Vinyl Plank Flooring Question (Again)

[Katy]

So it's been a couple of moves since I last asked, but once again we're in a home that needs some carpet replaced.  Actually the carpet was pristine when we moved in over the summer but with two toddlers at once multiple times a day I find someone making geometric patterns on the carpet by shaking milk out of a sippy cup.  It's a wonder we don't have ants.  And I'm highly allergic to mold so running a carpet shampooer every week is not going to happen.  And, par for being in a new area, we've all been sick more times in the past few months than we have in the past couple years, so I'm unlikely to go back to the only have milk at the table rule until we're over this phase of constant viruses.  I've been one wet diaper away from taking them each to the emergency room a few times in the past 6 weeks.

Anyway, I need waterproof flooring and I'm leaning towards vinyl plank over wood this time.  Not only because it's softer on little heads but because it's harder to ruin with a steam mop than the wood I put in most of the last house.  Home Depot's Lifeproof has pretty good ratings online these days.  Has anyone tried that? 

I want something that cannot be ruined by either toddlers, teenagers, or movers.  Preferably chosen before Black Friday sales.

[BarbecueMom]

We put Lifeproof floors in our basement when we remodeled it last year.  So far the only scratches are in a room where we have some old wooden dining chairs, and the kids scooted them across the floor after the felt pads fell off.  I haven’t tried any kind of repair fix on them, as it’s a storage/creative junk room that’s not really visible to anyone who visits.  Nowhere else in the basement do we have a problem with scratches, including the open room that ends up being a free-for-all sport court and horseplay room (the walls on the other hand... sigh).  The LEGO room is fine too, even though I know those have been scraped across the floor almost daily.  It’s just a problem with those wood chairs.

Now upstairs we have much cheaper vinyl plank that’s all scraped and dinged up and needs replacing eventually, but it’s still 100x better than cleaning any internally produced liquid substance out of carpet.

I’ve never used a steam mop, just a regular spray-and-scrub Libman thing, so I don’t know how that would work on LVP.

[Katy]

4 minutes ago, BarbecueMom said:

We put Lifeproof floors in our basement when we remodeled it last year.  So far the only scratches are in a room where we have some old wooden dining chairs, and the kids scooted them across the floor after the felt pads fell off.  I haven’t tried any kind of repair fix on them, as it’s a storage/creative junk room that’s not really visible to anyone who visits.  Nowhere else in the basement do we have a problem with scratches, including the open room that ends up being a free-for-all sport court and horseplay room (the walls on the other hand... sigh).  The LEGO room is fine too, even though I know those have been scraped across the floor almost daily.  It’s just a problem with those wood chairs.

Now upstairs we have much cheaper vinyl plank that’s all scraped and dinged up and needs replacing eventually, but it’s still 100x better than cleaning any internally produced liquid substance out of carpet.

I’ve never used a steam mop, just a regular spray-and-scrub Libman thing, so I don’t know how that would work on LVP.

 

So check furniture feet first.  Got it.  Did you install it yourselves or hire it out?

[Carrie12345]

After reading the post a few weeks ago, I did some research and decided on LVP for just about my whole house. (Master bedroom will get recarpeted, boys’ room will be recarpeted once we decide to sell the house, and girls’ room has decent laminate plank right now.)

Our open floor plan is too small to lend to different flooring in different (non-bed) rooms with too high a percentage of wet areas (kitchen and entry ways) for many options. And tile would be WAY too cold in our poorly heated house. (It already freezes toes in the bathrooms.). So LVP it is.

No actual experience, though. Right now I’m just lining up samples on the ground, lol.

[BarbecueMom]

1 minute ago, Katy said:

 

So check furniture feet first.  Got it.  Did you install it yourselves or hire it out?

For the basement (Lifeproof brand), hired it out.  We ordered it from HD, then our contractor from the remodel installed it.  

I did the cheapo upstairs floors myself while DH was recovering from back surgery.  I distinctly remember working on the living room while I had a feverish toddler sleeping on my lap.  Never again, lol.

[PrincessMommy]

I don't have any experience with HD Lifeproof but I do have Lowe's Smartcore brand in my sunroom.   I have the Smartcore Pro - which is hard to find IN stores (I special ordered it).  I chose it because it could withstand the temp variations in the sunroom.  They have regular Smartcore and Smartcore Ultra, which I'd look at in other parts of the house.  

Anyway, I love it.  A lot.  It has fooled several people, oddly enough.   But seriously, with this LVT I wonder why wood is so popular.  

[kbutton]

We got Shaw flooring--it was commercial grade, and the cost was equivalent to what they had at big box stores for products that weren't as durable. A local flooring store ordered it for us--they do cash and carry as well as products they install. We installed it ourselves. I think we also had some Mohawk flooring that we put in the old house. We have good reviews about its durability.

With the Shaw floor that is in our current house, we get a lot of puzzled looks, and people tapping to figure out if it's hardwood or LVP. 🙂 

Both floors had the integrated backing. 

[MEmama]

We had Pergo installed in our half bath (over horrible painted tile). I love love love it.

The rest of the house is hardwood. We didn’t want to try to match it, and the contrasting (dark) shade looks fantastic. I wish we’d done it years ago. 

[vonfirmath]

On 10/14/2019 at 3:09 PM, Katy said:

 

So check furniture feet first.  Got it.  Did you install it yourselves or hire it out?

 

We have  a laminated (Something) floor that looks like wood that we got from Lumber Liquidators and installed ourselves. (Well, my husband, BIL, and dad did it).  We keep felt pads on hand to put on the bottom of anything that goes in the room. And we've got a scratch on the floor from when we were moving in and something got dragged over a screw on the floor :(  But otherwise its fairly easy to clean (no steam mop).  We do make sure water is not left on the floor any longer than necessary since it might seep down in the cracks and cause problems.

[Targhee]

On 10/14/2019 at 1:38 PM, Katy said:

So it's been a couple of moves since I last asked, but once again we're in a home that needs some carpet replaced.  Actually the carpet was pristine when we moved in over the summer but with two toddlers at once multiple times a day I find someone making geometric patterns on the carpet by shaking milk out of a sippy cup.  It's a wonder we don't have ants.  And I'm highly allergic to mold so running a carpet shampooer every week is not going to happen.  And, par for being in a new area, we've all been sick more times in the past few months than we have in the past couple years, so I'm unlikely to go back to the only have milk at the table rule until we're over this phase of constant viruses.  I've been one wet diaper away from taking them each to the emergency room a few times in the past 6 weeks.

Anyway, I need waterproof flooring and I'm leaning towards vinyl plank over wood this time.  Not only because it's softer on little heads but because it's harder to ruin with a steam mop than the wood I put in most of the last house.  Home Depot's Lifeproof has pretty good ratings online these days.  Has anyone tried that? 

I want something that cannot be ruined by either toddlers, teenagers, or movers.  Preferably chosen before Black Friday sales.

Every flooring can be ruined - even concrete - and even vinyl.  We have LVP over 2100 sq ft of flooring. We no longer have toddlers but do have a gang of 6-9 year olds from the neighborhood coming through all the time plus two dogs.

LVP *can* be softer than hard wood, but only if you get the type that has a soft/cushioned layer in the “sandwich” of layers on the plank. Otherwise it’s just as hard as the subfloor.

LVP is susceptible to gouging and scratching.  How susceptible depends on the wear layer that is over the vinyl layer in the plank “sandwich.”  The lightest scratches can sometime be taken care of with a super fine sandpaper and mineral oil.  Otherwise you have to replace the plank.  With gluedown application that’s easier than floating floor (tongue and groove application) but it’s usually the floating floor that has the cushioned layer.  That top wear layer that prevents scratches is also a factor in how much the vinyl fades from UV exposure.

Also, the embossing that makes it look even more like wood grain can be a cleaning difficulty.  It creates grooves, and things like paint can get stuck in there and it’s a bear to clean.

I don’t know about the brand you are looking at, but I suggest getting a sample and putting it through the wringer!

LVP is good for lots of reasons - price and water resistance are probably the biggest! But I wanted to point out the shortcomings we have noticed.

Good luck!

ETA we didn’t let movers on our new LVP for fear they would scratch or gouge it with the furniture. Our teenagers don’t really bother it, and with as many people forgetting to remove shoes, spilling water, and others just not thinking about the floor I’m glad we have the LVP

Edited October 17, 2019 by Targhee