Tell me more about Luxury Vinyl Plank?

[dr.girlfriend]

I've been trying to read online, but some of the info seems obviously biased toward referral links.

If we go forward with our addition, we will be replacing the wood floor throughout the lower level. Right now we have our original hardwood from the 1950's in the living and dining room, and engineered hardwood in the t.v. room and kitchen. The engineered hardwood has held up really well to dog claws and water (you walk straight in from the porch so although we have a mat, wet shoes and snow and umbrella often land there).

We can't do full hardwood, because the t.v. room is on a concrete slab.  Would people actually PREFER LVP to engineered hardwood, and why?  I get that the waterproof aspect is a big feature, although for us that would mostly involve the kitchen and front door entry, as we would have tile in the new laundry and master bath.  The flooring is more than $10k at a $4/foot allotment, so a cheaper product would cut costs significantly, especially if people actually prefer it.  We were recently at a house that had it installed in the sunroom for multiple reasons.  I have to say I thought it looked really nice overall (it was that grey color) but I did notice the repeated pattern on planks with knots in them.  We're not hugely concerned about resale, but do want something that will hold up well to the dog and kid.

[munkii]

IDK that, in general, people would prefer LVP over EHW. I, personally, prefer LVP over laminate any day, but EHW is a different story. EHW has benefits that LVP doesn't. As you mentioned, it is real veneer, not a printed product. Also, most EHW can be sanded and refinished at least once, sometimes multiple times. There are some places where I would recommend LVP installation over EHW because of moisture/dampness issues, but it's really dependent on a number of factors (use of space, size of space, regional location of space, etc).

[sandandsea]

Idk about most people’s preferences, but real HW and EHW are a step up from LVP which is a step up from laminate. Depending on your neighborhood, LVP may be sufficient but in luxury homes, most buyers expect EHW or HW floors.

[dr.girlfriend]

Nov 7, 2018 13:41:56 GMT -5 sandandsea said:

Idk about most people’s preferences, but real HW and EHW are a step up from LVP which is a step up from laminate. Depending on your neighborhood, LVP may be sufficient but in luxury homes, most buyers expect EHW or HW floors.

Thanks, that was my initial impression but based on the other thread it seemed like some were saying they would prefer it to hardwood regardless of cost, so I wanted to be sure I wasn't missing something. IDK that our home would be considered a luxury home, but we are planning to live there long-term, so the extra dollar a two per square foot won't be a big deal in the long run (although I fear that is going to be my excuse for overspending everywhere!)

[Deleted]

It doesn't sound like you want to go that route, but you can do floating hardwood on the concrete slab. That is what my Mom has in her house. The slab has radiant heat and then they installed the floating hardwood in her LR and DR. It's about 15 years old at this point and has held up well with no major issues.

Other than that, I'm just hear to learn more about LVP.

[fryjack2]

We redid the floors in our entire house when we bought it this past summer.

We did real wood in the upstairs and LVP in the basement based on threads here and research. Basically, its in a basement that has a TV room and a kids playroom and a laundry room. We didn't put it in the gym as that had different flooring than the carpet that was everywhere else and didn't need to be replaced.

We used Core-tec. I think thats what it was called. I really like the color, but it definitely isn't hardwood. It might be that our floor isn't even everywhere, but it sounds and feels different than HWF.

I would go walk on some and look at large spaces in person before you choose.

Also, I know you don't care about resale, so put in what works for you We didn't buy our home because of the floors so having a bunch of HW that just needed to be refinished and stained was a bonus, not a must.

[ssmjlm]

I wouldn't use it unless you lived somewhere very hot/humid or were using it a rec room. We put it in our laundry room and while it's fine for that space b/c it's upstairs and no one sees it, I could not imagine it in a daily living space.

That said I would love to put it on the ground floor of our beach house, but my mom and I have a bit different tastes when it comes to decor.

[osulori]

We replaced the carpet and linoleum in our kitchen/dining room with LVP roughly 18 months ago and overall have been happy with the decision to do that over hardwood or laminate, but the main factors driving our decision were the moisture issue (we have a dog who sometimes pees in the dining room and not always on the towels we lay down, plus a kid who spills things and we don't always know about it) and the scratch resistance (dog toenails and high traffic areas). For the area we live in, something like LVP or laminate is more common than hardwood also. I wouldn't necessarily do it in the whole house but could see putting it downstairs in our family room (which is partially underground).

[dancelnow]

We did a super cheap LVP in a house we were planning to rent but are now selling. We did not upgrade the underlayment and it is very "clucky" sounding when walked on. From a wet/damp area aspect though, I prefer it to EHW in my own house if I went with a higher quality and underlayment. At least compared to EHW I've had before.

[stackingtens]

We use it a lot in projects, mainly for finishing basements, then in bathrooms, laundry rooms, etc.

There are pretty significant differences in quality. We only spec two brands because of the thickness of the substrate (Aduramax by Mannington and SoundTec 20 mil). There are probably other brands with comparable products too, but these are what we have via our distributors. We do also use the Armstrong Alterna product but we don't carry it-we go through a local flooring store.

We love it in basements because we are in the mountains (aka lots of hills, lots of grading issues on existing housing stock) and it just can't be damaged by water. It's also great for anyone who wants to avoid tile (whether for the price or the feel). Tile is often comparable to price of hardwoods for us because of the labor and supplies, so the LVT is a great choice to save some $$ on flooring. But we don't always use planks-they have plenty of options that look like tile. And the Alterna product line can be grouted like tile, which looks great installed.

[rooster222]

Personally, I like hardwood or EHW over LVP...but we just put LVP in our master bath, bedroom and upstairs hall and I'm really happy with it!  I decided on it for cost, durability, and looks.  My designer and contractor assured me that a lot of people are using LVP for higher end homes now.  I'm not sure they necessarily mean for the main floor living areas but either way I felt like it was a good choice for us.

This is what we used and it was extremely affordable and I'm happy with the quality.

www.mohawkflooring.com/luxury-vinyl-tile/detail/8211-141579/Embostic-Natural-Blonde

[starryfish]

i installed LVP in my old house by myself. It was SUPER easy (only tool required was scissors and a utility knife). I loved it. I bought mine from Lowes. We did Laminate in our new house (the pergo? brand that is 24 hour waterproof) and I wish we did LVP. Would have saved a LOT of money and I really do like the look and feel. Plus we are in a HOT/moist climate (Houston) and have pets and kid.

[Velar Fricative]

Hmmmm, we're not redoing our floors for another couple of years at least but LVP is really intriguing to me. I'm not sure if I've ever stepped foot on it elsewhere to know what it feels like underfoot but it seems promising. We both like hardwood but, man, the cost sucks. This would be on our main floor (and maybe even upstairs one day, but we prefer carpet upstairs anyway). We have HW on most of the floor right now (open floor plan, just less than 700 sq.ft.), plus there's this terrible 90s carpet cutout area for the living room (no HW underneath) and the new carpet we put in a few years ago as a temporary fix is getting dingy. The HW floor itself is in horrible shape despite the house only being built in 1992, but I am very skeptical that we could install new HW only where the carpet is and refinish the old HW to make it look exactly the same as the new HW; most people we've talked to in the flooring business said they could try their best but can't guarantee the areas will be identical. But then they also say throwing out HW to replace it with HW seems like such a waste too, hence why LVP seems intriguing to me because at least the cost to replace will be much less than using HW, and it wouldn't be cost-prohibitive if we opted to use LVP all upstairs too.

We live in a rowhouse in the outer boroughs of NYC, and while I think buyers would prefer HW, it's not the kind of house where I feel non-HW would be out of place or unexpected. Plus, we're not selling anytime in the near future anyway, so we don't really need to account for resale.

[dr.girlfriend]

Nov 20, 2018 11:56:38 GMT -5 Velar Fricative said:

Hmmmm, we're not redoing our floors for another couple of years at least but LVP is really intriguing to me. I'm not sure if I've ever stepped foot on it elsewhere to know what it feels like underfoot but it seems promising. We both like hardwood but, man, the cost sucks. This would be on our main floor (and maybe even upstairs one day, but we prefer carpet upstairs anyway). We have HW on most of the floor right now (open floor plan, just less than 700 sq.ft.), plus there's this terrible 90s carpet cutout area for the living room (no HW underneath) and the new carpet we put in a few years ago as a temporary fix is getting dingy. The HW floor itself is in horrible shape despite the house only being built in 1992, but I am very skeptical that we could install new HW only where the carpet is and refinish the old HW to make it look exactly the same as the new HW; most people we've talked to in the flooring business said they could try their best but can't guarantee the areas will be identical. But then they also say throwing out HW to replace it with HW seems like such a waste too, hence why LVP seems intriguing to me because at least the cost to replace will be much less than using HW, and it wouldn't be cost-prohibitive if we opted to use LVP all upstairs too.

We live in a rowhouse in the outer boroughs of NYC, and while I think buyers would prefer HW, it's not the kind of house where I feel non-HW would be out of place or unexpected. Plus, we're not selling anytime in the near future anyway, so we don't really need to account for resale.

For a relatively small area IDK that you'd save a TON, though. You could probably find at least engineered hardwood for $3-$4 a square foot, maybe less if it's on clearance and you're not picky about the color.

[Velar Fricative]

Nov 20, 2018 14:47:35 GMT -5 dr.girlfriend said:

Nov 20, 2018 11:56:38 GMT -5 Velar Fricative said:

Hmmmm, we're not redoing our floors for another couple of years at least but LVP is really intriguing to me. I'm not sure if I've ever stepped foot on it elsewhere to know what it feels like underfoot but it seems promising. We both like hardwood but, man, the cost sucks. This would be on our main floor (and maybe even upstairs one day, but we prefer carpet upstairs anyway). We have HW on most of the floor right now (open floor plan, just less than 700 sq.ft.), plus there's this terrible 90s carpet cutout area for the living room (no HW underneath) and the new carpet we put in a few years ago as a temporary fix is getting dingy. The HW floor itself is in horrible shape despite the house only being built in 1992, but I am very skeptical that we could install new HW only where the carpet is and refinish the old HW to make it look exactly the same as the new HW; most people we've talked to in the flooring business said they could try their best but can't guarantee the areas will be identical. But then they also say throwing out HW to replace it with HW seems like such a waste too, hence why LVP seems intriguing to me because at least the cost to replace will be much less than using HW, and it wouldn't be cost-prohibitive if we opted to use LVP all upstairs too.

We live in a rowhouse in the outer boroughs of NYC, and while I think buyers would prefer HW, it's not the kind of house where I feel non-HW would be out of place or unexpected. Plus, we're not selling anytime in the near future anyway, so we don't really need to account for resale.

For a relatively small area IDK that you'd save a TON, though. You could probably find at least engineered hardwood for $3-$4 a square foot, maybe less if it's on clearance and you're not picky about the color.

Hmmm, I guess when we get closer to when we want to do the project we can get quotes for all kinds of options. Thanks!

[kath16]

So we are in a modestly priced townhome and are seriously considering LVP in the next 6 months. We have an open floor plan downstairs, so I want the same floor in the kitchen and half bath - it's all awful right now so it's all getting replaced at once. I really don't think it's worth the extra $$ for EHW bc our house is just not a luxury house and we aren't planning to sell for 20 years.

Is there a huge difference in feel between laminate and LVP? My parents have very durable laminate in their vacation home and to me it *looks* fake. I want the durability and prefered the look of some of the better LVP to the similarly priced laminate. But if it feels really different in some way I'd consider it.