Before enumerating the kinds of floors that you will have laid before you in this chapter, it would be well to realize that a floor will sometimes keep a maid or lose her, and you will not know the “why.” But the fact is that a floor can tire you if it be not a good kind for the purpose and can reduce fatigue and make for general well being if it be a good type. [Illustration: _Courtesy of Janes & Kirtland_ AN IDEAL KITCHEN WITH LINOTILE FLOOR (ARMSTRONG CORK CO.), BUILT-IN STEEL KITCHEN CABINET UNITS (JANES & KIRTLAND), AND COOK’S TABLE, WITH POT HANGER COMFORT] Here is a list of the most important kinds of flooring in use:-- Marble, Wood and wood block, Linoleum, Linotile, Cork, Composition and concrete, (laid in paste or blocks) Tile, Terrazzo. Marble can be dismissed as being too expensive, too beautiful and too resisting to the feet. It is also too cold under foot. Wood is very popular because in the commoner varieties it is the cheapest flooring. In whatever grade a wooden floor is used, it has the disadvantage of needing attention. It always needs refinishing. The better the floor the more attention it will need. It will splinter eventually and show marks if things are dragged over it. Although the scraping down and refinishing always make the floor look like new, the wooden floor is better in any room in the house than the kitchen, laundry or pantry. There are some housekeepers who wouldn’t have anything else but the hard wood floors in their kitchens--oak, maple or Georgia pine, etc. LAYING THE FLOOR The wooden floor must be carefully laid or else the cracks become traps for germs and dust. Of course, this applies to all flooring. And while on the subject of laying floors, let me say that even though you order the best kind of flooring in the world, if it is laid badly, you might as well have bought the worst sort of material. It is imperative that you have the manufacturer or the manufacturer’s delegated dealer lay your floor. Don’t go to your village builder or carpet man. It won’t pay; in fact, it will cost you dearly, as in such case the maker of these products has developed a way to lay flooring which is inseparable from the life of the flooring itself. Many a householder knows a good floor, but few know what to look for in the laying of it. THE LINOLEUM FAMILY Among the best known floorings for kitchen use is linoleum. It is so well known and so popular that purchasers in their ignorance often accept, unwittingly, substitutes and lay felt paper instead of the real thing! If you decide to buy linoleum, go to the best maker or his dealer. Follow their gospel _Buy the Best_. If you heed this you make an investment. If you do not, you make an expenditure. So when you decide to buy linoleum first look on the wrong side of it, and if it has burlap on the back and if it is very difficult to tear, it is pretty definitely linoleum. It also carries the name of the maker.