How To Choose The Perfect Flooring Material Wood or Laminate

In designing and building a house one of the first things you need to consider is the material that would be used for the different parts of the house. If you dig natural looking floors like they are made to look like wood, one dilemma you can be facing is whether you want wood or laminate flooring material. First, you need to identify the pros and cons in choosing one over the other, or for that matter what the differences are between the two materials.

It is up to you to choose which would be the best flooring material for your house is. The floor area can be made of one or a combination of both materials as they would look pretty much the same. But there are other factors to consider before choosing the right material, like the environment and the budget you have.

There are actually two types of wooden flooring. One is the real wood flooring and the other is called the engineered wooden flooring. Real wood flooring is basically a wooden plank that is thick and hard. They also have more natural looking patterns.

Real wood is also thicker than the engineered wood and a lot thicker than the laminated wood. They are also very nice to look at and is usually found in the floors of the hallways and living area. However, it has to be used for an area that has a consistent environment and temperature, as this material tends to swell or shrink, depending on the conditions.

Although real wood flooring materials are hard to install and are more expensive, they bring really nice finish to the house. Also they are available in different shades with lots of natural patterns which add a great finish to the whole floor area.

Engineered wood on the other hand is still made of real wood. However each plank is made of about three or four layers of wood glued together. The thicker the plank is the more layers of wood it actually has.

Like real wood materials, the engineered wood is also dependent of the consistency of the environment where it is to be installed. But somehow it is sturdier than a single piece of real wood due to the fact that it is made up of lots of layers.

When it is already installed you can’t usually point out its difference to the real wood flooring. Though it is cheaper than the real wood materials and look nicer than laminate flooring. But it is important that you install this type of material in areas in your house that is not damp and humid.

A laminate flooring material is made of synthetic products glued together and then topped with a detailed appearance of wood or other flooring materials. Laminated flooring materials are thinner compared to wooden materials.

Laminate flooring can also produce lots of patterns unlike the wooden materials which look exactly like wood. Laminate flooring can look like tiles, which will be perfect to use in bathroom or kitchen area or pieces of wood put together for the living room and hallways. Also they are much shinier, although thinner.

Due to the fact that it is thin, laminate flooring doesn’t exactly feel like wood or tiles. However, there are lots of designs that copy what the natural materials look like. It’s a cheaper and practical material to use. And because it is thin it is very much easier to install.

Some laminate flooring materials are waterproof and so humidity and dampness is not much of a bother. Although when damaged it really needs to be replaced immediately as it can’t be repaired, but due to its cheaper price it won’t be much of a problem.