9 April 2024

Best flooring for scratch resistance

Scratch resistance

 No one wants to buy a floor that only looks like new for a couple of months. After months of searching for the right colour, style and product, the finished result needs to not only make you happy but perform well too.

Understanding the options available, can help to prevent disappointment when your flooring doesn’t perform the way you want it to.

First things first, all floor covering can be damaged, from accidents or lack of care. Each type of material has pro and cons. Some floors are more prone to scratching. While others have a natural scratch resistance.

Scratch resistance, depends on what is causing the scratch! Items around the home such as, furniture, debris/ stones under your footwear, stiletto’s, heavy items being dropped, can all cause damage and scratches.

Essentially how your floor performs can depend on a number of different factors.

1. Quality
2. Care and maintenance
3. Appropriate use
4. Installed correctly

Quality

All flooring should withstand everyday wear and tear, provided it is high quality. As a general rule, you get what you pay for! High quality flooring, will be made from good quality material and will have a high protective wear layer. On the other hand, accidents can happen! Below we take a look at the different types of flooring available and which are more prone to scratching.

Types of flooring

Ceramic

• Typically made from clay. Glazed, and fired at a high temperature.
• Durable and hard wearing surface.
• High scratch resistance
• Rigid surface, likely to crack if heavy items are dropped.

Laminate 

• HDF core (High Density Fibre) with a design and protective surface.
• Hard wearing and durable surface.
• Good scratch resistance.
• Cracks and damage likely to appear if heavy items are dropped. In particular around the joints. This is due to it’s hardened surface.

LVT (Gluedown)

• Layers of PVC with a design and protective wear layer.
• 100% water proof, durable and hard wearing.
• Subject to scratches if sharp objects come into contact (dragging heavy sharp edges over the surface)
• Cracks unlikely.

LVT (Click/ Rigid Core)

• Layers of PVC, stone and plastic composite core, with a design and protective wear layer.
• 100% waterproof, durable and hard wearing.
• Damage can occur if heavy items are dropped. In particular around the joints.
• Subject to scratches if sharp objects come into contact (dragging heavy sharp edges over the surface)

Wood

• Tree! If engineered wood, the core is usually multi layered plywood, spruce or HDF.
• Long lasting, durable and hard wearing.
• If the surface is unprotected, marks and stains can appear from accidental spills.
• Surface can be scratched, from heavy sharp objects or sharp debris.

How to avoid scratches

There are a number of things you can do to prevent scratches from occurring.

1. Adding felt pads to the feet of your furniture
2. Entrance matting will minimalise excessive debris
3. Remove outdoor shoes
4. Choose a flooring design that has a variety of texture and colour tones.
5. Clean correctly
6. Re-oil/ lacquer (wood flooring)

Understanding how to care for your new flooring, will help to avoid damage and scratches. Here are our step by step guides, to help protect and care for your laminate, LVT and wood flooring.

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