By Alfred Halfnight
While hardwood, laminate and parquet flooring sales have been over the rise during the last decade, carpet is making a comeback and still beats the competition hands down. End of tenancy and carpet cleaning companies agree that, with an immense selection of colours, styles and fabrics, low cost and hassle-free cleaning and replacement, carpet is still the best bet and here’s why:
Comfort: nothing says home like plush, warm carpeting in your sitting room. You will be creating a more inviting atmosphere as well as an energy-friendly one, as your carpet acts as an extra insulating layer, saving you on home heating bills. In the current cold spell, this is a huge bonus. Rather than freezing your tootsies off padding across a cold hardwood or tile floor during the winter months, you will remain warm and cozy and keep money in your pocket in the process.
Cost: despite the decrease in laminate and hardwood flooring costs, carpet remains the cheapest option for home and office alike. Cleaning and refurbishment of wood or tile floors is time consuming and cost and labour intensive and needs to happen far more often than professional carpet cleaning.
Independent London end of tenancy cleaning companies report laminate and hardwood in need of replacement three times as much as carpets. Proper hardwoods require constant treatment at considerable expense and, let’s face it; a floor buffer is going to take up a good deal more room in your pantry than reliable old Henry Hoover.
Cleaning: while “easy cleaning” is a big selling point for laminate flooring, this is not always the case. Dragging a Swiffer across the floor once a week may seem like a hassle-free task but this is only the half of it. Nicks and scratches caused by kids, furniture and stiletto heels require more than a damp cloth to get rid of, and it will cost you plenty to do so. Reputable laminate and hardwood repair companies are hard to find and can be expensive when you do. Carpet cleaning, on the other hand, is widely available and, given a healthy degree of competition in the business, increasingly affordable.
Taking into consideration the average lifespan for laminate flooring, about five years, and the repair and refurbishment costs involved, a well cared for carpet will last up to three times as long and pose far fewer hassles. When you’re next out shopping for new floors, keep comfort, cost and cleaning in mind and chances are you will be coming home with beautiful new home carpets.
About the author:
Alfred Halfnight is a London-based freelance journalist with a mission to make you a better, cleaner, happier human being. He enjoys writing articles about the obscure facets of modern life, and thinks this is what Kafka would have done if he lived in the twenty-first century.
