There are many different materials you can use as flooring in your home. Carpeting, tile, laminate flooring, cork flooring, linoleum, hardwood, and ceramic, are some of the most popular ones.
Hardwood is often over-looked by homeowners because it costs more than some of the other types of floor coverings, but there are advantages to getting this type of floor that you cannot get from any of the other types of floor coverings.
1. Installing hardwood flooring Improves the value of your home
This type of flooring lasts the lifetime of the home with proper care and maintenance. When you put real hardwood down as flooring in a home it increases the property value because it is such a long lasting flooring, and these boards actually look better as they age.
2. Can be re-finished when it starts to look bad
When carpeting starts to look bad, and become stained, the homeowner has to replace it. When vinyl floor tiles start to crack, or peel off of the floor, they have to be replaced. Hardwood boards can be refinished when they start to look bad.
Over time the boards will become gouged by furniture, or other things that are drug across them. The beautiful shine they once had will be worn down to a dull existence. These boards do not need replaced, they simply need the wax stripped off of them, then they need some sanding to remove any scars, gouges, or marks, and then varnish is reapplied to make them shine like new.
3. Hardwood flooring is easy to keep clean
A broom and a mop are all you need to keep these floors clean. You sweep the debris and the dust off of the surface of the floor, and occasionally you will have to mop the boards to remove dirt.
If you have tile flooring you will need to clean the grout with a small scrub brush periodically to keep the grout looking good. Laminate flooring has to be handled carefully because when you mop it the water can warp the composite boards. Carpet has to be vacuumed and periodically shampooed to keep it clean.
4. Hardwood flooring is pet friendly
If your pet has an accident on your carpet then you have to blot it up, apply cleaning solutions, and pray it does not stain. Many people with carpets do not allow their pets to be in those areas to try and prevent stains. When your pet has an accident on hardwood you simply wipe it up, and then you might mop the floor.
