Summer is just around the corner, leaving many of us dreaming of our beach homes. If you’re starting the search for a beach house or already own one, installing new floors is a great option to breathe some new beautiful and functional life into your home.
Vinyl flooring is an excellent option for a beach house! It’s a low-maintenance, water-resistant, cost-effective, long-lasting option for beach homes. Thanks to technological advances, you can also buy high-quality vinyl flooring that’s best suited to your home’s interior style.
When you’re installing flooring in your beach house, you want something that can stand up to the unique climate of coastal areas, as well as make it easy to clean up sand and water tracked inside.
Is Vinyl Flooring Good For A Beach House?
If you’re on a bit of a tight budget or simply like the ease that vinyl flooring presents, it’s an excellent option for your home.
Vinyl flooring options have become more accessible over the last few years, especially to DIYers.
Where vinyl was once only available in large, unwieldy sheets, you’ll find the board or tile-shaped vinyl flooring pieces easy to install. You don’t have any tools other than an Exacto-knife to install these tiles.
You also don’t have to worry about it peeling up, as some luxury brands offer industrial-grade self-adhesive tile, while others cater towards renter-friendly vinyl flooring.
It’s as easy to clean and maintain as it is installing vinyl flooring. The ease of use makes it a great option in high-traffic areas bound to become sandy.
Vinyl floors are super smooth, making it a breeze to vacuum and mop over them, and they require no intense maintenance as hardwood floors or tiles do.
There are simple ways you can ensure that your vinyl flooring lasts a long time – most of which you probably already do/have in your home.
Pros And Cons Of Vinyl Flooring In Beach Homes
Wherever there’s a tough option, you’ll find a pros and cons list. It’s always best to consider your flooring options and look at which best suits your lifestyle.
Let’s consider the pros and cons of vinyl flooring:
Pros Of Vinyl Flooring
There are many reasons to install vinyl flooring in your house.
Common reasons people install vinyl flooring include:
- Resilient – Most vinyl flooring is water-resistant, very low-maintenance, and durable.
- Comfortable – Compared to hardwood, stone, and tile, vinyl flooring has a soft and padded feeling underfoot. The vinyl layers help insulate the floor and deliver consistent floor temperatures throughout the year.
- Soundproof – Unlike hardwood, vinyl flooring is soundproof and doesn’t echo.
- Affordable – Unlike other flooring options, vinyl floors are cheap to acquire and maintain and range anywhere from $0.25 to $5 apiece.
- Versatility – With modern advancements, vinyl floors can easily be adapted to fit custom colors or designs in your home. You can boast beautiful vinyl wood designs throughout your living areas and switch it up with wildly patterned tiles in wet rooms.
- Easy to install – You can easily install vinyl flooring throughout your house and even over existing floors (given that they’re in good, walkable condition).
These pros make vinyl flooring an option that is hard to resist in coastal homes.
Cons Of Vinyl Flooring
Even with the best products, you’ll always have a few cons.
Here are some reasons you may want to consider flooring other than vinyl:
- Can’t be refinished – Unlike hardwood floors, you don’t have the option to sand it down and stain it another color; what you pay for is what you get, even if vinyl offers endless variations in colors and patterns.
- Low-quality vinyl may chip – If you’re not investing in high-quality vinyl flooring, you run the risk of floor chipping. Fortunately, you can replace single boards/tiles.
- It doesn’t add to resale value – Mostly, you’ll find that vinyl floors don’t impact the resale value of property; in fact, low-quality vinyl floors could even have a negative impact.
- Not an eco-friendly option – The manufacturing process varies in vinyl flooring companies. At the same time, some opt to be more environmentally conscious, and others mass produce these tiles with large amounts of chemicals releasing toxins into the environment.
These cons mainly rely on the type of vinyl flooring you invest in and its manufacture.
Suppose you choose sustainably sourced, high-quality vinyl flooring. In that case, the only problem you’ll face is not being able to refinish it, which you couldn’t do with any other flooring option other than wood anyways.
Vinyl Flooring Lifespan
Depending on the quality of the vinyl you invest in and how much wear-and-tear it gets, the lifespan of vinyl flooring will differ.
For low-quality vinyl flooring, you’ll probably notice signs of wear 5 years in. If you invest in high-quality vinyl flooring, signs of deterioration may only start to show 25 years in.
It all depends on the initial installation process, the quality of the vinyl, the thickness of the wear layer, and how well you maintain it.
You also have to replace damaged vinyl floor pieces and don’t have the option of refinishing them, which may be problematic if you have low-quality vinyl in a high-traffic area.
Flooring Options Other Than Vinyl
Coastal homes demand resilient flooring options. These floors should withstand salt exposure, sand, and moisture.
Hardwood floors are a classic option for coastal homes. They give a cozy feeling a natural look and have stood the test of time in many homes.
Wood floors also vary in color and price. Once installed and sealed, hardwood flooring is a low-maintenance and easy-to-clean option.
Laminate flooring is a good option for beach homes and comes in a wide array of styles, and can easily imitate wood floors or ceramic tiles.
Laminate flooring is great when it comes to resisting moisture, stains, fading, and other wear and tear.
Tiles are also lovely if you live in warmer coastal areas. They can cool down your house, are easy to clean, and hold up very well to moisture and daily traffic.
They’re also versatile in style, meaning that you can create an old-world feeling in your home or a super modern one.
Tiles have a wide variety of shapes, sizes, and colors, which means you can customize them to suit your home and personal style.
Conclusion
There is an abundance of flooring options available for beach homes. One of the best options is high-quality vinyl.
With proper maintenance and care, your vinyl floor can last you for decades to come.
Offering an endless array of colors, styles, and finishes, you’ll find a vinyl flooring option perfect for your coastal home.
