Flooring is an important aspect of home décor. To keep your home furnishings up-to-date, you can change your flooring and install a new one. Carpet is a popular flooring option for many homeowners for years. But hardwood flooring has been also popular due to its numerous benefits. The more recent trend in flooring is using laminate floors. Though the hardwood flooring and laminate flooring appear very similar but there are some important aspects that differentiate the two from each other.

The Basic Differences between Hardwood Flooring and Laminate Flooring

• Cost: The cost of hardwood is much more than laminate flooring. The cost of hardwood planks are decided on the quality of wood being used, their sizes and thickness. Compared to the hardwood, the laminate flooring costs only a fraction of the sum required to buy hardwood.

• Installation: Compared to hardwood flooring, the limitations on laminate installation are lesser. The laminate planks can be glued to the sub floor or to each other. Nowadays, instead of using glue the tongue and groove edges of the planks can be snapped together. But incase of hardwood flooring, you can put it on a sub floor, glue to it or can nail to a sub floor for installing. Hardwood installation even requires more carpentry skills than laminate installation.

• Maintenance: Hardwood flooring demands more maintenance and care than laminate flooring. You need regular cleaning to hold the finish of the wooden floors whereas you can just wipe a laminate floor with dampened cloth and prevent it from getting scratches.

• Finish: The hardwood flooring demands lots of effort for that perfect finish. The hardwood planks require staining, sanding and application of finish for about 7 times. The laminate flooring planks are pre-finished and can be installed without any further finishing. Even if your floor loses the shine then it becomes easier for the professionals to bring back the look for the laminate flooring. But once the hardwood flooring loses its shiny polished finish, it becomes a time consuming process in order to restore its lost beauty.

• Durability: The hardwood flooring can get easily damaged due to wear and tear. If not properly installed, the hardwood flooring can be affected by moisture. The aesthetic appeal of hardwood may be more than laminate floors but actually it is vulnerable if compared to laminate flooring. The laminate flooring is comparatively better resistant to moisture, damages, stains and scratches. But if somehow a laminate floor is damaged or chipped, then it is difficult to repair it to the same condition. You may even have to replace the flooring if required.

Laminate Floors – Today’s Popular Choice