Real oak flooring has a lovely quality to it and is extremely durable but many people avoid installing it as they feel it is too expensive. Laminate flooring or engineered boards might be cheaper in the short term, but do they offer real value for money in the long term? Whatever the financial considerations may dictate there is also a question of aesthetics. Laminate board looks great when it is first installed, but what about in a few years time once it has received the inevitable scratches and scrapes that life in a busy household naturally brings? Is laminate easily repairable? It is my intention to show through the course of this article that a solid hardwood oak floor is the preferred solution, rather than the superficially cheaper laminate flooring option.
Oak flooring is a significant expense to most households but unless you are planning on moving away soon it is a wise investment. A real hardwood floor will outlast other options and may actually outlast the occupants of the house themselves. Oak is one of the most durable of the hardwoods available today as despite there being other woods that are denser, they are often unavailable for purchase in significant quantity as they are protected by various environmental accords.
Being a hardwood, oak flooring is hard wearing and durable. It will shrug off many impacts and scrapes that would have penetrated the thin veneer of many laminates and left an unsightly scar on the floor. Even when your hardwood floor is damaged it is a relatively simple matter to repair it and bring it back to its original standard. Sanding the board and renewing the stain and varnish covering is often all that is required. If a laminate board received the same damage then it would most likely be impossible to restore. A deep scratch in laminate will reveal the surface of the wood underneath and as this is basically sawdust held together with glue, this can be unsightly. Staining the board will not hide the fact that there is no grain in the wood and so the only way to correct the problem is to relay the floor and replace the board or to buy a rug!
The ability of a real hardwood floor to withstand knocks and still look good in many years time is one of its outstanding benefits. After all who would willing choose to have to re-lay a laminate floor every few years and pay more than it would have cost for a solid oak floor in the first place? Clearly, the sensible option is to choose real hardwood oak flooring.
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