As I sit here and look around the room and notice yet another stain on my carpet, I am beginning to hate it. Whatever I do, it’s hard to keep it looking clean and tidy – even with a ‘no eating in the front room’ rule for the boys, I still find crumbs hidden and marks appearing when I have no idea where they have come from. Hoovering daily may even be the death of me.
I have wanted wood flooring throughout my downstairs for such a long time now. I feel it would be far easier to clean up a spill, sweep up a mess and to keep it looking clean, and let’s not even begin to think about all the horrid nasties which could be buried deep within the pile of the carpets…gross!
This isn’t something to be rushed however, it needs careful planning as it won’t be a cheap job and therefore I’ll want something that will last for many many years to come and not need replacing every year or so.
I need to think about what flooring is easy to clean with the kids. I want something I can hoover as well as sweep and something which doesn’t need re-treating yearly. I want to be able to mop it to keep it looking nice and it can’t be cold to sit on as the boys will want to play with their toys, and it would be pointless having lovely new flooring put in to have to hide it with rugs. I am not the only parent to consider the benefits of wooden flooring with kids either as many of my friends have started having it fitted too.
My front room can be a racetrack one day when the boys are playing cars, an assault course the next and even a zoo – the boys love to play, and their imaginations have no limit. So whatever I get needs to be very hardwearing which is why I am 90% swayed to wood flooring – it will be able to withstand their boisterous ways and could in the worst case be sanded down when they are a little older and have stopped racing cars across the floor.
There are three different types of wood floors: these are laminate, solid and engineered.
Engineered is made up of three layers of wood: a top wear layer of oak and two lower layers to provide stability. If an engineered floor hasn’t been stained, in years to come it can be sanded down to help restore the look and repair any minor damages giving it longevity.
Solid wood flooring is what I would personally pick as my favourite flooring. With beautiful warm timber you can allow it age gracefully. However, if you are looking for something to be retained a natural oak can be sanded and refinished many times.
And, laminate is one of the most scratch-resistant types of wood flooring out there, which makes it great for families and pet owners and can be purchased more cheaply than the other options.
Wood flooring does seem to be a better option for us as a family as it is more hygienic – with no bacteria getting trapped in fibres, it’s easy to clean, easy to maintain and there’s the option to sweep quickly, hoover and then run a mop over the floor. Wood is far easier to clean than a carpet when the boys have spilt something and of course hardwearing too
We have begun looking around at our options for wood flooring. What flooring did you opt for?
Do you have wood floors in your home? How did you decide which to choose?
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