The Best Type of Flooring for High Traffic

While lavish carpeting may provide the ultimate in comfort and warmth, it is not a practical choice for your kitchen or some other floor in a busy room on your property. For these flooring, you often have to break the difference between comfort and endurance, and depending on the traffic, you may need to err on the side of durability. Budget can also be a concern, because the most durable flooring stuff can be among the costliest.

Stone and Ceramic Tiles

Granite, slate and marble tiles are on top of the durability scale, and while they’re undeniably attractive, they’re also pricey. Ceramic tiles are just as durable as stone and cost 50 percent less, and you may install them yourself. Do not forget that stone and ceramic tiles feel cold underfoot and may not be the best choice if your home tends to get chilly in winter. More than any other kind of flooring, these substances require a very good subfloor, so in the event that you live in an older home with a shifting foundation, they likely are not for you.

Wood and Laminates

When it comes to durability, laminate floors surpasses hardwood, and it is a low-cost flooring alternative that may last 20 decades or more in heavy-use areas. Laminate is a wood imitation, however — and there’s nothing like the real thing. Wood flooring tend to show wear under high traffic, but also you are able to refinish them. Should you anticipate exceptionally heavy usage, you should avoid engineered floors — it is possible to refinish it just once or twice, in any way. Neither laminate nor wood flooring should be set up in a high-moisture surroundings or a below-grade basement or recreation room.

Vinyl and Linoleum

Linoleum flooring has been around for 140 decadesago It’s an amalgam of hardened linseed oil, pine mud and pine resin, and it’s exceptional resistance to wear and moisture. Vinyl flooring is a synthetic product with much more moisture resistance and endurance. Both substances come in sheets or tiles. They’re easy to keep and are among the cheapest flooring alternatives out there. Luxurious vinyl tiles — vinyl pieces which snap together like laminate ones — are a good and flexible alternative to wood or laminate at a room where moisture is a potential problem.

Eco-Flooring Alternatives

If you think about a corkboard when you hear about cork flooring, think again. Engineered cork flooring is as durable as hardwood, plus it gives a comfortable, resilient, nonslip surface. It comes in boards that may be thick as 5/8 inches, providing sound and heat insulation as well as bounce for your feet. Bamboo has all of the warmth and durability of hardwood without being vulnerable to moisture damage. Both substances are long-lasting, and also you are able to refinish bamboo in the same manner you refinish wood flooring. You can’t sand cork, but you can rejuvenate its finish a indefinite number of times using polyurethane.

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