As the foundational element of any room, flooring is expected to achieve nearly impossible standards. It must look sophisticated enough for entertaining guests, feel welcoming enough for you and your family to enjoy every day, and simultaneously, be practical enough to resist wear and tear. In the dining room especially, the floors must withstand a high volume of foot traffic, food and drink spills, moving chairs, and, of course, the expected daily abuse from pets and children. It can be challenging to find a flooring material for such a task. However, flooring experts often recommend these five materials specifically for dining room floors.
Hardwood
From the rich golden warmth of classic oak to the appetite-inducing russet reds of cherry, to the airy luminance of delicate maple, hardwood flooring comes in many dashing colors. When combined with a unique finish and stain, the diverse menu of wood types can create the precise mood you hope to achieve for the dining room. Beloved for its timeless elegance, hardwood is one of the most attractive and impressive flooring options available. A clear winner in terms of looks, it is also highly durable against scratching and lasts longer than a lifetime if well-kept. If it does get scratched, hardwood can be sanded down and refinished four or five times to look good as new. In addition, hardwood flooring is reasonably water-resistant as long as any spills are not left to soak into the wood for hours.
Engineered Hardwood
While hardwood is made of a solid plank of wood, engineered hardwood only uses a hardwood veneer overtop several interlaced plywood layers. As a result, engineered hardwood is a much cheaper option, yet it retains many of the same qualities as standard hardwood. For instance, its durability and wooden aesthetic are equal to hardwood. On the plus side, engineered hardwood is much more resistant to water and humidity due to the crisscrossing pattern of the plywood sublayers. The only downside to engineered hardwood is that it won’t last nearly as long as hardwood, given that it can only be sanded down and refinished once before the thin top layer wears out.
Luxury Vinyl & Laminate
Luxury vinyl and laminate flooring are two highly versatile options to consider. They both come in various printed designs imitating hardwood or tile, which affords you the aesthetic of natural flooring minus the huge price tag. Though both are made from synthetic materials, luxury vinyl is exceptionally waterproof, while laminate is prone to staining and warping. With LVT or LVP, you won’t have to worry about causing irreparable damage to your dining room floors when someone spills their drink or when the dog drools at the smell of bacon. On the other hand, laminate gives even strong and sturdy hardwood a run for its money in durability. However, neither laminate nor luxury vinyl are nearly as eco-friendly as hardwood.
Tile
Tile floors are constructed from large squares of glazed clay, such as porcelain or ceramic. Like hardwood, these natural materials are eco-friendly and naturally stunning. Tile is also the most waterproof, durable and scratch-proof flooring material of any kind, making it a shoo-in for your dining room. The only downside is that tile will sometimes feel extremely cold or hot, depending on your local climate and home temperature. If you’re in the habit of wearing house shoes or socks at home, then this won’t be too much of a drawback. Plus, you can always arrange a beautiful rug on the highly trafficked part of the walkway.
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Among all the different types of décor, flooring plays one of the most instrumental roles in creating the atmosphere of a room. Since the dining room is one of the largest and most frequently used rooms in the house, it ought to be designed with care. The flooring you choose for your dining room should be able to stand up to damages like scratching and water exposure while playing elegantly into the rest of the décor. Many types of floors would falter under such a monumental charge. Luckily, flooring materials like hardwood, engineered hardwood, luxury vinyl, laminate and tile will keep your dining room looking as beautiful a decade later as it did on day one.
