Pros and Cons of Real Wood Flooring For The Home

Flooring is a very important aspect of home design, and these days the emphasis is on simplicity with good quality hardwood flooring. The big dilemma is whether to go for laminates, and save moeny, or go for quality and get high-grade hardwood flooring. In most cases people do not know about grading so they are likely to end up with hardwood of low quality or laminates, even though the best choices are hardwood floors. In fact, laminates are fine for short-term use where there is not much traffic - light duty. Hardwood is best for the main living rooms and kitchen.

Long life is not in many people’s minds. They want the cheapest with the best look. Let’s see what they are getting People usually opt for laminates because that is what they can afford, without realising that these are not suitable for areas which get a lot of traffic.

Generally, real wood flooring has always been my personal favourite - I somehow couldn’t get over the fact that laminated flooring is after all not real - but the low cost of the laminates cannot be just ignored.

Needless to say, that real wood costs more, because it is hard wood, whereas the substrate of a laminate in softwood, which grows more quickly, and so is bound to be cheaper. It is also difficult to lay a real wood floor, and you usually need to get an expert to do it. Laminated boards simply click together. One point to bear in mind is that the way teenagers rush in and out they are likely to damage laminates quickly .