What Is Healthier Carpet or Hardwood Floors?

What is healthier carpet or hardwood floors? Most of the house owners and home experts have confusion in choosing between carpet or hardwood floors. Which one to choose? Which is better? Does anyone hold more dirt or bacteria than others? Which one is easy to clean? What are the things to have a glance at while going for one option? What benefits do you get from each?

From features to benefits of carpet and hardwood floors, everything is discussed in the article below. Selecting the appropriate floor type for your house is the most significant decision you need to make. Everybody has their own choice, but before taking this big decision, look at a few points of consideration. Read on – What Is Healthier Carpet or Hardwood Floors?

Carpet Or Hardwood Floors: Appearance

Carpet provides various varieties in texture, color, look and feel, but both hardwoods and carpet are available in thousands of styles for meeting the interior design of the house. The rug is soft in feeling and elegant in appearance. It has a delicate and smooth surface appearance in the room design.

While the appearance of hardwood is known to all, its main appeal is the natural wood-tone colors and the wood-grain pattern. But it varies depending on the wood species. Hardwood floor gives the bold statement firmly.

Asthma And Allergies

For the prevention of Asthma or allergy, decreasing exposure to triggers is the best solution. Carpets act as a habitat or storage for most of the allergens. It can worsen the symptoms of Asthma, lowering the life quality for those who suffer from allergies. The most challenging location is the bedroom. The dirty carpet flooring in the bedroom indicates that you will get dust and allergens exposure every night.

And Hardwood flooring is easy to clean. It is free from dust, allergens, and pet fur. However, hardwood flooring also gets dirty, and a dirty hardwood floor is dangerous for those who have Asthma. But again, keeping your floors clean will decrease the concentration of allergens in your house.

Keeping the carpet floor clean with steam will be safer than any hardwood floor for one who has allergies or Asthma. But if you are not into the task of steaming your carpet twice a month, then it is an excellent idea to replace carpets with hardwood flooring.

Comfort And Sound

The main benefit of carpet over hardwood is its comfort. The rug is soft that feels amazing even in bare feet. It is soothing in kids’ rooms, bedrooms, and some living and family room areas to promote an environment of relaxation and comfort. Carpets are warmer than hardwood flooring, particularly on a chilly morning. The warm softness of the rug gives the great sound deadening feature.

The floor’s surface comes with good padding and insulation so that noise will not pass up or down easily. The carpet is soft, which makes a safe choice of flooring. The fall or trip on hardwood flooring may injure you, whereas carpet provides a cushioned surface in the room. It can be a solid point to consider in homes having kids or older people.

But when talking about allergy sufferers, carpets will be the poor option because they can easily trap dust mites, mud, and other allergens. Some carpets are made from chemicals that may result in reactions to those sensitive to them.

Coming to hardwood, if you install it on upper levels, people complain that they can hear every footstep. Hardwood floors hold comfort and do not hold dust mites, microorganisms, mud, or allergens. You can quickly sweep or damp such harmful particles. Hardwood is made up of natural material sourcing from trees that you can renew or replant.

Thus, when going to purchase hardwood materials, you will require a bit of research.

Cost, Durability, And Maintenance

Carpets are cheaper and faster in comparison to Hardwood flooring, whereas hardwood flooring costs higher. All mats need replacement because premium quality carpets also have a lifespan of 10 to 15 years maximum. On the other hand, hardwood flooring has a long-lasting lifetime because damage can be repaired without replacements.

Carpets need high maintenance where you need to be alert for chemicals also. Spills and other mishaps can take place, which becomes challenging to clean. And even with strict cleaning, carpets need replacement. At the same time, hardwood flooring has low maintenance in comparison to the mat. It is spill and stain-resistant. Hardwood can make you easily identify the mess and make cleaning more effective.

Heat And Water Resistance

Most modern carpets have synthetic fibers in them, which makes them highly resistant to water damage. However, it is essential to stop the water from backing down on the carpet or the floor beneath it, as mold can spread down below the carpet. Due to this reason, the rug does not go in a recommendation for wet areas like bathrooms or kitchens where spills can take place.

Also, carpets are easily damaged due to heat, such as burning cigarettes or hot pans. Few carpet materials will release toxic gases if a home fire ignites.

While hardwood is also not recommendable in some locations where moisture or water is constantly present, but it looks fine in the kitchen where spills need to be wiped off immediately. Wood flooring is below grade installation against concrete slab since ground moisture seeps up frequently through the slab. Wood floors are stable enough to care about intense heat.

However, sometimes mild scorch marks can sand out. But hardwood flooring will get damaged due to water. So when talking about resistance to water or heat, both are equal. Neither both are recommendable for damp or humid conditions like bathrooms or basement slabs. Hardwoods are damaged by water, whereas carpets are damaged by heat.

What is healthier carpet or hardwood floors? – Conclusion

Thus, the complete information on both carpet and hardwood flooring is mentioned above. Both are healthy; it depends on you and your priorities to choose between two. Rugs are hard to clean correctly, which are not suitable for the ones having Asthma or allergies. Hardwood floor is easy to maintain but is expensive when installing.

It is the one that does not hold dust, dirt, allergens. So hardwood is suitable for those who have allergies or Asthma. Carpet is water-resistant but not heat, whereas hardwood is heat-resistant but not water. Decide and choose wisely between carpet or hardwood floors, keeping all your priorities on top.