Why Carpet Is Better Than Hard Flooring
Hard flooring has risen in popularity dramatically over the last few years. With housing prices reaching record heights many home owners are choosing hard flooring not only for aesthetics, but as an investment. People are rationalizing that not only will hard flooring last longer, they’ll be able to make a tidy profit from any upgrades they’ve installed when it comes time to sell their home.
We agree that hard flooring can be pleasant to look at and may increase your property value. But hard flooring, is well.. hard! It’s also cold. Carpet acts as a natural insulation, both keeping your home warmer while absorbing noise at the same time.
Dust and debris left on hard surfaces will be swept up into the air when the area is walked through. Carpet traps dust and other airborne particles like a sponge increasing the air quality in your home. Carpet acts almost like a giant air filter which is cleaned by regular vacuuming.
Hard flooring is also more expensive than carpet. A friend of mine recently had beautiful cherry wood flooring installed throughout his house. It looks absolutely stunning. The cost was also stunning at nearly $25 a square foot. After a month of living with his new floor both he and his wife decided that walking across the floor barefoot in the winter was not a pleasant experience, especially during nighttime bathroom breaks. So they decided they’d go purchase some high quality area rugs and spread them throughout their house. After spending thousands of dollars on their hard flooring, they then spent thousands more on Karastan rugs. Quality area rugs can easily cost two to three thousand dollars each. Fabrica rugs start at around $4000 each.
Now my friend’s beautiful new cherry wood floor is covered with expensive area rugs. He told me that his wife keeps asking him why they didn’t simply purchase carpet in the first place if they were just going to cover their entire house with costly area rugs? The most expensive installed carpet costs a fraction of what my friend paid for his wood flooring and area rugs.
While hard flooring definitely has an important place in any home, I personally prefer carpet. There’s nothing quite like jumping out of bed every morning and having my feet fall down upon a soft, warm plush carpet.