Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Laminate Floors vs. Hardwood Floors: What's the Difference?

When you are shopping for flooring you should look for a flooring product that offers you the look, quality, durability and cost that works best for you. You can use these characteristics to compare laminate vs. hardwood floors. To start with you will want to look at the pros and cons of natural hardwood flooring.

Natural hardwood flooring has many pros that can be attributed to them. First they are very versatile. Hardwood floors can be finished to compliment just about any color palette. They can also be selected to compliment a roomÕs theme. For example you can choose mahogany wood planks to create an elegant look or you can select an oak or rustic pine to create a rustic look. Cleaning wood floors is also fairly easy. All you generally need to do is to sweep them, and then occasionally oil or wax them. The drawbacks of hardwood floors are that they are an expensive flooring option, they can be damaged by minimal amounts of water, they are susceptible to gauges, scratches and scuffing, and they are difficult to install and maintain.

Laminate flooring solves many of the drawbacks of owning a hardwood floor. Some of the advantages of laminate floors are: they cost less than hardwood floors, they are more durable than hardwood floors, they resist moist better than hardwood floors, and they are easier to install and maintain. While laminate floors have a lot of great characteristics there is a drawback to installing laminate floors. If you are going to sell your home in the near future potential buyers may not respond as well to laminate floors as they would to a hardwood floor.

No matter what type of flooring you decide to install in your home you should look at what type of warranty comes with it. You will want to look for a flooring product that offers a warranty that is at least 15 years. You will also want to read through the warranty to see what the warranty actually covers and what you have to do to use the warranty to fix potential flooring problems.

Is laminate flooring right for you? Find out more at LaminateFloorsCheap.com - your source for discount wood floors, do it yourself floor installation information and professional flooring advice. For more home decor and remodeling options visit the home and garden directory.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sarah_Freeland

1 comments:

Improvedliving said...

well for me laminate floors work pretty well.


Laminate Flooring