Flooring Advice

[mom31257]

Would you all be willing to give some flooring advice? We are going to put new "something" down soon. 

Here's our situation. The house is not a high price range home, but would be more of a first time home buyer situation. It's a 3 bedroom, 2 bath ranch with a bonus over the 2 car garage, about 1800 sq. feet total. It has a slab foundation and carpet everywhere except bathrooms, kitchen, and laundry room. We want to sell the house in about 3 years, but I want to enjoy something now because the carpet was builder grade carpet to start with and has seen better days. The house is 14 years old, and we are the original owners. 

We can't afford hardwood. Should we do carpet again, or would a laminate or pergo type thing work on a slab foundation?  What would more people want? Should we do carpet in the bedrooms and the laminate in the main living area? 

Thanks for any tips or advice. 

[Targhee]

Have you looked at LVP? They have done pretty convincing wood looks.  There are also wood-look tile planks.

[NorthwestMom]

We are in a similar situation. We are putting in laminate since it is very possible that buyers will change the flooring anyway. It might as well be inexpensive for us.

[BlsdMama]

We did LVP (luxury vinyl plank) from Costco in our dining room and kitchen about 1.5 years ago. It was a mistake in the kitchen (I drop knives) and pure genius in the dining room. We are EXTREMELY hard on floors and this is the most heavily used room in our house. It is an ages hickory plank and I have been thrilled with it. 

[Carol in Cal.]

I would not put carpet in the bedrooms.  That's a big fat allergy no-no, and it puts people off, more and more.

I might look at bamboo for the bedrooms, as it has a warm feel and appearance, and the last time I checked was less expensive than hardwood.  Then one of those very high guarantee length carpets for the living room, and LVP everywhere else.  Be sure to buy a few extra LVP planks to hold in reserve.

[gardenmom5]

do you want pergo?   there are low cost options for a hardwood look - without the price - that can be installed over slab.  (that's a bigger obstacle- you can't put hardwood on slab anyway.).

there are even slate-look, or nice tile-look vinyl for wet areas.

[kiwik]

I would stick with carpet in the bedrooms and laminate or LVP in the living areas.  But I live on the other side of the world so the market is different.  We don't generally heat bedrooms so carpet is warmer.

[Pawz4me]

Engineered hardwood is generally what's put down on a slab.

I'm a fan of LVP and LVT. They may not have the glitz/glamour/reputation of wood, but IME and IMO they're far superior in terms of practicality and ease of care. I'm pretty sure many types of laminate can be installed on a slab (Pergo is a brand of laminate). I've also had far better experiences with laminate--although I don't know what brand it was--than I have with wood.

In your shoes I'd probably do whatever you'd be happiest with that fits your budget. Three years is a long time to live with flooring you don't like. But I think most people nowadays would want hard flooring at least in the main living area.

[Angie in VA]

You said no hardwood, but when we built, we looked at one type of wood flooring, and the salesman at that store called us once a month to see if  we were ready to purchase yet. We didn't promise we would, he was just being a good salesman, and we appreciated his soft sell. FTR, I didn't know about LVP or LVT back then.

We battled evil sub-contractors (one, in particular) that held up construction several times. One day Flooring Guy called and said, "That flooring you like is going on clearance." We jumped on it! What a blessing that we were finally ready for it. 

We also got our tile flooring 50% off b/c it was delivered to the wrong store and they'd marked it down to get rid of it. A woman I know mocked me for using the same tile everywhere in the house (kitchen and bathrooms). All I thought of was the savings. Besides, it's a neutral tile, so it's fine. 

My point: since you're not selling right away, but want it to enjoy for yourself, you have time to look around. You might find a great deal on LVP, LVT, tile or hardwood.

We have been in our home for almost 10 years now, and I know we'd need to replace at least some carpet if we'd put it in. I'm so glad we didn't. 

[Ottakee]

If you live in a wet area....lots of rain, mud, snow, etc or have people in the house that spill, pets, etc I would caution against laminate.  It is terrible for water.   I did almost the entire main floor in laminate and regret it.  I didn't know about LVP floors back then or I would have chosen that.

[Carrie12345]

We have a combo of carpet (bedrooms, halls, and living room) and laminate (kitchen and dining area), with tile in the bathrooms. Our house was a flip 13 years ago, and I believe the quality of workmanship was the biggest problem. 

Around 10 years ago, give or take, dh ripped out the carpet in the girls' room and installed laminate.  It is still in excellent condition in there.  The laminate in the front of the house has picked up multiple gaps over the years, starting almost as soon as we moved in, and the gaps lead to chips.  It's not really a "settling" issue, because the house was built in '91. I think they just did that poor a job, and maybe we purchased better quality materials for the bedroom? This was the first floor dh had ever installed, so he's no professional.  (We have had other issues with the house that point to other crummy work having been done.)

We're 95% set on laying new laminate through all living areas. Though we're not on a slab, our floors do get very cold in our relatively harsh winters. We don't have the budget for radiant floors, so we're going to go with the highest quality underlayment we can get and use a lot of rugs.

Anyway, my gut feeling is that the installation HAS to be done well in order for planks to stay nice.

[fairfarmhand]

I have wood look ceramic tile installed directly over concrete. It’s gorgeous, it should last forever, and low maintenance. 

[SamanthaCarter]

We had LVT put in our remodeled bathroom. I LOVE it so much. I want more. Lol. 

[mom31257]

Thanks for all the thoughts! We haven't started looking yet, so I was trying to get some advice before we hit the stores. I had not heard of the LVP or LVT. We are actually on vacation and will start looking next week. I thought there may be 4th of July sales going on. 

We live in middle GA, so it doesn't get very cold at all. It's not in a wet area, either. We're in a subdivision with a small yard, so we only do square foot type gardening and don't track in stuff from even that. We do track in the occasional mulch from the beds at the front of the house. We don't have indoor pets, either. 

Our living room and kitchen/dining area are connected and have a half wall between them. Right now the carpet stops at that wall, and there's vinyl from there into the kitchen. The hallways are short and connected to the living room. It's a split ranch with the kids' bedrooms on one end and our bedroom on the other. 

 

[Carol in Cal.]

One thing to do before you look much more is to talk with your tax guy about whether this will add to the basis of the house.  If so, then the effective cost will be less, and you might just want to go ahead and get what you really want.  

[SamanthaCarter]

Unless this is going to be OPs rental or second home, tax basis is irrelevant. 

[mom31257]

Thanks, Rachel! I was a little confused by that. 

[kbutton]

Another vote for LVP or LVT. We put LVP in our entire upstairs, and one room downstairs, and we love it. We have a local flooring shop that has better cash and carry deals than the box stores, and they vet products carefully before carrying them. We got some kind of Shaw flooring IIRC, and it has a commercial rating. The flooring seems to be doing just fine in bathrooms as well as halls and heavier traffic areas. We were told we can steam mop it if we want to. People think it's wood, but when it's quieter to walk on, etc. they start asking questions.

Oh, a lot of LVP doesn't need special underlayment. It's usually built into the planks. You will need to ask about that for cost comparisons.

 

[BarbecueMom]

Our whole house is LVP or LVT, which will include the finished basement once the remodel is done.  Love it, with the disclaimer that I don’t have super high standards for finishes.  It just needs to function.  I floored the living room myself with a sick toddler sleeping on my lap.  I also live in a starter neighborhood.  Ours is 4/3, 1400sf, but it’s one of the highest value homes in the subdivision (most are 3/2 and <1200sf).  Hardwood wouldn’t add enough to the value to justify it.  Nor do I want to take care of it.

The only problem has been in the kitchen, where I tried to flip over a heavy table/island on my own to put on a new butcher block and put a gouge in one of the planks.  Oops. That would have been far more upsetting with higher-value flooring.

The best part of it is how easy it is to clean up projectile vomit.  ?

[forty-two]

One thing, wrt going from carpet to some kind of hard flooring, is that it's a lot harder on your feet.  My mom regrets replacing the carpet in the living areas with laminate for that reason.  (Otherwise it looks very nice.)  We just bought a house that has stone tile in the living areas and bathrooms, and carpet in the bedrooms.  (The other house we seriously considered had wood/laminate (idk which) throughout the entire house.)  I really love the tile - it's pretty and the pattern hides the dirt tremendously well.  But it is definitely harder on your feet.  Our first week here everyone's feet hurt a lot - we thought we were all going to need house shoes.  Now that we've unpacked more and aren't on our feet so much, it seems to be better, but sometimes I go sit down when I otherwise wanted to be standing, just so I'm not standing on tile.  In the realtor pictures, there were two mats down in the kitchen (in front of the stove and in front of the sink), and ITU why.

That said, we are having to replace the carpet because of three zillion stains and ground-in food bits the previous owners left, and it's a ridiculous amount to get good carpet.  The tile guy at the store said tile was cheaper - minus labor, it was half that of the carpet, but idk if labor makes up the difference.  But my family generally prefers carpet in the bedrooms - the kids like the softness and plushness.  And tbh it's nice to have a respite from the hardness of the tile, even though I really do love it - it looks so great, and it's cool on the feet (nice in the south).  And it cleans so well - we even spilled paint on it, and we were able to wipe it right up, no stain.  And it at least feels fairly indestructible - unlike with laminate, it doesn't seem to scratch; with laminate, my parents had to put furniture pads on the bottom of all their furniture.  It might crack if we dropped something heavy (although I worry more about whatever we dropped), but it at least seems less likely to crack than ceramic tile.

I will say, with house-hunting, I definitely wanted wood/laminate/tile instead of carpet, for allergy reasons and general maintenance reasons - it was biggish factor in my opinion of the houses we looked at.  But obviously I didn't let the carpet in the bedrooms here turn me off the house.  And I always had in the back of my head how much harder non-carpet flooring would be.

[Carol in Cal.]

21 minutes ago, SamanthaCarter said:

Unless this is going to be OPs rental or second home, tax basis is irrelevant. 

No, not really.  She said she was going to sell it, and at that point increasing the tax basis might reduce capital gains taxes.  Of course, for that to be so, the capital gains would have to exceed the excluded amount.  However, in many parts of the country that is just a given.

[Pawz4me]

47 minutes ago, Carol in Cal. said:

No, not really.  She said she was going to sell it, and at that point increasing the tax basis might reduce capital gains taxes.  Of course, for that to be so, the capital gains would have to exceed the excluded amount.  However, in many parts of the country that is just a given.

I'm no tax expert, but I doubt it's a problem in Georgia. We've sold four houses over the years and capital gains taxes have never remotely entered the picture. I can't imagine that updating flooring could make that big of a difference anyway.

[SamanthaCarter]

From a federal perspective, capital gains tax only applies to sale of a "primary residence" when the gain is over $250K for an individual or $500K for a married couple. That's a pretty huge windfall, and that's why next to nobody pays capital gains on the sale of a primary residence. State taxes vary, so Carol, maybe you mean your state taxes capital gains on primary residences? I think that's true in California. 

I can only see flooring making a difference if you are within 1K or so from making a 250K/500K gain. But even then, you'd only be talking capital gains tax on the amount of gain you went over that threshold. 

[Targhee]

9 hours ago, gardenmom5 said:

do you want pergo?   there are low cost options for a hardwood look - without the price - that can be installed over slab.  (that's a bigger obstacle- you can't put hardwood on slab anyway.).

there are even slate-look, or nice tile-look vinyl for wet areas.

Yes you can. You can’t put hardwood BELOW GRADE on a basement foundation, but you can on ongrade slab.

We are in the thick of building right now, and doing research on flooring. Some good advice I’ll pass on: 

- consider your climate (eg if you are somewhere generally cool or cold carpet is a very attractive option, if you live where there are big temp and humidity variations hardwood might cup, if you live where there’s lots of inside-outside traffic a solid durable surface like tile will do well, etc)

- consider usage of a space (eg is it a hardworking room like a laundry/mud/kitchen or a room of retreat like a bedroom or family room, or a high traffic area like living room and hallways, do you have dogs inside that might scratch wood or soil carpet, do you have elderly or those with bad joints who need to avoid very hard surfaces like tile and bamboo, etc) and match the function of your flooring to it

- consider maintenance and replacement (eg vinyl is soft and can take a drop but not a drag that might tear, solid oiled wood can be sanded and spot finished where  polyurethane finish has to have the whole floor done at once yet oiled wood needs regular reoiling, carpet needs vacuuming even when it “looks clean” and if there’s need for replacement you will need to do the entire room if not the entire house, etc) and decide what YOU want to eat with.

Good luck!

[Tsuga]

14 hours ago, mom31257 said:

Would you all be willing to give some flooring advice? We are going to put new "something" down soon. 

Here's our situation. The house is not a high price range home, but would be more of a first time home buyer situation. It's a 3 bedroom, 2 bath ranch with a bonus over the 2 car garage, about 1800 sq. feet total. It has a slab foundation and carpet everywhere except bathrooms, kitchen, and laundry room. We want to sell the house in about 3 years, but I want to enjoy something now because the carpet was builder grade carpet to start with and has seen better days. The house is 14 years old, and we are the original owners. 

We can't afford hardwood. Should we do carpet again, or would a laminate or pergo type thing work on a slab foundation?  What would more people want? Should we do carpet in the bedrooms and the laminate in the main living area? 

Thanks for any tips or advice. 

We have the laminate wood flooring in several rooms because we also cannot afford new hardwood. Our strategy is laminate wherever there is most likely to be water damage and/or wherever we are taking out carpet, wood in key high-visibility areas (sitting room, stairs). We figure that laminate is so cheap comparatively that we can just go with it and slowly redo wood floors with reclaimed wood in the future, if need be. I'm not putting real wood in the kitchen until the munchkins are gone.

[ktgrok]

6 hours ago, Ottakee said:

If you live in a wet area....lots of rain, mud, snow, etc or have people in the house that spill, pets, etc I would caution against laminate.  It is terrible for water.   I did almost the entire main floor in laminate and regret it.  I didn't know about LVP floors back then or I would have chosen that.

Or if you have little kids that spill water a lot, pets that are potty training, etc. We put laminate down everywhere and I regret it. We have a lot of spots that have buckled because of moisture. And several that are scratched up or messed up from our you don’t even know what. If I were doing it again I would do the vinyl.Or if you have little kids that spill water a lot, pets that are potty training, etc. We put laminate down everywhere and I regret it. We have a lot of spots that have buckled because of moisture. And several that are scratched up or messed up from our you don’t even know what. If I were doing it again I would do the vinyl.

[kbutton]

6 hours ago, forty-two said:

One thing, wrt going from carpet to some kind of hard flooring, is that it's a lot harder on your feet.  My mom regrets replacing the carpet in the living areas with laminate for that reason.  (Otherwise it looks very nice.)  We just bought a house that has stone tile in the living areas and bathrooms, and carpet in the bedrooms.  (The other house we seriously considered had wood/laminate (idk which) throughout the entire house.)  I really love the tile - it's pretty and the pattern hides the dirt tremendously well.  But it is definitely harder on your feet. 

2

Fatigue-wise, most laminates and LVP products are going to be less fatiguing than tile (and maybe hardwood). They come with an integrated backing or require a rolled out layer of stuff underneath. We pulled out a small amount of laminate in the upstairs hall since the rest of the upstairs was going to be LVP and we wanted it to run continuously throughout the upstairs. Anyway, that laminate had a yellowy product rolled underneath that is a lot like packing material but better. We actually used it doubled up as a knee saver when we installed the flooring. One or two layers of that stuff reduced fatigue as well as my more cushy garden kneeling pad. I would guess you can buy differently rated products to go under laminate or planks. It's worth asking.

[ktgrok]

Omg, yes, tile is SO hard on the body. My sister has tile and it is incredibly hard on me to be there for even a few hours, compared to our laminate. 

[Mergath]

We have LVP in the kitchen and I LOVE it. It looks nice, it's warm and gentle on my feet, and it's practically indestructible. Four cats with claws, two kids, chairs being dragged back and forth, standing puddles of water sitting overnight- nothing seems to affect it. And it's so easy to clean.

[KungFuPanda]

If you do LVP you can install it yourself and save a bundle. You don’t even need any real tools; just a box cutter. It helps to get the tapper thing, but that’s about $10. I did my LR/DR myself for less than $800 last year. It still looks brand new. I have a few gaps that are making me crazy and I’m tempted to redo it. It would be like taking a puzzle apart and doing it again, but the hard part is done. If the floor was darker I wouldn’t even see the gaps, but it’s a light blonde. It took longer to prep the room to put the floor down than it did to lay the floor. 

[mom31257]

We went to a couple of stores today and looked around. The LVP definitely seems like a good option. We might would still put carpet in the bedrooms, stairs, and bonus room over the garage, though. 

As far as floors go, we visit my MIL's house with hardwood through most of it. Our feet don't hurt there, so I think we'll be good. 

And as far as the taxes, I will feel very blessed if we are able to sell the house for as much as we paid for it 14 years ago. Our area and price range was hit hard by the housing crisis and is still recovering. We definitely won't be making a huge amount of money. 

 

[ktgrok]

Found this comparing them: https://www.homeadvisor.com/r/vinyl-vs-laminate-flooring/

[PinkyandtheBrains.]

23 hours ago, Targhee said:

Have you looked at LVP? They have done pretty convincing wood looks.  There are also wood-look tile planks.

 

 

This is is what we put in our new place after removing the carpet.  I really like it so far. We put in a mid range style, but there is a wide range of options.

[Pawz4me]

7 hours ago, mom31257 said:

We went to a couple of stores today and looked around. The LVP definitely seems like a good option. We might would still put carpet in the bedrooms, stairs, and bonus room over the garage, though. 

As far as floors go, we visit my MIL's house with hardwood through most of it. Our feet don't hurt there, so I think we'll be good. 

And as far as the taxes, I will feel very blessed if we are able to sell the house for as much as we paid for it 14 years ago. Our area and price range was hit hard by the housing crisis and is still recovering. We definitely won't be making a huge amount of money. 

 

It's not a given, but chances are your stairs were built to be carpeted. Or in other words, they're probably pretty rough and ugly. You may be able to fix them up and paint them. I've done ours, and while they're not fabulous by any means I think they're a vast improvement over carpet. But it was a really big project that took me and DH about two and a half weeks and was a big disruption since we couldn't access the upstairs a good part of that time.  Your easiest and probably by far the best option is almost certainly going to be to put carpet back down on them. Otherwise to make them look good for future buyers you're probably looking at having them rebuilt with hardwood treads that have been stained to match whatever hard flooring you use. That's probably what I'll have done eventually, but it's a several thousand dollar renovation.

[Katy]

I've loved the luxury vinyl plank and tile we've had, and HATED all the laminate. Even with the "sound proof" barrier underneath laminate it makes a weird clicky echo sound when you walk on it.

[G5052]

Can you ask a realtor what they recommend for that price range? Most will be fine with coming to see your house if you will keep them in mind down the road. Or you may know someone.

In our house that just sold (neighborhood of professionals and executives), hardwood is the norm for that price range. We replaced the builder grade carpet with hardwood some years back and had to do a light remodel of the kitchen (countertop and new appliances). It sold quickly.

Where we are renting now (blue collar neighborhood), carpet is the norm. Our rental has carpet everywhere but the kitchen and bathrooms.

[ktgrok]

1 hour ago, Katy said:

I've loved the luxury vinyl plank and tile we've had, and HATED all the laminate. Even with the "sound proof" barrier underneath laminate it makes a weird clicky echo sound when you walk on it.

Oh my goodness yes! I forgot about that part. Especially when you have dogs and even cats. I can hear my cat walk on that floor. I had no idea it was going to be so loud and we did put down the better sound barrier under it even. We are replacing it soon and I am begging my husband to do the vinyl instead. Our only concern is we want to sell soon and I’m worried about resale value. But honestly, we are in a working-class neighborhood, so I don’t know that it matters. It’s going to be either vinyl or laminate, not hardwood anyway.

[ktgrok]

And with laminate you have to be careful how you clean it. Some of our damage is from using a steam up on it. Turns out you can’t do that. Or even a regular mop that is very wet. I get that a lot of people are just fine using a little bit of a damp mop but I have kids with sticky mess is. When you had yogurt and dry on the floor you need more than just a damp mop.

[ktgrok]

1 hour ago, G5052 said:

Can you ask a realtor what they recommend for that price range? Most will be fine with coming to see your house if you will keep them in mind down the road. Or you may know someone.

In our house that just sold (neighborhood of professionals and executives), hardwood is the norm for that price range. We replaced the builder grade carpet with hardwood some years back and had to do a light remodel of the kitchen (countertop and new appliances). It sold quickly.

Where we are renting now (blue collar neighborhood), carpet is the norm. Our rental has carpet everywhere but the kitchen and bathrooms.

Thank you for saying this. That was kind of my thought, it was before we do ours, to ask a realtor familiar with our area. We are very much in a working-class neighborhood so I think it won’t really matter but something to consider. If we were going to sell sooner than we are I would probably just leave what we have and give a flooring allowance. But darn it, I’d like it to be nice for me while we live here. And I have a feeling we may not be moving as soon as we would like.

[Katy]

2 hours ago, Ktgrok said:

Thank you for saying this. That was kind of my thought, it was before we do ours, to ask a realtor familiar with our area. We are very much in a working-class neighborhood so I think it won’t really matter but something to consider. If we were going to sell sooner than we are I would probably just leave what we have and give a flooring allowance. But darn it, I’d like it to be nice for me while we live here. And I have a feeling we may not be moving as soon as we would like.

 

So when I picked out the new flooring for our kitchen and bath here I went to a lot of places.  High end showrooms to home improvement centers.  I liked two things - a $18/sq ft luxury vinyl tile at a floor showroom, and a $1/sq ft option at Lowe's that was a very close second in terms of feel and quality. I would absolutely go to the closest Lowe's and check that out if I were you. The ONLY problem with it is that I opted for the huge tiles and I'm not strong enough to cut many of them with scissors at once.  I tried alternatives, but ended up getting a retired relative to come over and cut them for me as I placed the edge tiles. If you opt for luxury vinyl plank you can get a cheap cutter from Harbor Freight that will cut smaller things like planks. I would absolutely do that.

The other thing you should know is that if you opt for tile, it IS groutable, but the vinyl grout is more difficult to install than typical grout. It tends to clump together and come out of the joints. It took me about two days of working with it to figure out how to do it - it ended up being a LOT of sponges and patch work.

Anyway, check out Lowe's.  I love that stuff and absolutely plan on putting the plank in my basement when we remodel it. Maybe also check out the high end flooring showrooms in your area first, so you get a feel for what makes a vinyl plank feel high end and what doesn't.

[ktgrok]

1 hour ago, Katy said:

 

So when I picked out the new flooring for our kitchen and bath here I went to a lot of places.  High end showrooms to home improvement centers.  I liked two things - a $18/sq ft luxury vinyl tile at a floor showroom, and a $1/sq ft option at Lowe's that was a very close second in terms of feel and quality. I would absolutely go to the closest Lowe's and check that out if I were you. The ONLY problem with it is that I opted for the huge tiles and I'm not strong enough to cut many of them with scissors at once.  I tried alternatives, but ended up getting a retired relative to come over and cut them for me as I placed the edge tiles. If you opt for luxury vinyl plank you can get a cheap cutter from Harbor Freight that will cut smaller things like planks. I would absolutely do that.

The other thing you should know is that if you opt for tile, it IS groutable, but the vinyl grout is more difficult to install than typical grout. It tends to clump together and come out of the joints. It took me about two days of working with it to figure out how to do it - it ended up being a LOT of sponges and patch work.

Anyway, check out Lowe's.  I love that stuff and absolutely plan on putting the plank in my basement when we remodel it. Maybe also check out the high end flooring showrooms in your area first, so you get a feel for what makes a vinyl plank feel high end and what doesn't.

Thank you! That's very helpful! DH is handy, he cut and installed the laminate that is in our whole house (other than the kitchen/dining which are tile), so I'm sure he probably has the right tools. Or would buy them. We have a Harbor Freight in town, thankfully, and a Lowes. I think we'd go for the planks, rather than the tile, so no grouting. I HATE grout. 

[Pawz4me]

22 minutes ago, Ktgrok said:

Thank you! That's very helpful! DH is handy, he cut and installed the laminate that is in our whole house (other than the kitchen/dining which are tile), so I'm sure he probably has the right tools. Or would buy them. We have a Harbor Freight in town, thankfully, and a Lowes. I think we'd go for the planks, rather than the tile, so no grouting. I HATE grout. 

FYI--We have Armstrong Alterna LVT in our bathrooms and laundry room and it can be done with or w/o grout. I hate ceramic tile type grout, but decided to use grout with the LVT since (1) those are "wet" rooms and it seemed to me that grout would make the LVT even more waterproof since water couldn't seep between seams and (2) the flooring salesperson told me that the grout used for LVT is totally different and much less of a hassle to maintain than grout used for ceramic and other types of tile. So far that's proven to be true. It's been down for over two years and we've had no trouble at all with the grout. No chipping or cracking, no staining, still looks like it did the day after it was done.

[ktgrok]

8 minutes ago, Pawz4me said:

FYI--We have Armstrong Alterna LVT in our bathrooms and laundry room and it can be done with or w/o grout. I hate ceramic tile type grout, but decided to use grout with the LVT since (1) those are "wet" rooms and it seemed to me that grout would make the LVT even more waterproof since water couldn't seep between seams and (2) the flooring salesperson told me that the grout used for LVT is totally different and much less of a hassle to maintain than grout used for ceramic and other types of tile. So far that's proven to be true. It's been down for over two years and we've had no trouble at all with the grout. No chipping or cracking, no staining, still looks like it did the day after it was done.

Good to know!!!

[mom31257]

I will probably ask a realtor that I know, but I have a general idea based on the price range of houses selling in our neighborhood. What I want is to enjoy it the next three years but it be decent to sell then. 

We really aren't in a high price range home for our area, so carpet would be fine. I'm just thinking that something else might help it be a cut above. 

[G5052]

5 hours ago, Ktgrok said:

Thank you for saying this. That was kind of my thought, it was before we do ours, to ask a realtor familiar with our area. We are very much in a working-class neighborhood so I think it won’t really matter but something to consider. If we were going to sell sooner than we are I would probably just leave what we have and give a flooring allowance. But darn it, I’d like it to be nice for me while we live here. And I have a feeling we may not be moving as soon as we would like.

Yes, it pays to ask what the norm is if you have any sense that the market might be somewhat slow. Where I live, there was some competition but a decent number of buyers. So we had to make sure that we fit the norms of the location and price range we were asking. If we had not done a light upgrade of the kitchen, the realtor commented that it likely would still be sitting there. And definitely if we didn't have wood floors. People who buy there want everything upscale and move-in ready. Flooring allowances don't go over well for that type of house.

If I buy again, it likely will more of an as-is situation that needs updating, and in those houses, allowances are not uncommon. Some are carpeted, and some are not.

 

[ktgrok]

1 hour ago, G5052 said:

Yes, it pays to ask what the norm is if you have any sense that the market might be somewhat slow. Where I live, there was some competition but a decent number of buyers. So we had to make sure that we fit the norms of the location and price range we were asking. If we had not done a light upgrade of the kitchen, the realtor commented that it likely would still be sitting there. And definitely if we didn't have wood floors. People who buy there want everything upscale and move-in ready. Flooring allowances don't go over well for that type of house.

If I buy again, it likely will more of an as-is situation that needs updating, and in those houses, allowances are not uncommon. Some are carpeted, and some are not.

 

Our neighborhood has a fair share of foreclosures, and was hit hard by the recession. It's coming back, but slowly. We did totally redo the kitchen when we bought it (as a foreclosure), so that has been upgraded compared to others in the area. So maybe that would balance out vinyl anyway ?

[Katy]

On 6/30/2018 at 2:07 PM, Pawz4me said:

FYI--We have Armstrong Alterna LVT in our bathrooms and laundry room and it can be done with or w/o grout. I hate ceramic tile type grout, but decided to use grout with the LVT since (1) those are "wet" rooms and it seemed to me that grout would make the LVT even more waterproof since water couldn't seep between seams and (2) the flooring salesperson told me that the grout used for LVT is totally different and much less of a hassle to maintain than grout used for ceramic and other types of tile. So far that's proven to be true. It's been down for over two years and we've had no trouble at all with the grout. No chipping or cracking, no staining, still looks like it did the day after it was done.

 

Yes, it is MUCH easier to care for the grout than any other grout.  I've never had to scrub the grout here at all, though I did choose a dark color.

It's just more difficult to install than regular grout.

[Annie G]

On 6/30/2018 at 2:33 PM, mom31257 said:

I will probably ask a realtor that I know, but I have a general idea based on the price range of houses selling in our neighborhood. What I want is to enjoy it the next three years but it be decent to sell then. 

We really aren't in a high price range home for our area, so carpet would be fine. I'm just thinking that something else might help it be a cut above. 

If you’re going to live there for three years before you sell it, lvt or another carpet alternative might look newer longer.  If you put in carpet now, it might have some stains or show wear in three years. 

[G5052]

On 6/30/2018 at 5:52 PM, Ktgrok said:

Our neighborhood has a fair share of foreclosures, and was hit hard by the recession. It's coming back, but slowly. We did totally redo the kitchen when we bought it (as a foreclosure), so that has been upgraded compared to others in the area. So maybe that would balance out vinyl anyway ?

 

Yes, real estate is tricky. I've been through about multiple sales in the last few years with relatives and then our house, and it was striking how different the markets were. One house was quite a wreck (he was a hoarder), and needed a major cosmetic overhaul that took several months, but we got several dozen offers. Another was likely going to be a tear down, so we just did a major cleanup (they had tons of cats and a dog). Eight offers.

You want to interview at least three realtors when the time comes to list and see what they say. I had a realtor neighbor walk through some months before we put it on the market, and she said to paint the cabinets, get a new countertop, and get new appliances. When we were truly getting ready to list, all three realtors said to leave the cabinets but get a new countertop and appliances. So that is what we did. There were other minor issues here-and-there, but the realtors said to leave them. There were even some issues that the inspector really should have at least mentioned, but thankfully this is a state where the buyer doesn't have to disclose anything at all. Finding issues, researching the location, etc. is on the buyer.

[mom31257]

I thought I should come back and tell you all we did go with luxury vinyl plank for the floor, and we love it! Thanks for all the advice!