Laminate Flooring vs. Real Wooden Flooring
Laminate Floors VS Real Wood Floors
Wood flooring is a highly sought-after amenity for its timeless and beautiful appeal, along with its ability to offer a warm underfoot and a natural appearance. Buying traditional homes was even considered as one of the ways of experiencing original hardwood floors. However, newer homes today are now coming with laminate floors. If you are having a hard time choosing between wood and laminate flooring, read on and discover the main differences between these two floor options.
Laminate flooring is cheaper
Real wooden flooring is manufactured directly from harvested trees. While the cost of real wooden floors varies based on the exotic trees used, they are generally far more expensive than laminate floors. This is because laminate flooring is manufactured from pressing together composite wood at very high temperatures. The entire process is quite cheap, with lower cost materials and also lower cost laminate floor installation.
Laminate Doesn’t Mark as Easily
Hardwood floors are more vulnerable to scratching and will generally show more wear, particularly when installed in high traffic areas. In contrast, laminate flooring is much more durable since it is made from compressed wood. This allows it to tolerate more scratches without marking easily. In addition, it is also much easier to maintain and clean to retain its original classy look.
Laminate is Harder
The natural wood floor is much softer compared to the pressured composite surface found on laminate floors. The outer part of most laminate flooring is made by bounding aluminium oxide and melamine resins at extreme pressure and high heat. The resultant floor surface is much harder compared to natural wood. This makes your floor more resistant to staining, moisture damage and fading.
Laminate is Not as Authentic
Laminate floors are inherently flawed in terms of authenticity since they basically try to give off the appearance of real wooden floors. The visible top layer of laminate is actually an imprinted textured picture that is designed to appear like real natural wood. However, when you use real wooden floors, you get an unmatchable texture variation in your floor since there are no two hardwood planks that look exactly the same. If you want a more classic or authentic look, then you will be better off going with hardwood floors.
In conclusion, choosing the right floor type for your home will depend on several factors. If you experience lots of sunlight where you intend to have the wooden floors, then you should know that hardwood floors fade over time since they are essentially natural products. Laminate floors can be used anywhere since they have inbuilt UV protection. The various factors listed above should help you make a good decision on which type of floor to install.
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