Pros: Carpet is the most comfortable and cost-effective flooring material and it's available in a wide range of colors and patterns. It installs easily and carpet is easy to maintain, requiring just regular vacuuming. Stain-resistant versions are even easier to keep clean.
Choose This Flooring
Some flooring that appears to be wear-resistant often is not. For example, site-finished solid hardwood can easily scratch. Its saving grace is that scratches can be sanded out. Instead, try durable flooring like ceramic or porcelain tile, laminate flooring, plank vinyl flooring, or even carpeting.
Solid hardwood flooring is considered the safest and least toxic option as it's completely natural and free from any toxins. Solid hardwood floors are made of planks milled from a single piece of timber, which makes it a healthy flooring option.
While costs are similar, the value of premium vinyl far exceeds that of laminate based on quality and value. Unlike laminate, premium vinyl is durable and stable, resistant to moisture and climate, and is easy to install and maintain. Laminate is restricted to light traffic and low moisture applications.
Vinyl: Vinyl is softer than many hard-surface floors and easy to clean. If you use a cane or any medical aid, it'll be easier to keep the floor surface tidy. Laminate: Laminate is softer and has more “give” compared to wood and tile. It is also slightly warmer, which can help you avoid aggravating the pain.
Classic medium-toned browns such as cherrywood, mahogany, oak, maple, walnut, birch wood, and hickory are all timeless colors that never go out of style. Cherrywood is a deep, rich color that has a deep mahogany shade with warm tones of red or brown, often mixed with hints of pink and even purple.
“Tile is the highest-rated flooring among the categories we test,” says Enrique de Paz, who leads flooring testing at Consumer Reports. “It doesn't wear out, scratch, or stain. Its color doesn't fade, it's waterproof, and it is surprisingly slip-resistant, even when wet.
Con: LVP May Dent
Luxury vinyl flooring can dent and even scratch or scuff, especially from heavy appliances, furniture, or other weighty objects. Just because it's resistant to something doesn't mean it's impervious to it. However, do know that LVP resists scratches better than real hardwood.
Vinyl flooring tends to be more expensive than laminate, but its performance and price varies dramatically based on the type of vinyl product you choose. Simple glue-down vinyl sheet looks and feels less like natural wood or tile, but is also the most affordable option at $1 per square foot.
Most laminate flooring can be purchased for about $1-5 per square foot. The price will depend on the thickness of your flooring materials and the design styles you choose. Vinyl floors start at around $1 per square foot for simple glue-down sheet vinyl. Prices can reach up to $5 per square foot for luxury vinyl planks.
Finally, given the tone of light floors, they tend to appear cleaner longer. Light-colored flooring often shows less dust, debris than do dark floors and pesky, inevitable scratches and damage will be less obvious.
Porcelain tile: Porcelain tile is a form of ceramic tile often used in showers, bathtubs, pools, and other pure-water areas. This material is highly resistant to intense water, thanks to the very fine clays and high firing temperatures used in its creation.
Good choices are linoleum, ceramic tile–both very common–and wood. Linoleum is inexpensive and provides an easy-to-clean surface and comes in countless designs. Ceramic tiles are even better. Also easy to maintain and available in a huge range, they offer superior durability, resisting most dents, dings and scratches.
No. 1 Common Grade – Characterized by prominent color variation as well as prominent (but limited in size) character marks such as knots and open checks, as well as variations resulting from drying and machining processes. This grade results in a tasteful floor where prominent variation is to be expected.
Luxury vinyl has become our most popular choice for home flooring, and for many good reasons.As mentioned previously its waterproof, low maintenance, resilient, and is one of the most budget-friendly options, too!
Vinyl flooring clearly is a better choice in high-moisture environments than laminate flooring, making it an excellent choice in bathrooms. But for whole-house installations, laminate flooring often makes sense because it offers a wide range of choices.
Vinyl is 100% synthetic, while laminate uses a fiberboard core constructed of wood byproducts. Thus, laminate flooring is not waterproof, while vinyl flooring is 100% waterproof. Both floorings are stain-resistant and offer the option of underlayment, but are built a bit differently.
To keep laminate floors fresh, mop them every two months. Damp mops (a.k.a. microfiber mops) are gentle enough to use on laminate floors. If you're going to use a regular mop, just wring it out until it's almost completely dry.
If you are considering installing new floors in a kitchen or bathroom, which are susceptible to daily water spills, vinyl flooring is better as it is 100% waterproof.
Manufacturing vinyl flooring requires the use of toxic chemicals, and after installation, vinyl floors have been known to emit VOCs (volatile organic compounds). Off-gassed VOCs can adversely affect health and an indoor environment, particularly without windows or ventilation, will lead to higher concentrations.
Some disadvantages of vinyl flooring include: Cannot be repaired. Can emit volatile organic compounds (VOCs) Shorter lifespan than wood floors.
Vinyl also has a longer lifespan and better overall durability than laminate. Although it can last twice as long as laminate, vinyl (especially luxury vinyl) may involve a larger investment upfront.
Tile flooring made from har material such as ceramic or porcelain are among the most scratch-resistant flooring you can find. Tile flooring is also one of the most versatile, customizable flooring options with a multitude of shapes, sizes, colors, patterns and styles.
If you are environmentally conscious, bamboo flooring has spiked in popularity because of its sustainability. As long as you stick to a light finish, it will also do a great job of hiding dirt. Cork is another environmentally-conscious choice that does a good job of hiding dust and dirt.