Top 5 Benefits of Hardwood Floors

When it comes to quality and the best bang for your buck, hardwood floors are tough to beat.  Read on to discover 5 benefits of installing hardwood flooring in your home.

Aesthetics

Hardwood floors offer a warm, natural, elegant look.  Hometown Flooring LLC is proud to offer hardwood and imitation wood laminate from Eastern Flooring Products, as well as hardwood from Bruce and the Premiere Collection.  A simple perusal on these websites reveals a wide array of woods species, styles, and stains on the market.

Versatility

How many potential home-buyers have walked into a house with shag carpet and thought, “this has got to go”?  Let your accessories reflect your style instead. Hardwood floors will offer a classic look that transcends time. The ability to refinish hardwood floors allows for further customizability, whether you’re freshening up after normal wear and tear or sanding and staining the wood in an entirely new way.

Low Maintenance

Spilled a soda?  Dog had an accident?  What would be a tedious process of stain-removal with carpet is easy with hardwood floor.  Just wipe it up!  For regular upkeep, a weekly sweeping or dry-mopping is enough to remove basic dust and dirt.  For a more aggressive scratch or scuff, spot cleaning can do the trick.  High-quality hardwood floors are manufactured and finished with durability in mind.  Ever notice a century-old home on the market advertising “original hardwood floors”?  This flooring is made to last for generations.

Health for You, Health for the Planet

Indoor air pollution is a real issue.  One of the major culprits?  Carpet.  Carpet can trap dust, pollen, animal dander…even the chemicals added to clean carpet can stay embedded in the fibers.  With hardwood floors, these pollutants don’t linger or decrease the air quality of your home.

Hardwood floors are an all-natural flooring option, without the artificial materials and toxins found in some carpet.  Wood grows back, and organizations like the Forest Stewardship Council offer certifications to forests for sustainable management.  Manufacturers know if their wood comes from an FSC-certified forest and you can too!

Added Value

USA Today did a feature in 2013 on 11 home features buyers will pay extra for. Using data from the National Association of Realtors, 54% of homebuyers were found willing to pay more for hardwood floors. The amount?  $2,080.  Not only are hardwood floors a smart choice now, they’re a smart choice if someday you want to sell.

Do you think hardwood flooring is for you?  Contact the experts at Hardwood Flooring LLC for more information.

The Benefits of Carpeting

In addition to being soft and decorative, carpet has many advantages compared to hard flooring materials. For many years, hardwood floors saw a resurgence of popularity, and while the appeal of hardwood floors is timeless, carpeting is now making its comeback in a big way. While it ultimately boils down to personal preference, this blog takes a look at some of the added benefits of choosing carpet.

Interior Decorating

Carpeting is often a bold decorating statement. Offering a nearly endless array of colors, textures, and styles, carpeting speaks volumes about a room. A light or vibrantly-colored carpet can brighten a room, while a darker color can make a room warmer and feel more intimate. A thick carpet with high pile and padding gives a luxurious feel, and styles can emphasize the function or character of an office, child’s bedroom, meeting room, and more.

Air Quality

Many who suffer from asthma and allergies find their symptoms are alleviated with carpeting. Carpeting traps allergens in its pile until they can be removed by vacuum or professional cleaning. In this way, it acts as a passive air filter. With hard floors, there is the risk that allergens will sink only to be stirred up again from its nonporous surface, unless they are properly cleaned often.

Insulation and Comfort

Carpeting is a popular choice in cold climates because it acts as an additional layer of insulation. They are also warmer to sit or lie on in the winter months than hard floors. The look of carpet alone is said to create a feeling of warmth and coziness. In this way, carpets create not only physical comfort, but a sense of overall wellbeing, especially in cold weather.

Noise Reduction

Carpeting muffles noise, and in this sense, is similar to having additional insulation. Adding a layer of padding enhances this feature even further. Carpeting can muffle sound not only between rooms, but in hallways, on stairs, and of course, between the floors of a home or building.

Safety

Carpeting provides cushioning for falls, and is much harder to slip on than hard floor material. While this is important for all people, it is especially beneficial for children, the elderly, and those with certain medical conditions.  

Hometown Flooring, located in Nutterfort, West Virginia, is a family-owned and operated business with over 20 years of professional flooring expertise. We strive to provide the highest level of customer satisfaction and an outstanding selection, all at an affordable price, for our commercial and residential customers. Visit our showroom today to see hundreds of carpeting, laminate, and hardwood samples, or call (304) 622-6099 for your free consultation!

Cleaning Your Laminate Floors

Laminate flooring a popular choice for those who desire the style and durability of hardwood floors at an affordable price. Laminate floors also tend to be easier to clean than hardwood, and are more resistant to moisture and scratching. Keeping laminate floors clean is simple, and will extend the life of their structure, finish, and appearance. However, there are few simple tips and tricks to keep in mind when cleaning laminate.

Although laminate floors resist moisture, they can still become stained by excess water. Water can also seep into the cracks between the edges and warp the structure of flooring. For these reasons, it is important to wipe up any spills right away, avoid using a soaking wet mop or steam cleaner, and use the appropriate cleaning products in spare amounts.

Laminate is harder to scratch than hardwood, but it is still possible to scratch or tear, which is why running a vacuuming cleaner over the laminate floors should be avoided unless it is a multi-floor or a hard-floor vacuum. Some examples can be found here.

Grit like sand, dirt, and other debris on the flooring can, over time, cause it to lose its luster or even put scratches in the material. Keeping the floor clean of these particles will maintain the integrity of the surface.

Here are the steps to cleaning laminate flooring:

• Start with clearing the floor of dust, debris, and pet hair by using a dry microfiber mop, dry dust mop, or by gently vacuuming the floor with a multi-floor or hard-floor vacuum.
• Spray your cleaner (see here for recommendations) onto a microfiber mop or cloth, and wipe the floor down. Alternatively, you may spray a fine mist of cleaner on each section of the floor and let it sit for a couple of minutes before wiping it up. There is usually no need to scrub or apply strong pressure.
• Use cleaner sparingly, to reduce the amount of moisture applied to the floor.
• Avoid using water, bleach, scratch pads, wood polish (unless recommended by the manufacturer), wax, or harsh cleaners on laminate.

Hometown Flooring, located in Nutter Fort, West Virginia, is a family-owned and operated business drawing on 20 years of experience and expertise to serve our residential and commercial clients’ flooring needs. Offering hundreds of samples, including carpet, hardwood and laminate flooring, and vinyl, our goal is to meet and exceed all of our customers’ expectations. Visit our showroom today, or call(304) 622-6099 for your free consultation! 

Luxury Vinyl Tile

If you’ve been researching flooring, you’ve probably considered options like carpet, hardwood, ceramic tile, vinyl, and laminate. If what you’re looking for is a hard surface, durable, affordable, and aesthetically appealing, Luxury Vinyl Tile (LVT) might be the flooring choice for you. LVT has the look of ceramic tile without the price tag, but is heavier duty and better quality than standard vinyl flooring. Here’s a look at the pros and cons of Luxury Vinyl Tile. 

Pros

●      Design Choices - LVT comes in a variety of colors and patterns. You can also choose different tile sizes and you have the option to grout between individual tiles to make it look more like ceramic.

●      Quick Installation - Another plus side of choosing LVT over ceramic is that it can be installed in half the time! You also have the choice to make LVT a floating floor or glue it down. No padding, underlayment, or sawing is needed. Dust-free, score and snap install!

●      Durability - Luxury Vinyl Tile is highly durable, scratch resistant, and moisture resistant. LVT is the best option for flooring that has excessive movements or cracks, and heavy foot-traffic areas.

●      Easy Maintenance - LVT is easy to clean and maintain. You don’t need to do anything special to care for these floors. Just sweep and/or vacuum, and mop regularly. That’s it!

●      Feel - For all the pros of real ceramic tile, one of the downsides is that it is very cold and very hard—not ideal flooring during the winter or for anyone with babies and toddlers, who could take a nasty spill on the unforgiving surface. Luxury Vinyl Tile feels warmer and more comfortable underfoot, and is also better at absorbing sound than ceramic tile.

There are few downsides to LVT, but it’s important to note that although the word “vinyl” evokes ideas of cheap or inexpensive flooring, Luxury Vinyl Tile is considerably more expensive than standard vinyl. It’s not quite as expensive as ceramic tile, but if you’re expecting low prices similar to those of vinyl flooring, you may end up surprised.

If you’re interested in learning more about LVT and whether it’s a good flooring option for your home, contact
Hometown Flooring LLC! We’ll be happy to answer your questions and discuss your ideas. Give us a call today at 304-622-6099!

Top Quality Starts At The Bottom

One of the easiest ways to enhance and update the appearance of your property is with new flooring. With so many types and materials available, shouldn’t you choose a flooring provider you can trust? Located in Nutterfort, Hometown Flooring is dedicated to providing customers with high quality flooring products and service at an honest price. Whether you are building a new home or remodeling your business, the professionals at Hometown Flooring can help you achieve your dream floor. We believe that top quality starts at the bottom. Which is why we offer a wide variety of flooring products from the best brands in the industry including Armstrong, Beau Floor, Chesapeake, Bruce Hardwood, Eastern Flooring Products and more.

From classic hardwoods to unique carpet designs, Hometown Flooring has hundreds of residential and commercial flooring options for customers to choose from. You can find a list of flooring products and services we offer below. Check it out!

Residential Flooring

• Carpet
• Indoor/Outdoor Carpet
• Vinyl
• Luxury Vinyl Tile
• Hardwood
• Laminate

Commercial Flooring

• Carpet
• Carpet Tile
• Sheet Vinyl
• VCT Tile

Stop into Hometown Flooring and browse our large selection of carpeting, hardwood, vinyl tile, laminate flooring and more. Our showroom is conveniently located at 1627 Buckhannon Pike in Nutterfort, West Virginia and is open from Sunday through Friday. Our experts are sure to provide you with superior customer satisfaction, quality craftsmanship and honest pricing that you can trust. For a free consultation, give Hometown Flooring a call at (304)-622-6099 or visit our website for more information.