Matching Your Existing Flooring after an Accident

If you have had a fire or other accident which has led to damaged flooring in your house, it can be hard to find an exact replacement to patch the damage, especially if you have old or vintage flooring which is no longer sold in retail stores. Here are some things to check when checking for replacement flooring online.

Pattern

While this might seem obvious, it can be hard to tell from pictures the exact size of the pattern on particular flooring. For instance, if you are looking to replace a checked or plaid pattern carpet, it's important to measure the size of the repeating pattern and make sure that it matches the pattern of the flooring you are replacing.

Colour and tone

If you can find a matching piece of flooring from the same manufacturer and batch as your original flooring, you still need to make sure that the shades match. If your flooring (or the flooring you are looking at purchasing) has been sitting in the sunlight, it may have faded and may not match flooring that has been stored out of the light. Try to compare photos of the flooring in the same light so that you can make accurate comparison.

Wear

While with harder surfaces such as tiles or hardwood flooring wear is not significant, with a soft flooring such as carpets or cushioned lino it can be extremely obvious if you replace a new and/or higher section of flooring into a more worn/flat section or vice versa. Before you purchase a section of flooring online be sure to compare the heights/thickness of the flooring.

Shape and size

If you are replacing an unusual shape of the flooring or aren't confident in the patch you might do, it can make sense to overestimate a little to allow for some errors. Depending on the climate of the place your alternate flooring has been sent from compared to your location, wood-based flooring can be particularly vulnerable to growing and shrinking with changing humidity. Purchasing a little more flooring gives you flexibility against shrinkage.

If you only have a small section of damaged flooring, it is much cheaper to replace the damaged section rather than fully replace the flooring. If you are looking to replace a unique section of flooring it can be useful to find a specialist flooring retailer to work with you to find a suitable matching section.