Luxury Vinyl Floor, Vinyl, Hardwood, or Wood-Look Tiles; Which one is the Best?

Flooring defines the look of your home. Besides strength and durability, it gives a tasteful finish to your residence. However, all floors are not made equal. Choosing the right floor tile involves a lot of practical considerations. You need to consider the lifestyle, budget and the look preferred by the people living there.

Although hardwood floor has always been considered classy yet there are some other floor tiles which mimic the look of hardwood floors and are very convenient to maintain. This year, some of the trending floors are Luxury Vinyl, Vinyl, Hardwood, and wood-look tiles. Choosing the right floor tiles depends on a lot of factors.

Tips to Choose the Right Floor Tiles

You need to consider the following tips while choosing any of the above floor tiles for your home. 

1. Durability

Both Luxury Vinyl and traditional Vinyl floors are made up of the same material i.e. Vinyl. The difference lies in the amount of the material used, i.e. the thickness of the two tiles. Luxury Vinyl Planks are 5 mm thick whereas the traditional Vinyl floors are around 1 mm thick. Consequently, Luxury Vinyl Planks are more durable. Due to its thickness, Luxury Vinyl Floor can last longer than the traditional Vinyl floor.

Hardwood floor is timeless, to say the least. If well maintained, the hardwood floor can last for generations. Some of the woods used to build hardwood floors are extremely hard and damage-resistant.  Even if some part of the hard-wood floor is damaged, it can be replaced and revitalized. Besides the fact that the hardwood floors are harder and damage resistant, wood-look tiles are even better.

Wood-look tiles are ceramic or porcelain floors. They are extremely durable as they are made up of harder materials than hardwood or vinyl floors. Consequently, they are more resistant to dents, scratches or fading.

When all the four types of floor are compared, wood-look tiles stand out as the most durable and long-lasting option.

2. Maintenance

When looked at from the perspective of maintenance, hard-wood floors are the most difficult to maintain. They can easily be damaged due to water spills and dents. Even if the people wearing high heels walk on the floor, the floor can easily get stained and dented. It also requires cleaning with specific cleaners and wax polishing.

Vinyl Planks and Luxury Vinyl Floors are relatively easy to maintain. You can use a broom or a vacuum cleaner to clean all the dirt and mop up with warm water. Both of these floor tiles are water-resistant. For cleaning tough stains, you can use a mild cleaner.

wood-look tiles are the easiest to maintain. They are completely water-resistant and they do not have the gaping issues like the Vinyl floor. However, the grout between the tiles can get very dirty and require a lot of effort to clean. You can use mild cleaners and scrub to keep the grout clean and fresh.

Although both Luxury Vinyl floor tiles as well as the wood-look floor tiles are easy to maintain, Luxury Vinyl Floor stands out as a better choice. It is because the wood-look tiles require relatively more effort to clean.

3. Ease of Installation

Luxury Vinyl is the easiest to install. They are available in the form of peel and stick tiles as well as tongue and groove design. The tiles fix almost effortlessly.

Vinyl floors are slightly difficult to install as they require cutting the sheet through a utility knife according to your room size. A small mistake can mess up the whole sheet.

Installing wood-look tiles is a very difficult DIY project. To begin with, the sub-floor needs to be perfectly leveled. Then, the tiles need to be fixed with the help of mortar. If the subfloor is not even, the floor tiles can easily crack.

Similarly, installing a hardwood floor is also not very convenient. It requires drilling holes and fixing nails to properly install the hardwood planks. When looked at from the perspective of installation, Luxury Vinyl Floor is the easiest to install.

4. Cost and Versatility

If we compare the costs of different types of floors, we find out that Vinyl Floor is the cheapest. It costs around 50 cents to $2 per square foot.

Luxury Vinyl Floor costs from $2 to $10 per square foot. While Hardwood floor costs almost 3 times more than that. The cost of wood like floor tiles ranges between $6 to $20 per square foot, depending on the quality and texture.  When the costs of different types of floors are considered, hardwood floors and wood-look tiles are relatively expensive choices.

When looked at from the perspective of appearance, the hardwood floor has always been considered of superior quality.  Luxury Vinyl Floor and wood-look tiles offer an ideal imitation of the hard-wood floor. Considering the cost and appearance, the luxury vinyl floor stands out.

Take Away

Whether you are considering flooring your new house or renovating an existing one, you have a lot of materials and designs to choose from. You can narrow down your choices based on durability, maintenance, ease of installation, cost and versatility. We hope that the tips provided in this article will help you choose the best option that you need.