The living room floor can endure very high foot traffic, so if you’re thinking about replacing the flooring in your living room, there are many factors to consider. Do you have pets or children? Do you entertain frequently? Is your furniture heavy? These questions can help you decide which kind of flooring will be the best fit for your home.

First Things First

There are places where carpet belongs – the living room is typically not one of them. This is especially true if you have pets, and/or the living room gets a lot of traffic. Carpet is the expert dust, pet dander and mold trapper. If you vacuum daily, twice weekly at the very least, and clean using hot water extraction every month, then you can pull that stuff up, and your carpet could be an air filter in the good way. That's a lot of work though, and if you don't do it the carpet is just keeping, and regularly releasing, all of that stuff into the room. If the living room has high traffic, the carpet will dirty quickly. Basically, the question is who wants to spend tons of time shampooing a carpet?

Instead of carpet, consider the following options:

This hardwood floor makes for a truly exceptional living room!

Laminate Flooring

from its aesthetic appeal to a durability that is virtually unmatched. It can sustain high heels (yes, really), pets, furniture and more. It’s almost all stain, scratch and wear resistant.

Laminate flooring is easy to maintain using just a Swiffer style sweeper. Different installation options are available, almost all of which make laminate a good Do-It-Yourself choice.

If these reasons aren’t enough, laminate floors are usually more economical than solid hardwood. At a fraction of the price you can get the desirable benefits in a hardwood look at a very low price.

Hardwood

The Gold Standard. Plain and simple. If you don't have frequent visits by Our Gang and Pete the Pup, then THE best floor is going to be solid hardwood. Solid hardwood has great longevity – it can last a lifetime. The lifetime of human, not a fish or a cat, I'm not being tricky here. Although solid hardwood is not as scratch-resistant as laminate flooring, it’s easier to fix. If you happen to nick your laminate floor, the entire plank must be replaced. Solid hardwood, on the other hand, only needs to be sanded down if dented or chipped. Well-kept, solid hardwood can be sanded and refinished numerous times and last more than 100 years. Laminate, durable and high-heel safe, is generally only warrantied to around 25 or 30 years.

Solid hardwood flooring also really wins out on sound absorption. Since laminate floors install via click-together pieces, a floating floor, they will not absorb noise as well as an attached hardwood floor. If sound absorption is critical for your family, the slightly more involved installation process is worth it.

Vinyl

Like laminate flooring, vinyl is high in value and durability. Vinyl flooring comes installable in four ways: click-together planks, loose lay, overlapping adhesive systems and glue down. The first three all are very DIY-friendly. Floors to Your Home even offers waterproof vinyl flooring, making it kid, weather, and even pet-safe.

Your Floor Is Out There

With the vast selection that Floors to Your Home carries, your perfect floor is waiting for you to find it. Don't hesitate to contact us and let our professionals can help determine which option is best for your needs.

Don't forget about our room designer when you're trying to imagine your dream living room!

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David has written and made videos about flooring products and installation since 2011 at Floors To Your Home (.com), where he is also the PPC Manager, a Researcher, a Website & Marketing Strategy Team member, Videographer, Social Strategist, Photographer and all around Resource Jito. In my spare time I shoot and edit video, put together a podcast, explore film history, and mix music (as in ‘play with Beatles multi-tracks’). Connect with  W. David Lichty

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