Both carpeting and hardwood flooring can be listed as amenities for your apartment because they both provide their own benefits. But which one is better?
Magic Carpet
Comfort: Carpeting is typically much more pleasant for your feet, and can make standing for long periods of time a breeze.
Insulation: Carpet holds heat better than wood planking and is more ideal for colder weather.
Quieter: It also absorbs sound better than harder floors, especially older wood floors that squeak. You’ll annoy your neighbors much less when you play Wii on a carpet.
Safety: So you’ve had one too many and take a dive. You really should be more careful, but it’s a good thing you didn’t fall on a hardwood floor! Extra padding can come in handy when you’re feeling clumsy.
Wood if You Could
Lux: Hardwood floors are timeless. I mean come on.
Clean-up: Wood flooring is also easier to clean. Carpets stain and hide dirt and dust in their little fibers.
Hypoallergenic: The various “stuff” that hides in carpets can trap anything from pollen and cat dander to molds and other mischievous dust particles. Good luck getting all of that out on the first steam cleaning!
Eco-Friendly: Most carpeting that you’ll find in apartments is made of synthetic, petroleum based fibers. In case you were sick for that lesson in class, I will remind you that petroleum is by no one’s definition a renewable resource. True hardwood flooring is reliably regenerative and biodegradable.
If you want something that’s easy to clean, maybe wood floors are for you. If you don’t want rogue pieces of stuff stuck to the bottom of your feet when you walk around the living room, carpet may be the preferred choice. It’s not about which type of floor is best, it’s about which one suits your needs.
Equal Housing Opportunity
