Hardwood VS Laminate Floors

The choice of whether to utilize hardwood or laminate flooring in your home can be a complex decision. Your lifestyle should be the primary deciding factor in which one you choose.

Hardwood flooring looks better. It is real wood and thus looks like real wood. It also feels like real wood and feels solid when you walk on it. However hardwood flooring can be scratched. Do you leave your shoes on in the house? Do you have dogs? Both will lead to scratched hardwood floors. Hardwood flooring also expands and contracts with changes in humidity. This can lead to checking and cupping if the hardwood flooring has wider planks. Part of the beauty of hardwood flooring is its imperfections. Century homes with hardwood floors have nicks, dings and scratches and that is all a part of the character of the floor.

Laminate flooring is man-made. A “picture” of wood flooring is adhered to a fiberboard base layer. For many years laminate looked fake and repetitive. However in recent years the technology has improved dramatically and today’s laminates look very much like real wood and even have graining and saw mark textures to them. However laminates do not feel like real wood. They are installed with an underlayment which makes them give a little when you walk on them so they do not feel like a solid wood floor. Also laminate floors are typically installed as a floating floor which again makes them sound and feel a little different than wood floors when you walk on them. Laminate floors are definitely more shoe and pet friendly. They are not as easily scratched as wood.

A high quality laminate flooring’s cost is similar to a wood floor so cost is not usually the deciding factor. Your decision should be based on how important the feel and look of real hardwood is to you versus how sensitive you are to scratches in your floor compounded with whether or not you leave your shoes on in the house or have dogs.

George Davis is the President and founder of ProBuilt Homes. He has over 25 years of construction experience. Contact ProBuilt today at (440) 255-6535 or visit them online at www.probuilt-homes.com to learn more about how ProBuilt is “building better”.