Home Guru: How to Select Flooring That’s Easier on the Body
By Bill Primavera – Almost 30 years ago, my wife and I decided to install carpeting in the central hallway, staircase and second-floor landing of our home. We must have been feeling particularly flush at the time because we chose the best quality, deep-pile nylon carpeting we could find.
Why nylon instead of wool? Because we were convinced by the carpet retailer that it would last forever, and in our naïve youth, we expected everything, like ourselves, to last forever.
To add to the expected comfort of treading across the thick pile, the carpet store owner introduced us to the idea of adding foam padding beneath the carpeting. As a result, every person visiting our home for the first time always commented on the extravagant experience of walking across – or I should say – wading through that carpeting.
When I shared this story with Mary Fellbusch, owner of Absolute Flooring in Yorktown, in researching options for “softer” flooring that’s easier on the joints, she responded, “You really don’t want to be bouncing around or walking into your carpeting, especially in high traffic areas. The purpose of padding is to help support you. You shouldn’t be disappearing in it.”
I guess I made a wrong decision all those years ago because, indeed, I have been disappearing into that carpeting rather than walking across it.
The hardness of surfaces underfoot occurred to me as a topic when I was viewing a YouTube interview of Russ Tamblyn who appeared in the film version of “West Side Story.” He related how difficult it was on his joints to dance on the cement sidewalks of New York City. In a way, I related to that because, as the years passed, I find that my feet, ankles and knees are more aware of harder surfaces when I encounter them, especially if it involves standing for extended periods of time.
Fellbusch advised that many factors are involved with selecting the right flooring for an area, depending on the traffic it receives. When I asked about choices for a “softer” surface, Fellbusch asked a question in return: by softer, did I mean soft to the touch or to the feel? To the feel, I responded.
“I want to know what’s easier on the joints,” I said.
That understood, Fellbusch gave me excellent advice she gives to an older customer seeking a soft but supportive carpeting choice.
“For an older person seeking comfort, I recommend a synthetic hair padding beneath the carpet,” she said. “It’s not ‘bouncy’ but it’s resilient. It’s comfortable but easier to walk on. You’re not going into the carpet, but across it. In the bedroom, however, something softer can be chosen because it’s not high traffic and customers may want something to sink their toes into.”
I then asked about what can be done to make hardwood floors more resilient. Fellbusch responded that wood flooring already has its own resiliency, but that it can be enhanced with the addition of rosin or tar paper between it and the surface below to make it a little more comfortable.
Where we spend most of our time standing is in the kitchen, and historically that is where many homeowners have chosen to install the hardest material of all –ceramic. But that is changing. When it was time for us to install a new kitchen floor, it was over a surface that was more than 100 years old and very irregular. We had wanted a checkerboard tile pattern, but were advised that our flooring was too soft to support tile. As it was, Fellbusch suggested a new subfloor installation to even out the surface, topped by a high quality vinyl.
“A lot of people like ceramic for the kitchen but you can have a similar look with high quality vinyl, which is very flexible, either with the grout line designed into the tile or with acrylic grout,” Fellbusch said. “It’s more comfortable and easier to clean. Further, it reduces the possibility of either breaking things by dropping them or having the tiles themselves crack.”
And sure enough, once installed, my wife and I found that it was very comfortable to stand on.
Getting older can have its challenges, but with little tricks about easing into it, like doing our joints some good with smarter flooring choices, we can soften the journey a bit.
For more information and advice about flooring needs, you can contact Absolute Flooring, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, by calling 914-245-0225.
Bill Primavera is a Realtor® associated with William Raveis Real Estate and Founder of Primavera Public Relations, Inc. (www.PrimaveraPR.com). His real estate site is www.PrimaveraRealEstate.com, and his blog is www.TheHomeGuru.com. To engage the services of The Home Guru to market your home for sale, call 914-522-2076.
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