Wood flooring vs Carpeting

Wood floors vs Carpet

Allergies

One of the main reason to why wood floors are making such a come back can be seen right under your feet. Carpeting contains a lot of things you do not want in your home. Sure you can vacuum them but does that really get all the harmful things out of the rug? Dust mites can cause allergies and you may think by getting your rugs steam cleaned you may be solving the problem but in reality dust mites tend to work themselves deep into your rugs and can get under them into the padding, where vacuums and steam cleaners cant get to.

On top of dust mites carpets holds odor in. This can make your house smell odd and dirty, and if you love pets like I do then this can be a serious problem as the odor from your pets get trapped along with pet dander.

Natural and not synthetic

In today’s world a movement has been gaining momentum and that movement is “Going green”. Not only are wood floors a green solution but they are also a renewable resource. Carpets use many different chemicals such as petroleum based products. Bamboo floors or cork floor sales have been gaining momentum for the last few years since these types of floors are very Eco friendly. Cork flooring is made from the barks of the tree’s. By stripping the bark from a tree to make a floor you keep from cutting the tree down and the bark regrows over time. Bamboo is a very fast growing plant and can be replaced and harvest in a matter of months.

Wood Finishes

Some things you need to know if your a sensitive person to chemicals. Pre-finished floors release a gas but will dissipate quickly in most cases, Chinese imports on the other hand may take a bit more time to release their gases. How ever if you finish your own floor will also have a lingering effect and if you use an oil base you’ll notice this effect even more. So if your sensitive to chemicals I suggest using the pre-finished flooring and just to remember to keep your windows open and if your very sensitive maybe spend a few days out of the home.

Appearances

This is most likely one of the main reasons why people are going back to hard wood floors, I would love to say its because of the reasons I listed above but in fact to many people are worried about looks and money over their own health and the world they live in.

Hardwood floors add value to a home in most cases, lets face it if you live in a ghetto your more then likely not worried about the value of your home but rather how it looks on the inside, its kinda hard to add resale value to a home if the city cant keep the town looking nice as well. apart from adding value to your home they are beautiful and improve the quality of your life style.

Rental Properties

Most landlords will place carpets in their properties, Either these people don’t care about up keeping their properties or they are just not thinking of up keep in the future years. I’m not saying to go out and buy the best hardwood flooring you can find but instead think about some things. Carpeting may seem cheaper at around a dollar something per sq ft, how ever your going have to pay someone to install it so that raises the price to about 2-3 dollars a sq ft. Then you have to change it every so many years if you have a rental that See’s many different renters. Lets say you have a place that changes renters every 3 years, if you want to keep it looking nice you may want to change the carpets. So reoccurring cost can start hitting your wallets. Even if you don’t change them you have to get them professionally cleaned.

With hard wood flooring you have a selling point to say, people love them and that feature alone may make people rent from you then another landlord. On top of that refurnishing them is simple and they hold up to wear and tear a lot better.

Where to look

Since a large portion of your remodeling expense will be spent on wood flooring’s if you choose to get them, ID do some research into them, Learn the options available to you using the Internet is one of the best ways to do this. Home improvement stores will have a nice selection but they are usually marked up since they have to take in count the cost of workers and warehouse storage.

By checking online you can buy direct from the manufactures or small mom and pop shops you would have never found that have great prices for hand crafted pieces.

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