Flooring life expectancy is a major question a lot of homeowners have. How long your floors lasts depends on a lot of factors, but there’s an expected range for each type of flooring.
The amount of wear and tear you give your floors impacts all flooring types the same. Do you have pets? Do you have children? These are major considerations for your floor’s anticipated lifespan.
Carpet Flooring Life Expectancy
Carpet may be soft and add warmth to your room, but you’ll experience wear and tear far faster than other types of flooring. You should expect to fully replace your carpet between 4 and 10 years.
Laminate
Laminate gets a bad reputation, but it actually lasts a fairly long time. Its lifespan is comparable to hardwoods and other high end materials. You should expect to replace your laminate within 15-25 years. Fortunately, you can sometimes replace a small portion of laminate instead of replacing the entire installation.
Linoleum
Unlike laminate, Linoleum linoleum is a natural product throughout. Laminate is actually a composite material with a paper thin decorative layer on top. You should expect to replace your linoleum every 20 to 40 years depending on wear.
Hardwood
Hardwood! Everyone loves hardwood, but how long does it really last? Yes, hardwood shows its wear and tear far more than many other types, but you can protect your floors through proper maintenance. Hardwood will last 20-30 years, but fortunately it can be restored instead of replaced. Restoring hardwood can be worth its weight in gold, but requires a substantially amount of work.
Mosaic or Ceramic Floor Tile
Mosaic or ceramic floor tiles should last 15 to 20 years. The tiles themselves will actually last longer than that, and the beauty is that you can replace just a single broken tile if need be. The first thing you’ll need to replace is the grout, not the tile. Fortunately, tiles are fairly scratch and damage resistant absent heavy things falling on them.
Flooring Life Expectancy
Your flooring life expectancy varies wildly depending on how hard you are on your floor. However, if you know roughly when you’ll need to repair or replace your floor, you can budget for it.
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