You’re looking to have new flooring put into your home. You’ve spent ages examining carpet samples, trying to find the perfect style. But as pretty as that can be, have you considered hardwood? There are a number of factors, both aesthetic and practical, which make hardwood flooring a great option for just about any room in your house. Here are six benefits to consider.
1. It’s Easy to Clean
When you spill something on your carpet, it stains. Crumbs accumulate in the fibers and are often difficult to get out. To keep it clean, you need a whole array of different cleaning products, and you may have to spend time on your hands and knees, spraying and scrubbing to try to lift a stain. And that’s to say nothing of ordinary dust that builds up over time.
Hardwood flooring, on the other hand, is very low maintenance. A quick sweep or a mop can pick up just about anything you drop. Vacuum once a week to keep dust at bay. Your floor will always look great, with minimal effort.
2. It’s Durable
A good quality wood will last for decades. Especially if you have kids, they can play pretty hard. A tile or linoleum floor might crack, peel, or sustain other damage under that kind of duress. But hardwood will continue to hold up.
Of course, hardwood can get scratched or dinged up a little, if you’re really hard on it, but even that’s easy to fix. A little cleaning with some polyurethane coating will repair those scratches and make it look as good as new, giving you a floor that one day your children’s children can play hard on too.
3. It Adds Value to Your Home
What if you don’t plan on passing your home on to your children and grandchildren? What if you’d rather sell it? Hardwood is still the best choice. Because it’s known for its high quality and low maintenance, hardwood is very much in demand. Therefore, buyers will pay more for a house with hardwood flooring than one with carpet.
Carpet can even turn some buyers off entirely. Unless you get a full, professional steam cleaning before showing your home, your carpet will likely bear the many stains of the time you spent in that home, which detracts from its overall salability. But hardwood, as we’ve seen, is easy to keep clean, and will make a better impression.
4. It Improves Your Indoor Air Quality
Carpet traps dust, animal hair, mites, and a host of other contaminants in its fibers. If you suffer from allergies or asthma, these contaminants then get stirred up as you walk on them, ending up in your air, where you and your family will breathe them in.
Even the grout lines and embossing between linoleum and tile floors can trap dirt and grime. But hardwood does not. With the basic floor maintenance we talked about earlier, hardwood floors will keep your air cleaner and more breathable, so as not to trigger your allergies or asthma.
5. They’re Environmentally Friendly
Linoleum floors are generally made from vinyl, which is synthetic and non-biodegradable. Most carpets use synthetic fibers as well. The manufacture of it increases your carbon footprint, as does the eventual disposal of it.
But hardwood is all natural. The trees used to make it are a renewable resource, with new ones being planted all the time. And while it’s unlikely you’ll ever want to remove or replace your hardwood flooring, if you do, the wood will decompose to nourish the ground for new growing things, rather than sitting in a landfill for millennia. If you’re at all concerned about the environment, hardwood is the most eco-friendly choice you can make.
6. They’re Decoratively Versatile
Wood floors add a touch of class to your home décor. They’re elegant and inviting, and can even make a room look bigger. Plus, hardwood goes with any decorative style. Carpet of a certain color, or linoleum of a certain style, can clash with other design elements in your home, particularly if your tastes change over the years. But hardwood complements everything perfectly.
These are just a few of the reasons why hardwood flooring is the best decision for your home. No matter what your needs are, hardwood is your best option, and will stand you in good stead for years to come.
Call us to find out more about hardwood options for your home!