What Makes Hardwood Flooring Better than Laminate?

People who want hardwood floors in their homes often consider both real hardwood and laminate flooring. The smart choice is hardwood and the reason is simply because hardwood is better than laminate.

Why is hardwood flooring better than laminate flooring you may ask? Firstly, hardwood flooring can be repaired once it becomes damaged. For example, if the kids drop a heavy toy on the floor and it leaves a dent, the dent will slowly become noticeable as the protective urethane coatings start to chip away. Repairs can be easily made by:

Spot touch-up, sand away scratches, re-stain and urethane the area again, or
Remove the damaged part and replace it to have a beautiful hardwood floor once again
With laminate flooring, there is no replacing just one part since it can cause the rest of the floor to buckle. In addition, when you get a scratch, it is there for the life of the floor since it cannot be sanded down or repaired.

Secondly, hardwood is much stronger. For those of us with families and pets in the house you know that this is something that we are going to need. With laminate flooring high heels can make permanent indentions into the material that cannot be repaired. Consider kids running through the house with their toys, they are going to put some major stress on the floor and laminate flooring is just not going to hold up for the long haul.

Hardwood vs. Laminate Comparison

When comparing hardwood to laminate flooring, it is much easier to repair hardwood than laminate. Consider the fact that both hardwood and laminate flooring can become damaged by water. Both laminate and hardwood can buckle when they become wet, but since most laminate flooring contains a layer of cardboard it will basically break up and flake away and the entire area will need to be replaced. This is not going to be the case with hardwood flooring. Most of the time the affected areas will dry out and regain their original shape, sometimes it may require a little sanding to bring them back to life, or worst case scenario you will have to replace just the affected boards, whereas with laminate flooring the entire area will need to be completely replaced.

In most people’s opinions hardwood flooring is much more aesthetically appealing. Since it is real wood the floor is going to have no symmetrical design in it. Laminate flooring has a very distinct pattern which means that people are going to be able to tell from the start that the flooring is not real hardwood. For those of you that want the look of hardwood, you will soon realize the laminate flooring is not going to be able to fool anyone.