Kitchen floor - wood, vinyl planking, or ceramic tile?

[klmama]

I'd like opinions from people who aren't trying to sell me something, LOL.  Please share your experience with wood, vinyl planking, or ceramic tile flooring in the kitchen.  Any special care beyond sweeping and mopping? 

Wood:  Do you even mop hardwood floors???  How do you prevent water damage with wood? 

Vinyl planking:  Is water damage the reason why vinyl planking is so popular now?  Any concerns with that?  How do you repair scrapes in the finish? 

Tile:  Regarding tile, if you have back or foot problems, is wearing shoes enough to prevent pain? 

Thanks for sharing your experience and opinions!

 

 

 

Edited October 15, 2020 by klmama

[Ditto]

We have ceramic tile and love it!  Easy clean up and  the floor so pretty.   None of us have had any back or foot problems.   I highly recommend it.

[kristin0713]

I actually prefer laminate.  I hate ceramic tile because it is hard on my feet and impossible to clean the grout, and because EVERYTHING breaks when it falls.  We break things on laminate as well, but they do stand a chance and sometimes don't break when dropped. 

[prairiewindmomma]

41 minutes ago, klmama said:

I'd like opinions from people who aren't trying to sell me something, LOL.  Please share your experience with wood, vinyl planking, or ceramic tile flooring in the kitchen.  Any special care beyond sweeping and mopping? 

Wood:  Do you even mop hardwood floors???  How do you prevent water damage with wood? 

Yes, you can mop with a slightly damp cloth.  We had an alarm under our dishwasher.  Of our houses, most have had hardwood in the kitchens, including our current one.

Vinyl planking:  Is water damage the reason why vinyl planking is so popular now?  Any concerns with that?  How do you repair scrapes in the finish? 

Vinyl planking is icky to touch.  I would rip this out of any home I purchased.

Tile:  Regarding tile, if you have back or foot problems, is wearing shoes enough to prevent pain? 

Yes, I have these issues, and I wear house shoes.  I like tile, but it eats plates. Most things that are dropped onto tile break.

 

[RootAnn]

I want to rip up our carpet & old (old!) vinyl in the kitchen plus redo the kitchen/dining room. I'm intrigued by luxury vinyl plank (actually, rigid core wood-polymer core or stone-polymer core). Something easier on the feet & dishes than ceramic but just as easy to clean. Plus, I like the look of wood & don't have to worry about spilling milk on the floor or my washer overflowing.

Edited October 15, 2020 by RootAnn
Got the name wrong

[Bambam]

We've had ceramic tile in the last two houses. It's great - easy to keep clean (at long as you get a dark grout!). However, anything you drop on it, if it can break, it will break.

I do wear house shoes with arch support all the time in the house because most of my flooring is hard (tile, hardwood floor). The only carpet is in the bedrooms.

 

[klmama]

17 minutes ago, fifiruth said:

My relative had wood, but water and his dogs ruined it. 

Oh, dear. How did the dogs ruin It?  

[gardenmom5]

I had wood - my dishwasher destroyed it. I now have stone tile.  (and a metal tray under the dishwasher that is sealed and will direct any leak towards the stone.

I love the stone - silver slate

My daughter has wood-grain porcelain tile throughout the main floor of her house.  Comes in different colors, and works well.

 

Edited October 15, 2020 by gardenmom5

[Selkie]

We had ceramic tile previously and I didn't like it because the grout got grungy and the tiles chipped and cracked. We replaced it with hardwood (hickory) a couple years ago and we love it. Hickory is very sturdy and hard and is impervious to our dogs' nails. We haven't had any water damage - we keep a Waterhog doormat from LL Bean under the water bowl, and just wipe up any water that gets splashed from the sink.

[kbutton]

54 minutes ago, kristin0713 said:

I actually prefer laminate.  I hate ceramic tile because it is hard on my feet and impossible to clean the grout, and because EVERYTHING breaks when it falls.  We break things on laminate as well, but they do stand a chance and sometimes don't break when dropped. 

This. I really dislike ceramic tile. Wood is beautiful, but I think it's just impractical in most kitchens. I am not dedicated enough to think I could keep it looking nice for as long as I want it to last.

I love my LVP, though I don't have it in the kitchen yet. I have it upstairs; it's run continuously, including two bathrooms. I also have it in my family room and the downstairs bath. 

[PeterPan]

I have commercial vinyl, sheet not planks, and it's the bomb. It has extra padding underneath and more layers of polyurethane (measured in mills) on top. I assume the idea of planks is aesthetic. I have hardwood in the rest of my house and had kitchen designer buffoons saying to do it in my kitchen too. More power to other people, but we're WAY too messy for that here, lol. Ceramic would be way to hard for my feet, mercy. I have some in the basement and it's horrid to stand on very long. 

So vinyl, whatever look you want. Just go for something with thick coatings of polyurethane. My guys wear boots in the house, and at the old house the vinyl didn't hold up so well. This stuff is more durable and washes up easily with water and a microfiber rag, bissell, whatever I want to use on it.

Btw, did you know marmoleum (upscale linoleum) is back in?

Just for your trivia, this *may* be what I have. https://www.grainger.com/product/23NY65 I didn't do the ordering of it, so I'm not sure. Mine is in sheets, not tiles, but the look is the same. 

Edited October 15, 2020 by PeterPan

[Sherry in OH]

I have had vinyl, wood, ceramic tile, porcelain tile, and carpet.    From a practicality perspective my preference is vinyl.  It is comfortable underfoot and easy to clean.  

For a slab foundation kitchen porcelain tile or higher-end ceramic tile would be my second choice.  Tile is durable and if grouted correctly impervious to water.  Choose a patterned tile and colored grout.  Porcelain is more durable than ceramic and since the color goes through the tile when chipping occurs, it is less noticeable.  Ceramic comes in more styles.    I currently have porcelain tile.  I like the look and ease of cleaning it but it is not comfortable to stand on for long periods of time.  It also adds to the echo effect in the kitchen (too many hard surfaces.)  I wanted LVT but due to the condition of our slab, prepping for vinyl was going to be cost-prohibitive.    

I love the look and feel of wood.  When we had a wood kitchen floor we did not have a dishwasher or water line to the refrigerator.  We did have to mop up spills from the sink immediately but it wasn't an onerous task.   

The only good thing I can say about carpeting in a kitchen is that it is warm underfoot.  Throw rugs or mats, yes, wall to wall carpeting, don't do it.

[regentrude]

When we moved in, there was vinyl. I hate the stuff, and I am glad we finally replaced it with ceramic tile.

Tile is easy to clean, lasts long. I wear shoes in the house anyway because I have a foot condition. We haven't broken anything.

From an environmental aspect, vinyl is a horrible material because of the dioxin. The worst possible plastic.

Wood gets damaged when it gets wet; it wouldn't be my choice for a kitchen where dishwashers can leak etc. But yes, you can mop it if you don't use too much water.

Edited October 15, 2020 by regentrude

[PeterPan]

4 minutes ago, Sherry in OH said:

When we had a wood kitchen floor we did not have a dishwasher or water line to the refrigerator.  

OH MY, SO IMPORTANT!! We've had this main floor kitchen done 12 years now, so we have had multiple instances where a dishwasher leaked water everywhere. What a DISASTER that would have been!! Everything going through to the basement, ceiling tiles in the basement ruined. Can't imagine. It happens and it's so wise to be thinking that way.

I have a deep freeze in my mudroom that is pesky and likes to leak water too. I've cleaned out the drain lines and this and that. Who knows why, but it does. I have tile there. But definitely, things happen!

[Carrie12345]

LVP! LVP! LVP!

Ours will be a year old this Thanksgiving, and I’m still in love.  I run the robot vac daily and either sweep or cordless vac as-needed, then mop with my O-Cedar spray mop a few times a week.  It’s fantastic.

Scratches? Don’t really have any.  There may or may not be a tiny little dig from when I moved a very full refrigerator, but I don’t move very full refrigerators often.  I’ve *thought I’ve made scratches, but then I wiped with a damp cloth and there were no marks left.  Nothing from the cat or dog.  Nothing from the very obnoxious boys.  Nothing from the toddler who’s come over and run plastic and metal trucks, cars, and trains on the floor.   Nothing from tracking in grit and pebbles.

Zero complaints from me.

[MercyA]

I really, really dislike ceramic tile. The grout is a pain to clean. It's freezing cold. It's hard. Things break when dropped on it, and it breaks itself when something really hard falls on it. Not only that, but it scrapes things up! When my daughter was a toddler and played with plastic toys on it, the toys would have tons of surface scratches on them. So weird. 

Our house came with a wood floor in the kitchen. I laid down a large washable rug that covers both the areas in front of the sink and in front of the fridge. If it weren't for that, I'd go crazy trying to keep it dry. There are scratches in the floor from chairs that didn't have pads or "chair socks" on them (before we moved here) and (I think) from dog nails, probably both the previous owners' dog and ours. It is beautiful and fairly durable though. I mostly just clean it with a Swiffer dry dusting mop, but we don't wear shoes in the house and the dog's feet are always clean.

I would always, always choose vinyl sheeting for bathrooms, kitchens, playrooms, and basements. Not too cold, not too hard, so easy care, great at handling spills and leaks. I wouldn't mess with planks myself. Too many cracks. 🙂 

[Katy]

My favorite so far was LVT that looked like stone and was grouted.  But I'd installed 80% of the kitchen before I figured out a method to do the grout.  I no longer remember even what it was, just that it wasn't intuitive like ordinary tile grout.  It was a giant PITA.  If you find a LVT you love and an installation deal, I think it's worth paying someone else to install.  The tile is easy enough, but the grout is awful.  Looks amazing when done though.

[BlsdMama]

We had a flooring guy tell us - you love your LVT now, but you’re going to hate it after a year with your wheelchair. Man, was he right. So we were willing to get anything he recommended...

Okay, I don’t hate it. It was super economical Arowana from Costco. It looks gorgeous. It doesn’t care about spills. It’s held up nice. But....

Gravity Tile - loose lay vinyl plank tiles. He recommended this stuff as bulletproof. I adore it. If I were going to ever tell anybody just ONE thing, it would be Gravity LVT.

ETA: I love Gravity for my kitchen. It’s waterproof and can handle MY family’s abuse. For the rest of my the house, money no object? Hardwood oak. But... money is an object here, lol. 

Edited October 16, 2020 by BlsdMama

[kbutton]

4 hours ago, PeterPan said:

I have commercial vinyl, sheet not planks, and it's the bomb. It has extra padding underneath and more layers of polyurethane (measured in mills) on top. I assume the idea of planks is aesthetic. I have hardwood in the rest of my house and had kitchen designer buffoons saying to do it in my kitchen too. More power to other people, but we're WAY too messy for that here, lol. Ceramic would be way to hard for my feet, mercy. I have some in the basement and it's horrid to stand on very long. 

So vinyl, whatever look you want. Just go for something with thick coatings of polyurethane. My guys wear boots in the house, and at the old house the vinyl didn't hold up so well. This stuff is more durable and washes up easily with water and a microfiber rag, bissell, whatever I want to use on it.

Btw, did you know marmoleum (upscale linoleum) is back in?

Just for your trivia, this *may* be what I have. https://www.grainger.com/product/23NY65 I didn't do the ordering of it, so I'm not sure. Mine is in sheets, not tiles, but the look is the same. 

If you go with sheet vinyl, you can get brands that "float" so that you don't have to glue them down and ruin the subfloor. Tarkett, Armstrong, and other companies offer those options. And yes, get good millage or whatever they call it.

2 hours ago, MercyA said:

I would always, always choose vinyl sheeting for bathrooms, kitchens, playrooms, and basements. Not too cold, not too hard, so easy care, great at handling spills and leaks. I wouldn't mess with planks myself. Too many cracks. 🙂 

I like sheet vinyl too, but none of our planking has cracks. We've had toilets overflow, and it's fine. Some kinds have beveled edges, but everything I've seen that's installed properly is impervious, and any bevels are extremely subtle. 

2 hours ago, Patty Joanna said:

I admit to a certain amount of prejudice as I think a honey-oak floor is so warm and pretty neutral (as far as passing the test of time and as far as decoarating options).  I think a floor should be a good backdrop, not something that people burst out in praise (or horror) when they walk into my house.  Instead, they should say, "Are you EVER going to put that vacuum away?  It was right there 2 weeks ago."

I do NOT like planks with gaps between them (cleaning nightmare); dark wood (it shows every speck of dust); gray-tinged anything (although I know that has been popular in the past few years--but when I look at real estate for sale and the kitchen has gray-tinged planking, I click away at the speed of light).  So many times, I have read things like this: "...and we peeled back the carpet, and there was this wonderful oak flooring underneath it!"  But I don't recall reading, "...and we peeled back the carpet, and there was this beautiful Armstrong vinyl flooring..."  That's what I mean by "passing the test of time.  

I'm a bit opinionated on this.  

I don't get the gaps with the planks thing. What am I missing, lol?

On the test of time, I tend to agree, but price is a real thing for lots of people. We went with LVP that looks like real wood (people have to look several times and tap, tap to see how it sounds, and sometimes they still ask, lol!) that has real wood colors in most places. I did go with more trendy in one bath, and I would consider it in a kitchen too, knowing both areas tend to get more wear and tear and more frequent makeovers. 

I don't like all the fake/weathered colors, but the one grayish floor we have really does look like a natural variation compared to most of the grays. 

I think all the grays and the farmhouse look is peaking. 

I am generally not a big trend person. I like middle of the road stuff that combines different styles (maybe transitional?) when I can't pull off truly traditional looks myself.

[Pen]

I love the feel of wood.  Especially in cool environments it tends to warm up nicer than tile. 

Ceramic tile except for the grout part is easier to clean, but harder on body, joints and back. And of course hard on any dropped breakable object. Can be nice in hot environments especially if on a slab where it holds some coolness from the earth.  

I once lived in a house with a sealed brick floor which was actually more comfortable to me than flat tile—maybe gave an acupressure like foot massage— like being on cobblestones. 

 

I don’t like toxics of vinyl if I can help it, though it is probably easiest to deal with in short term . But possibly at cost to long term health. 

[Lecka]

We moved to a house with tile and I like it.

We had LVT and I liked it, too.  We did manage to scratch it here and there and I felt like — it would have gotten scratches over the years with us.  However, the scratches weren’t really noticeable and I believe I went over one spot with a brown marker.  One place scuffed up a little, where a child dropped a glass and it broke.  I don’t know how it scuffed it up but it did!  Now — also not noticeable, but it was there.

I think the tile we have now will really be impervious!  It appears to be from the 1980s, and thank goodness it’s a kind my husband and I have both always liked!  
 

 

[Forget-Me-Not]

I have hardwood in my kitchen and I haaaaaaaaaate it.  Love it everywhere else.  Hate it in the kitchen.  We had a dishwasher leak that led to some swelling/warping and that led to having to have the entire thing sanded down and refinished.  At that point, I would have liked to switch to tile in my kitchen, but I have a great room set up and there's no real defining line for where the family room ends and the kitchen begins.  We have to be super careful with droplets and spills all the time.  I have some of those rubber cushion floor mats that Costco sells near the stove and the sink/dishwasher to cut down on the risk.  

[Lecka]

We have turned out to break several dishes in our new sink.  It is porcelain I think.  We had a stainless steel two houses ago and I don’t think we ever broke a dish in it. In our last house the sink was a black rock of some kind, and I think we broke a very few dishes in it.  This sink!!!!!!  I think we are used to it now, but it is a lot less forgiving.

I haven’t noticed a difference between LVT and tile but my kids are older!  We definitely had a lot of things break on lvt, despite having Corelle dishes.  
 

They would do things like accidentally knock things off of the counter — i think it was more forceful.  One son in particular would turn quickly and catch on things and knock them onto the floor, especially when it was cold and he was wearing a coat, he wouldn’t realize how much space he was taking up. 
 

All of that has been outgrown now 😉

Edited October 16, 2020 by Lecka

[KungFuPanda]

I'm holding out until they can make a kitchen floor entirely out of chef's mats 😆 

Seriously though, I go barefoot too often to even consider tile.  I also freeze and live with people who believe in a year-round cold house.  I WANT wood, but between a dog and my ds's power wheelchair and water in the kitchen it seemed unwise.  We went with vinyl plank.  It's easy on the feet, and we did it ourselves for cheap.  We've had it for 3-4 years and Ds hasn't managed to scratch it with any heavy equipment and I've never owned a floor this easy to keep clean.  I almost never have to mop because everything vacuums right up without sticking.  I do wish I had a darker color.  There are a few gaps here and there where we installed it imperfectly and those little goofs would be invisible if the floor was darker.  We have the lightest blonde color because our rooms are a bit dark and our house is a little more modern.

 

 

 

 

[Ellie]

7 hours ago, klmama said:

I'd like opinions from people who aren't trying to sell me something, LOL.  Please share your experience with wood, vinyl planking, or ceramic tile flooring in the kitchen.  Any special care beyond sweeping and mopping? 

Wood:  Do you even mop hardwood floors???  How do you prevent water damage with wood?

Thanks for sharing your experience and opinions!

My whole downstairs is hardwood floors, including the kitchen, and I love it. No, I don't mop the floors; I vacuum, or dustmop, and I spot-clean with Bona cleaner and a microfiber mop. Possibly if I had little crawling children, or dogs tracking mud in all the time, I might do more cleaning that looks like mopping, but I don't, so I don't. 🙂

[rebcoola]

Vinyl.  Ceramic tile is hard on my joints and we always break it.  

[klmama]

3 hours ago, rebcoola said:

Vinyl.  Ceramic tile is hard on my joints and we always break it.  

Thanks. Was it hard on you when wearing supportive shoes?

[Laura Corin]

We currently have wood - I mop it with a cleaner that is designed for wood.  It's fine except that it is older softwood and the seal between planks is failing.  We will replace when we re-do the kitchen (it will be destroyed by the reorganisation anyway).

Our favourite has been high-quality vinyl squares, like this: https://www.amtico.com/flooring/latest/2020/lvt-for-eye-catching-kitchens/.

We had Amtico in our rental flat in London.  Finally replaced it after over twenty years, not because it was worn out but because we were re-doing the kitchen.

[Carrie12345]

8 hours ago, kbutton said:

10 hours ago, Patty Joanna said:

Expand  

I don't get the gaps with the planks thing. What am I missing, lol?

I’m guessing between planks?  This is mine compared to the width of a nickel (the first coin I could find.)

 

[Carrie12345]

Adding, there’s like no depth to the joint.  I couldn’t demonstrate that because a nickel won’t fit, lol.

[Soror]

We had old school linoleum the first time we built. Thought we'd upgrade to tile when we rebuilt. Tile looks nice but has grout which is a pitb and as mentioned everything breaks on it. If I had to do it again I'd just do linoleum or fancy vinyl plank. The tile doesn't bother my feet or knees but is harder to keep clean.

eta: We have hardwood all upstairs except kitchen and baths. My mom's hardwood was really messed up by a leaky frig, too much potential for damage in those rooms.

Edited October 16, 2020 by Soror

[PeterPan]

9 hours ago, Forget-Me-Not said:

At that point, I would have liked to switch to tile in my kitchen, but I have a great room set up and there's no real defining line for where the family room ends and the kitchen begins. 

Yes, we were able to create a line because of the way our great room is. But I've seen connected open spaces where it would have been very awkward. 

People keep mentioning planks. Is this a vinyl on mdf fiberboard product? What I have is sheet vinyl. I have regular laminate (click in place pergo) in my basement. It's fine. Seems to me something like that, if that's what is being discussed for vinyl, well I don't know how it does with water. Our regular pergo type laminate is sketchy with water. It can be fine or you can have seasonal swelling/gaps and have problems. In general, it's pretty good for normal amounts of water. Also it has formaldehyde issues, though maybe the standards have changed and it's getting better, dunno.

[wintermom]

We have all three of those flooring options in our house. Are you installing the flooring on your own? That would have an impact on what you choose. What about cost? Is that a factor in your decision? And your local area's home buyers' preferences for re-sale value?

Without knowing the answers to these questions, it's hard to make a suggestion. Personally, I love hardwood. It looks great, it's very popular in my area so the re-sale value is worth it. Wood does not go well with liquids, though, and kitchens are full of liquids that are hard to control. You will be constantly trying to keep your wood floor dry. 

We chose to put down tile in the kitchen and laminate planking in the bathroom and basement. Both do well with water, but tile has a higher re-sale value. And I do love the look of tile. It's more expensive and harder to install. You need a proper support underneath the tiles or they risk cracking under the weight of heavy appliances in the kitchen. That's what happened to to us with the tile that was installed by an amateur.

[kbutton]

4 hours ago, Carrie12345 said:

I’m guessing between planks?  This is mine compared to the width of a nickel (the first coin I could find.)

Okay--I wondered if that is what people are talking about. My floor has smaller bevels, not as noticeable. It's watertight and not really a gap. Nothing gets stuck when I sweep the floor, for instance.

2 hours ago, PeterPan said:

Yes, we were able to create a line because of the way our great room is. But I've seen connected open spaces where it would have been very awkward. 

People keep mentioning planks. Is this a vinyl on mdf fiberboard product? What I have is sheet vinyl. I have regular laminate (click in place pergo) in my basement. It's fine. Seems to me something like that, if that's what is being discussed for vinyl, well I don't know how it does with water. Our regular pergo type laminate is sketchy with water. It can be fine or you can have seasonal swelling/gaps and have problems. In general, it's pretty good for normal amounts of water. Also it has formaldehyde issues, though maybe the standards have changed and it's getting better, dunno.

I have seen people do more than one color of wood in an open floor plan--it's the same flooring, but in different colors, and they create a new area on the floor. It looks really nice.

The LVP is interlocking, kind of like Pergo, but it's completely waterproof and tight. A lot of the older laminates have wood veneer or something engineered, but not vinyl. 

There may be multiple kinds of LVP, but all the LVP I know about has super high durability and is impervious to water. You can soak a plank in your tub for days, and it will be fine. Our flooring place had a piece of planking they kept in a glass of water, lol! 

[teachermom2834]

I’ve got renovations coming up and I’ve been pondering this too. I’ve tried to talk myself into hardwood but just too many worries about water. I’ve tried to talk myself into ceramic but it is just so hard, both on the feet and anything else that is dropped. 
 

I keep coming back to vinyl being the practical choice. I know it gets lots of hate but I don’t live in a high end house and I think vinyl is going to have to do. I will go with the nicest sheet or plank I can find, probably. Even if it is as expensive as wood or ceramic, it won’t cause me so many worries to live with. 

Edited October 16, 2020 by teachermom2834

[Bootsie]

We had hardwood in the kitchen when we lived in an older house.  I loved it.  We didn't have any water damage problems, but never had a major water incident.  We had some remodeling done and the contractor said he would not put wood in a kitchen if it wasn't already there, but worked with what we had. 

We are now in another house with ceramic tile and DH is begging to replace it with hardwood.  I do think the wood is easier to clean than worrying about grout issues.  One of the issues that can occur if you have vinyl planking is the installation can be such that you cannot replace a plank if it becomes damaged (like you can with hardwood); I don't know if that applies to all of the planking or just certain installations, but we ran into that where vinyl planking had been used in an addition to match the hardwoods in the rest of the house.  

[rebcoola]

9 hours ago, klmama said:

Thanks. Was it hard on you when wearing supportive shoes?

Yes i lasted longer with my bionic slippers but it still bothered me.

[klmama]

1 hour ago, rebcoola said:

Yes i lasted longer with my bionic slippers but it still bothered me.

Thanks.  Good to know.

[kbutton]

2 hours ago, Bootsie said:

One of the issues that can occur if you have vinyl planking is the installation can be such that you cannot replace a plank if it becomes damaged (like you can with hardwood); I don't know if that applies to all of the planking or just certain installations, but we ran into that where vinyl planking had been used in an addition to match the hardwoods in the rest of the house.  

That  must be an odd installation. I will note that the flooring place we used said that they glue the edges when they install it themselves, but that is one reason we were determined to DIY it. This stuff is click and lock, and if we ever removed it due to some unforeseen circumstance, we'd want to be able to take it up and donate it or something like that. We're very much of the "don't ruin things" way of doing things. 

Ours is floating, not glued down. We can (and have) ripped up the whole floor. In our case, we were going to be ripping out a fireplace that was in sketchy condition and took up way too much space. We bought extra flooring so that when we did, we could piece it in. You'd never know we had a fireplace there, and it was easy peasy. We also had a bit of an issue with the install in the very first room we did, and we had to rip it out a few rows into the process--we had a little edge here and there we hadn't clicked in quite right that was throwing us out of square (every style has different little things that you have to learn--some kinds are more tolerant of one thing and less of another). It was easy peasy, and it went right back down just fine. 

No matter what you're doing in a house, it's always a good idea to have a few leftovers in case of damage, changing your mind, or other small future proofing you need to do (like when you know the next project down the line will affect or be affected by what you've chosen). 

[Bootsie]

2 minutes ago, kbutton said:

That  must be an odd installation. I will note that the flooring place we used said that they glue the edges when they install it themselves, but that is one reason we were determined to DIY it. This stuff is click and lock, and if we ever removed it due to some unforeseen circumstance, we'd want to be able to take it up and donate it or something like that. We're very much of the "don't ruin things" way of doing things. 

Ours is floating, not glued down. We can (and have) ripped up the whole floor. In our case, we were going to be ripping out a fireplace that was in sketchy condition and took up way too much space. We bought extra flooring so that when we did, we could piece it in. You'd never know we had a fireplace there, and it was easy peasy. We also had a bit of an issue with the install in the very first room we did, and we had to rip it out a few rows into the process--we had a little edge here and there we hadn't clicked in quite right that was throwing us out of square (every style has different little things that you have to learn--some kinds are more tolerant of one thing and less of another). It was easy peasy, and it went right back down just fine. 

No matter what you're doing in a house, it's always a good idea to have a few leftovers in case of damage, changing your mind, or other small future proofing you need to do (like when you know the next project down the line will affect or be affected by what you've chosen). 

In our situation it was the fact that it was click and lock rather than nailed down like hardwoods.  One board could not be replaced because it could not be unlocked from the other boards and then simply a new place patched in.  Replacing on board in the middle of the room would entail removing the baseboard and removing boards until we got to the problem board; that was going to be a much bigger undertaking than patch a bad board on real hardwoods that were nailed down.  

[kbutton]

4 minutes ago, Bootsie said:

In our situation it was the fact that it was click and lock rather than nailed down like hardwoods.  One board could not be replaced because it could not be unlocked from the other boards and then simply a new place patched in.  Replacing on board in the middle of the room would entail removing the baseboard and removing boards until we got to the problem board; that was going to be a much bigger undertaking than patch a bad board on real hardwoods that were nailed down.  

I thought you meant impossible vs. annoying.

Our hardwood floors in our old house were tongue and groove and nailed with special square nails. We'd have still needed to take up the whole floor to fix anything. 

There must be a million variations on everything, lol!

[mathnerd]

I have hardwood red cherry planks in my kitchen (put in 17 years ago) and I like it a lot. It has gradually darkened with age which is one of the characteristics of red cherry which I love. I occasionally mop it with Bona hardwood cleaner but otherwise, just vacuuming it when I see crumbs on it 🙂 We are rough on our floors and the kitchen is usually our entry into the house because we bring all our stuff through the garage and kitchen and it has held up beautifully. If you decide to go with hardwood, I recommend choosing any one of the harder woods (there is a Hardness rating scale called Janka) for the kitchen.

Tile is very hard on your back if you stand on it for a long time. 

[Lady Florida.]

 

On 10/15/2020 at 4:09 PM, klmama said:

Tile:  Regarding tile, if you have back or foot problems, is wearing shoes enough to prevent pain? 

I had ceramic tile for 20 years and hated it. We renovated that house when we bought it and if someone would have warned me, I wouldn't have chosen tile. It was terrible on my back and feet. I always had to wear shoes, usually Birkenstock sandals, Vionics, or Skechers. Always shoes meant to give you support and relief. 

23 hours ago, Selkie said:

We had ceramic tile previously and I didn't like it because the grout got grungy and the tiles chipped and cracked.

Plus all of this. Before we put it on the market we had to pay someone to come in and make the grout look presentable. There were cracked tiles throughout but since we sold that house as-is, we didn't replace them (plus they weren't open stock and after 20 years the tile was no longer available).

 

On 10/15/2020 at 4:09 PM, klmama said:

Wood:  Do you even mop hardwood floors???  How do you prevent water damage with wood? 

I have engineered wood currently I love the look and feel but we've only been here 5 months so I can't speak to how it will do years from now. The instructions our builder gave us said we should vacuum rather than sweep. I run my robot vacuum several times a week but that's because Florida "dirt" is actually sand and you don't want sand constantly grinding the floors down. You're not supposed to use water to mop, other than a damp rag to clean up "sticky messes". They recommend using a wood cleaner like Bona once a month. It feels really weird not to mop my floors and since mine are dark wood it's hard to tell when they're dirty unless you walk around barefoot for a while then look at the bottom of your feet.

This is what I have. https://www.mullicanflooring.com/Product-Detail?sku=21539

[Ellie]

7 minutes ago, Patty Joanna said:

Yes.  This.  The rental we were in for 8 months had these gaps and you couldn't just sweep--you had to vacuum, too.  And eventually, I ended up with a toothpick going through all the gaps to get gunk out.  

My in-laws had planks with an even wider gap.  When they moved, they did a thorough cleaning and found a necklace I had dropped 5 years earlier. 

Hate gaps.

Also, sometimes the edges of the planks are beveled, so that even though technically there aren't gaps, there are still...gaps. o_0

[Pawz4me]

1 hour ago, Lady Florida. said:

 

I have engineered wood currently I love the look and feel but we've only been here 5 months so I can't speak to how it will do years from now. The instructions our builder gave us said we should vacuum rather than sweep. I run my robot vacuum several times a week but that's because Florida "dirt" is actually sand and you don't want sand constantly grinding the floors down. You're not supposed to use water to mop, other than a damp rag to clean up "sticky messes". They recommend using a wood cleaner like Bona once a month. It feels really weird not to mop my floors and since mine are dark wood it's hard to tell when they're dirty unless you walk around barefoot for a while then look at the bottom of your feet.

This is what I have. https://www.mullicanflooring.com/Product-Detail?sku=21539

FWIW--We bought this house in the spring of 2016 and it has Mullican engineered hardwood floors. I have no idea when they were installed, and only know the manufacturer because a box of some extra planks was in the attic. The floors are still in good shape. I sweep them daily, do touch up mops as needed with a microfiber mop and a spray bottle of diluted all purpose cleaner and a drop of Dawn, and and I do regular mopping once every week or two with an O'Cedar spin mop and the same cleaning solution. I tried Bona and didn't like it at all. I get drips of water on them all the time. The dogs drink and drip. I wipe up drips if I see them but I'm not paranoid about it. The drips never seem to hurt the floor. Anyway, mainly just wanted to let you know that my Mullican floors are likely a lot more than four years old and holding up well.

[Susan in TX]

Lifeproof vinyl plank flooring is what we have. Home Depot sells it. It is very durable and waterproof. There are no gaps between the planks. We have a slab foundation and it is not cold like the tiles we had before. It is really easy to clean. And I love the way it looks.

 

Susan in TX

[Carrie12345]

1 hour ago, Patty Joanna said:

Yes.  This.  The rental we were in for 8 months had these gaps and you couldn't just sweep--you had to vacuum, too.  And eventually, I ended up with a toothpick going through all the gaps to get gunk out.  

My in-laws had planks with an even wider gap.  When they moved, they did a thorough cleaning and found a necklace I had dropped 5 years earlier. 

Hate gaps.

 

I haven’t found that to be a problem, but that could be because I run the robot vacuum so frequently.  Not that I still haven’t had plenty of reasons to also sweep, lol.

[ktgrok]

On 10/15/2020 at 4:51 PM, kristin0713 said:

hate ceramic tile because it is hard on my feet and impossible to clean the grout, and because EVERYTHING breaks when it falls.  We break things on laminate as well, but they do stand a chance and sometimes don't break when dropped. 

Yes. I have it, and I hate. it. I also hate shoes. So after a day where I'm on my feet in the kitchen a lot my feet HURT so badly! And everything breaks. And the grout looks so gross, even after scrubbing. 

LVT all the way. 

[Lady Florida.]

17 hours ago, Patty Joanna said:

Re: mopping a hardwood floor.  Yes, you can.  The wood isn't exposed--it's sealed.  I sweep it with a broom and every once in awhile use a Bona wet mop on it.  It's so pretty and it shines right up.  

 

 

Regular hardwood yes, but can engineered hardwood be mopped too? 

17 hours ago, Pawz4me said:

FWIW--We bought this house in the spring of 2016 and it has Mullican engineered hardwood floors. I have no idea when they were installed, and only know the manufacturer because a box of some extra planks was in the attic. The floors are still in good shape. I sweep them daily, do touch up mops as needed with a microfiber mop and a spray bottle of diluted all purpose cleaner and a drop of Dawn, and and I do regular mopping once every week or two with an O'Cedar spin mop and the same cleaning solution. I tried Bona and didn't like it at all. I get drips of water on them all the time. The dogs drink and drip. I wipe up drips if I see them but I'm not paranoid about it. The drips never seem to hurt the floor. Anyway, mainly just wanted to let you know that my Mullican floors are likely a lot more than four years old and holding up well.

Thank you! This really helps. I find it difficult to apply Bona without streaks. I've tried both spraying it on the floor and mopping, or spraying it on the (large microfiber) mop then mopping. Either way I get streaks. Since I can't stand the idea of never mopping I've just been accepting the streaks. I'm going to try your method, especially since you have the very same brand. 

I mostly get drips when loading dishes in the dishwasher and I keep a rag under the sink for drying those drips. We haven't had any actual spills, and our cats drink from a pet water fountain that doesn't make a mess. In about a year we hope to get a small dog, so the pet water situation will probably change then.

[Pawz4me]

1 hour ago, Lady Florida. said:

Regular hardwood yes, but can engineered hardwood be mopped too?

My understanding--which I admit could be wrong, I only very briefly researched it--is that engineered hardwood is more water resistant than regular hardwood. I'm guessing whoever put it down in our house did so because it's on a concrete slab. Supposedly engineered is better than regular hardwood for that, since even cured concrete tends to have some moisture in it.

Edited October 17, 2020 by Pawz4me