The grandeur of hardwood flooring is undeniable and finishing your home with a hardwood treatment can instantly boost value, as it adds a classic and refined beauty to any room. However, solid hardwood isn’t the only option. Engineered hardwood flooring can give you that unique hardwood look at a more affordable price. You can even find luxury vinyl flooring designed to look just like real hardwood that is both durable and water resistant.

Owning a hard floor surface comes with many benefits including, being easy to clean, a healthy floor choice for allergen sufferers, and it typically adds resale value to your home. We’ve compiled some great facts about hardwood floors and wood-like floors to help you choose the best flooring type for your home, style, budget and lifestyle needs.

Natural Hardwood

Authentic hardwood flooring will add visual warmth to any room, so much that you will not miss the look or feel of carpet. Wood floors have stood the test of time as a popular choice for homeowners and for good reason. This type of flooring is both economical and low maintenance and now comes in more wood choices than ever before. Traditional wood species such as maple, hickory, walnut and oak are classic and a sure bet, but up and comers like bamboo and cork are making strides as being both stylish and sustainable.

Hardwood floors deliver a natural look with a solid resale value that can turn any living space into a beautiful oasis. Natural wood flooring can also be sanded and refinished to suit your design desires over the years. No matter if you are looking for the ‘piano finish’, a smooth glass-like shine, or a vintage look with rugged character imposed by heavy scraping and hand-staining, natural wood floors can suit all sorts of in vogue and timeless styles.

Engineered Hardwood

Engineered hardwood floors are multi-faceted and are assembled in layers, making them less sensitive to humidity and moisture. These layers typically consist of a top layer of wood veneer and core layers made of particle board, fiberglass or plywood. The range of engineered wood floors gives it the upper hand on installation options; typically, they can be stapled, glued or floated. Another benefit of engineered hardwood is that many are constructed to be able to withstand in-floor heating, making them a warm and stylish alternative to carpet.

Luxury Vinyl Wood Flooring

If you want a 100% waterproof wood-looking floor Luxury Vinyl Flooring is the way to go. Vinyl wood planks are made of plastic composite materials, which gives them their waterproof qualities and inexpensive installation cost. This distinctly durable flooring type is available in a huge variety of options and colors from trendy white-washed oaks to highly desired dark pines that fit domestic and exotic decor alike. Vinyl wood flooring is a great option for an active family and is even pet-friendly. As with many other hard flooring options, vinyl wood flooring doesn’t easily trap microorganisms and is a great choice for those who can’t stand dust or dander. With vinyl flooring you are going to get a softer walking surface and many come with a cork or foam underlay, which helps to keep the floor quiet as well as mold and mildew resistant.

Laminate Wood Flooring

Laminate wood flooring can offer a wood-like appearance with great cost and performance benefits. The realistic texture of laminate flooring is both pleasing to the eye and is a great choice for entryways. This type of flooring is great because it can be installed on top of existing floors, also known as a floating floor. This helps cut down the cost of installation, making laminate wood flooring a budget-friendly alternative. There is nowhere for grime to hide with the low-maintenance surface-type of laminate flooring making it an allergen sufferers dream floor. Plus, higher quality laminate is also the most scratch resistant wood-look flooring.

When it comes to hardwood and wood-like floors, there is no obvious winner. Selecting the right floor for your family will depend on a variety of factors from style to budget. Almost all hard flooring options are perfect for those looking for easy-to-clean floors that won’t trap dirt or allergens. If you are looking for an eco-friendly alternative, consider cork or bamboo flooring. Both types of floors are fairly inexpensive when considering a hardwood aesthetic while being sustainable. You may find that each of these hardwood and wood-like flooring types fit well in your home, in different spaces with different needs. When making the final decision on your floors, be sure to speak to a qualified flooring specialist who will help you further understand installation and maintenance—whether you choose natural hardwood, engineered wood, vinyl or laminate wood flooring.