For years, hardwood floors have been the epitome of luxury flooring. However, hardwood is not without its flaws. Nowadays, more and more homeowners are opting for luxury vinyl flooring instead, preferring durability and affordability over the effort and expense of conventional hardwood.
With these qualities and other benefits, luxury vinyl is so much more than a trend—it’s quickly become one of the most popular flooring options on the market. If you, too, are trying to craft a luxury vinyl floor, you’ll want to know what you’re in for and why this is the best floor for you.
What’s wrong with hardwood?
Despite its classic appeal, hardwood has its share of disadvantages. Most notably, that hardwood flooring is expensive—more expensive than most people are ready to spend. Whether you’re redoing a single room or changing the flooring type of an entire home, the subtotal of your hardwood order can be enough to stop the project in its tracks. Once you add in the cost of installation, bringing in a qualified professional to install your new floor, it’s easy to see hardwood as unattainable.
The cost grows even further when you factor in the necessary maintenance that comes with hardwood flooring. If you have children or pets, you run the risk of scratches, dents, and other marks that won’t be easy to remove (if they can be removed at all). Your hardwood will need to be refinished over time, too—adding another item to your flooring budget as the years pass. If this floor is in a high-traffic area of your home, that maintenance becomes an even more frequent necessity.
What makes a vinyl floor superior?
Unlike natural hardwood, luxury vinyl is a man-made material. To some, this may seem like a detriment at first but, considering the benefits thereof, it’s all the more enticing. Vinyl plank flooring mimics the markings and hues of hardwood but offers a much lower price tag—that hardwood flooring you’re eyeing can be as much as five times the cost of a luxury vinyl floor that mimics the patterns and colors you fell in love with.
The pros of luxury vinyl planks (or LVP) are plentiful. That lower cost, of course, is a critical aspect—rather than investing in natural wood, you can opt for more budget-friendly vinyl and use those funds for other aspects of your redecorating plan. However, easing the strain on your wallet isn’t the only reason to choose vinyl over wood. In actuality, a luxury vinyl floor creates an elegant, yet cost-effective option for beautifying your home from the ground up—and that beauty can easily last a lifetime.
LVP floors are perhaps most enticing as a product that offers unparalleled durability. The wear-resistant vinyl planks won‘t require the same upkeep as natural wood, and they won’t face the same dangers of wood either. With luxury vinyl plank flooring, you can have durable, waterproof flooring that resists scratches, scrapes, and other imperfections. If your washer starts to leak in a laundry room with wood flooring, that floor will be damaged, if not ruined. If the same issue arises over LVP floors, getting a repairman to come to fix your appliances can remain your top priority, not how this mishap will affect your flooring and overall decor.
Solid hardwood has long held the peak spot in terms of popular types of flooring. Today, though, vinyl planks are taking over the title of champion with a less expensive, more durable flooring option that‘s just as beautiful as natural wood would be. With LVP floors, you can live your life—complete with kids, pets, spills, and scratches—without worrying about how a misstep might ruin your floor. Luxury vinyl products offer that peace of mind with all the added class you want in your home’s decor.
