Building, buying or remodeling, flooring can be an investment with a big return.

Great floors certainly add value to your home at resale time, but they also can build your borrowing power while you're living there because they also affect the appraisal value and financing for a remodeling project.

What do the experts say?

1. When considering floors in any home, go with what's popular in your area. Hardwood is popular in Atlanta, stone and tile in Florida, carpet in the Northeast, etc.

2. Consider cost-recovery rates for each project. A midrange bathroom addition along with a full bathroom remodel beat the stock market last year with more than 120% of the initial cost recouped at resale.

3. Value includes elements which can't readily be measured, but they add up. Therefore, quality materials and design are worth more than the sum of their parts. While sometimes quite difficult to quantify, if the selection is appropriate for the area, good flooring throughout the home is far more valuable than good crown molding.

4. Dramatic flooring, such as in a foyer, can have an impact on the appraised value, but more importantly, salability. (The speed at which you can sell a home and get your money has a value, too.)

5. Often overlooked from a lending perspective, she says, is that when remodeling one's home, the current equity in the home may provide enough funds to obtain a better home equity line of credit to fund the flooring project.

6. Additionally, if floors are just a portion of the remodeling project, what you select may have an effect on the amount you can borrow. Many renovation loans in the United States are based on the appraised value of the project as completed, providing funds for up to 95% of the as completed value, if the home has been owned for 12 months.