Floor Tiles or Carpet?

Quality homes are usually built with better materials and this is usually evident when you walk into a luxurious home; you would find that there is very little wall to wall carpeting. One of the difficult decisions that a homeowner must make is whether to use tiles for the floors or go with the traditional carpet look. These considerations are more likely when choosing between porcelain tiles and carpet. Once you start to compare porcelain tiles to carpets, you will begin to see why the floor tiles are an increasingly superior choice. Having said this, deciding between floor tiles and carpet is not as straight forward as it may seem as there are many factors that weigh into the pros and cons. Price, look, comfort and style are just some of the options o consider, as a decision also needs to be based on which room or part of the house is being considered.

Cost is usually the first factor one considers when deciding whether to go with floor tiles or carpet. Carpet is often the cheapest form of flooring, so if cost really is a deciding factor, then you already have your answer. However, before you switch off and run to your closest carpet store, there is another factor to consider. Tiles may be a tad bid more expensive, however a good floor tile can last for up to fifty years, whereas you’ll be fortunate to get seven years out of your carpet. In this case, a floor tile may just be the more cost-effective option, and a better investment of your hard-earned cash. Having said this, tiles are more costly to install compared to a carpet, and the materials to install tiles are also on the upside and will require a professional installer. To conclude on this point, it should also be noted that shopping for tiles can be a fascinating journey especially if you are really into creating a very special abode with styles well suited to your acquired taste.

Appearance-wise, you wouldn’t get two more different flooring options than carpet and porcelain tiles. One being hard surfaced, durable, and can take on the weight of the world, whilst the other is plush, soft, warm, and mostly pleasant and presented in different colours paired with an authentic new carpet smell. Which is better, carpet or porcelain tile? It’s fair to say that the answer lies in you. Some prefer an always warm touch under their feet, whilst others prefer a hard floor and quiet possibly accompanied by an underfloor heating. Some prefer a sleek modern look of porcelain floor tiles, designs which you just will not find even in the finest woven carpets. The overall look a well manufactured and installed porcelain floor tiles give is immensely pleasing to the eye. Although the sharp, clean designs pouring out from the porcelain tiles can be amazing, a luxuriously laid out premium carpet with a room filled with fine décor should not go amiss. The closing sentence here would be that tiles in the end have an almost infinite ability to pair with your imagination in getting as sophisticated in your design plan as you want, whereas a carpet can reinforce some enthusiasm towards your design plan, and the rest would merely be scraping the past traditions, which again pushes this pendulum to personal preference.

Easy to clean is term that is usually accompanied with porcelain tiles. Tiles are extremely easy to wipe down and clean, it’s even better than hardwood floors in this regard. This means that you may mop, use wet cleaning products, and remove stains effortlessly, especially if the tiles have been produced in Spain or Italy where permanent staining is much less likely especially if stains are treated immediately. Don’t throw the hoover away just yet, as most modern hoovers are equipped to pick up dust and crumbs off hard floors.

Whilst porcelain tiles themselves are water resistant, the grout in-between the tiles are not. Because of this, you would not want to use too much water. A solution to this would be to opt for rectified floor tiles. This is where the tiles have gone through an additional procedure where the four edges to the tile have been fined down, which would allow you to place the tiles close to each other resulting in very minimal grout lines. Overall, tiles are durable and are compatible to use around water hence why you’d see them mostly in bathrooms, kitchens, and swimming pools.

Carpets on the other hand is much more difficult to keep clean. The fibres in a carpet also serve as traps for dust, pollen, and other allergens. You may have seen this after hoovering a room; you sometimes can’t believe the amount of dust a good hoover picks up from in-between the carpet fibres. It’s because of this allergen issue that sufferers often choose to go with floor tiles.

It’s also time consuming to keep the carpet cleaned at least once a week. On the other hand, tiles also require a wipe down to keep them looking new and polished. However, a spill on a carpet may sometimes mean that you need to fork out for a professional deep cleaner.

Floor tiles make perfect sense to be fitted in a bathroom or kitchen due to its water-resistant properties and its ability to shine and look amazing. A carpet in these two rooms would not last a week, whereas in a lounge area of your home, you may prefer to opt for a plush carpet rather than floor tiles, and this again is down to a personal preference. A floor tile offers a much bigger range of modern and contemporary designs whilst a traditional carpet can still look rich, but you’ll be throwing it away inside the decade. There clearly are pros and cons for both porcelain floor tiles and carpets, with floor tiles in many respects coming out the more favourable option in terms of the value it brings.