Laminate Floors: Pros and Cons
For many years carpets were the floor covering of choice. As homeowners seek a more maintenance free lifestyle the focus has changed to a floor that will stand the test of time. Leading the list of truly easy to care for flooring, that proves to stand the test of time is laminate.
With the laminate flooring, there are a lot of choices, offering the homeowner a chance to design a room that fits their personality. Laminate comes in so many varieties it's easy to find something that sparks your imagination.The exotics are a little different bringing in a calm feeling to the room. Some of these are Rosewood, Tiger wood, Cherry, Santos, Brazilian and Bamboo to name just a few that are available.
For a more traditional floor Oaks (red or white) Maple, Hickory, Ash or Pine may be what you seek.Furthermore, laminate offers a selection of Natural stone look flooring such as Marble, Travertine, Slate and Limestone.
The Pros of having laminate floors
For a less expensive flooring laminates is by far a cheaper option than the tradition wood. It can be installed over any type of existing floor and can be used in any room, even the bath and kitchen.
The flooring is water resistant and strong. It can withstand bangs, and cracks from heavy objects that can be dropped on it.
Laminate is very hard to chip and stays scratch free. Making it a better choice in the end if you have children and pets. Children playing with race cars, or riding running through the house will not hurt the appearance. Let's not forget to mention this type of flooring is very dog friendly. Leaving you worry free when the dogs run through the house, they will not scratch the floor.
Unlike wood the laminate is resistant to stains, so fruit juices or water colors wipe up easy. Pet urine has always been a concern and the horrors of it comes out on the floors. Not with laminate, when your pet has an accident it wipes up clean leaving no staining or soaked in spots.
The most appealing of all is the ability to keep it looking new, dusting or moping is really all that is required for it to stay impressive. There are also floor cleaning products that are inexpensive to buy and help give the floor a bit of shine.
Some Cons of Laminate floors
There are some disadvantages to laminate. Although they are few compared to the advantages. This flooring will only last about 25 years, compared to a real wood floor that has the capacity to last for a 100 years. Hardwoods can also be restored, but laminate cannot in any way be restored.
Some people have found laminate floors to be slippery, although thats seems to be more of an individual situation and not very common.
Because Laminate doesn't draw heat it is a colder flooring, making it uncomfortable to walk on with bare feet in the winter.
The biggest downside to laminate floors may come when you want to sale your home. Laminate will not add any value to the resale of your home the way hardwoods will, but still it is a much better option to have when selling your home than ugly carpet or linoleum's.