I am also curious as we saw the vinyl flooring at HD that comes in strips like the laminate. I do not care for the laminate wood - it looks and feels fake and hollow.

If you're thinking of selling the house, you have to think of what sheet vinyl will do for resale, which depends where you live and what is in other similar houses. We had sheet vinyl in our last house in the laundry, master bath, and guest room bath. Tile was the standard in this development but we'd put in vinyl to save money. It really hurt when it came time to sell because vinyl was substandard for the area. So that's something to think about.

If you don't want to spend the money on real wood, I'd get the plank "wood" vinyl but only if it looks very very good -- last time I looked, the ones that look REALLY good are very expensive. Otherwise I'd go laminate, at least it has the look, and some of them look very good. My neice has it in her entry, kitchen, and family room, and it looks fabulous. You do get the general feel of hardwood, and I do not find it objectionable to walk on. Of course it's not as good as the real thing. But it is leagues and leagues above sheet vinyl.

Under the circumstances, for me it would be a toss-up between the vinyl planks or the laminate, and I'd get a box of each from Big Box, lay it down dry and see which looks better.

I love my Duraplank solid vinyl planking from Congoleum. Be warned...it's just as costly per square as engineered hardwood...mine ran $7/square. BUT...it has already held up to two "water incidents"--one from Hurricane Hannah...or was it Faye? And one "I'm an idjit" moment. (Note to self, never EVER leave a sink "filling".)

I can't find the cord so I can get my pictures out of my camera (that's on my list of "things to do" today...) but here is an "in progress" picture:

That is a nice floor mjsee. Does it look that real in person?

msjee -- your floor looks great!

bigdoglover -- do you know which brand and style your niece has for laminate. We are in the deciding phases.....
Thanks!

I'm one of those people that doesn't like the laminate wood. I agree that it looks fake and hollow. We are putting down the vinyl tiles in kitchen and dining room. I bought several tiles for samples then took them back when I chose which one I wanted! Do it yourself. If I could lay the sheet vinyl I would probably do that. I don't care for ceramic tiles either. I know I'm the odd ball! I agree that if you are going to sell the other options would probably help the resale value.

There are some really nice looking vinyl planks out these days that, unless you get down and really inspect them, look like real wood. If you live on a farm (you said you have a farmhouse) and have an active young family, vinyl is a great option because you can always change it out later.

Another option is to look into pine flooring at your local lumberyard. (not HD) It's very inexpensive (compared to hardwoods like oak) and can be refinished down the road. It definitely would "go" in a farmhouse! As it ages it gets a really nice patina. I'm not talking about heart pine, which is very expensive, but regular pine flooring. Yes it's softer than oak or other hardwoods, but that's all relative and will still outlive you most likely. :) I've seen some beautiful new homes with pine flooring and some beautiful old, old homes with plain old pine floors that are still going strong. But you aren't going to find it at a big box store or a flooring store ;) Do a search on here for "pine" flooring - some folks have posted pictures of theirs in the past.

That said, if you have a refrigerator you are worried about leaking or needs to be replaced, then you might want to consider addressing that before you put down a new floor because even if water gets under wood, laminate, or vinyl planks, you'll have to pull it all up and replace them.

Keep looking. You'll know when you find the "right" thing for your house and your family :)

Yes, it looks real in person. Doesn't feel like wood on bare feet...but feels better to my bare feet than tile. I'd have done wood, if I thought it would handle the occasional wetting my basement gets.

FWIW, the vinyl planks did NOT need to be lifted after their drenching...they snugged back down tight. (Which was what was supposed to happen.)

melanie

Another vinyl plank lover here! We did the novalis from Lowes and I could not be happier. The main floor has been down since May and we're currently laying it in our bedrooms as well. Another active family with kids and a big dog!!! I think it looks nicer than most laminates and more like real wood. It cleans up so nicely and holds up to the abuse an average family would give it!!

We looked at sheet vinyl, but the reason I liked this was because of its low shine and texture. It's also a breeze to install. Prep wasn't so much fun, but once you get past that putting the actual flooring down is fun! Good luck in whatever you decide!!

I've had several vinyl floors. Currently I two bathrooms done in Armstrong. I LOVE them. I did one on a whim, because I saw vinyl that didn't look like any I'd seen before. It is the most easy-care surface in the entire house. It always looks great and it seems like it's teflon coated, because everything cleans so easily. I tried to talk my husband into doing out kitchen with vinyl, but he wanted hardwood. Here's a link to one of my floors. I have one that looks has a linen-y texture. The other, I can't describe, but neither looks like wood or tile. Good luck to you in finding the perfect floor!

Here is a link that might be useful: Armstrong vinyl

I live in a "tile and real hardwood" kinda neighborhood but just redid my kitchen and sunroom in sheet vinyl. It was an Armstrong high-end product with low gloss and high texture. It is faux-tile, not faux-wood. I love it. People who don't know it's vinyl all say "wow what a great new tile floor" and bend down to touch it. It is soft underfoot, warm, and quiet. There is only one seam which is far from any wet areas. It coordinates incredibly well with my (laminate) countertops and cabinetry, so the whole look is very pulled-together. I think you can have practical and classy with careful product choice.

Just one more comment -the wood look sheet vinyl patterns are made to represent different plank widths - anywhere from about 2 inches to 6 inches. If you look at the patterns online or in a brochure, you can't tell what the width is - you'll need to look at a sample in a flooring store.

We also put an Armstrong sheet vinyl floor in my dd's bathroom. We love the look and easy care. Believe it or not, the pattern resembles leather! LOL

It is part of the same line as Debsan's:

Here is a link that might be useful: Armstrong

Please thing twice before putting down the plank vinyl that HD sells. We put it in a bathroom and pantry and liked the look and feel so much we put it in the kitchen as well. While its a beatiful floor its also trying to come up in 5 different places in the kithen. To repair it you have to use a exacto knife to cut out a plank then cut the tabs off the repacement piece and use yinyl tape under it to make the repair. The other issue I have with it is the wood grain texture in it is so deep that its hard to clean. I put self laying sheet vinyl in the kids bathroom because they flood it everytime they take a bath and it is great. Its super easy to lay , soft and warm on the feet and so far has been bomb proof with everything they have managed to spill on it. I was even able to scrub wall paint off it without damaging it. I live on a farm with kids horses cats and dogs and I wish I had it in the whole house. I would have if I had realized how much trouble the other floors were going to be.

What is self laying sheet vinyl?

I like sheet vinyl in bathrooms - call me low brow. :)

Hi all -

OP here. Bumping my question to give an update and ask an additional question. We decided on sheet vinyl - Congoleum Ultima in a wood print. Had it professionally installed last week.

We love it. BUT...

We have a problem with a seam. Most of them (there weren't many - I think 4?) fall in between "floorboards" so to speak, and you can't even find them unless you knew where they were going to be from the beginning.

One of the seams ended up being horizontal, meaning, it crosses the floorboards AGAINST the direction that the boards lay. That seam is obvious if you are looking down at the floor looking for it.

My question is, what can be done now? The floor has been down for a week, it was glued down, and we aren't sure how to proceed, if at all. Can we live with it? Sure. It is in a hallway, and only about 3 feet wide. Does it make my chest tighten when I see it? Most of the time. Would I be willing to rip it out and start over? NO.

I don't even know who's "fault" this is. Any words of wisdom?

I know when they discovered the problem, they had already cut into the product and had it dry laid and glued in some areas. So, at that point, perhaps folding it up and starting over wasn't an option. I can post a pic of that would help.

Thanks in advance.

Wanted to clarify, that they did tell DH that there was an "issue" with the pattern match, and then later they said they "figured it out" and this horizontal seam I am talking about was their solution. I just re read my post and saw I wasn't clear about the fact that they did make us aware that an issue was discovered, but they didn't lay out any clear options. They just put a horizontal seam in the most inconspicuous spot they could find and went on with it.

Thanks again.

We sold our 20 yr old house that had wood floors in all rooms except kitchen that had faux-wood sheet flooring. NO ONE, and I mean - NO ONE - knew that the kitchen floor was not wood. Perhaps because the mind played tricks on them as they walked over the amazing variable width, wide-plank, cherry-pegged willow-wood floors on way to kitchen, but the kitchen floor was as beautiful as it was durable. It looked as new after 20 years as it did when installed.