Floor Designs – Tiles or Hardwood?
Are you a fan of hardwood but you’re concerned about the scratching and how to deal with moisture? Perhaps you like the feel and aesthetics of tiles and you are unable to keep up with the maintenance. What you need is a detailed analysis and comparison of the different flooring designs in order to make a well-informed decision.
Sometimes, you want to go for high-end materials which retain their durability. On other occasions, you just want something you can easily clean and maintain. We have wood, vinyl, stone, tile, laminate wood, concrete, hardwood, etc. available. Here though, we only study tiles and hardwood.
All about Tiles
Tiles are made from hard-wearing materials like ceramic, glass, stone, etc. and can be used in a large number of ways. Technological advancement has also brought about rubber tiles and other styles. The ceramic tiles can be augmented with paints or glazing. Different patterns can also be made into mosaics. These mosaics, when crafted by professionals, will help in entrenching your unspoken styles firmly in the minds of your visitors and family.
Advantages of Tile Floors
Tiles are waterproof. They can also be used for kitchen floors and are able to withstand constant leakage from appliances. Basically, you can leave your tiled floor in a storm and come back to meet it in the same condition. Also, using radiant heat, there’s almost no restriction because the tile conducts heat better.
Disadvantages of Tiles
As perfect as tile floors appear, they are prone to cracking. Although most times, the reason why tiles crack can be attributed to poor installation or self-installation. When a floor cracks naturally, it is difficult to repair and can become a burden to your home, especially if you’re hard on the aesthetics part. Some professionals attest to seeing hardwoods of over 100 years in homes. With tiles? Not so much.
All about Hardwood Flooring
Hardwood floors are beautiful, no doubt. But are they hard? Depends on the type of floor you use. Conventionally, hardwood flooring came in very thick planks made of solid timber. Now, we have thinner materials which are being engineered to save cost and augment the aesthetics.
Advantages of Hardwood Floors
Many people love hardwood because of the feel against their feet. If you particularly love being barefooted in your home, a hardwood floor will suit you perfectly. You should also consider that it is normally not as expensive as tiles. This is usually because of the high cost of labor for tiles. Although this is subject to personal taste, some people find it easier to clean hardwood floors compared to tile flooring.
Disadvantages of Hardwood
Before you crown hardwood the undisputed champion, remember that hardwood floors are vulnerable to water. That’s right. Just a slight spill is enough to disfigure the floor. However, for small sections, you can just replace the flawed part and refinish the whole floor. Before you forget, you also need to refinish the wood periodically- say, once in ten years.
Conclusion
Really, it shouldn’t be so hard to choose. But it is. In fact, very hard. It is almost impossible to make a choice without basing it on sentiments. Both tiles and hardwood have their strengths and their inherent flaws. You just need to decide on which offers you what you want in a floor and then allow it sweep you off your feet (no pun intended).
