Do Homeowners prefer Wood Flooring or A Tile Floor?
As a homeowner you will have many decisions to make when it comes to customizing your home. The first step is to buy the home, and then from there you have unlimited possibilities of how you can make this home yours. One of those home options is your flooring. Your flooring can really make or break a room sometimes. That’s why it’s good for homeowners to be educated on what all is out there to choose from. We have a lot of customers ask about tile or wood floors, so we’ve broken the two options down so you can decide which is best for you:
Hardwood Floors Are A Timeless Choice
When choosing any possible flooring or hardwood, wood flooring is a timeless choice for a lot of homeowners. Sometimes you just can’t beat the look and feel of solid hardwood flooring. This flooring is popular in pretty much any room, and it just might be perfect for your home.
Hardwood Flooring Pros
There are some pros when choosing solid hardwood flooring. When comparing tile vs. hardwood flooring, you’ll notice that wood floors are warmer for your feet. This is great for rooms where you know you’ll be on your feet for a while, like cooking in the kitchen. Hardwood flooring is also better for your feet. The surface of wood floors are smoother which is really helpful for your achy feet on a long day of work. When you compare prices for tile vs. hardwood flooring, it will appear that tile is cheaper. However, hardwood flooring is actually cheaper when you factor in the cost of installation and labor. It costs more to install tile flooring.
Wood flooring is also a hotter decor trend. Wide planks, dark finishes, wirebrushed textures and handscraped surfaces are all great examples of some of the various hot topics in the wood business these days. With our new Hickory products from Bruce we can offer one product that is a wide plank, handscraped, in a dark rich finish. Let's see a tile floor do that!
Hardwoods are a better insulator than tiles, both for temperature and sound. Whether you are doing a nail-down install or a floating floor, wood flooring will always be warmer than a ceramic or porcelain tile floor.
Another advantage when choosing hardwood vs other flooring options is the increase of value in your home. Real estate professionals and contractors will tell you that a home with a wood floor will appraise higher than a home with tiles.
Hardwood Flooring Cons
In tile or real wood discussion, wood floors are less water resistant than tile flooring. This becomes more a problem when you put the flooring in a room like the bathroom or the kitchen. You can put hardwood flooring in these rooms, but you’ll have to keep up with spills, and there is a higher chance of water damage.
Tips on Hardwood
Consider using Cabin or Builder grade wood floors to cut your material costs by as much as 80%. Cabin grade wood floors in a solid wood can be purchased at ReallyCheapFloors.com for under $2 per square foot. An engineered Cabin grade floor can easily be found for less than a dollar a square foot. These lower graded options will exhibit natural and manufacturing defects, as well as have a much shorter average board length, but when installed offer a very attractive flooring option.
Tile Has Plenty of Design Possibilities
When choosing any floor vs tile, tiles are a great choice for those that are looking to break the mold and deviate away from what everyone else is doing. There are a lot of great possibilities when you choose tile flooring.
Tile Pros
Tile flooring is extremely water resistant. You can rest easy knowing that water damage won’t be an issue with this type of flooring. This can give you the reassurance you’re looking for. Tile flooring also has many design possibilities. You can choose different colors, shapes and sizes for your floor design. If you have pets, then tile would be a great choice in your home because it doesn’t scratch.
One of the advantages of tile is the ability to find ceramic tiles for as little as 30 cents per square foot. If you are installing over a concrete slab and you can do the labor yourself it would be possible to have less than $2 per square foot in the whole installation. That would be a great value!
Another type of installation where tile excels is in the outdoor areas of your home. Both types of tiles, ceramic or porcelain, are waterproof and can be used outdoor to make some stunning focal areas that can be used for entertaining al fresco. Stone is another tile option but the installation of a stone can cost alot per square foot.
Tile Cons
One of the cons of tile flooring is that it can crack or break. This isn’t very likely, but it is something that can happen. It is usually due to poor installation, so make sure you do your research when hiring someone to do the installation job. Also, sometimes the grout in tile flooring can start to peel away so be sure to check on your flooring to see what minor touch-ups can be done to help it last longer.
This is especially a problem for tiles that are installed over a wood subfloor. While the backer board helps give the tiles more resiliency, movement in your subfloor is very likely to cause problems over time. Flooring pros can help you decide if the installation of porcelain or ceramic tile or if something like vinyl planks or tiles would be a better flooring for your home.
Tips On Tiles
To brighten up an otherwise drab tile installation consider a border or accent tile. This would allow the introduction of additional colors while not requiring much additional expense. Buying a few contrasting colors of tile or even glass tiles from the closeout pile should cost very little. Don't pay more than $1 per square foot for odd lots of wall or floor tile.
Have You Considered Wood Tile?
Several years ago someone that was pretty smart introduced a ceramic tile that looked like wood. It became very popular quickly, whether in a porcelain or a ceramic. Had the newest type of flooring, luxury vinyl plank, not came out soon after the introduction of the wood tile, we would be seeing a lot for usage of the wood tile.
What About Luxury Vinyl Tiles or Planks?
Here is the fly in the ointment when we have the tile vs everything else discussion. How about luxury vinyl plank Or in a tile pattern, LVT. While having the visual of the popular plank floors it offers the scratch and dent resistance of tiles.
LVP is a floating vinyl floor that is known for it's durability, ease of installation, and low cost. It is available in a hardwood or tile look.
When comparing LVP vs hardwood, LVP is typically a bit less money, as first quality vinyl planks with a 20 mil wear layer can always be purchased from ReallyCheapFloors.com for less than $2 per square foot. Right now we are running a special on a 12 mil vinyl plank from Armstrong for only $1.39 square foot.
Let Us Help You Save Some Money
You can look at these pros and cons when comparing tile vs. hardwood flooring and see which is the best option for you and your home. Check out our solid hardwood flooring options online to get the timeless look for your next home improvement project.
