What Flooring Lasts the Longest?

One of the most important decisions you will need to make when decorating or remodeling a home is the choice of flooring. While selecting the right style to fit the interior design is important, you should also consider investing in a flooring material that will last for several years.

So what flooring material lasts the longest in a home? It’s a difficult question to answer because it will depend on the room you are installing the flooring in and how well you can maintain it moving forward.  But floorings made from hardwood, bamboo, ceramic tiles, laminate, or vinyl are considered the most durable options.

5 Most Durable Flooring Options

The market is currently dominated by the demand for soft covering floorings like rugs and carpets – accounting for $47.5 billion in revenue of the 2019 global flooring market. However, resilient materials are expected to catch up – driven by the preference for durable, high-quality, environment-friendly, and low maintenance materials.

Since flooring installation in a home is an expensive and time-consuming project, it’s better to choose a durable material that will last for several years. Here are the five most durable flooring options to install in your home:

1. Hardwood

Hardwood is one of the most popular flooring options in the US, which comes in either planks or strips. Some of the most common tree species used in making hardwood floors are maple and oak, but other manufacturers also produce them from exotic varieties like purpleheart or Brazilian cherry.

Most people pick hardwood flooring because it looks great in any home – it can even raise the value of the house if the owner decides to sell it. The material can also be refinished a couple of times to remove the scratches.

If you want to install hardwood in your home, place them in living rooms, bedrooms, and other areas of the home with low moisture and less foot traffic. This will ensure that the material won’t shrink, swell, or get scratches.

2. Bamboo

If you are looking for an eco-friendly alternative to hardwood, bamboo can produce excellent flooring materials that feel and look like hardwood. It is also available in planks and strips with various grain patterns.

What’s great about bamboo flooring is that it is more resistant to moisture than wood. It is also easier to care for because the refinishing process is quick. Bamboo flooring will look great on the bedrooms, hallways, and living areas.

But like hardwood, this material is not sturdy enough to survive the moisture inside a bathroom. When choosing bamboo flooring for a home, it’s better to stay away from dark-colored ones because the chemicals that give the material its color also weaken its fibers. This causes the dark-colored bamboos to be less durable than other options available in the market.

3. Ceramic Tiles

Ceramic tiles are produced from shale and clay that’s processed in a kiln. These tiles typically come in different patterns, colors, and shapes, giving you a lot of options to match your interior design. However, some ceramic tiles are too brittle for flooring, which is why it’s important to buy ones that are rated for floor use.

If hardwood and bamboo are chosen based on their various grain patterns and brown hues, ceramic tiles come in four main types:

• Glazed Ceramic – offers glass-like coating and tiles of any texture of color. This type is also virtually maintenance-free.
• Porcelain – is processed at extremely high temperatures, which gives it the ideal hardness and durability. It comes in glazed or unglazed options that are stain-resistant.
• Quarry Tile – is the unglazed type of ceramic tile that features a rough texture, which makes it an excellent slip resistant tile option. But unlike glazed ceramic, quarry tiles don’t offer a wide selection of colors.
• Terracotta – is the least durable ceramic tile because it needs regular sealing and maintenance to prevent stains from sticking. Terracotta tiles usually come in earthy tones.

Ceramic tiles are best utilized for high-traffic areas like kitchens and hallways. They are also a great option for wet rooms like the laundry room and the bathroom. They can also be installed in a sunroom or porch.

4. Laminate

Laminate floors are similar to hardwood in that they are made with thin veneers over the compressed fiber or plywood. But the major difference between the two lies in the top layer – laminate utilizes a photograph under a plastic coating instead of real wood. This allows the laminate to imitate the appearance of tile, stone, wood, or any other material.

This kind of flooring is best installed in high-traffic areas like playrooms, foyers, and kitchens. Since they are still mostly made of wood materials, laminate won’t be a great option for high-moisture and wet areas like bathrooms, laundry rooms, and basements with leak problems.

5. Vinyl

For a more flexible yet resilient option, vinyl is a type of flooring material that’s made from polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic. It’s also softer than tile or wood because of the felt layer underneath the PVC plastic. Other varieties of vinyl include cushioned vinyl that has a layer of foam and textured vinyl that mimics the feel and appearance of stone or wood.

Vinyl also comes in several forms such as sheet vinyl, luxury vinyl, and vinyl tiles. Sheet vinyl requires the installer to unroll the material, cut it to the appropriate size, and glue it to the subfloor. On the other hand, luxury vinyl clicks into place like hardwood floors. Lastly, vinyl tiles are placed on the subfloor one at a time. They can even come in peel-and-stick backing that doesn’t require additional adhesives before installment.

Choosing the Best Flooring Material for Every Room

There is no single flooring material ideal for every room. Aside from considering how the floors will match the decor of the room, they should also be able to withstand different damages caused by moisture, sunlight, foot traffic, and more.

To help you find out what kind of flooring material is ideal for each room in your home, here is a quick guide:

• Kitchen – This part of the house is one of the most traffic-heavy rooms, which is why porcelain tiles are the best choice. This material is resistant to scratching and dents. It’s also a low-maintenance option that only requires occasional mopping and vacuuming.
• Bathroom – Most of the damages that a bathroom can bring to the floors are the occasional splashes and high moisture content. For this room, the best option is also porcelain tile. This material holds up quite well in wet rooms, unlike hardwood and bamboo that will warp after long exposure to high moisture content.

• Living Room – Although living rooms also have high foot traffic, the best flooring material to install in these rooms is hardwood. This material provides a cozy feeling to the common area. It also raises the value of the home. Hardwood can last for decades as long as it is regularly refinished.

Zothex Flooring: The Trusted Flooring Provider in Rocklin and Sacramento

Here at Zothex Flooring, we believe that flooring is an art form, which is why our artists have been improving their craft since 2004. Our staff can also help you pick a flooring material for your home that’s both durable and stylish.

Zothex Flooring can be your partner for all the flooring needs as you remodel your home. Contact us now at (916) 925 – 1958 for more information.

Learn more: Can You Pull Up Hardwood Floors and Reuse Them?