Carpet vs Laminate Flooring – 2023 Guide

Direct Comparison – Carpet vs Laminate Flooring

Longevity

Carpets typically range around 10 years in their lifetime. On the other hand, laminate flooring typically lasts between 15 to 25 years, giving laminate flooring the edge in terms of flooring longevity.

Winner: Laminate floors

Installation

Carpets are installed with an edge grip, while laminate floors often use floating floors, which essentially gives you the ability to perform a DIY installation, perfect for cutting the overall cost of purchasing a new floor.

Winner: Laminate floors

Water Resistance

If water resistance is what you are looking for, carpets will not be suitable for your home. On the other hand, laminate flooring is a more preferable option. Some higher-end options of laminate flooring provide better water resistance.

Winner: Laminate floors

Comfort

Carpets provide superior warmth and plushness through all types of flooring, while laminate floors tend to become cold and it’s important to note that it is a hard surface.

Winner: Carpet

Cost

Carpets cost have a huge price range, where they can be as low as $25 per square metre to $100 per square metre. Meanwhile, laminate flooring costs $20 – $60. Therefore, it depends on the option you choose.

Winner: Depends

Deep Dive Into Laminate Floors

What is Laminate Flooring?

Laminate flooring is a realistic fine-photograph laminated onto layers of fibreboard material. Laminate floors have the ability to mimic the appearance of real hardwood flooring, oak, bamboo, and pretty much all colours, patterns and styles which would fit your niche.

There are three layers in laminate flooring:

1. Top Protective layer – The durable surface coating gives laminate flooring its longevity and its luxurious finish. This layer is made of aluminium oxide. This layer also protects the print layer from UV-Light, allowing them to avoid fading with exposure.
2. Print Layer – This print layer gives us the stylish colouring and texture desired in all types of floorings. It is usually accompanied with the infusion of resin, a synthetic organic polymer. The print layer comes about from the use of advanced high-definition printing and texturing technology to mimic and display a vast variety of different types of stylish and modern designs.
3. Core or Substrate Layer – The core is made of a particleboard such as HDF, which consists of recycled wood pressed with a resin or wax. This manufacturing process gives laminate floors sturdiness to compare with hardwood flooring, yet more economical. The particleboard resists humidity.

Advantages of Laminate Flooring

1. Variety – Mimics the natural beauty of timber, oak, bamboo or any other flooring types.
2. Durability – A laminate floor is known for its high durability. They have the ability to withstand dents and scratches even in high traffic areas such as living rooms.
3. Affordable – The beauty of laminate flooring is its variety and luxurious feel, yet still being very affordable and simpler to install (as a floating floor). A comprehensive guide to laminate flooring cost can be seen here.
4. Maintains Colour – The UV-resistance of laminate floors gives the appearance of a never-ageing floor, consistently looking pristine and giving a new floor look.
5. Water-resistant – New quality laminates (which our store provides) offer extreme water resistance (up to 168 hours) , unlike hardwood floors.

Disadvantages of Laminate Flooring 

1. Not Real Timber – Unfortunately, just as we’ve discussed in the introduction to laminate flooring, laminate floors are not real wood floors. Timber floors are a great option if the timber aesthetics and feel is what you are looking for.
2. Lack of natural feel – Poor quality laminate floors lack the natural feel and touch desirable to those who are seeking the luxurious wood surface.
3. Pattern repetition – Poor quality products also lack uniqueness at times and may lead to ingenuine or obvious signs of unnatural flooring.
4. VOC emission – Some poor quality products may also lead to becoming respiratory irritants due to VOC emission.

Deep Dive Into Carpets

Carpet is a textile covering made from woven fibre which typically is chosen to add warmth and comfort to your home. Carpet flooring comes in all shapes, textures and colours. In addition, quality carpet gives an edge of spoiling our bare feet under the most comfortable journey through our living rooms and bedrooms than other floor surfaces.

1. Carpet underlay – Underlay underneath gives a spongy and bouncy feel underfoot which.
2. Surface layer – Made of either wool, nylon, polypropylene, or a blend of natural and synthetic materials

Carpets are typically used for:

1. Bedrooms – The most common one.
2. Play space – Carpets give kids a chance to play and roll around in a warm, luscious flooring surface rather than some chilling hardwood floor.
3. Winter warmth – The snuggly winter warm feeling of carpet gives the soft underfoot experience for our home.
4. Affordability – Carpet is an affordable flooring option compared to other flooring materials. Its installation and product cost beats most floor surfaces. The carpets are definitely the budget option.

Unlike timber flooring, carpet is a more affordable flooring option. It will cut the cost of your flooring project and is highly advantageous. Carpets are definitely the budget friendly option compared to hardwood. 

Advantages of Carpet Flooring

1. Provides Thermal Insulation – Carpets are perfect for use, especially during colder months.
2. Comfortable underfoot – Carpet underlay provides the nice underfoot spongy feeling desirable to new flooring.
3. Great for senior citizens – The elderly tend to hate winter. Even by wearing socks, they can still feel the chilly feeling of tiles or wooden flooring. But, by installing carpets, it gets rid of all those worries and troubles for the elderly who deserve to have ultimate comfortability within their home.
4. Great for families – Carpets provide a comfortable and cosy feel for your family home. It’s perfect to walk around, sit on, play or work, and is especially great for your small children.
5. Versatile: Carpets can take up any shape, size, colour or pattern to your liking. There’s a wide array of choices to be made. Add your personal style to the mix. At the end it is your home.
6. Improves indoor environment – Carpets trap debris, meaning they retain all the airborne dust particles. The German Asthma foundation has concluded after studies that carpets actually improve the overall indoor air quality, for the most part.

Also, check out our carpet vs timber flooring guide if you are interested in a timber flooring comparison.

Disadvantages of Carpet Flooring

1. Indoor air quality issues – Although carpets can trap dust, if not properly cleaned, those with respiratory diseases such as Asthma may suffer from the use of carpet in homes.  Make sure to vacuum frequently, especially within high traffic areas.
2. Cleaning – Although warm and comfy, carpet is a floor that can easily get stained. But with proper care and maintenance, your carpets can remain beautiful and will increase their longevity drastically.

So now, the big question remains for you is whether it is a wiser decision to get carpet or laminate flooring. Do choose based on your own taste with aesthetics, comfortability, longevity and price range. Feel free to look into any of our other articles which narrow your flooring options, such as vinyl flooring, laminate flooring and other choices of wooden flooring. Also, please do not hesitate to contact our flooring consultants, who are always happy to assist you in your flooring exploring.