Cheap flooring...

[BlsdMama]

Let's say you wanted a floor that would last five years.  If it survived FIVE years and looked decent, then you'd be happy - what would you pick?

 

Scenario:

 

A bajillion kids

Heavy traffic

Room where both your tables and your library shelves are - so comfort and easy enough to clean

Extremely large room with a lot of light (i.e., sunlight will bleach and ruin anything here)

Two years ago we put in tippy top carpet in the living room.  It shows the traffic.  Now, I do not HATE carpet.  But I don't love it.  I DO love it for that we go barefoot CONSTANTLY.

 

 

Our front room is where we do EVERYTHING.  

 

But, currently it has four full restaurant benches in there for ease of eating and seating plus one full size (seats eight) table for boardgames.

 

It was two rooms. Now it's one.  In one room? Dark red burgundy carpet.  In the other?  Linoleum - ripped at the edges from moving built-ins.

 

We do NOT want to put $$ into this flooring.  We thought about stranded bamboo but it's not supposed to have anything heavy keeping it from expanding/contracting. (The booths)

We thought about LVT.  My understanding is the inexpensive stuff scratches easily?  Plus - heavy stuff on it.

Linoleum would be fairly easy - it's a very rectangular room - but we also want to run whatever we do through the entry way and into the hall.  And it gets super cold here in the winter.

Tile - REALLY considering this but we cannot/will not heat under it - we would need additional electric service - major $$. (Again, seriously gets cold here and this is our cozy room)

 

 

If you've done cheap LVT - could it handle a couple years of traffic?  We want something relatively easy to pull up when we get rid of the booths.

[Scarlett]

Let's say you wanted a floor that would last five years.  If it survived FIVE years and looked decent, then you'd be happy - what would you pick?

 

Scenario:

 

A bajillion kids

Heavy traffic

Room where both your tables and your library shelves are - so comfort and easy enough to clean

Extremely large room with a lot of light (i.e., sunlight will bleach and ruin anything here)

Two years ago we put in tippy top carpet in the living room.  It shows the traffic.  Now, I do not HATE carpet.  But I don't love it.  I DO love it for that we go barefoot CONSTANTLY.

 

 

Our front room is where we do EVERYTHING.  

 

But, currently it has four full restaurant benches in there for ease of eating and seating plus one full size (seats eight) table for boardgames.

 

It was two rooms. Now it's one.  In one room? Dark red burgundy carpet.  In the other?  Linoleum - ripped at the edges from moving built-ins.

 

We do NOT want to put $$ into this flooring.  We thought about stranded bamboo but it's not supposed to have anything heavy keeping it from expanding/contracting. (The booths)

We thought about LVT.  My understanding is the inexpensive stuff scratches easily?  Plus - heavy stuff on it.

Linoleum would be fairly easy - it's a very rectangular room - but we also want to run whatever we do through the entry way and into the hall.  And it gets super cold here in the winter.

Tile - REALLY considering this but we cannot/will not heat under it - we would need additional electric service - major $$. (Again, seriously gets cold here and this is our cozy room)

 

 

If you've done cheap LVT - could it handle a couple years of traffic?  We want something relatively easy to pull up when we get rid of the booths.

 

 

Do you have concrete floors?  You can stain and seal them and that would be durable.  You need a few area rugs to make it less cold. Otherwise I would do tile. 

[BlsdMama]

Plywood subfloor. :)

[umsami]

Not sure what your price range is but we put in Pergo and it has held up really well.  It was about the same as cheap carpet per square foot, but looks and wears a million times better.

[wendy not in HI]

We found that installing real hardwood (ourselves) was a surprisingly cheap option.  It was seriously hard work, and I never want to do it again, but it looked great, held up amazingly, and was cheaper than carpet. It felt warmer to my feet than the tile, and easier on my knees. But it was really so much work.  And then we had to add trim around the baseboards.  And paint the trim and...   then you probably need a new rug or two and those are not cheap...

 

ps - I'm not sure what LVT is?  pergo kind of thing?  I've heard good and bad, but I prefer real wood, personally.

[BlsdMama]

Not sure what your price range is but we put in Pergo and it has held up really well.  It was about the same as cheap carpet per square foot, but looks and wears a million times better.

 

 

Isn't Pergo floating - so like the stranded bamboo at Costco?  That stuff is economical - only $1.50/square foot. But they told me not to put heavy furniture on it or it would all buckle.  Thoughts?

[ksr5377]

Get samples of the LVT and scratch them up. Even the higher end stuff scratches, but you're looking for something that will hide the scratches well. IME the lighter or gray tones do best with this.

[BlsdMama]

We found that installing real hardwood (ourselves) was a surprisingly cheap option.  It was seriously hard work, and I never want to do it again, but it looked great, held up amazingly, and was cheaper than carpet. It felt warmer to my feet than the tile, and easier on my knees. But it was really so much work.  And then we had to add trim around the baseboards.  And paint the trim and...   then you probably need a new rug or two and those are not cheap...

 

ps - I'm not sure what LVT is?  pergo kind of thing?  I've heard good and bad, but I prefer real wood, personally.

 

 

Luxury Vinyl Tile

 

 

I would prefer real wood too! :D

 

But, as much as I love my kids and I LOVE my kids, frankly, they are hard on stuff.  Just the pitter patter of 26 feet through this house every day is serious traffic.  And we want something NOW, within our NOW budget, that lets us make the floor look decent (and at least match for goodness sakes) and there are places where it is bare.  For example - widened the doorway.  Well, where the wall was?  Nothing there but the subfloor.  And where the dividing wall was?  Nothing but subfloor. I have an area rug over it now so you can't tell unless you look, but I want something that will look nice, inexpensively - think $2/sq ft. ish, for just a few years until we don't have the big booths there, kwim?  Because whatever we put down will be ruined.  Does that sound fatalistic, lol?

[umsami]

Isn't Pergo floating - so like the stranded bamboo at Costco?  That stuff is economical - only $1.50/square foot. But they told me not to put heavy furniture on it or it would all buckle.  Thoughts?

 

Pergo is floating.  Ours is on a cement base and has held up to all sort of hardwood furniture, pets, kids (including 3 boys), etc.  I've never heard of it buckling.   We have it in three bedrooms, a dining room, and a hallway.  

[Denise in IN]

We have found wood laminate to be a "workhorse" as far as being durable...but, you have to test for scratch resistance.  More expensive does not equal more durable, it just means it looks nicer.  Even then...the wood laminte we put in our basement kitchen looks very nice, and was much cheaper than the wood laminate we put in our main floor.  So I've concluded that inexpensive wood laminate can be durable and look nice.

 

At any rate, we've had our main floor wood laminate (kitchen, dining room, foyer) for 9 years and it still looks very nice.

[Seasider]

Would you consider just painting the subfloor, if it's plywood (not particle board)? I've thought of doing that myself and can tell you that Pinterest is full of beautiful results.

[KathyBC]

Would you consider just painting the subfloor, if it's plywood (not particle board)? I've thought of doing that myself and can tell you that Pinterest is full of beautiful results.

Did this. I'm not sure with very heavy traffic it would look good for 5 years.

[Seasider]

Did this. I'm not sure with very heavy traffic it would look good for 5 years.

But for the low cost, it could be painted every other year until nice flooring is saved for.

[Julie Smith]

We have painted plywood outside are only bathroom. We are a family of four and it is a 100 square foot house. I find it okayish and it has been 7 years.

[Spryte]

We put high end pergo in our last house, and it looked brand new when we sold 8 years later. Our neighbors put in laminate from Costco at the same time and it had to be replaced within 4 years. It was a floating type floor.

 

No scratches despite many kids, big kid parties, and big dogs. Easy to clean, no fading from the sun.

[busymama7]

We are going to go with LVT. However the laminate has been in our old house for 14 years and still looks pretty darn good. Some dings but not too bad. The reason we want LVT is that laminate is very susceptible to water damage and it will be at the doorway that comes in from the pool. I completely hear you on the just plain really hard on stuff. Same here and this is what our solution is. Good luck

[madteaparty]

I don't know the term but we have those fake wood floors in this house. I surprisingly prefer them to the beautiful white oak wide planks we put down in old house. It looks better, it holds up better, it doesn't buckle round the edges (old house) and it's oddly easier to clean. Moreover, I don't care what happens to it whereas the wood showed every little scratch.

Edited February 8, 2017 by madteaparty

[mom2samlibby]

I would look into this.  https://www.amtico.com/flooring/  or this.  http://www.karndean.com/en/floors

 

They might not be cheap, cheap, but they will hold up..  

[KungFuPanda]

With that much traffic, I'd look into something designed for commercial use. I'm guessing commercial carpet would be the cheapest. I don't think most residential products are designed to stand up to 26 feet every day. I'm guessing stores use a different LVT than is available at Home Depot.

[Another Lynn]

Five years and it's your cozy room?  I would consider cheap carpet.  But then, I'm no fashionista, lol.  

[mom2att]

We installed laminate from one of the warehouse stores in every room except kitchen and bathrooms a year after we moved in. It has a few dings where something really heavy was dropped on it, but it looks great after 13 years. We have heavy bookshelves on it, we have a piano on it, we've never had buckling of any kind. It is super easy to clean, and for the cozy factor/to cut down on noise we just use big area rugs. It's clearly not high end hardwood, but for our style of home and our type of family, it's perfect.

[BlsdMama]

But for the low cost, it could be painted every other year until nice flooring is saved for.

 

It's a good point but it isn't nice, smooth subfloor.  It's had flooring glued to it, and I'm not sure what you'd do between the cracks.  I think it would initially be less expensive but maybe more in the long run over five years because I suspect it might show wear really quickly with the traffic in that room/entry. Thank you though.  It's a good suggestion -we're thinking of painting or staining our concrete in the basement.

 

We put high end pergo in our last house, and it looked brand new when we sold 8 years later. Our neighbors put in laminate from Costco at the same time and it had to be replaced within 4 years. It was a floating type floor.

 

No scratches despite many kids, big kid parties, and big dogs. Easy to clean, no fading from the sun.

 

Good to know on the Costco - that is exactly what we were thinking about - either Costco LVT or Costco stranded bamboo.  Sigh. :(

 

 

We are going to go with LVT. However the laminate has been in our old house for 14 years and still looks pretty darn good. Some dings but not too bad. The reason we want LVT is that laminate is very susceptible to water damage and it will be at the doorway that comes in from the pool. I completely hear you on the just plain really hard on stuff. Same here and this is what our solution is. Good luck

 

I keep thinking LVT would be SO easy to clean... But I'm just not sure.

 

I don't know the term but we have those fake wood floors in this house. I surprisingly prefer them to the beautiful white oak wide planks we put down in old house. It looks better, it holds up better, it doesn't buckle round the edges (old house) and it's oddly easier to clean. Moreover, I don't care what happens to it whereas the wood showed every little scratch.

 

Good to know.  I love wood.  If the budget wasn't a constraint - solid wood in every inch of the house. :D  Except I think I might become ornery - because I'd shudder every time something was dropped.

 

My uncle tears down barns as a sidejob.  He sent a bunch of wood away to be smoothed, planed, etc and then used it to build his kitchen out of salvage wood - cabinets and floors.  It has all of this nail marks and weathering - it's just gorgeous.  DH & I figure it is the perfect kitchen - if you drop something you just say, "Wow! Look at that character!"  LOL.  Unfortunately, my DH doesn't tear down barns in his spare time. ;)

 

I would look into this.  https://www.amtico.com/flooring/  or this.  http://www.karndean.com/en/floors

 

They might not be cheap, cheap, but they will hold up..  

I couldn't find a price on the site but cheap is the first priority. :)  Otherwise we have to keep what we have currently and I really just want to toss something down and move the project to the back of the list for a few years! ;)

 

With that much traffic, I'd look into something designed for commercial use. I'm guessing commercial carpet would be the cheapest. I don't think most residential products are designed to stand up to 26 feet every day. I'm guessing stores use a different LVT than is available at Home Depot.

 

We talked about this too but I am guessing the minute we jump to commercial it's going to get a lot more expensive?  Maybe we just need to go look?  I wonder if commercial carpet squares would work well?

 

 

 

Five years and it's your cozy room?  I would consider cheap carpet.  But then, I'm no fashionista, lol.  

 

I'm debating that too.  It's  a weird room to be honest.  It's our dining room essentially....  I think I've shared a picture before.

 

 

And so it currently has carpet - the patterned carpet is an area rug.  

The drawback being that carpet is hard to clean.  BUT if you have an area rug over LVT, I'm guessing I can't steam clean the area rug?  Right?   So I might be better off with carpet than LVT and an area rug for cleaning purposes?

 

We installed laminate from one of the warehouse stores in every room except kitchen and bathrooms a year after we moved in. It has a few dings where something really heavy was dropped on it, but it looks great after 13 years. We have heavy bookshelves on it, we have a piano on it, we've never had buckling of any kind. It is super easy to clean, and for the cozy factor/to cut down on noise we just use big area rugs. It's clearly not high end hardwood, but for our style of home and our type of family, it's perfect.

 

So - we definitely would have to clean the rugs, about every six months or so and I'm wondering if you've done that?  Does the steam affect your tile? I can't remember how they go together because they aren't glued down, so maybe not?

It's a good point but it isn't nice, smooth subfloor.  It's had flooring glued to it, and I'm not sure what you'd do between the cracks.  I think it would initially be less expensive but maybe more in the long run over five years?  Or break even.

[Ravin]

I would look at either laminate or carpet tiles

[Guest]

Laminate. It's just SO easy to clean.

[BlsdMama]

So when ya'all say laminate - is that Pergo?  Or is that just one specific name brand?

[Spryte]

There are lots of brands of laminate. Pergo is just one. It comes in different levels - lower and higher end.

 

I think ours was Pergo Max, brandywine cherry. If that helps.

[Scarlett]

That is a cool room.  But I would absolutely NOT have carpet in there.  Put in vinyl or tile (you can find some good deals on tile!) or the fake wood and tell the kids to wear thick socks in the winter. We have some 'wood look' stuff in two of our bedrooms that is rubber like.  Very durable.  We got it from Lowes....I think it was around $3 a sf though so not super cheap IMO...but it was easy to install.  Tile would be cheaper but costly (either in time or money) to install.  And tile would be colder to live with.

Edited February 8, 2017 by Scarlett

[TranquilMind]

Let's say you wanted a floor that would last five years.  If it survived FIVE years and looked decent, then you'd be happy - what would you pick?

 

Scenario:

 

A bajillion kids

Heavy traffic

Room where both your tables and your library shelves are - so comfort and easy enough to clean

Extremely large room with a lot of light (i.e., sunlight will bleach and ruin anything here)

Two years ago we put in tippy top carpet in the living room.  It shows the traffic.  Now, I do not HATE carpet.  But I don't love it.  I DO love it for that we go barefoot CONSTANTLY.

 

 

Our front room is where we do EVERYTHING.  

 

But, currently it has four full restaurant benches in there for ease of eating and seating plus one full size (seats eight) table for boardgames.

 

It was two rooms. Now it's one.  In one room? Dark red burgundy carpet.  In the other?  Linoleum - ripped at the edges from moving built-ins.

 

We do NOT want to put $$ into this flooring.  We thought about stranded bamboo but it's not supposed to have anything heavy keeping it from expanding/contracting. (The booths)

We thought about LVT.  My understanding is the inexpensive stuff scratches easily?  Plus - heavy stuff on it.

Linoleum would be fairly easy - it's a very rectangular room - but we also want to run whatever we do through the entry way and into the hall.  And it gets super cold here in the winter.

Tile - REALLY considering this but we cannot/will not heat under it - we would need additional electric service - major $$. (Again, seriously gets cold here and this is our cozy room)

 

 

If you've done cheap LVT - could it handle a couple years of traffic?  We want something relatively easy to pull up when we get rid of the booths.

I would go to a flooring outlet and buy some expensive luxury vinyl.   It comes in a huge variety of patterns today.    I've seen how it holds up.   Home Depot TrafficMaster is amazing stuff and looks exactly like wood. 

 

Don't use Pergo in a room that can get wet.  It swells if any water stays on it.  I had a $500 repair because an icemaker leaked and we didn't find it until the day we stepped on the floor in that area and water squirted directly up.  Needless to say, I will not have an icemaker again. 

Edited February 8, 2017 by TranquilMind

[BlsdMama]

That is a cool room.  But I would absolutely NOT have carpet in there.  Put in vinyl or tile (you can find some good deals on tile!) or the  and tell the kids to wear thick socks in the winter. 

I seriously want tile.  Badly want tile.

 

Ugh.  

 

It's perfect -fairly low cost, lasts forever, can't kill it.  

 

Does anyone think it's hard on knees/hips/back?  DH has a bad back (has had surgery once and has had shots a few times, will need surgery again eventually) and if almost the whole house was tile - is that a relevant concern?

 

We do have a separate living room (with carpet) but we don't spend much time there.

[BlsdMama]

I would go to a flooring outlet and buy some expensive luxury vinyl.   It comes in a huge variety of patterns today.    I've seen how it holds up.   Home Depot TrafficMaster is amazing stuff and looks exactly like wood. 

 

Don't use Pergo in a room that can get wet.  It swells if any water stays on it.  I had a $500 repair because an icemaker leaked and we didn't find it until the day we stepped on the floor in that area and water squirted directly up.  Needless to say, I will not have an icemaker again. 

 

 

How wet is wet? LIke spills?  Or like a sink flooding?  Or like little muddy feet in the spring?  

[Scarlett]

I seriously want tile.  Badly want tile.

 

Ugh.  

 

It's perfect -fairly low cost, lasts forever, can't kill it.  

 

Does anyone think it's hard on knees/hips/back?  DH has a bad back (has had surgery once and has had shots a few times, will need surgery again eventually) and if almost the whole house was tile - is that a relevant concern?

 

We do have a separate living room (with carpet) but we don't spend much time there.

 

 

I have concrete floors so similar to tile....I wear shoes in my house all the time. 

 

I don't think it would be a huge concern for your dh because he isn't standing on it all day or anything. 

 

Edited to add my dh has two fused discs.  And a knee that needs replaced.  But I don't think our concrete floors are that big of a deal for him.  In the kitchen I have a rubber mat in front of the sink....helps me.  I need another one for the area where I chop veggies.

Edited February 8, 2017 by Scarlett

[ksr5377]

LVT - Luxury Vinyl Tile, or LVP - Luxury Vinyl Planks are both waterproof.  You could steam clean your rug on top of it no problem.  You could leave a spilled cup of water to evaporate and not damage it (however if you have a wood sub-floor I wouldn't recommend it).   We had it in our old house if the enclosed breezeway that we finished off to turn into an entry area/school room.  We went with the planks (wood looking) that were a medium gray tone.  It hid dirt well and they were so easy to clean.  We just put in beautiful hardwood throughout our entire first floor in our new home and I love to look at it, however the care of is freaking me out a little.  

[Seasider]

Tile is hard on knees, feet, etc if you are going to be standing on it for significant lengths of time (like working in the kitchen). I've experienced a noticable difference between homes with tile and homes with wood kitchen floors. However, my experience is from homes with a slab foundation. A wood subfloor may provide a little cush.

 

I love your diner booths! Such a neat solution to seating a lot of people and kids with different projects going!

[TranquilMind]

How wet is wet? LIke spills?  Or like a sink flooding?  Or like little muddy feet in the spring?  

 

If water gets in the seams, Pergo swells.  Muddy feet are fine; just clean it up at your first opportunity.  Standing water over the seams is not fine. 

 

Edited February 8, 2017 by TranquilMind

[prairiewindmomma]

We have tile through the majority of our house, for the reasons that you mention--high wear and tear, lasts forever, inexpensive.  Go for it! I wear washable sock slippers or a pair of house shoes most of the time. It really hasn't been a big deal in the transition.

[foxbridgeacademy]

I'd do plywood floors, stained and poly that way when you go to put in something else later you'll have a nice newish subfloor to go over top of.  Add in a couple pretty rugs that cover most of the room.

[BlsdMama]

We have tile through the majority of our house, for the reasons that you mention--high wear and tear, lasts forever, inexpensive.  Go for it! I wear washable sock slippers or a pair of house shoes most of the time. It really hasn't been a big deal in the transition.

 

Okay with a name like PrairieWindMama you HAVE to be somewhat near me, maybe?  How is winter?  We're in northern Iowa and if I could do in floor heating this would absolutely be a no-brainer.  But we can't without additional electric service, so........

[prairiewindmomma]

I used to live near you. :)  We had tile throughout all of our basement in that house (our school room, dh's office, and bathroom were down there). We didn't feel a lot of cold radiating up through the tile. Obviously, in floor heating would've been a huge luxury, but we didn't spring for it.  I think there were a couple of days we turned on a space heater in the morning (temps near 0), but that was more because our furnace couldn't keep up. 

 

This house has laminate floors in our school room, and they are already damaged.  Laminate floors just aren't the same as hardwoods.  We can't do cheap carpet because of allergies, and as affordable as tile is---I'd totally go that route.

 

I would've voted luxury vinyl tile for you until you mentioned your subfloor has issues. It's so much easier to get a level layout of tile than it is to deal with LVT.   

[JumpyTheFrog]

Just say no to bamboo.

 

Our bamboo floors looked nice for about a year (with two kids). At five years old they are filled with gouges, scratches, and dents. Plus they are discolored in several areas from water.

Edited February 8, 2017 by HoppyTheToad

[mom2samlibby]

Here's another option.  Someone shared these on facebook today.  https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=as_li_ss_tl?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=Soft+wood+tiles&linkCode=sl2&tag=remodelahol06-20&linkId=e0a7936a11af6e6ecf4d3d7aa192354e

[BlsdMama]

I used to live near you. :)  We had tile throughout all of our basement in that house (our school room, dh's office, and bathroom were down there). We didn't feel a lot of cold radiating up through the tile. Obviously, in floor heating would've been a huge luxury, but we didn't spring for it.  I think there were a couple of days we turned on a space heater in the morning (temps near 0), but that was more because our furnace couldn't keep up. 

 

This house has laminate floors in our school room, and they are already damaged.  Laminate floors just aren't the same as hardwoods.  We can't do cheap carpet because of allergies, and as affordable as tile is---I'd totally go that route.

 

I would've voted luxury vinyl tile for you until you mentioned your subfloor has issues. It's so much easier to get a level layout of tile than it is to deal with LVT.   

 

By issues I mean glue from linoleum.  Yikes.  I hadn't even thought about all of that having to be scrubbed up and removed. Thanks for the heads up.

 

Sigh.  This is never ending.

 

I really think I want tile.  Wonder if I can convince DH.

 

 

Just say no to bamboo.

 

Our bamboo floors looked nice for about a year (with two kids). At five years old they are filled with gouges, scratches, and dents. Plus they are discolored in several areas from water.

 

Was yours stranded bamboo?  I've heard the stranded is harder than oak.  OTOH, it's the Costco stranded and as much as I want to be hopeful, the reviews aren't encouraging.

[BlsdMama]

Here's another option.  Someone shared these on facebook today.  https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=as_li_ss_tl?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=Soft+wood+tiles&linkCode=sl2&tag=remodelahol06-20&linkId=e0a7936a11af6e6ecf4d3d7aa192354e

 

 

Those are pretty neat.  I could totally see them for a playroom or a basement room. I don't know if foam would hold up to this much traffic.

[Another Lynn]

I have tile in my kitchen and I hate it. The grout is gross. And it has broken in at least one place. And I would think it would be louder than carpet.

[BlsdMama]

I have tile in my kitchen and I hate it. The grout is gross. And it has broken in at least one place. And I would think it would be louder than carpet.

 

Did  you have light colored grout?  My mom literally ripped up her whole kitchen when it was about 2-3 years old so that she could replace the tile with sand color instead of white.  

We tiled our backyard door in our living room and used dark grout.  ;)

 

A friend mentioned cork.  I love the idea.  I like the way it looks.  Then I priced it.  Not such a low cost option afterall and the same chemical issues as LVT.

[Jennifer132]

Five years and it's your cozy room? I would consider cheap carpet. But then, I'm no fashionista, lol.

I agree, but I would go with a low pile commercial style carpet. We have LVT and it does scratch any time we move furniture along it. We have commercial style carpet (office carpet) on our stairs, and it does hold up to heavy traffic since it's already so flat that it can't get worn down easily.

[Desert Strawberry]

I'm pretty sure we are going with vinyl planks. Floating floors won't work for us, and its super high traffic (kitchen/dining/school/entry with both doors).

It's cheap, responsibly durable, easy to install, not ugly.

[Elizabeth 2]

Five years ago we put a laminate from Home Depot in half of our house. This was the living room, kitchen and hallway that ran from front door to back and was the car/train/riding toy track. We spent $0.56 a sq ft, plus underlayment. When we moved, it still looked really good. Considering this was the everything spaces other than the bedrooms and bath, it was amazing. No issues with buckling other than an installment error (bil didn't listen to me), did well when wet, cleaned up very well, and is being kept by the new owners. I did use area rugs for noise but at least our dishes didn't break like they do here on the tile. I hate the tile.

[lailasmum]

I have vinyl planks and really like it but it does wear and can get dented by heavy furniture and a couple of spots I've noticed the edge of the tile is damaged slightly where chairs are pushed over it many times a day. Now I would probably go for a roll of vinyl that is printed to look like planks. We have that in one room and unless you get close to it it's hard to tell the difference. It's a soft one with a really nice feel. The vinyl sheet was cheaper and quicker to lay too.

Edited February 11, 2017 by lailasmum

[SebastianCat]

I seriously want tile.  Badly want tile.

 

Ugh.  

 

It's perfect -fairly low cost, lasts forever, can't kill it.  

 

Does anyone think it's hard on knees/hips/back?  DH has a bad back (has had surgery once and has had shots a few times, will need surgery again eventually) and if almost the whole house was tile - is that a relevant concern?

 

We have tile through a large portion of our house, and we just wear shoes all the time.  No big deal.  My DH has knee issues, and has never complained about the tile bothering his knees.

 

I can't help you with weather and coldness.  We are in FL, so the shoes we wear 10-11 months out of the year are flip flops.  

 

Definitely choose your colors wisely with tile.   Don't get white grout or white tile.   Choose a tile that won't show dirt, and match the grout to it.   I love it.

[ktgrok]

I seriously want tile.  Badly want tile.

 

Ugh.  

 

It's perfect -fairly low cost, lasts forever, can't kill it.  

 

Does anyone think it's hard on knees/hips/back?  DH has a bad back (has had surgery once and has had shots a few times, will need surgery again eventually) and if almost the whole house was tile - is that a relevant concern?

 

We do have a separate living room (with carpet) but we don't spend much time there.

 

Tile is SUPER hard on the back. i don't have bad joints, but if I'm on my tile for hours it really really hurts. 

 

We have laminate, but if I was doing it again I'd do LVT just because you don't have to worry about moisture with LVT. And you can steam mop it, etc which you shouldn't with laminate. And you can bleach it, etc.