The Pros and Cons of Vinyl Plank Flooring

Interested in having new floors installed in your home or business? You’ll be pleased to know that there is no shortage of flooring options available at this time.

From carpeting and tile to hardwood and laminate, you’ll be able to browse through a wide variety of flooring types when choosing new floors. You can consider the pros and cons associated with each before picking the one you like best.

Just make sure you don’t make a final decision on floors before weighing the pros and cons of vinyl plank flooring. Vinyl plank flooring has turned into one of the most popular flooring types for home and business owners in recent years—and it’s not hard to see why.

Are they right for your home or business? Check out the pros and cons of them below so that you can decide if you want to install them soon.

The Pros of Vinyl Plank Flooring

Hardwood floors are great, but they often come at a high cost. On average, home and business owners pay upwards of $5,000 for hardwood floors in a 200-square-foot room.

If you want floors that look like hardwood but cost just a fraction of what hardwood floors do, vinyl plank flooring might be your best bet. The comparatively low cost of vinyl plank flooring is probably the biggest pro associated with them.

But it’s far from the only reason to install vinyl plank floors. Here are several other benefits of going with vinyl plank flooring.

1. They Come in a Large Number of Colors and Styles

Are you looking for light flooring that will make a living room look brighter? Or do you need dark flooring that will hide dirt in your showroom?

Either way, you’re going to be able to find what you want when you go with vinyl plank flooring. This type of flooring is available in a lot of different colors and styles, so you shouldn’t have any trouble tracking down great floors that you love.

There are so many colors and styles available through a company like COREtec flooring that you might be a little overwhelmed at first. But you’re sure to find something that’ll look great in your home or business when you take the time to sift through all your options.

2. They Don’t Require Much Maintenance and Almost Always Look Clean

Whether you’re installing new floors in your home or your business, the last thing you want to do is choose floors that you’ll have to clean every other day. You’ll regret buying them within just a few months, if not much sooner.

This won’t be a problem at all with vinyl plank flooring. You’ll be blown away by how easy it is to keep them clean once you have them installed in your home or business.

More often than not, you can clean them off and keep them looking like new without doing anything other than sweeping them. They’re one of the most maintenance-free flooring options on the market today.

3. They’re Moisture Resistant

If you’re going to be installing your floors in an area of your home or business where they might get wet, you should be cautious about going with something like carpeting or hardwood. They can show signs of wear and tear when they get wet.

This isn’t something you’re going to have to worry about at all with vinyl plank floors. You can get them wet without being concerned about them getting damaged at all.

Vinyl plank flooring is moisture resistant and will stand up to water and other liquids at all times. You won’t have to go running for the cleaning supplies every time someone spills something on them.

This gives you the opportunity to put vinyl plank flooring in places where you wouldn’t dare to put carpeting or hardwood floors. From kitchens and bathrooms to mudrooms and lobbies, you can install vinyl plank flooring in any part of your home or business.

The Cons of Vinyl Plank Flooring

As you can see, there are so many reasons why you should consider installing vinyl plank flooring in your home or business. Outside of the price tag on them, you’ll also love the look of vinyl plank floors and their moisture resistance.

But you can’t have a conversation about the pros and cons of vinyl plank flooring without touching on some of the cons. You should be aware of some of the reasons why you might not want to go with vinyl plank flooring. Here are several cons.

1. They’re Not as Durable as Hardwood

Hardwood floors are, by all accounts, some of the most durable floors around. They can hold up for over 100 years when you take decent care of them.

With that in mind, it’s hard to put too much blame on vinyl plank flooring for not being as durable as hardwood flooring. But we would be remiss if we didn’t point out that you’re not going to get the same durability you get from hardwood with vinyl plank flooring.

If you drop something very heavy on top of vinyl plank flooring, there is a good chance that you’ll dent it. You might also puncture vinyl plank floors if you use sharp objects around them.

You can get around these things by being careful with your vinyl plank flooring. But that’s something that you won’t have to do with more durable flooring options.

2. They Sometimes Fade When Exposed to UV Rays on a Regular Basis

Are you going to be installing vinyl plank flooring in a room that gets a lot of natural sunlight throughout the day?

At first, your vinyl plank floors are going to look incredible when the sun hits them just right. But over time, you’re going to notice that the UV rays from the sun will cause your vinyl plank floors to fade.

You can combat this to some degree by choosing the right color vinyl plank flooring. You can also stop the sun from taking a toll on your vinyl plank floors by stopping the sun from shining right on them.

But no matter how hard you work at protecting your vinyl plank floors, they’re going to fade and become discolored to some degree as they age. This is something that’s not going to happen when you go with some other types of flooring.

3. They’re Not Biodegradable

These days, there are more and more home and business owners considering the environmental impact that floors will have before installing them. They want to know that they’re going with the most eco-friendly options possible when putting new floors into place.

Unfortunately, vinyl plank flooring is not going to give you the eco-friendliness that you might want. You might not be making the best choice for the planet when you go with this type of flooring for your home or business.

At some point down the line, you’re going to get rid of your vinyl plank floors and throw them out. And when you do, they’re going to sit in a landfill for years to come without breaking down.

This is because vinyl plank floors aren’t biodegradable like many other flooring options. You might not be too concerned about this today, but it could be something that bothers you in the future when you go to discard old vinyl plank floors.

So, Is Vinyl Plank Flooring Right for You?

At this point, you should know more about vinyl plank flooring than you did when we started. You should have the pros and cons of vinyl plank flooring fresh on your mind and be ready to decide if they’re right for you.

So, are they?

Whether you’re a homeowner searching for floors for your entire first floor or a business owner looking for floors for your commercial space, you’ll find that the benefits of vinyl plank floors often outweigh the negatives. It’s why they’ve transformed into such a popular flooring option over the years.

Consider All the Pros and Cons of Vinyl Plank Flooring Prior to Installing Them

Installing new floors in your home or business is a big decision. Once you’ve had new floors installed, it’s going to be a long time before you do new flooring installation again.

Take your time while weighing the pros and cons of vinyl plank flooring and give yourself plenty of time to decide which floors you want. Run the numbers, too, so that you can see how much it’ll cost to go with vinyl plank floors as opposed to other flooring options.

If you’re still not sure what to do, lean on a trusted flooring company to assist you through the selection process. They can talk to you more about the pros and cons of vinyl plank flooring and help you arrive at the best decision possible for your home or business.

Want to find out more about other types of flooring before choosing vinyl plank floors? Poke around on our blog to find a number of articles about the different flooring options that are out there for home and business owners.