A Guide to Choosing the Best Flooring for your Hallway

A Guide to Choosing the Best Flooring for your Hallway

Your hallway is the first room a person sees when they enter your home so you want this space to make a good first impression. It’s also one of the busiest rooms in the house. Because of this, it’s important that it’s designed to be practical. This includes suitable hallway storage for coats, bags, and shoes, and also the right kind of flooring. That’s what this article is all about. Read on to explore things to consider when choosing the best flooring for your hallway.

What to consider when choosing hallway flooring?

When choosing anything for your home, always consider your own personal style and taste. After that, there are a few more things to consider when choosing the best floor for your hallway. 

Your hallway is most likely a high-traffic area, especially if you have kids. Because of this, the flooring in your hallway needs to be durable and strong. 

Think about how you use your hallway. Does everyone take their shoes off at the door or do they step a few steps into the home wearing shoes? How many people are entering the home at the same time? Is the floor likely to get muddy from hiking boots or children’s wellies? Do you need to store things like a bike or a pram with dirty wheels in the hallway? Do you have a dog that will step into the hallway with muddy paws? 

There are lots of things to think about. You want to find a flooring type that is practical for your home and aesthetically pleasing too. You also want to ensure that you are happy with your choice as replacing flooring is expensive, even if you choose to make it a DIY project. Pick something that will withstand the test of time, both in terms of durability and style.

If there are children or elderly people in the household, it’s also a good idea to choose a slip-resistant flooring option. Choosing a flooring type that is easy to clean and moisture resistant is also a must for hallways.

The best flooring options for hallways

We’ve covered some of the things that you should consider when choosing flooring for your hallway. Next, let’s look into some options that meet the requirements for a good hallway floor:

– Laminate flooring

Laminate flooring is a very popular choice for hallways. It comes in a huge range of styles, colours, textures, and patterns to suit all rooms and tastes. It can emulate other materials like wooden flooring or tiles for example. Laminate flooring is very durable and affordable too. It’s available in different thicknesses – the thicker, the more durable. Since a hallway usually requires a durable option, go for a thick laminate flooring in this room if you choose to go with laminate. Laminate flooring is also really easy to clean and doesn’t require much in terms of maintenance. 

– Luxury vinyl tiles 

Luxury vinyl tiles (LVT) is another great option for hallways. This type of flooring is very durable, hard-wearing and scratch-resistant too which makes it ideal for busy rooms like your home’s hallway. It’s also water resistant so you don’t need to worry about any wet or muddy shoes, dripping umbrellas or dirty pram wheels. Just like laminate flooring, vinyl flooring is designed to look like other more traditional, natural flooring materials such as wood or stone. It is available in lots of different styles. By choosing LVT you can achieve the same stylish look but without the drawbacks of the real materials. Additionally, LVT is easy to install. It’s also easy to clean and low-maintenance. 

– Engineered wood flooring

Classic real wood flooring is a classic and timeless choice for any home. Though it can be sanded down if damaged, it’s not the most practical choice for a hallway. Specifically because real wood flooring requires on-going maintenance and is not able to withstand moisture. 

If you want the appearance of wooden flooring for your hallway without the risk of moisture damage, then you can look into engineered wood flooring. Engineered wood is composed of several layers of timber that’s been stuck together, with a real wood surface. This lets it contract and expand more than solid wood. This means that it’s better at dealing with a bit of moisture and heat variations that you would get from underfloor heating. 

Engineered wood flooring is available in lots of styles, colours and patterns to suit the look of your home. It will offer the same beauty that solid wooden floor gives you but in a more durable and practical way.

– Real tiles

Last but not least, the final flooring that we are looking into in this guide about the best flooring for hallways – real tiles. Tile flooring in your hallway is a very practical solution that can look amazing too. Tiles are durable (as long as you don’t drop hard and heavy things on them) and long-lasting. Additionally, they are scratch-resistant and very easy to clean. You can get floor tiles in a wide range of colours, textures, and sizes to achieve the look you want to have in your home.

What about the colour of the flooring?

The floor covers a large area of a room so its colour is important too. Light coloured flooring can make a space feel brighter and more airy. Additionally, it is generally more versatile when it comes to the interior design around it. Darker flooring options add depth and a sense of warmth. Additionally, it’s also better at hiding scuff marks, dirt, and stains which can come in handy in a hallway.

Conclusion – The Best Flooring for your Hallway

Above we have looked at what to consider when choosing the best flooring for your hallway. We’ve also explored some excellent flooring options for hallways and why they make a great choice. Hopefully this has helped you narrow down the choices for your home.