Whenever you are looking for an attractive home floor with certain qualities both carpet and hardwood are competitors. And carpet vs hardwood cost is one of the most popular debates all around the world.
A few said hardwood flooring is better while others said carpet.
But you should decide after knowing the facts because both carpet and hardwood floors have certain qualities and characteristics.
As Statista said, carpet floor coverings in specialized stores only in the United Kingdom will touch 2960 million U.S dollars by 2025.
While on the other hand, the Statista research department also said that hardwood flooring sales only in the United States amounted up to 3.4 billion U.S dollars.
So in this ultimate guide, I am going to do a comparison between carpet and hardwood cost in the light of figures and facts.
So, let’s start with the reasons that can affect the cost of a carpet or hardwood floor.
Reasons that Affect the Cost
Brand
Which brand you will choose to buy the material ultimately affect your cost. Because there are multiple brands with different qualities of material for both carpet and hardwood floorings.
To buy a hardwood flooring material there are multiple popular brands such as Mohawk Industries, Shaw floors, Bruce hardwood flooring, and more.
But every brand has its own price for the material.
Same as hardwood there are different brands with different material prices for carpet flooring as well.
So, the point is the cost may vary with the brand name. Because every brand has different materials with different quality levels.
Quality of Material
The quality of flooring material is a great factor that can increase and decrease the flooring cost. High-quality material would be more expensive than average quality material and a medium quality material would be more expensive than a low-quality material.
It is simple!
But there is always a moderate range that you can choose to enjoy both inexpensiveness and quality at the same time.
But this could be an option because not everyone is ready to compromise on the home floor quality. So generally, we have mentioned that the quality of the material is a cost-affecting thing.
Maintenance
One of the most common hidden cost effects is the maintenance of the flooring. Most people don’t count it while buying a flooring material and this is a big mistake they have ever made.
Even after buying a flooring material and installing it, there will be the only things that can still steal your money from your pocket.
That is the maintenance of your floor.
Because maintenance of flooring is an important factor. It’s directly related to durability. If you will spend a lot of money on maintenance that means it will definitely include in your buying cost.
So a floor with high maintenance costs is not a recommended option if you want to save the money that most people want.
Life-Span
Life-Span is how much time can last a floor.
Suppose if you have installed a carpet or hardwood floor in a room with a cost of $1000 including material and installation cost. But within 5 years the floor got damaged and you need to replace it. And you spend more than 1000$ on the same flooring.
While on the other hand if you have installed a floor in the same room with a costs $1000. But it lasts for more than 15 to 20 years and you don’t need to replace it.
Which is better?
Obviously the second one!
Because in the first case you have to spend $1000 twice. In the second scenario, you have to spend $1000 for one time.
So it is a countable cost factor, how much long-lasting is a carpet or hardwood material.
Why you should choose Hardwood
Types of Hardwood Floor
Typically hardwood floors have two types, solid hardwood flooring and engineered hardwood flooring. But these two types have further different variations.
Difference: The major difference between them is engineered wood floorings are constructed of hardwood and plywood layers while solid hardwood floorings are made of a solid piece of wood.
So, let’s have a look.
Solid Hardwood Flooring
Oak Hardwood Flooring
In solid hardwood floors, the most popular species is oak. The major reason for its popularity is its attractive appearance and durability at the same time. Oak solid hardwood flooring has further two variations that are unknown for most people, red and white oak.
Furthermore, it is affordable and readily available as well.
Cherry Hardwood Flooring
With 950 Janka hardness cherry is also a popular solid hardwood species. But it is less hard than Maple and oak. You will rarely find stains on it because of its beautiful soft color. If you want to pick a natural wood look flooring, cherry is a great option.
While from another aspect due to its softness it is not suitable for the areas with heavy foot traffic, heavy furniture, and heavy home appliances. Especially whenever you will move the furniture and home appliances in those areas it will lead to dents and scratches.
Maple
A solid hardwood flooring with 1450 Janka hardness and made from timbers of a maple tree. Like oak flooring, maple floors are also considered the most durable wood floorings and can last for years with timely maintenance.
Due to enough hardness level, it is suitable for high foot traffic areas and it can handle the heavy furniture and home appliances movement with no scratches and dents as well.
It is available from creamy white to light brown natural wood look.
Mahogany
With rich brown-red color and striped look, mahogany hardwood floor is popular to give an attractive rustic and classic look to a house. Due to enough hardness level, it is more durable and can last for a lifetime.
But it is a little bit more expensive than other hardwood floorings like oak and maple.
Be Careful: It will be difficult for you to find genuine mahogany flooring because similar woods are also sold as mahogany at less prices.
Pine
Like cherry flooring, pine is also a softer flooring option with a classic appearance. But still, it is a more durable choice for home flooring than cherry flooring.
Now, most pine floors are made of white pine, especially in the United States. However, in some old homes, pine floors were made of pumpkin pine.
Two other main varieties of pine floors are southern yellow pine and heart pine.
Engineered Hardwood Flooring
Laminate
A type of engineered hardwood flooring that is constructed from composite wood pressed together under high temperatures. Because they are not made of solid pieces of wood so they are called laminate.
But they look like a real hardwood floor that is made of fiberboard with a photographic pattern. So, that’s why they are considered hardwood flooring.
Nowadays engineered hardwood floorings like laminate getting popular day by day because they are more durable than real hardwood and also less expensive.
Related Topic: 8 Common mistakes When Laying Laminate Flooring
Vinyl
Same as laminate, the vinyl hardwood flooring also mimics the real hardwood flooring with natural colors and markings. Even now the advanced printing technology allows vinyl flooring to accurately simulate the look of all varieties of hardwood flooring.
Also, vinyl floorings are known as the best moisture, spills resistant, and less expensive than laminate flooring.
Related Topic: Luxury Vinyl Tile Pros and Cons: Complete Guide
Advantages of Hardwood Flooring
Easy Cleaning and Maintenance
The top benefit of having a hardwood floor surface is easy cleaning and maintenance. You only need to sweep, dust, or dry mop on daily basis. While the areas with high foot traffic and deep stains need to be vacuumed weekly or damp mop twice a month.
Using a steam mop also would be a better option to remove deep stains also it kills the germs from the floor surface.
As I mentioned above, maintenance is a cost-increasing factor because a floor surface that is hard to maintain demands extra cost on its maintenance.
But in that case, when you choose a hardwood floor material there is no hassle of expensive maintenance.
More Durable
Hardwood floors are extremely durable either it is solid hardwood or engineered hardwood flooring. Even after decades they still look perfect and beautiful.
In solid hardwood flooring ebony, oak, cherry, bamboo, and maple are the most durable options. While in engineered hardwood flooring both vinyl and laminate are more durable choices.
On average a solid hardwood flooring can last up to 15 years and engineered hardwood flooring can last up to 20 years.
Appearance
As you know the appearance of a home expresses your personality to a visitor. So, the most attractive thing about hardwood floorings is their looks. It can be used to enhance a home interior design.
Whatever appearance you seek it could be a traditional look, elegant or rustic look. You’ll find all these in hardwood flooring.
Further, hardwood floorings are available in a wide range of colors, patterns, and grades.
Resale-Value
Homeowners who want to increase the resale value of their homes can choose hardwood floorings. Hardwood floor’s return on investment percentage is around 75%. So, if your budget allows, you should go with this great investment with a reasonable return.
Related Topic: How to Remove Hardwood Flooring For Reuse?
Disadvantages of Hardwood Flooring
Expensive
Installing a hardwood floor you need to spend $3 to $7 per square foot to buy the material and $3 to $5 for installation. So, you will be charged around $6 to $12 per square foot to install a solid hardwood floor at your place.
If you want to save money, you can do it as a DIY project. By doing this, you can save installation and labor cost that is $3 to 45 per square foot.
However, now engineered hardwood floorings have overcome this disadvantage with advanced printing technology. But still, solid hardwood flooring materials are more expensive than carpet flooring.
The cost may vary with the quality of the material.
Not suitable for every place
Not every type of solid hardwood floor is not suitable for areas with heavy foot traffic, heavy objects like home furniture and appliances. Like a cherry hardwood flooring has a low hardness level.
So, it can’t handle heavy foot traffic, heavy furniture movement in the room and will get scratches and dents easily.
while laminate and vinyl are both engineered hardwood floorings that can be used in every type of area. Because they both are more durable than solid hardwood floorings.
Why you Should Choose Carpet
Types of Carpet Flooring
Nylon
Nylon fiber is one of the most widely used materials in carpet manufacturing. It is the hardest carpet material because of synthetic fibers that can resist water, stains, and dirt. Moreover, it can last for years due to its high durability.
According to fastfloors.com research carpets made with nylon fibers covered 65% of sales of total in the United States.
There are multiple other features that make nylon fiber carpets an ideal option like well stands to abrasion. More durable texture retention that maintains the original look.
Related Topic: Is Nylon Waterproof? Nylon vs Polyester
Polyester
Carpet material made with recycled plastic is known as polyester. It is also called polyethylene terephthalate.
Most importantly, these types of carpets are recyclable and highly stain resistant. But less comfortable underfoot than a nylon fiber carpet. Almost 25% of carpets are manufactured and sold in polyester material.
Because it can last for years even in the areas with high foot traffic.
Olefin
It is also known as polypropylene synthetic material that is a type of thermoplastic. Olefin carpets are more water-resistant than any other carpet material because they are made of plastic.
But as compared to polyester carpets, they are not a resilient fiber.
It could be installed anywhere in a home except the areas exposed to direct sunlight because it is a heat-sensitive fiber.
Wool
Wool carpets are the most softer carpets and provide a comfortable feel while walking on. Wool is one of the most expensive carpet materials but for some reason.
The thing that makes them more unique, wool carpets are made without using harsh chemicals. So, they are completely safe for the environment, especially for pets and children.
Moreover, they are fire retardant, dust resistant, and naturally regulate humidity.
However, a detergent that has alkaline substances can damage wool fibers.
Acrylic
Like polyester and polypropylene fiber material carpets, acrylic is also a synthetic fiber that is made of plastic. Acrylic carpets mimic wool carpets but they are less expensive.
No same as wool but it is the closest carpet material to wool in both appearance and feel.
As they have made of plastic so they are more durable, long-lasting, water-resistant, and stain-resistant.
Triexta
The most luxurious high-end cut pile carpets are triexta. They are more suitable for all living areas in a house. Triexta carpets are the only carpets that provide a more soft and comfortable feel underfoot than wool or nylon carpets.
They are also known as a subclass of polyester but they are more durable, long-lasting, and stain-free than polyester synthetic material.
Popular brands like Mohawk offers 25 years of texture retention warranty. Moreover, they provide a lifetime stain and soil warranty as well.
Advantages of Carpet Floor
Less Expensive
The biggest benefit of a carpeted floor over a hardwood floor is cost. The carpet is less expensive than hardwood.
Installing a hardwood floor can cost between $6 to $12 per square foot for medium or low quality and $12 to $20 per square foot for high-quality material.
While a carpeted floor can cost only $5 to $10 per square foot for high-quality material. Both material and installation costs are included.
Easy Installation
As I’ve mentioned above the carpet floor is less expensive than the hardwood floor. Easy installation is a major reason for this.
Because you can install a carpeted floor by yourself. So, by doing this you can save labor installation cost that ultimately reduces your budget. The average labor cost to install a carpeted floor on a flat surface and stairs can be $1 to $2 per square foot.
The simplest thing you have to do is laying the carpet accurately on the surface.
Comfortable
Everyone wants a comfortable feel underfoot while walking on a floor surface. No doubt hardwood floorings are also comfortable to walk on but the carpet floorings are the most softer floors ever.
Especially the wool, triexta, and nylon are more comfortable.
Related Topic: How Long Does Carpet Last? Ultimate Guide
Disadvantages of Carpet Floor
Hard to clean
Cleaning a carpet can be a difficult task if it has deep furniture stains, pets waste stains, and other old dirt stains. Because if you don’t eliminate these stains on a regular basis, it will be difficult to remove them after.
It will take hours to finish the job. However, a regular cleaning with a microfiber head mop or a steam cleaner can save you from hassle.
Note: To remove pet stains and odor you can use pets carpet cleaner spray.
Low resale value
Carpet floors have low resale value as compared to hardwood floors. It usually depends on the age and condition of a carpeted floor. Because the life span of a carpeted floor could be between 10 to 15 years.
So, a carpeted floor with more than 15 years of age and in a bad condition has the lowest resale value.
Carpet vs Hardwood: Similarities
Multiple Installation methods
Bot hardwood and carpet flooring can be installed in a bunch of ways. You can install them as a DIY project. especially all types of carpet floorings and in the hardwood flooring laminate and vinyl are super easy to install.
They don’t even need to be attached to a subfloor.
Simply laying a carpet on a flat surface could be a method while on the other hand laying a carpet on a surface after applying a floor adhesive also could be a method.
But the second method is better than the first because it won’t allow the carpet to be misplaced and stop to move from unnecessary movement.
So, the point is both have multiple installation methods but you should choose the best one.
Eco-Friendly
If you are concerned about your home environment and want to pick an eco-friendly flooring material, both carpet and hardwood floorings are best as being not environmentally harmful. Because they are not made of harsh chemicals.
So, they are suitable and safe for children and pets in a home.
Moreover, both carpets and hardwood floorings are also available in green textures.
Available in different varieties
As I have mentioned above both carpet and hardwood floors have multiple types with different varieties of colors, textures, and sizes.
So, you can choose as your need and desire.
Durable Material
You should choose a flooring material that is more durable and long-lasting. And the good news is both hardwood and carpets have more durable materials.
The lifespan of a hardwood floor is up to 20 years while a carpeted floor can last for up to 15 years.
So, once you’ve installed them you don’t need to replace them soon.
The lifespan of both hardwood and carpet floorings may vary with the quality of the material. Because a carpet flooring with low-quality material can hardly last 10 years.
Also, durability is depending on where you will place the flooring. If you install softer hardwood flooring like a cherry in a high traffic area, it can’t last for 20 years.
Water and heat resistant
Water/moisture and heat both are the most common damaging factors for any flooring. Most importantly if your floor is not water and heat resistant, it won’t last for years.
In short, water and heat damage reduces the durability of any floor.
But not in that case, because both hardwood and carpet floorings are fully water and heat-resistant.
Carpet vs Hardwood: Differences
Cost Difference
Cost is one of the biggest differences between hardwood and carpet flooring. Cost may vary with the quality of the material. But still, a high-quality carpet material has equal cost to a medium quality hardwood material.
Maintenance
Hardwood floors are easier to clean than carpet flooring. So clearly, hardwood floorings have an edge on carpet floorings in the case of maintenance. A well-maintained hardwood floor can last for 25 years and more.
Simple dry or wet mopping on a regular basis will be enough to maintain a hardwood floor. While if you have pets and children in your home you have to clean a carpeted floor multiple times a day.
So, you can say it is a little bit difficult to maintain carpet flooring than hardwood.
Which is the Best Carpet or Hardwood?
As any homeowner knows, carpet and hardwood are two of the most popular flooring options on the market. But which one is the best? Carpet has a number of advantages.
It’s softer and more comfortable underfoot, and it’s also cheaper and easier to install. However, hardwood has its own set of benefits. It’s more durable and easier to clean, and it can also increase the value of your home.
So which is the best flooring option? The answer, of course, is hardwood.
Wrap up: Carpet vs Hardwood Cost
As you can see hardwood floor is the most suitable option with multiple advanced flooring qualities. But if your concern is the only cost, you can go with carpet flooring.
Because both have all the qualities a good home flooring should have, but with a cost difference.
However, I will give you the advice to increase your budget and go with the hardwood flooring material. But if you are already standing on the edge, still decision will be yours.
I hope you like the way I tried to cover this carpet vs hardwood cost debate. Most importantly the reason for writing on this specific topic is to facilitate you.
If you still have more queries you can ask in the comment section. I will try to answer all the queries as soon as possible.
Last but not the least, don’t forget to give your feedback about the article in the comment section.
FAQs
Is replacing carpet with hardwood worth it?
Hardwood flooring is always a better option than carpet in durability, long-lasting, and appearance. But if cost is your primary concern then hardwood is much more expensive than carpet. Moreover, the carpet is more comfortable underfoot due to its softness. But eventually, hardwood is more worthy than carpet as flooring.
How Much Does It Cost to Replace Carpeting with Hardwood Floors?
Replacing carpeting with hardwood can cost between $6.25 to $25 per square foot. It includes both the carpet removal cost ($0.20 to $3 per square foot) and hardwood material cost ($6 to $22 per square foot). However, you can resale the removed carpet which can reduce your cost. But unfortunately, the carpet has low resale value. So, it won’t be helpful as you expected.
Is wood flooring colder than carpet?
Real hardwood feels colder underfoot than carpet due to the difference in material. Wood is hard and gets easily cold in winter while carpets are made of fabrics and other soft materials, so, they feel warm underfoot. However, engineered wood floorings like laminate and vinyl are less colder than wood flooring in winter.
How often should you replace the carpet?
The lifespan of a carpeted floor is between 10 to 15 years. So, you should replace the carpet after 15 years of usage.
Just wish to say your article is as astonishing. The clearness in your put up is simply nice and i can assume you are a professional in this subject. Well along with your permission allow me to clutch your feed to keep updated with impending post. Thank you one million and please continue the enjoyable work.
It’s not my first time to go to see this site, i am visiting this site dailly and get nice data from here everyday.
Thanks for taking the time to write this.