in children's rooms.

But today, thanks to the advent of his new variety - marmoleum - You can review this option again. This is a coatingwhich is 97% natural. Its main advantages: environmental friendliness, naturalness, antibacterial properties and improving strength characteristics every year. It can consist of such materials: linseed oil, jute or wood flour, chalk, natural dyes. Laying should be professional, and caring for it a little harder.

Ordinary cheap linoleum lasts about 5 years, is not durable and cannot be restored in any way. Many who tried to lay it in their own corridor or in the kitchen noted that it was even difficult to breathe in such a room.So linoleum began to be used more in offices, corridors of public institutions and rented apartments.

What marmoleum is still good for a child’s room is that you can put a thick substrate under it, and it will be soft and comfortable for walking a one-year-old baby. And here is how the standard laying of this natural linoleum occurs:

PVC tile - will take it all!

You will be surprised, but this material is becoming more popular also for children's rooms. After all, a new Pvc tile:

• Warm in feeling.
• Not afraid of any moisture, no dryness, no heat.
• It is easily repaired by sticking a new element in place of a damaged old one.
• It withstands heavy furniture.

This is an ideal option for the noisiest and most mobile children, whom the company also likes to drop by. This tile is easy to repair, and you don’t need to do anything with the entire floor. It is easy to wash, even by automatic means, and after a year or two it is not a pity to re-stick to a new one with a new design.

Oddly enough, initially PVC tile was developed for the kitchen, but today those who understand well how to raise two or three children in one room prefer this option. Speaking of environmental friendliness: PVC tile is not a natural material, but it does not release any harmful substances into the air. And therefore it can be called to some extent environmentally friendly. Moreover, PVC coatings even have a special hygienic certificate that can be used in educational and medical institutions, and this already says a lot.

If you get a children's and not the cheapest vinyl tile, it will serve you much longer than a laminate. She, by the way, is called “flexible laminate”. You will be surprised, but tearing or piercing PVC tiles is much more difficult than linoleum. Such tiles are also resistant to the formation of fungus, mold, rotting processes and are fireproof (remember children's fun with matches). And vinyl tiles for the floor, oddly enough, have a good anti-slip property, which is a definite plus for the nursery.

As for the environmental friendliness of any PVC coatings, the manufacturers themselves are called them as such until they are heated to 30 ° C. For example, the same warm floor heats much less.

If you look at the substrates for PVC tile, then only two options are suitable for it: screed or tightly laid and putty plywood. Laying such tiles is easy: just stick them “butt to butt”, and the finished floor looks like a seamless monolithic parquet or laminate. You will see this in this photo instruction:

And, most importantly, vinyl tiles outperform cork in soundproofing!

Soft floor - a new word for technology

Pay attention to the modern soft floor. It is manufactured using the new EVA technology, and consists of soft granules painted in the desired color. Typically, manufacturers produce it in the form of separate puzzles with inserts, and you can assemble and lay the floor in a matter of minutes according to your own design idea. At the same time, it is easy to clean, soft, warm in sensations and children always like it very much.

If you also have some kind of sports equipment in the children's room, a swing or a slide - this is an indispensable floor covering, because it is quite thick and soft. How to choose, mount and operate it, you can learn from our other article.

But sometimes you can find among the offers also exotic floors - from rare wood or interesting composition. Here it is already necessary to approach individually, but usually such floors are also not compatible with infrared, electric or water, unfortunately.

That's all the pros and cons of modern flooring for children's rooms. We wish you a good choice!

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