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Interior and finishes

Flooring Materials

Almost every flooring failure traces back to something underneath: subfloor moisture, an uneven base, an unsuitable adhesive, movement that was not allowed for, or a covering asked to sit in a wetter room than it suits. The covering is usually the last thing that goes wrong.

These entries describe each flooring material, what it depends on and what to ask about before committing. Where you want help choosing between two options, the existing Build Design Hub flooring guides and comparisons do that job and are linked from every entry.

14 reference entries · educational materials reference · suitability always depends on the complete assembly and qualified professional review

Scope

What this category covers

Where the boundary of this part of the library sits, including what it deliberately leaves to qualified professionals.

  • Wood, wood-based, resilient, textile and seamless floor coverings
  • Floor surface systems applied in place rather than laid
  • Raised and access floor systems
  • Not covered: subfloor moisture testing, adhesive specification, slip or accessibility determinations

Start here

Frequently referenced entries

A starting point, not a ranking — these are simply the entries most people arrive looking for.

Engineered wood flooring →A genuine hardwood wear layer bonded over a cross-bonded core, giving a real timber surface on a base that is dimensionally more settled than solid boards.Luxury vinyl tile →Modular tiles or planks carrying a printed film within a polymer body under a clear wear layer, laid with many joints over a base that must be flat and sound.Resin floor coating →Liquid resin systems applied wet and cured in place to form a jointless bonded surface, so preparation of the base and moisture within it largely decide the outcome.

All entries

Every flooring materials entry

The complete set for this category, in reference order.

Solid hardwood flooring →Flooring milled from single pieces of hardwood, so it moves with humidity across its width and can usually be sanded back and refinished more than once.Engineered wood flooring →A genuine hardwood wear layer bonded over a cross-bonded core, giving a real timber surface on a base that is dimensionally more settled than solid boards.Laminate flooring →A printed decorative layer under a hard resin wear surface, pressed onto a fibreboard core, so the core rather than the surface is the moisture weak point.Luxury vinyl tile →Modular tiles or planks carrying a printed film within a polymer body under a clear wear layer, laid with many joints over a base that must be flat and sound.Sheet vinyl flooring →A continuous polymer-based resilient covering cut from wide rolls and joined at very few seams, so the base beneath it shows through and largely governs the result.Linoleum flooring →A covering pressed from oxidised linseed oil, natural resins, wood or cork flour and mineral fillers on a fibre backing, and a genuinely different material from vinyl.Rubber flooring →A resilient covering of vulcanised natural or synthetic rubber with mineral fillers, supplied as sheet or tile and chosen mainly for how it feels and sounds underfoot.Cork flooring →A covering made from the bark of the cork oak, granulated and pressed into tiles or plank layers, chosen for a compressible, warm and quiet surface underfoot.Bamboo flooring →Flooring made from a fast-growing grass, processed either into laminated strip boards or into dense strand-woven blocks that behave quite differently from one another.Carpet tiles →Modular carpet units on a dimensionally stable backing, laid to a grid so that individual tiles can be lifted and replaced without disturbing the rest of the floor.Broadloom carpet →Carpet manufactured as a continuous width, delivered as a roll and fitted to the room, with planned seams, an underlay beneath it and a tension that has to be maintained.Terrazzo flooring →A composite of aggregate set in a binder, ground back and polished flat, produced either poured in place over a prepared base or made off site as precast tiles and slabs.Resin floor coating →Liquid resin systems applied wet and cured in place to form a jointless bonded surface, so preparation of the base and moisture within it largely decide the outcome.Raised access flooring →A platform of removable panels on adjustable pedestals above the structural floor, creating a service void beneath and usually receiving a separate floor covering on top.

Browse by role

By the role the material plays

The same entries, clustered by what they typically do in an assembly. A material can appear in more than one cluster because it genuinely plays more than one role.

Substrate and base

Backgrounds and bases that other materials are fixed or applied to.

Where they appear

Parts of a building this category touches

An orientation aid only — it does not imply that any entry is suitable for that part of a particular building.

  • Internal walls and ceilings · 1
  • Floors · 14

Elsewhere on Build Design Hub

Planning guidance for this subject

This library explains what materials are. These sections help with choosing between them and preparing for the conversation.

Flooring planning guides →The choosing-and-comparing side of flooring.Flooring design ideas →Design directions for floors, patterns and layouts.Flooring and surface decisions →Preparation before a flooring conversation.

Materials & Systems Encyclopedia

Reference entries for building materials, product formats and system components — what they are, what their behaviour depends on and what to ask about them.

Browse the full Materials Library →