If you are looking to replace the floor for your home, you’ve probably considered hardwood, laminate, or carpet – these are the most common materials used. These days, most homeowners want hardwood floors; wall-to-wall carpeting is moving out of style while hardwood flooring is always in style.
Even though hardwood flooring is in high demand, some people may be hesitant because of the price. At $8 to $10 per square foot (installed), wood flooring is more expensive than carpeting or the increasingly common laminates that offer a similar look.
If you can’t decide whether to install hardwood floors or peel back your old carpeting and refinish the wood underneath, this list may be able to help.
Here are some of the benefits of hardwood flooring.
A Durable Type of Flooring
Thanks to durable finishes that are easy to repair, solid-wood floors can last for a hundred years or more. There are very few flooring materials that have been around as long as wood. Over the centuries, it has proven to be a lovely and durable floor choice.
A Comfortable and Warm Feeling
Not only is hardwood more pleasant to walk on than laminate, but it is naturally has a warmer feel. Wood is an excellent insulator, thanks to its thousands of tiny air chambers per cubic inch, which hold in heat.
Allergies No More
If you have allergies, wood flooring is the ultimate option. Unlike carpets, wood floors don’t give pollen, animal dander, and mold any room to thrive. Even when you steam clean carpets, it’s impossible to get them entirely clean. In fact, getting them wet can make the problem worse. Hardwood flooring is an excellent choice for anyone with any kind of environmental allergies.
Cleaning Has Never Been so Easy
With just a bit of sweeping and mopping, your hardwood floors will keep looking nice for a long time to come. Even families with dogs and kids are realizing that it’s easier to mop a hardwood floor than try to get stains out of a carpet. Another perk of hardwood floors is that a scratch can add character to wood floors. If this isn’t the looking you’re going for, you can always have them refinished – the options are endless.
Getting the Ultimate Value from your Home
It is important to consider how the flooring choices you make today will affect the price you can get for your home when you sell it. Carpet will look used in just a few years, but wood floors last a long time and add value to a home. Even laminate flooring, which looks like wood flooring, is a distant second choice for home buyers.
These are just some of the benefits of hardwood floors – at the end of the day, they look better than the alternatives. If you can afford to pay an extra couple dollars per square foot, go with hardwood. If you have hardwood hiding under your existing carpets, tear them up and get the wood refinished. If you settle for laminate or just replacing the carpeting, you may regret it down the road.