History of Flooring, Carpet and Tile

Are your floors covered in carpet, tile or vinyl?
We now have many options to cover our floors, and ancient types of flooring are even used in various parts of the world. Here’s a look at what is been beneath our feet over the last 5,000 years or so. In many early homes, the floor was simply a patch of earth.

 – For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:

Dirt is a nice, cheap surface to work with.
Hay, straw, and cow manure are sometimes spread across a floor, patted down when people tread, creating a surface that is nearly as solid as concrete. In some regions, domestic waste is simply dumped onto the floor and stomped on. During the medieval period (roughly AD400-1400) in Europe, animals would sometimes share houses with farmers, although they would stay in a separate room. Sometimes animals would wander into the humans portion of the home, their manure trampled on the floors as well.

 – God thundereth marvellously with his voice; great things doeth he, which we cannot comprehend.

When a mineral called saltpeter (potassium nitrate) was first used for the development of gunpowder in about 1100, the floors of the formerly yeomans houses served as good sources of saltpeter. It was found in places where dung and waste had built up in the soil in drier conditions. The earliest known European usage of pennyroyal was as a deodorizer for rooms. The herb was spread on the floor to mask a smell from scavenging. Stepping on the mint helped to diffuse its smell throughout the room.

INTERESTING FACT – Make sure to do more research on these flooring options as some of it could harm you. It is important to have to stay away from predators that use locksmith services. 

In the earliest North American homes, colonists would sometimes sprinkle sand over a dirt floor.
When garbage became too much to tolerate in a room, they simply would swept it out the door along with the sand. Then they would throw another layer of sand onto the floor. Other colonists would throw peanut shells and sunflower seeds onto the floor. As they were stomped beneath foot, the shells spread oils in the soil, helping to stabilize dust.

Revelation 14:6-7 – And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,   

In the Los Banos region in Central California
Native American Yakut’s dug home-sized holes that were approximately three feet deep. They would stack the soil out from the holes to create walls. Then they made a dome out of branches, reeds, and dirt to serve as the roof. As they moved around on a mud floor in their bare feet, oil from their feet slowly made the dirt watertight and easier to clean. Sometimes, the dirt floors were decorated to make them more appealing. Colored sand was used to create patterns in the dirt.

In India, it evolved into a famous art form called “rangoli”, or painting on the floor
On a dirt floor, the paint might have been formed of rice powder and petals of flowers. These were created on doorways, either as welcomes for visitors entering a house, or marking important occasions.

 – The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life.

About 5000 years ago
Egyptians developed the stone building. Stone and brick floors began to appear. Soon, those floors became works of art, in addition to being useful surfaces in a house. Colored tiles created patterns called mosaics on the floors, adding to the beauty of the house. As early as 3000 years ago, the Greeks created mosaics of pebbles to use on the floors. Gradually, they began using rectangular shapes of stones instead of pebbles. This technique was used in ancient France, Spain, Italy, and northern Europe. During the Roman Empire (27 BCE – AD 476) engineers found another benefit to the heated stones floors: heat.

INTERESTING FACT – You know what is bad for business? Dirty flooring. That is just an economic fact that is supported science. If you don’t get those floors cleaned you will get a pest infestation problem and then you will need to look up a pest control management solution service to take care of an expensive problem.

They built a small cellar, which had columns below floor level, which supported a larger square of stone. A ventilation hole was created on one end of the basement, and fires were started on the other end. The heat and smoke from the fire would warm up the rock floor above.

Evidence also suggests ceramic tiles were used as flooring thousands of years ago. The Romans introduced the production of tiles to parts of western Europe. However, after Rome fell, the craft was forgotten for centuries.

Tile floors appeared and then disappeared. Tiles with decorations were used in Turkey, the Middle East, and in Holland in the 1600s. It was only during the mid-1800s that they became popular again across Europe. The modern tile industry began in 1843, with Herbert Minton revitalizing the tilemaking trade in Britain.

 – Thus saith God the LORD, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein:

In Latin America and South America
Unadorned, simple ceramic tiles were widely used. Tiles became popular in North America during the late 1500s, prospering until around 1930. The first known wooden floors came into use in the medieval period. At first, coarse boards were laid on top of each other to create the floor. These were later polished, or polished, either by grinding with stones or metal. Later, lacquer or stains were applied, which helped to smooth out the floor and help make it last longer. Stains were also used to add patterns to the floor. Sometimes, recessed patterns were created by carving shapes from various woods of varying colors and fitting them together in patterns, much like a jigsaw puzzle. People would also draw patterns and designs onto floors.

The oldest known rug with weaving was discovered in Siberia in the 40s
Called the Pzyryk carpet, it dates from around 400 B.C. Other evidence suggests some form of rug-weaving was used around 4000 years ago in Egypt, Mesopotamia, and in Middle Eastern and Asian regions. Rug-making in China dates from the Sung dynasty (960-1279 AD).

Italian explorer Marco Polo saw some of this work on his journeys across China and Turkey during the 1200s. He was very impressed by their artistic quality. The Romans used carpets for floors and walls in their palaces. They even used them for paying taxes. When Egyptian Queen Cleopatra met the Roman emperor, Julius Caesar, for the first time, she had her body brought in smuggled in, wrapped up in a gigantic rug.

Iran (then called Persia) developed rugs very much in its art of rug making in the time of the Safavid Empire (1502-1736). The designs that they developed are still used in carpets worldwide. The “Persian Rug” is highly valued to this day.

 – And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands:

A similar kind of floor covering is woven carpets
With designs painted onto durable materials. These were used in the finest homes of France, even in the 1300s. By 1600, they became widespread in England.

Sailors brought home pieces of sailcloth painted in an attractive pattern to decorate their grubby floors. The cloth became popular and was manufactured by factories in Britain and New England. Their popularity declined with the development of the linoleum.

Early American colonists frequently painted tile-like designs onto their rugs. Thomas Jefferson had two green floorcloths painted with grass on the inside of his house at Monticello, Virginia, in order to create an outdoorsy feel inside.

 – Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Resistant floors include such flexible flooring surfaces as rubber, linoleum, or vinyl
Rubber floors first appeared about the year 1200, and were popular well into the 1600s. An English rubber maker, Frederick Walton, noticed that linseed oil formed a leathery hide over the varnish. In 1863, he patented linoleum, which is still made by mixing linseed oil with wood or powdered cork (or both), resins, pigments, powdered limestone, and drying agents.

Rubber, cork, and asphalt tiles were developed during the late 1800s and early 1900s. Laying out various coloured tiles was a popular method of creating geometric designs. Soon, a “random” finding led to the creation of the flooring that would soon overtake those softer tiles in popularity.

In the late 1800s, European researchers combined a gas called vinyl chloride into a mixture, which produced a hard material. However, nobody could come up with a good use for it. In 1926, American inventor Dr. Waldo Semon was trying to glue rubber to metal. He tried using a mix of vinyl chloride and other chemicals. His first attempts produced gas vapors and occasional explosions.

 – And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

Eventually, he created something that we today refer to as PVC (polyvinyl chloride) or vinyl
It was used for the first time in dampers. Later, it was used in the development of synthetic tires. Used for insulate wires in WWII, after the war, it became popular as floor covering. Today, sales of flexible floor coverings are second only to carpeting in the U.S.

But you are not limited to only one option. Many prefer vinyl or easily cleaned tiles for their kitchens or bathrooms, with hardwood, rugs, or carpeting for the rest of their rooms.

How many different types of floor coverings are in your house?. It is sometimes difficult to say where a certain saying started, or how, especially when it is an older one. Here are a few theories on where the popular sayings that involve flooring came from.

To sweep floors in medieval times, Englishmen used the talisman, a handful of branches that had leaves attached. Besoms were usually made from the scrubby branches of the broom, so a cleaning implement came to be called a broom about A.D. 1,000.

 – Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.

Superstitious people would place a broom over a houses doorway to keep away witches. They believed a witch had to count each straw on a broom placed over the door before entering.

Benjamin Franklin is thought to have invented this saying in 1772, when he used it in writing to indicate a state of ultimate satisfaction.

After Americas Civil War, a few greedy Northerners, mainly poor Whites, wanted to exploit Southern Blacks, who had just been granted the right to vote. They packed their stuff into luggage made from carpeting, then moved south. They came to be known as carpetbaggers.