When it comes time to choose the flooring for your home remodel, the decision can be overwhelming. You want floors that are beautiful and durable. You know that your home’s aesthetic will be significantly impacted by the floors you choose: they can bring the whole space together visually and add character to your home. And you want them to suit your lifestyle. There are so many options available that it can be hard to know what’s best for you. We can help! Read on for some pros and cons of popular flooring options.
Hardwood Floors
Hardwood flooring is one of the best and most popular choices for any home. It’s timeless, durable, and welcoming. A good wood floor can last a hundred years with care. Wood floors add character and warmth to a space and can fit in with any aesthetic and style.
We often recommend red oak floors for remodels, especially if you’re trying to tie the new space with the existing one. It’s easy to stain and has a beautiful wide-grain pattern. Wood is ranked for strength and hardness using what’s called the Janka Wood Hardness Scale, and red oak scores well, striking a good balance between durability and workability. Red oak is the most popular hardwood floor choice today.
Another type of wood flooring that is very popular right now is wide plank white oak. It’s beautiful and light, bringing a feeling of openness and airiness into the home. It’s harder than red oak and so more durable, able to withstand denting and scratching.
Hardwood Flooring Pros:
Adds the most value to your home of any floor type
Beautiful and durable
Can be sanded and stained to change color
Very eco-friendly
Hardwood Flooring Cons:
Can be expensive
Does require some maintenance
Is water-resistant, but not waterproof
Luxury Vinyl Planks
Luxury Vinyl Planks or LVP (also known as LVF: Luxury Vinyl Flooring) is another flooring choice we often recommend. LVP is, as the name suggests, vinyl flooring designed in planks. They give the appearance of wood, but are less expensive and require less upkeep.
LVP is a composite product made of a backer board that gives it stability, a core layer for strength, a vinyl layer that gives it color and pattern, and a wear layer on top to protect it and make it scratch-resistant.
It’s durable, and more waterproof than wood, and because of its lower price point, many people are choosing LVP to get the beautiful look of wood with the ease and affordability of vinyl. It’s an especially great choice for basements since it can handle moisture with ease, and is also great for high-traffic areas. Families with small children or pets love LVP.
LVP Pros:
More affordable than wood flooring but still gives the look of wood
Great for basements and high-traffic areas
Buyers like to see LVP; helps with selling a home
Durable and water-resistant (more than other types of flooring)
LVP Cons:
Not eco-friendly, doesn’t biodegrade like wood
Can off-gas VOCs for a while after installation, so be careful if you have sensitive family members.
Can be difficult to remove if you change your mind
Tile Flooring
With many options available, tile floors can be a good choice for a remodel, especially a kitchen or a bathroom. Ceramic tile is a good choice for its beauty and durability. It is easy to maintain and eco-friendly. Porcelain tile is waterproof and long-lasting. It can be slippery when wet, so use with caution on the floor. Stone tiles are also popular. They can be natural or engineered and come in a variety of colors and textures. Natural stone tile tends to increase your home’s value more than ceramic and porcelain and can be an excellent choice for a high-end remodel.
Tile Flooring Pros
Durable
Waterproof
Comes in many colors/designs
You can get tile that looks like wood, for a warmer look with the durability of tile
Tile Flooring Cons
Can be uncomfortably hard to stand on for long periods
Is cold underfoot (although you can have in-floor heating installed to make it luxuriously warm)
Does not add as much value to your home as wood or LVP, generally
Cork Flooring
Very popular and on-trend, cork flooring is a good choice in a lot of situations. Cork flooring is made by grounding up cork and combining it with resin. It is then made into planks, tiles, or sheets. Cork looks warm and inviting, and is soft underfoot, making it comfortable to stand and walk on and good for areas where kids are likely to take a tumble, like playrooms. It can be manufactured to look like stone, marble, hardwood, painted wood, or just like itself, so your design options are vast.
Cork is biodegradable, making it a very eco-friendly option. It’s fairly easy to repair since it usually comes in tiles or click-together pieces. Because cork contains millions of tiny air chambers (think about the fact that a wine bottle cork will float!), it is amazingly effective at insulating a room in terms of both temperature and noise.
Cork Flooring Pros:
Fairly durable
Can be waterproof if sealed
Easy to repair
Very eco-friendly
On-trend
Versatile: can look like cork, wood, tile, and more
Comfortable and sound-insulating
Cork Flooring Cons:
Can dent easily
May wear faster than other types of flooring
Depending on how it’s finished, it can discolor if exposed to direct sunlight for long periods
Carpet
Although it’s not common anymore to see whole homes carpeted, like it was a few decades ago, carpet still has its uses. Especially in bedrooms and sometimes living rooms, carpet can bring a sense of comfort, warmth, and relaxation to a space. Like cork, it also offers great acoustic insulation. And nothing feels better underfoot on a cold day than a soft carpet. Wool is the best carpet fiber–it’s natural, regulates temperature, and is the most durable. It also looks and feels luxurious.
Carpet Pros:
Cozy and soft
Temperature and sound insulating
Comfortable, especially in bedrooms
Carpet Cons:
Can stain easily
Will eventually look worn, especially in high-traffic areas
Doesn’t usually increase your home’s value
These are some of the great flooring options for you to consider for your Virginia, DC, or Maryland home remodel. But if you’re feeling overwhelmed or can’t decide, we are here to help! We’d love to talk to you about what type of flooring would best suit your needs and provide you the most beautiful, durable, eco-friendly, and comfortable floors possible. Contact us today!
