If you’re planning on getting rid of your home’s old, out of style carpet and switching to something more aesthetically pleasing and easy to clean, the chances are high that you are either considering getting tiles or hardwood flooring. Deciding between the two can be challenging, so we’ve put together this article to help make the decision process easier for you. Both hardwood floors and tile floors have their advantages and disadvantages, but both offer the opportunity to turn your floor into something spectacular. Read on to discover what these differences are, and then you’ll be informed enough to make your own decision on what is best for you!
Tiles
Here in San Diego, it can get pretty hot. Tiles, however, can help keep your home naturally cool and they offer a real sense of refreshment when you come in from spending time in your backyard. This same logic can be applied in reverse when during the winter. This is because tiles are highly conductive. In the winter, as long as your heater is on, the tiles will absorb the heat and help keep your house warm more efficiently. In addition to helping reduce your heating bills, tiles are a lot cheaper than hardwood in warm climates like we have here in San Diego. Both the cost of the materials, as well as the cost of the labor are cheaper in warm climates than in cool climates, where hardwood floors are more in demand.
Tiles are also capable of pretty much limitless design opportunities. With tiles, you have the option of cutting the tile into any shape your heart desires, and you can use many different color shades, and arrange the tiles into any design you want. This means, if you want to, that you can get really artistic with the design of your tiles. This allows you to express a limitless amount of styles and themes in your home, and you can take advantage of this to blend the floor in different rooms together, or to create individual motifs for each room. Additionally, due to tile’s extremely hard nature, it will be very difficult for scratches to appear on the floor, which means you won’t have to worry about any damage ruining the style your floor is going for.
On the other hand, tile is susceptible to cracking in the long run. However, it usually takes many, many years for tile to crack. On the plus side, it will never warp, but over time, some cracking here and there will be inevitable. In the event that this happens, you’ll have to replace the individual tiles that are cracked, and this can be difficult in the event that the tile manufacturer has discontinued the particular tile you are using. Another potential downside is that the grout in between tiles is likely to get dirty over time, and it will require extra care and attention to maintain cleanliness in these cracks.
Last but not least, tiles are water resistant and are practically completely waterproof. You won’t have to worry about fungal decay in the event of a leaky appliance spilling water in your home.
Hardwood Flooring
Hardwood flooring is definitely the kind of flooring that is most in style these days. While hardwood flooring won’t be as cool as tile in the summer, it will definitely be warmer in the winter. Hardwood flooring is more efficient at absorbing heat, even more efficient than tile, and therefore hardwood floors will help reduce your heating bill during the winter. While hardwood floors will help reduce your heating bill more than tiles, this will be made up for by the fact that they are more expensive.
If you have hardwood flooring installed throughout your entire home, it will actually help make your house look much bigger. This is because the flooring throughout the house will be the same, and this creates a sense of continuity and connection throughout the home, and our brains actually make us think the space we are in is bigger than it actually is. This is part of the reason why hardwood flooring is the type of flooring that is most in style currently.
Hardwood flooring is also much easier to clean than tile flooring, as there are no spaces filled with grout like there are with tile floors. However, hardwood flooring is much more susceptible to warping, dents, and scratches than tile flooring. However, warping is much less likely to occur if you don’t use wide planks and keep the temperature as consistent as possible in your home. Additionally, dents and scratches can be repaired by having your floors refinished around every 10 years. The need to be refinished every so often may be seen as a downside to some people, however, doing so makes your floor look like it is brand new, and is nowhere near as labor intensive as actually getting new flooring.
Unlike tile flooring, hardwood flooring is susceptible to water damage, as the wood can become saturated. If this occurs, the wood will be very susceptible to fungal infestation and decay, and may need to be replaced. However, given hardwood’s porous nature, any water that is spilled will not spread very far, as it will be absorbed by the wood, which means that the damage will not cover a very large area, and only a small fraction of the wood may need to be replaced.
Conclusion
There you have it! We hope this comparison of hardwood and tile flooring has been helpful in your decision making process. If you’re planning on doing home remodeling and having your flooring replaced, get in touch with us right away! We offer free estimates on all of our services. We are looking forward to hearing from you!