Choosing the perfect flooring for your home comes down to three key things: balancing lifestyle, aesthetics, and practical needs.
Whether you're drawn to the cozy warmth of carpet, the sleek look of laminate, or the durability of vinyl, each option serves different households in different ways. Your budget, comfort preferences, how much sunlight streams through your windows, those high-traffic hallways, your existing décor, and yes—those adorable (but messy) kids and pets all play a role.
The key? Understanding how each flooring type performs before you commit.
Take vinyl flooring, for example. It comes in three varieties: sheets for seamless coverage, tiles that beautifully mimic ceramic or stone, and planks that capture the warmth of hardwood without the price tag.
Generally, there are six benefits to using vinyl in your home:
1. Durability: We spoke to Harrisons Flooring franchise owner Peter Briscoe about what he had in his own home. He chose vinyl planks for his kitchen because they were “long-lasting, good-looking and user-friendly”. High-traffic areas where there’s a risk of spillages or dirt would seriously test most forms of carpeting. However, vinyl planks and tiles are impact resistant and most ranges have commercial wear layers.
2. For use in wet areas: Kitchens, bathrooms, laundries, wet rooms and apartment hallways tend not to be suitable for carpets and laminate flooring because both styles are easily damaged by moisture. Sheet vinyl is the best option when it comes to water resistance because the fewer joins make it easier to install and creates a uniform barrier. Tiles and planks (when properly installed) also provide water-resistant protection.
3. Easy maintenance: Vinyl’s hardy and water-resistant properties also make it easy to keep clean. Modern vinyl planks and tiles are very beneficial if your flooring has a bad scratch or gouge in it. It’s a matter of simply removing the damaged plank or tile rather than replacing larger areas of carpet or sheet vinyl.
4. Style: Modern varieties of sheet vinyl come with timber, tile and contemporary effects, and the planks and tiles offer great reproductions of stone, ceramic and timber flooring. This gives homeowners a wide range of styles to match to their existing décor. Hard-wearing vinyl flooring also works with carpeting for a cohesive overall style.
5. Comfort: When choosing a hard-wearing flooring for entryways, hallways, kitchens and bathrooms, vinyl has the edge over ceramic tiles because it’s softer and warmer underfoot. Furthermore, it’s also far more forgiving than ceramic tiles if you drop something on it.
6. Budget: Once thought of as a ‘cheap looking’ floor option, vinyl has evolved to cover a wide range from basic, hard-working sheets to beautiful wood-look planking. It is, however, still a more cost-effective option compared to hardwood floors and its easy maintenance and durability equates to lower costs over a lifetime.
For more information from our nearly 50 locally owned mobile carpet retailers and advice about which of our vinyl flooring options would be suitable for your home, contact us on 1800 623 332 or via the website to book a FREE at-home consultation at a time that suits you.
