A Fast Track Shopper's Guide to the Best in Floor Tile and Flooring

Shop online for an unlimited choice of flooring and floor tile as well as carpets and rugs. Flooring is an expensive part of home decor. For redecorating projects, it makes sense to spend time researching the various floor coverings - their costs, features, advantages and disadvantages.

Become familiar with the manufacturer's names and take advantage of online deals. Significant savings are possible when purchasing floor tiles and carpeting over the internet because the middleman and the cost of the showroom are eliminated.

Having trouble deciding? This page puts it all together for you.

Quick Links:  [Warranty offers] :: [Hardwood] :: [Laminate] :: [Bamboo] :: [Cork] :: [Vinyl] :: [Linoleum] :: [Ceramic] :: [Area rugs] :: [Discount carpet]

• Best selection
• Major manufacturers
• Price comparisons
• Great customer service
• A local installer
• Educational articles
• Live chat to answer questions

Installing options:

• Do it yourself
• Professional installation

• Warranties against wear, stains, fading and moisture damage
• 10, 12, 15, 20, 25 or 30 year
• Some companies offer a lifetime warranty

• Hardwood flooring species include: Brazilian, American or European cherry
• Ash, beech, birch, pecan
• Pine, red and white oak, walnut, hickory, maple
• Hardwoods come in dark, light and medium shades

Edge Designs and Design characteristics:

• Beveled, rolled or square edge on four sides
• Scraped edges and ends
• Sculpted smooth surface
• Micro/eased edge
• Color washed and distressed with unique graining

Width and thickness options:

• 1/4" , 5/16" , 21/64" , 3/8" , 7/16" , 1/2" , 35/64
  9/16" , 3/4" , 5/8"
• 2-1/4" to 2-3/4" , 3" to 4-3/4"
• 5" to 6-3/8" , 7" to 9-1/8" , 10" and up

Hardwood brand names:

• Alloc, Anderson, Appalachian, Barlinek , BHK, BR111
• Bruce, Capella, Chieftain, Columbia, Dellamano
• Elegance Exotic, Ezydeck, Finex, GIB, Goodfellow
• Harris-Tarkett, Hartco, Kahrs, Knight
• Mannington, Master's Choice Exotics, Mirage, Model
• Morelock, Mullican, Muskoka, PAR-KY, Parador
• Pinnacle, Roane Mountain Time Worn Floors, Shaw
• Sherwood, Sovereign, Sun Paratech, Tarkett
• Vineyard Collection, Virginia Vintage Hand Scraped
• Weekly Feature, Westhollow, WFI, Witex

Construction type:

• Cross-ply/engineered, longstrip plank
• Parquet, solid, veneer
• Tongue and groove planks, glue required, glueless click together tiles

Construction:

• Tongue and groove floating floor
• Click together or snap together with pre-applied glue
• Surface is textured or smooth
• Alder, applewood, ash, birch, beech, Brazillian cherry, chestnut, pecan
• Elm, hickory, maple, oak, pearwood, pine, walnut
• exotic granite or marble
• Underlayment options: with attached underlay or no underlay
• Edge design: two or four sided bevel, no bevel
• Distressed or unique grains

Colors:

• Laminate flooring comes in shades of blue, red, teal, yellow and grey

Brands:

• Alloc, Armstrong, Balterio, BHK, Columbia, Loc, Mannington
• Meyer, Minfloor, Pergo, Quick Step, Shaw, ShawMark
• Sovereign, Westhollow, Wilsonart, Witex

Construction:

• Wood core or solid bamboo floor tile and planks
• Prefinished or unfinished

Installation Type:

• Float, gluedown or stapled
• Staple/nail

Edge design:

• Hand scraped or micro/eased edges
• No bevel

Unique design characteristics:

• Horizontal or vertical cane

Brand name:

• Bamboo Garden, Bamtex, EnviorChoice, Goodfellow
• Ming Dynasty, Panda, Premium Green, Springwood
• Westhollow, Woodstock

Color

• Cork flooring is available in shades of red, yellow, violet and gray

Brand names:

• APC, BHK, Christianos, Eurocork
• NovaCork, Parador, Westhollow

Brands:

• Azrock, Congoleum Luxury
• Home Dynamix, Mannington, Metroflor
• NAFCO, Palazzo Vinyl Plank and Tile, Tarkett

Construction and Packaging

• Look for vinyl flooring made from clean, non-polluting fiber
• packaged in recyclable cardboard
• packed on reusable and biodegradable wooden pallets

Installation materials:

• Acrylic latex adhesive, applicator kit with seam sealer
• Ultra premium thin spread for sheet vinyl
• Acrylic Hardseal or Hardset, Advanced Emulsion Adhesive
• Pressure Sensitive and Wallbase Adhesive
• Quik stik or dry back

Designs and features of resilient flooring:

• VCT – vinyl composition tile
• Marble, stone, quartz, granite, slate, clay, earthstone
• Marblerock, oak and maple plank
• Unique L-bevel style and seamless grout
• Soft and warm underfoot
• Quick and easy to install, simple maintenance
• 25-Year residential and 10-year light commercial warranty

• Linoleum floor tiles are made from all-natural ingredients
• Made chiefly of linseed oil pressed from flaxseed
• naturally durable, antibacterial, antistatic and recyclable
• maintains its vibrant colors for decades
• tile or sheet
• Easy installation - no glue or special tools
• Sound and thermal insulator
• Antistatic
• Highly durable and easy to maintain
• Quiet and shock absorbent
• Hypo-allergenic

Features:

• PEI Wear-Rating System: Porcelain Enamel Institute
• ratings for residential, and institutional use
• Tile density – high or low
• Non-vitreous, semi-vitreous and vitreous tiles
• Impervious to moisture
• Choose from glazed or unglazed ceramic floor tiles
• quarry, porcelain, terra-cotta, mosaic squares
• hand-made or machine made tiles

Where to install

• Floors, interior and exterior walls, patios, pools
• Countertops and backsplashes
• Fireplaces, walkways, exterior house trims

Size of tiles 

• small mosaics of less than one square inch
• 24”x24” , 8”x8” or 12”x12”
• 4 1/4" x 4 1/4", 6"x6", but 6" x 8" and 8" x 10"
• Square, rectangles, hexagons, elongated hexagons, octagons
• straight, scalloped and cushioned edges that are heavily beveled to simulate Mexican tile
• smooth or textured surfaces that simulate slate or stone, undulated surfaces that imitate handmade tiles, and gritty surfaces for slip resistance

• contemporary, European, floral, folk-tribal, Native American, Oriental, Persian, themed and transitional area rugs
• rag, crocheted, braided,
• sisal, jute, seagrass, wool, cotton, silk, nylon, polypropylene, olefin, acrylic fibers

Shapes 

• octagon, oval, rectangle, round, hallway or stair runner, square

Brands:

• 828 Area Rug, Bowron Sheepskin, Central Oriental
• Colonial Mills, Inc., Couristan, Delos, Inc., Designer Labels, Fashion Weavers
• Foreign Accents, Hellenic, Home Dynamix LLC, Joy Carpets Inc., Lotfy and Sons, Inc.
• Milliken, Mohawk, Momeni, Noonoo, Oriental Weavers - Sphinx, Oriental Weavers of America
• Radici, Safavieh, Shaw, Trans-Ocean

Construction types

• Braided, flat woven, hand hooked, knotted and loomed
• Hand or machine tufted, power loom woven

Surface types

• Berber loop, cable, cut pile, cut/loop, frieze carpets
• Level loops, Saxony, shag, textured, velvet

Brand name companies:

• Cabin Crafts, Cabin Crafts, Cumberland
• Godfrey Hirst, Gulistan, Gulistan, Hibernia Woolen Mills
• Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Queen, Queen Commercial Carpet
• Soft-Loc Carpet, Sutton, Tuftex

Visual appearance:

• Directional, flecks, graphic patterns, lineal designs
• Multiple solid colors or patterned with pindots or prints

The merchants listed throughout the links below will provide low cost shipping of floors and flooring tiles to businesses and residences in Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming, also Canada and Australia.