Best flooring for home offices

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Working from home or hybrid working has become the new norm, so kitting out the spaces in our homes to make them into great places to work is no mean feat! Your home office is your quiet space, made for deep concentration, important calls, and brainstorming ideas. Although the furniture we choose and the technology we pick to work on are crucial, it might surprise you to know your flooring is just as important. When we think of a home office, we might automatically think of a computer on a desk and a chair, and that’s all, but a lot of people don’t have such conventional home offices!

A traditional carpet might be the best choice for you, or you may prefer the feeling of wooden or smooth flooring under your feet, but for those who’re struggling to decide what would work best, we’ve written this handy guide to talk you through the different options available, as well as their pros and cons. In this way, you can make an informed decision and know you’ve picked the best flooring for your home office.

What is the best flooring for home offices?

There are different types of flooring you could opt for when you’re considering home office flooring, including:

Carpet
Laminate
Vinyl
Luxury vinyl
Engineered wood

It’s worth mentioning that regardless of the type of flooring that you choose, your office chair is likely to leave marks on it! Carpet can be easily flattened by chair legs and wheels, and you can mark laminate, vinyl, and engineered wood with chair castors. Looking after your floors is the number one way to continue to keep them looking good, and you can find plenty of helpful information on how to care for each floor type in our care guides. Now let’s take you through the different pros and cons of each of these flooring types for a home office, and the different reasons why you might choose them.

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@thelittlestonecottage

Carpet

Carpet provides warmth, comfort, and a wonderfully soft feeling underneath your feet. It’s one of the most common floorings used in homes in the UK where we like to keep the heat in as much as possible! It can be made in several different styles, from traditional Berber-style carpets to modern and fluffy velvet carpets, all of which are made in different ways to give them their distinctive style.

A good quality carpet will last for a long time – at least 10-15 years when cared for properly. Check out our new carpet care guide for our top tips and tricks to making your carpet last as long as possible. Each has varying degrees of stain resistance, durability, texture and firmness, and finding the right one for you will take some research. Come down to your local Tapi store to try some of our samples today.

Carpet has a high tog rating compared to other flooring types, which means that it locks in all of the heat and can keep rooms cosier for longer. This makes it great for spaces like living rooms and bedrooms where you want to be cosy and toasty, and a home office is no exception. Keeping yourself warm while you work is one way to ensure you don’t get distracted – although don’t let it get too warm or you may start dozing off!

Laminate

Laminate flooring is a contemporary take on traditional wooden flooring, with many different finishes to choose from, and some even have water-resistant qualities, so you can have the look and feel of a wooden floor without any of the vulnerability of wooden flooring in a busy family home.

It’s durable, easy to fit and low maintenance, which makes it popular in busy shared spaces like kitchens, living rooms and hallways. Home offices tend to be quieter areas like bedrooms; however, your home office may not necessarily be in a separate room – you might have a spot in a shared space like the living room, or a small alcove off of one of these spaces, meaning laminate could be a great choice.

Even if you do have a separate room for your home office, you may share it with your kids, your partner, a housemate and even pets – and laminate is renowned as one of the best flooring for pets. Laminate is great for durability, and for rooms that you don’t want to clean daily.

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Vinyl

Vinyl flooring is often referred to as sheet vinyl because it comes in large flexible sheets that sit on foam or felt to make it soft and a little spongy underfoot. This flooring type is great for water resistance and is used most commonly in bathrooms and kitchens because of its durability and adaptability. It can be embossed and printed in a huge variety of colours and aesthetics, making it one of the most versatile floorings available.

Choose between wood-effect vinyl, tile-effect vinyl or even patterned vinyl to add some personality to your home office – it’s also great for use on top of underfloor heating, so you can still keep your room toasty warm if this is your preference. Vinyl is also known to be slip resistant as well, which is why it works so well in water-prone areas like bathrooms, however, if your home office is less conventional, and you use it for creative projects where items can be spilt onto the floor, vinyl is a great option.

Luxury vinyl

Luxury vinyl comes in a variety of wood and stone effect planks or rigid sheets. You get the authentic appearance of real timber and stone but is so much easier to clean and maintain thanks to its 0.55mm wear layer.

Some luxury vinyl is available in a Dryback stick-down method, so you can cut to any shape and size, allowing flexibility for fitting in any room. Other luxury vinyl flooring is available in an easy ‘click’ fitting system. Thanks to the ‘click’ system’s built-in underlay, it’s lovely and quiet underfoot – perfect if you’ve got little ones running around.

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Engineered wood

Engineered wood is the new cousin of laminate flooring and solid wooden flooring, combining the best parts of both to bring a new option to the world. Made from composite layers with a layer of real wood on top, this flooring type cuts the cost of real wood whilst still giving you the visual effect of the real deal. Engineered wood is one of the best options for those who are cost-conscious, but don’t want to compromise on the style of their home office either.

Engineered wood has a much stronger core thanks to the plywood base, making it durable, and unlikely to bow, warp or move apart. This durability makes it a great option for busy homes, and the real wood also makes it a popular pick for those who prefer the aesthetic of real wood floors.

Real Customer Home
@yorkshire.townhouse

What is the best flooring for my home office?

The best flooring for home offices is decided almost entirely by you. We love every type of flooring and couldn’t decide which type of flooring would work best in your space without having a chat with you first – which you can do by booking a video appointment or a free home visit with our team to have a chat and show us your space today. Your priorities will dictate what flooring style will work best for you too. You will have to decide what matters most to you:

Cost
Style
Durability
Quality

In addition to being cheaper alternatives to stone and wood, carpet, laminate, vinyl and luxury vinyl as well as engineered wood also have amazing qualities and unique styles all of their own. It's relatively easy to install laminate and luxury vinyl click flooring if you're a skilled DIYer. The cost of carpet may be higher than that of laminate or luxury vinyl click flooring because the carpet needs to be fitted by a professional.

Engineered wood, luxury vinyl tiles, vinyl, and carpet are all very durable, and they can all last for many years with the right care. If you follow our advice on cleaning and maintenance, you can keep your carpet looking its best for a long time. A layer of tough, long-lasting real wood is incorporated into engineered wood, so if marks occur, they can be sanded or refinished. You can't restore laminate flooring in this way - but it is more scuff and indent-resistant than engineered wood - which is important if you have young children and pets in your home office.

It's not unusual for customers to focus on quality when making a decision, and Tapi's carpets, laminates, and vinyl come with warranties to give you peace of mind. You also won't have to worry about a thing from delivery to the final step of the process since we employ professional fitters to make sure your home office flooring is installed perfectly.

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Real Customer Home
@renovationliving

Home office flooring ideas

Is it still hard to figure out which type of flooring would look best in your bedroom? If you want to nail down the colours that you love, browse our lookbooks for ideas, or explore our flooring ideas page to see how different kinds of flooring can transform a bedroom. On the Tapi website, you'll find inspiration everywhere! Alternatively, if you're looking for flooring for an actual office, then have a read of our guide on how to install commercial carpet.

Post author

Claire Murphy Copywriter Former lifestyle journalist, keen amateur upcycler, full of value for money ideas

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Published: 09-09-2022