Durability is always a predominant factor in driving home trends. Whether you’re building a custom home or planning a remodel, you want to know the materials you select can stand the test of time. This is especially true for flooring, which experiences more wear and tear than any other surface in the home.
Let’s look at some of the most popular flooring options available right now, all of which are designed to take a beating.
Home Trends Spotlight: Durable Flooring With Style
The great news is there’s no need to sacrifice style for durability. From the classic look of hardwood to contemporary flooring innovations, you’ll find flooring options you’ll love for every room in the house.
1. Hardwood
Hardwood is always an attractive option, and Florida’s historical homes prove that well-maintained hardwood lasts for centuries. Maintenance is the key here; hardwood floors need to be kept free of standing water and must be sanded and refinished an average of every eight to ten years. Keeping them clean and washing them with an oil-based wood soap ensures hardwood floors look their best.
- Pros: Beautiful, durable, more forgiving on dropped breakables, lasts for decades and then some.
- Cons: Not all options are sustainable, requires maintenance to keep wood in good shape and looking its best.
What about engineered hardwood or laminate?
Both engineered hardwood and laminate options are also considered durable alternatives to prefinished hardwood. However, we agree with Consumer Reports’s statement, “if you…hanker for wood in a high-traffic area, opt for the real thing.” Both laminate and engineered hardwoods have “facades” as the first layer.
So, while that top layer is advertised as durable, it cannot be sanded and refinished when it’s showing wear or suffers significant scratches or dings. That means a replacement, whereas hardwood can be sanded and refinished to look as good as new.
2. Porcelain Tile That Replicates [Fill-In-The-Blank]
Porcelain tiles innovation has made spectacular leaps, and we are fans of their “looks like” options. High-quality porcelain floor tiles are nearly exact replicas of hardwood, stone, and other finishes. We frequently hear stories of friends or family getting down on their hands and knees after a remodel using porcelain “wood tiles” to feel the mock wood grain texture and revel in the fact that the tiles “aren’t real wood.”
We also appreciate variations in porcelain tile, which means you can find it in virtually any color or pattern. You can use it as a flooring choice for entire expanses of the floor or to add accents.
- Pros: Ultra-durable, easy to maintain, can be cleaned with just about anything, stain resistance, high water/moisture tolerance.
- Cons: Porcelain tiles are cold on the feet (radiant heating is the solution), its hardness means breakables are likely to break rather than bounce, it can crack or chip requiring individual tile replacement.
Note: Ceramic tile is another excellent option, but if durability is the priority, porcelain wins due to its harder and denser makeup.
3. Concrete
Concrete flooring is trendy in contemporary home designs. Concrete is about at durable as it gets, which is why it’s as popular in restaurants and commercial spaces as it is in modern homes. Plus, its ability to be stained means you can get creative with colors and finishes.
Most homeowners choose concrete for the kitchen and main living areas to optimize wear-and-tear resistance, preferring softer and warmer alternatives for bedrooms or other home areas. As with ceramic tiles, radiant heating is often the counterpoint to concrete floors.
- Pros: Durable, stain resistant, and scratch resistant. Impervious to water and moisture.
- Cons: High hardness factor, so hard on breakables and toddlers. Cracked concrete is an issue, so high-quality contractors are essential. The cold surface requires tempering with area rugs, mats, and similar enhancements.
4. Natural stone
Not surprisingly, natural stone also makes the list of Top 5 durable flooring materials. Most of the stone mined for flooring is hundreds of thousands of years old, so that’s saying something. However, when it comes to flooring, you want to prioritize stones with lower porosity (slate, travertine, etc.) rather than those that are porous (marble) to minimize the risk of staining and etching. Plus, more pores mean a softer stone, so marble wears faster.
Also, some stones require more maintenance than others (annual sealing or special cleaning products), so make sure you understand which stones require what before making a final selection.
- Pros: Durable, can handle lots of foot traffic, tiles can be replaced individually if necessary.
- Cons: Natural stones are a harder, colder texture – more like concrete or porcelain. Radiant heating can help. Some stones require specialized cleaning products or annual sealing.
5. Carpet
Yep, that’s right. We’re adding carpet as our #5 durable flooring. Like everyone else, we’re fans of hard-surface flooring home trends regarding durability and ease of cleanliness. That said, hard floors require area rugs and other carpet-like additions to soften them up. Ever notice the 70s shag in those prospective fixer-uppers is still going strong? That’s a vote in the carpet durability column.
We recommend using a high-quality carpet in rooms where softness and warmth matter – bedrooms, libraries, dens, etc. The lower the shag, the less they’ll show wear, so there’s a carpet pile for every taste.
- Pros: Soft on the feet and eyes, adds color and texture.
- Cons: Needs to be vacuumed weekly, professionally cleaned annually, and can become outdated if you don’t select timeless, neutral colors.
We’ll Walk You Through Durable Flooring Options
Are you planning to build, renovate, or remodel a home? Schedule a consultation with Fogle Constructors. In addition to being one of DeLand’s premier custom home and remodeling professionals, we love supporting clients as they wade through today’s home trends to find what’s right for them.
