As you can see, once a house breaks ground, it doesn’t take long to take form.

We’ve been helping Dave with the kitchen design and now we’re ready for flooring.

There are a ton of flooring choices and there’s something to suit everyone’s taste.

But before you buy, there are a few things you need to consider.

Lifestyle is an important consideration when planning the floor for the room.

Do you have children? Pets? Is it a high-traffic area?

These are questions you have to ask yourself before selecting the flooring for the space.

Another thing to consider is how easily the floors will scratch,

especially if you have pets.

And if they do scratch, will the scratch show up very easily or will it add to the character of the floor.

Pale floors are very trendy right now and really brighten up a room.

Also, they’re a perfect contrast to dark furniture.

Medium-tone floors are often seen in traditional and country homes.

They’re very forgiving and really warm up a space.

Dark floors are very elegant and they’re perfect for modern or traditional spaces.

But remember, dark floors do show dust so they require a bit more maintenance.

In high-traffic situations, some laminates offer the longest wear.

Laminates can stand in for a lot of other materials like stone, tile, or wood.

It can be almost indistinguishable from the real thing.

To get the best product for your needs, make sure you ask about the thickness,

the durability, and the life expectancy of the flooring you’re thinking about.

So here’s some examples that we have of laminate for you.

There’s stone look, tile look, wood look. What are you looking for?

I’m definitely looking for that wood look.

I think that’s the warmth that I’m going for. 'Cause it’s going through the whole house.

OK, so higher traffic areas, more lived in, you want the thicker laminate.

OK.

This one here, the laminate’s made in Canada. It does have the wood look that you’re after.

So this is durable, I’m guessing?

Yeah, it’s thicker than your average laminate so it does have that durability factor.

Great, it’s scratch-proof, I love it. It’s like hard wood look without the fuss.

This Rustic Oak laminate actually looks like real wood flooring.

That’s what I like about it the most. The other thing is, is that it’s strong and durable.

It’s 14 millimetres thick, and the tongue-and-groove click system

has a wax coating on it that makes it seal up very nicely.

The most common way to install flooring like this is in a straight staggered pattern.

It’s the most cost-effective and the most straightforward to install.

With floating floors, it’s very important to have an underlay.

The underlay acts as a vapour barrier between the surfaces as well as helps to absorb the sound.

When it comes to flooring direction, the most popular way to lay planks

is along the longest length of the house

instead of the traditional way, which would be from the front door through to the back of the house.

In this case, we went from the kitchen all the way through to the bedroom.

Most flooring materials on the market today combine low maintenance

and durability, which are important qualities for consideration in the your kitchen.

Dave, the floor is looking great.

I love how it works with the cabinets, the colour on the island.

Yeah, I’m loving it. I think it’s looking fantastic as well.

Are you almost done?

Yeah, it’s going together really nicely so we should easily be done by the end of the day.

Perfect.