Are you looking to install flooring in an especially busy area of your home? Want to know the best flooring for high traffic areas? We’ve got all the answers you need down below.
Before we break down the best flooring for high traffic areas, let’s first define our central term. A high traffic area is anywhere in your home that receives a lot of use by you, your family, your guests, and your pets. Typically, this includes any entryways, hallways, and other pathways that lead to commonly frequented rooms such as the living room.
Of course, high traffic areas in your home may differ from those in someone else’s so before putting flooring in, ask yourself: which parts of my floor receive the most use? Now that you’ve answered that question, you are ready to begin looking at the best flooring for high traffic areas.
If there is an area in your house that experiences a lot of traffic, consider putting in porcelain tile. A staple in many households, porcelain tile not only looks great, but it is also resistant to moisture, scratches, stains, and general wear and tear. Porcelain tile even holds up well against sun damage (although that is a different topic altogether).
If you take good care of your porcelain tile floor, you can expect it to last for 60+ years. Our only word of caution is to make sure that your porcelain tile floor is installed by an expert. Unlike some other types of flooring, porcelain tile is tricky to install and therefore it is not a process that should be attempt by amateurs. If it is installed incorrectly, you are likely to see issues quite early on, including cracks in your floor.
However, assuming everything is done correctly, you can expect your porcelain tile floor to be able to withstand plenty of traffic for a long, long time.
If porcelain tile isn’t quite your style, another great option for high traffic areas is luxury vinyl plank flooring or LVP flooring, for short. Similar to porcelain tile, LVP flooring is scratch-resistant, water-resistant, and holds up well in regard to general foot traffic. In fact, as we have said elsewhere, you almost have to try to damage LVP flooring.
That said, though LVP flooring holds up well, it does not last nearly as long as porcelain tile flooring. Assuming you take good care of it, LVP flooring can last up to 20 years and maybe even 30 years if you use high quality materials. Also, unlike porcelain tile flooring, LVP flooring is relatively easy to install yourself if that is something that interests you.
Because so many people love hardwood floors, we wanted to include them on our list. If you are looking for a wood floor that holds up well against heavy traffic, you are going to want a prefinished hardwood floor over an unfinished hardwood floor.
There are plenty of discrepancies between these two flooring types which you can read about here and here, but we’ll stick to the traffic question for now. Between the two options, prefinished hardwood flooring is more scratch-resistant, and it holds up better against general wear and tear. Prefinished hardwood floors are also more water-resistant, although water can still damage them, so you must be careful.
Have more questions about the best flooring for high traffic areas? Then give GID Flooring a call! Our 15+ years in the industry allow us to answer any and all questions you have.