Which floors are suitable for single-family homes? What does the home-building elite recommend?

Parquet flooring does not need any maintenance at all. Water only causes problems if it stands for a long time, you have to wipe it away.

So the strip parquet in the old house urgently needed maintenance! Only our landlady was too stingy. Water went straight through and the floor swelled. You couldn't wipe it away that quickly.
There was also a big difference in color due to the sun.
Of course, it may also be that the floor was not of good quality or simply was not properly maintained...

We have vinyl in the children's and bedrooms because it's so great - a mistake, but unfortunately it is like that now. Otherwise, I am a fan of tiles, sturdy and basically indestructible. Warm in winter, cool in summer. We have wood-look tiles almost everywhere, a matter of taste, we think it's great - 3 out of 4 people also don't notice that it's not wood. In the children’s/bedrooms, I would choose parquet next time.

We have vinyl in the children's and bedrooms because it's so great – a mistake, but unfortunately, that's how it is now. Otherwise, I'm a fan of tiles, robust and basically indestructible. Warm in winter, cool in summer. We have wood-look tiles almost everywhere, a matter of taste, we think it's great – 3 out of 4 people also don't see that it's not wood. In the children's/bedrooms, I would choose parquet next time.

What exactly bothers you about vinyl, since you say it was a mistake?

We feel the same way and I also suspect that we will completely choose tiles in the living-dining-kitchen area, either wood-look or light grey/wood-look. It is timeless, robust, ideal for summer and winter with underfloor heating, and does not fade.

Upstairs, we are actually very, very undecided...

too many disadvantages..

Natural material --> That's true, obviously! An idea for the living-dining area, but I wouldn’t get parquet for the kitchen! I would really have concerns regarding water permeability. Then, of course, "fading due to sunlight exposure" is a big issue with parquet.. forgives scratches (At least I wouldn’t agree with that for our parquet in the rental apartment It’s starting to look totally scratched up ). Feels great, that’s true.

Besides, parquet also requires a lot of care and is expensive... I think only true wood lovers/parquet lovers do themselves a favor here. Then I totally understand that!

1. Care = vacuum cleaner and mopping damp 3 times a year (unless you run around like crazy) 2. Fading: Only with dark wood, light wood darkens. Depending on the treatment, it is all very limited though. 3. Scratches: It’s natural. Scratches are normal and forgiven. Oak, for example, is extremely insensitive (also maple or wenge are great). There, even a dog is no problem – and my kids couldn’t destroy it either. 4. Price: from €18 per sqm as two-layer parquet in the form of country house planks. I don’t find that expensive. I just bought Haro country house planks amber oak for just over €30.

I only see positive aspects

What exactly bothers you about the vinyl, because you say it was a mistake?

- it somehow looks cheap, although it was very expensive - it looked different in the showroom - it was praised as indestructible, but it is already heavily scratched - parquet probably wouldn’t look much worse - the feel is like that of a plastic plate - it is only clicked together and not glued, and already at 3 spots the joints have come apart (this never happened in the rental apartment with self-installed 5€ laminate in 7 years) - there is probably also the annoyance that parquet would have been only slightly more expensive, but at the end of the stressful construction project we just wanted to be done and it was a "well, let’s take this now" decision Positively, it can be cleaned without any residue or problems, don’t know how parquet is different, but felt-tip pen on laminate was sometimes a challenge.

Wow, the attitude that it is the landlord's responsibility to maintain the parquet floor surprises me. I have always taken care of the parquet in my rental apartment just as well as my own. I also clean the bathrooms, carpets, toilets, etc. myself.

I throw linoleum into the mix; it is natural, extremely durable and robust, and NO, it no longer looks like in schools and hospitals. It is warm underfoot, not as noisy as tiles or laminate – an all-around good material. I consider vinyl to be environmentally harmful and in my opinion it has no place in a healthy building.