Comparison

Durability
One should take into consideration the longevity of the flooring material when evaluating your selection. Depending on the quality of the flooring materials, and the traffic on the floors, your laminate and tile can outlast your hardwood. Hardwood is more susceptible to damage and losing its luster over time. Laminate and tile should look the same and last you 20-30 years. Hardwood you may need to refinish every 5 years to keep its beauty. Keep in mind also, hardwood is more open to moisture issues as well, especially here in Florida where you are dealing with moisture issues and high humidity. It’s not very friendly. As an experienced flooring contractor in Spring Hill and New Tampa with 30+ years of experience, I would spend my money on a high-quality laminate before a hardwood.

Now, the ability to refinish a hardwood floor is always positioned as a selling point for that material. That is, if it gets damaged, you can usually refinish it. With some woods, like a pine, you can refinish it practically forever. However, although possible, this is a costly endeavor.

On the other hand, if your standard laminate gets damaged, you will usually just have to pull it up and replace it. There are some upscale laminate options that are engineered hardwood. These have a thin layer on top that can be refinished, one or possibly two times, and then your floor is pretty much done after that.

If you get severe damage on a hardwood floor, you can replace those certain damaged pieces. It’s a time consuming, painstaking, and messy job. With the laminate you can also do that, just take the one place out and replace it. And it’s much easier and cleaner, since there is no glue involved. But both are subject to water damage. Water is always the worst enemy to your flooring materials. There are supposedly waterproof laminates you can put throughout your kitchen and bath. I personally still keep away from wet areas and haven’t tested these out.