ONE CULPRIT: CARPETING

One place to look for how to mitigate allergies is in your very home. Why? Because dust, pollen and allergies can be trapped inside your home and continue to make you suffer even after the worst of the season has passed. Probably the worst offender in this arena is your carpeting.

Carpeting and the padding underneath it hold a world of micro-particles that even regular cleaning can’t remove. Carpet tends to trap and hold pollen, dust, pet hair and dander, and more elements that over time settle down into the fibers and very base or backing of the carpet. Even new hypo-allergenic carpet begins to trap and hold allergens and dust immediately after it’s installation. Also, carpet and especially carpet padding disintegrates over time from constant foot traffic, leaving a thick powdery residue under the carpet and padding that cannot be removed by carpet cleaning. This powder also affects your air quality. Carpet has traditionally been the cheapest flooring to install, but in the long run it can actually be more expensive, as regular cleaning and the cost of replacing it can ad up. But real cost is to your health.

THE SOLUTION: HARD SURFACE FLOORING

The term “ hard surface” flooring refers to wood, laminate, vinyl plank or tile flooring. These flooring surfaces provide a much more durable and easy to clean and maintain floor that can still be accented by area rugs and runners. And most importantly these floor surfaces don’t trap pollen and dust, or require professional cleaning every year. We will look briefly at each of these areas.

WOOD FLOORING

There are several types of wood flooring, but the most common and popular is referred to as engineered wood flooring. This is wood planking composed of layers of different woods, with the top layer being the finished hardwood surface visible to the eye. Engineered wood flooring is more stable and affordable than the older generation of solid wood planks, and is pre-finished with a superior strength coating that is typically warranteed 25-50 years. Real wood flooring is both beautiful and practical, and ads more value to a home than any other type of flooring you can install.

LAMINATE FLOORING

Laminate flooring is most commonly known as “pergo,” which is actually just a brand name. Laminate planks are composed of a highly compressed fiberboard core on top of which is the surface wear layer, imprinted to look like wood. Think the toughness of your old formica counter top but with a wood appearance. This flooring has come a long way over the years. It is very affordable, very practical, and has been designed to look and feel closer to real wood than every before.

VINYL PLANK FLOORING

This relatively new generation of plank flooring has all of the benefits of laminate while eliminating some drawbacks. Namely it is a completely waterproof plank that is impervious to spills, floods, pet stains, pet nails and other events. It also has a very dense, rigid core that absorbs sound under foot more than laminate does. Besides all that it looks fabulous, and so is rapidly taking over the laminate market.

TILE FLOORING

Tile’s greatest quality is its durability. For this reason it is still immensely popular in bathrooms and laundry rooms. Although it is often installed throughout new homes for affordability reasons, many people find an excess of tile too cold and hard underfoot, and prefer warmer and more resilient hard surfaces like wood or vinyl plank flooring.

For more questions about wood, laminate or waterproof vinyl plank flooring please contact Desert Hardwood Flooring at (928) 925-3084

Sylvan Incao is the owner and lead installer of Desert Hardwood Flooring, and a Prescott resident since 1992. Desert Hardwood Flooring is a small craftsmanship-oriented company focusing on quality workmanship and attention to detail in the arena of hardwood flooring and other hard surface flooring.