Vinyl vs Wood Laminate Flooring

[pjciii]

One other thing for me if there is a next time. I will put floor heater mats in areas where there are cold spots during the winter. It always seemed that the NW corner of the house was our cold spot. It was slab on grade single level.

 

[killerv]

I did the trafficmaster saratoga history laminate from home depot in our old house, loved that stuff, it was 99c back then, appears to be 1.39 now. Two younguns and dogs didn't hurt it. I left a piece outside to see what the elements would do to it, it barely curled up around the edges after two years.

This is it, has great reviews

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Traffic...ate-Flooring-24-17-sq-ft-case-34089/204135461

 

[SlipperyHill Mo]

Put LVP from Floor and Decor in my new house. It looks good and seems to be bulletproof. Got the more expensive, Thicker, version upstairs and the cheaper downstairs. I cant tell the difference, but, i am not a flooring snob.

Hardwoods may look better to some, but they are a lot more maintenance and costly.

 

[killerv]

Put LVP from Floor and Decor in my new house. It looks good and seems to be bulletproof. Got the more expensive, Thicker, version upstairs and the cheaper downstairs. I cant tell the difference, but, i am not a flooring snob.

Hardwoods may look better to some, but they are a lot more maintenance and costly.

Got a buddy with a flooring business, does a ton of lvp, may not see it in a 500k house, but its pretty dang popular right now.

I'll never buy hardwoods, unless I was building a cabin... too much upkeep and issues. Buddy did his house, expensive, then came summer, started buckling, moisture issues in crawlspace. 10k floors, then 13k in waterproofing to get them to sit back down.

 

[LTZ25]

We went with LVT and love it. Much better than the carpet. We bought ours at floor and Decore. Their product had more wear layer than the lifeproof and was cheaper. View attachment 1183590

I got the same product and been down for 3 years looks like new . Have real wood at home both are expensive but would just have soon have LVP as wood .

 

[grouper throat]

I like the LVP in my current house compared to the hardwood I had in my previous house. Laid LVP and wood laminate and it's easy with both.

 

[LTZ25]

I like the LVP in my current house compared to the hardwood I had in my previous house. Laid LVP and wood laminate and it's easy with both.

LVP is water proof ( within reason ) and I would put it in every floor in house , I have an Oreck buffer and it cleans up perfect and use Roomba to vacuum .

 

[Geffellz18]

LVP or EVP for the win in my opinion. I’ve put down literally every type of flooring and it’s hands down my favorite.

Put the life proof LVP from Home Depot in the basement. Purchased two different colors and mixed them.
8mil wear layer. Plenty durable for everyday use.


The remainder of the house has Mohawk historic chestnut style EVP, 20mil commercial strength wear layer. Covered real hardwood with it with no regrets!


Love it and with the attached underlayment, it’s very quiet to walk on.
They’ve come a LOOOONG way with style, design and durability too!

 

[Boondocks]

I did my last house with bamboo… scratches but at the time it was about $2/SF and looked great. Home Depot purchase I believe. That house was heated by that wood stove for the 11 years we were there and a few decades prior.
View attachment 1183596

That is what I did in a rental unit.Easy to lay and will stand up to wear.

 

[sinclair1]

We just did the whole house in LVT. I hate fake stuff but this coastal concrete slab living is hard on my knees. This was an over the top OCD install because I didn’t want any thresholds and it’s not as easy to do like wood.
We went with the XL planks that are 70”x 9” in standard wood color. We liked the trendy ones with heavy color variations but worried it would lose its appeal.

It’s a little odd sounding at first but you get used to the sound the surface makes when you walk.

We went with a more expensive per sq ft and it ran 12k for the material which we installed over several months as we had to demo tile to do the whole floor in LVT.
If you have high ceilings I would definitely recommend the XXL size planks. We have 20ft ceilings and bought a box of the standard size to mock lay and it was swallowed up. Just too small.

Note we had to redo the toilet flange in the powder room as we wanted the floor to flow in there as well and it was thick tile before.

 

[northgeorgiasportsman]

We just did the whole house in LVT. I hate fake stuff but this coastal concrete slab living is hard on my knees. This was an over the top OCD install because I didn’t want any thresholds and it’s not as easy to do like wood.
We went with the XL planks that are 70”x 9” in standard wood color. We liked the trendy ones with heavy color variations but worried it would lose its appeal.

It’s a little odd sounding at first but you get used to the sound the surface makes when you walk.

We went with a more expensive per sq ft and it ran 12k for the material which we installed over several months as we had to demo tile to do the whole floor in LVT.
If you have high ceilings I would definitely recommend the XXL size planks. We have 20ft ceilings and bought a box of the standard size to mock lay and it was swallowed up. Just too small.

Note we had to redo the toilet flange in the powder room as we wanted the floor to flow in there as well and it was thick tile before.View attachment 1183827

We did pretty much the same with LVP. Got a higher end cork-backed plank and ran the entire house (except bathrooms) with zero thresholds. It just takes a little planning. We love it.

 

[shawnrice]

I installed hone depot lifeproof in our basement. It's bulletproof and looks great

x2 ,I put a felt type padding under mine ,pretty much noise free

 

[TomC]

I'm going in to year 2 with a higher end LVP. Did my entire house including bathroom. Looks nice, gets compliments on looks, cleans up easy, show no signs of wear, waterproof for the most part, pet proof, cost effective, etc, etc.

With all those positives I walk on it everyday and just don't like the feel of a floating floor coming from nicer hardwoods. I'll either do stained concrete with some rugs or real hardwood or laminate on my next place! At the end of the day it's just vinyl and has a cheap feel to it. I don't regret going with it as its a good product just MUCH prefer walking on the real stuff.

 

[StikEm]

I installed hone depot lifeproof in our basement. It's bulletproof and looks great

I agree 100% ...couldn't be happier

 

[HD28]

Use LVT and you won't regret it IMO.

 

[LTZ25]

Going from carpet to vinyl or hardwood will make room more noisy, echoey and colder on the feet. Save money and simply replace the carpet.

no way .

 

[4HAND]

@Athos, what you think?
Looks like the majority is pro vinyl.

 

[buckpasser]

Another vinyl vote here. Tough to beat.

 

[Spotlite]

Going from carpet to vinyl or hardwood will make room more noisy, echoey and colder on the feet. Save money and simply replace the carpet.

Good point, but vinyl is not really noisy, for us anyways. But, due to allergies we yanked our carpet.

 

[Athos]

I appreciate all of the posts in here. Very helpful. Looks like I’m going to be pricing some LVP.