We field a good number of questions at Real Wood Floors, and “When should I choose a resilient floor over hardwood?” is an important question for homeowners and contractors alike.
As an industry leader, we are wood people through and through. We love wood, and we appreciate its natural beauty. This is who we are.
Yet, we recognize there are times when wood may not be appropriate for installation in certain areas of your home or business. We understand you might like a wood aesthetic, but hardwood is not going to be appropriate for that environment for a number of possible reasons. This is where resilient flooring (such as vinyl, cork, or rubber) comes in.
Read all the way to the end to learn about our flooring solution we believe is head and shoulders above your typical resilient floor.
1. You need more durability.
A great benefit to resilient flooring is its durability. This toughness meets the need of different spaces from office to home and different lifestyles from single to married with kids.
If you are a crafter and work from home, or a cyclist who does repairs in the living room because you don’t have a garage, or a parent with active kids, then a resilient floor allows for more rough treatment than a typical wood floor. It can handle projects and parties (within reason!); it can handle heavy foot traffic.
Pesky scratches and dings aren’t going to be a major issue with resilient flooring when compared to hardwood. Obviously, take care when placing or moving heavy furniture because denting can occur, but that resilient floor will live up to its name in most instances.
2. You want a wide range of style choices at a lower price point.
Resilient floors can’t compete with the time-honored, traditional beauty of hardwood flooring. Or can they?
We’ve seen some, and produced some ourselves, that will make you think twice. We have taken great care and thoughtful engineering with our resilient floor to make it beautiful (and strong) by using a stone polymer composite. Obviously, hardwood flooring does come in a variety of colors and styles, but so does resilient flooring.
As well, hardwood flooring can be limited when it comes to the availability of certain wood species. This is particularly true right now with the Coronavirus still impacting global trade and delivery. There can also be some limitations when it comes to colors, styles, and customization with hardwood —and you may ultimately find the right pick in resilient flooring. For example, you can get a resilient floor in various wood types from maple to oak.
A bonus is that these wood-visual floors land at very reasonable price points. While most hardwood flooring can run you anywhere from $8-25 per square foot, resilient flooring falls in the range of $2-$7 per square foot.
3. You want a quick and easy installation.
A definite perk of a resilient floor is the installation process. Unlike a wood floor installation, an involved process that can take at least a week and often longer, a resilient install is a different animal. You can install tongue-and-groove flooring or peel-and-stick planks in a matter of a few days.
With the tongue-and-groove method, you lock individual pieces to together to create a floating floor. With the peel-and-stick method, you peel off a wax-paper backing, which then reveals the glued side of the flooring that you can press onto your subfloor.
An easy install makes it attractive to budget DIYers. And if you were to have professionals lay down your floor, it won’t cost as much as wood.
4. Your space has an issue with moisture.
If you have an environment with heavy moisture or relative humidity changes, then resilient flooring is the choice for you. It’s perfect for environments such as bathrooms, mudrooms, and basements where you get high humidity swings.
Because a resilient floor is made up of synthetic materials like rubber or vinyl, it will do better than wood, as it is impervious to moisture and those relative humidity shifts.
In commercial spaces, like restaurants or event venues, you would need resilient flooring for kitchens, bathrooms, and some dining areas—places where a cleaning crew cleans in a traditional wet-mopping style on a regular basis.
5. You want a low-maintenance floor.
Do you want a low-maintenance floor? Then you have one in resilient. We love our hardwoods, but we realize they require upkeep and they can’t get wet. Last week, we discussed how to clean your wood floors, which means wet mopping is a no-no.
And that is definitely a benefit of resilient—you can bust out a mop bucket, a cleaning solution, and a traditional mop and then go to town. Of course, only after you have dry-cleaned the floor with a broom, dust mop, or vacuum cleaner.
In addition to the ease of cleaning, a resilient floor is just easier to maintain. You can keep it nice and shiny with no-wax polishes.
Our resilient flooring line, Allude, is made with stone polymer composite (SPC).
Through our Allude line, we offer resilient flooring that is a stone polymer composite (SPC). With an SPC floor, you get the advantage of the strength of stone with the flexibility of the polymer.
Instead of having merely a rubberized vinyl floor, our SPC floor has a stiffness that will stand up to impacts and not show dents as easily as a pure vinyl floor.
Take note that an SPC floor is more forgiving than vinyl. So if you have minor imperfections in your subfloor, these will not show through to the top layer of the SPC floor. Also, stone composites don’t allow as much movement and you are getting a more stable product than pure vinyl planks, which is why we really like our Allude line of flooring.
This line includes our Reminiscent Collection and our Redolent Collection. Both have a wood look and are easy to install, both professionally and for DIYers. They use a locking system and also have underlayment padding which decreases sound transmission.
The Reminiscent Collection is the premier collection, and it features a 3-layer SPC core making it waterproof. It has a 20-mill commercial wear layer and a ceramic bead finish. This is a very durable floor that has reduced marring and a lifetime warranty for residential uses and a fifteen-year warranty for light commercial.
The Redolent Collection is a completely waterproof floor with SPC rigid core construction and a UV-cured protective finish. This is also a durable and stable floor with the UNILIN locking system and a 1mm underlayment backer to help insulate sound.
Resilient flooring is a cost-effective, extremely durable, and waterproof alternative to hardwood.
Though we are all about wood flooring, we know there is great value in resilient flooring options for both homeowners, business owners, and contractors. Resilient flooring can add a lot of warmth to a space, but also has the strength and durability to take on the daily activity of busy lifestyles.
If you are interested in our resilient flooring, check out our Allude flooring line today.
For any questions, please get in touch by our website or by phone, 877.215.1831.