Wood vs carpet flooring, pros and cons

The pros and cons of wood flooring vs carpet flooring

Wood and carpet flooring both have their pros and cons, and which type of flooring you choose is a matter of personal taste. Carpet costs less in the short term, but it’s harder to clean than wood. Also, carpeting will need to be replaced every few years, especially when kids and/or pets are present. Hardwood flooring is pricier to install but much easier to clean and can last for decades with proper care. We can suggest a variety of flooring materials and related options, so do your homework up front and be ready to ask your contractor what will work best with your budget and vision.

Carpet vs. hardwood flooring – which is better? There’s no single correct answer; as with everything else under the sun, there are pros and cons to any type of flooring.

We’re big fans of hardwood flooring. At Broderick Builders, one can only imagine how many floors we’ve redone throughout our 45+ years of experience.

A most serious consideration for folks living beneath you

There’s a serious consideration issue if you have two or more floors. We recommend using carpet in rooms directly above rooms on the next floor down. Living with hardwood floors directly above you is simply too noisy unless you really don’t mind the disturbance for some reason.
If the rooms above you are hardwood, then you will hear every person who ever walks across the floor above. It’s not pleasant.

We’ve lived in homes with carpet and in homes with hardwood flooring. Each has advantages and disadvantages.

In my experience, the carpet or hardwood question isn’t an either/or issue. Instead, it’s a case-by-case issue.

What follows is an in-depth analysis of the pros and cons of each as well as which rooms are better for hardwood and which rooms are more suitable for carpeting.

Pros of hardwood flooring

1. Aesthetics

It’s difficult to not like the look of hardwood flooring. If you hate it, obviously your flooring choice is easier. If you love it, go nuts. It’s a great flooring material for most rooms of the home.

2. Cleanliness

In comparison to carpet, hardwood is much cleaner. It doesn’t collect dust and dirt. Well it does, but all you need to do is give a sweep or quick vacuum. Carpeting, despite best efforts is never perfectly clean unless you hire a professional carpet cleaning company… and even then, it’s not guaranteed that your carpets will be immaculately clean.

3. Durability

Carpeting needs to be replaced; also, carpeting styles and color trends change. Hardwood flooring is more stylistically constant, and when well maintained, can last for several decades – or even longer. Some houses built before the turn of the 20th century boast original hardwood floors.

4. Flexibility with area rugs

Area rugs can be added throughout as desired, offering some benefits of carpeting while still having hardwood flooring. The downside of course is that nice area rugs aren’t cheap.

5. Easy to rearrange furniture

If you like rearranging furniture, it’s simple with hardwood flooring as long as you have padding on the bottom of your furniture. The downside is that on hardwood flooring you furniture can easily moved out of place.

Cons of hardwood flooring

1. Noise levels

As I mentioned above from my experience living below hardwood floors, they are noisy. They’re noisy below and in the rooms themselves. Sound is not muffled at all. Area rugs can help, but carpeting is a better option if you prefer a very quite home environment.

2. Scratches

Scratches happen. As hard as you try to avoid it, your wood floor will get scratched. Some people like the distressed, worn wood floors while other people prefer pristine. Obviously you’re not going to start slashing your wood floor just for the distressed look… but if you go with wood flooring accept the fact it will get scratched.

3. Cold

Wood flooring doesn’t insulate well and it’s cold to the touch, especially in the morning and late evenings. An easy fix is wearing slippers. But if you prefer bare feet and don’t want cold feet, hardwood flooring may not be for you.

4. Hard surface

It’s hard. My wife and I have a 2 year old son. It’s not the best surface to crawl around on and play on. We solved this by buying a large soft play mat, but do you think our son restricts his playing to the mat? Not a chance. He doesn’t seem bothered by it, but my knees don’t take too kindly to it.

Also, if you drop glass, forget about it. It’s broken. At least with carpeting, if you drop glass, there’s a good chance it won’t shatter.

5. Requires placing pads on bottom of furniture

The smart thing to do if you have hardwood floor is to place permanent protective pads at the bottom of all your furniture to prevent scratches. It’s a bit of a hassle, but well worth it.

Pros of carpeting

1. Warmer

Carpeting is great for walking around with bare feet. It’s much more comfortable than hardwood flooring.

2. Muffles sound

Carpeted rooms are less noisy.

3. Aesthetics and selection

There are more carpeting options than hardwood options. This means you can find the exact carpeting you want because the selection is practically endless.

4. Furniture stays put

This is good and bad. When you want to move furniture around, carpeting is a nuisance because you can’t slide it. However, when you want your furniture to stay put, carpeting works better. Generally, you’ll move furniture around less often than not so it’s a considerable benefit to have furniture remain in place.

Cons of carpeting

1. Carpets are dirty

In comparison to hardwood floors, carpeting is inherently dirtier, dustier, and much harder to rid if small pests like fleas or bedbugs ever take hold. For these reasons alone, hardwood is clearly superior, all else remaining equal.

Even if you vacuum every other day, carpeting is dirtier than hardwood floor. It’s also more difficult and time-consuming to clean carpeting. We have hardwood throughout our main living area and cleaning it is simple.

2. Aesthetics

It’s hard not to love the look of hardwood flooring. Generally, carpeting is less attractive than wood floors; however, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. You just might prefer the look of carpeting.

3. Replacement cost

Carpeting has a shorter lifespan than wood flooring. Therefore, when comparing cost, keep in mind that you will more quickly replace carpeting than hardwood flooring.

4. Stains

While today’s carpeting offers decent stain resistance and steam cleaners can do a great job removing stains, you can still end up with permanent carpet stains. That said, wood flooring can stain, especially from moisture.

5. Chemicals

Chemicals are not healthy. Carpeting contains chemicals. Steam cleaning carpeting involves chemicals. Hardwood flooring is the better option if chemicals are a concern, or if they could be a concern in the future.

Conclusion

Naturally, any conclusion on hardwood flooring vs carpeting is partly based on our personal preferences, so these conclusions won’t be for everyone.

Which rooms are better for hardwood and which rooms are best to consider carpeting for?

Our preferences are best described on a case-by-case basis, based on reasonable analyses conducted room-by-room. Here they are.
1. Kitchen: Hardwood; however, many will rightly argue that a better water-resistant floor is better than both wood and carpeting for the kitchen.

2. Living room: Hardwood (seriously consider adding an area rug).

3. Dining room: Hardwood

4. Bathroom: neither. Generally something a little more water resistant is best. However, powder rooms are good with hardwood.

5. Bedroom: Carpeting

6. Upper level rooms: Carpeting is best because hardwood flooring is a pitiful noise insulator for rooms below.

7. Entertainment room: Carpeting is best for sound quality.

8. Foyer: Hardwood

What are the cost differences between hardwood flooring and carpet?

Generally, hardwood will cost more; however, some carpeting may actually cost more per square foot than hardwood.

It’s impossible to declare one cheaper than the other because there are many variables such as type of carpeting, installation costs, and the type and grade of hardwood.

If you’d like to talk to Nashville’s premier remodeling firm about any projects you have in mind, please do not hesitate to call us at 615.385.3210, or use the quick and easy contact form below.

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