Should you purchase laminate or hardwood flooring to enhance the natural beauty of your home?

While both can be a great option, here are a few things to take into consideration as you decide which is the better fit for your lifestyle and budget.

Hardwood, especially the more exotic the wood, can be pricier to purchase and install. However, the warmth of hardwood floors is unmistakable and can be well worth the value it adds to your home.

Hardwood Flooring

Hardwood floors are all natural, offering unique grain and color patterns that are impossible to replicate. There are two types of hardwood flooring – solid and engineered. Engineered wood floors are three to nine plies glued and laminated together with domestic or exotic wood specie as the top finish veneer.

When it comes to durability, scratch resistance and ease of cleaning, laminate flooring wins the battle. However, there’s no getting around the fact that hardwood flooring is the real deal. It’s beautiful to look at and can add more value to your home.

Looking down the road, while hardwood flooring may be more susceptible to the wear and tear of pets and high foot traffic, it can be sanded down and refinished, so it can last a lifetime. Laminate flooring is harder to replace. It can be done in sections, but a new piece may not be an exact match.

Laminate Flooring

Laminate flooring is created by pressing composite wood together at high temperatures and then imprinting a textured image designed to look like real wood. Laminate offers versatility in that it can capture the appearance of real wood or materials such as stone, concrete, metal or weathered wood.

Laminate flooring is very durable, and its price and installation can have a softer impact on your wallet, costing as much as 50% less than hardwood.