We just put in the Modin (the regular, non-cork backed) in our basement. It was installed directly on the slab. Our two longest runs are about 32', and we have no transition or expansion strips. It has only been installed for a couple weeks, but we are quite happy with our choice thus far. And, our installers were very impressed with the product. One said he intends to order it for his own large basement. Hope this helps.

Needinfo1, what color Modin did you choose? Do you have photos? And are you in a cold climate? Also making a choice between CoreTec and Modin this week for our New England basement and I'm very torn. I like Modin's thicker wear layer but I'm not crazy about the colors. Looking for a lighter color that will make the space seem bright (not a lot of natural light). I like Coretec's Ivory Coast and will probably go with that but really want to like the Modin. Thank you!

zencats--

We have many similarities! We live in Minneapolis, so it is definitely a cold climate. Coretec's Ivory Coast was our top choice from their line precisely because we wanted a lighter feeling too. When I ordered my Modin samples, I got Arden, Caliza, Noret, Parkhurst, Santal and Stavern. I also had a lighter sample of Karndean. It was interesting in that when we were getting installation bids, nearly every installer who saw my many samples in our basement commented that we shouldn't go with the lightest choices we had. I figure they have seen a lot of floors so know what they were talking about.

I thought I wanted one of Modin's lightest colors or the Ivory Coast, but we ended up with the Noret and are happy with our choice. We also don't have much natural lighting in our basement, so in our remodel we put in lots of overhead lighting, and this floor is plenty light for us (lighter than we first would have assumed a large expanse of it would be).

We probably could have gone with Arden for a little darker look to contrast with our natural maple trim and been fine with that too. Caliza is the one sample that looked really fakey to me. Parkhurst was too close to the color of our wood trim. For us, Santal seemed a bit orange, but I think in retrospect we would have also been fine with it. Stavern was just too light, and a guest who was here while we were looking at samples commented that she thought it looked dirty.

I'll see if I can get some photos soon. Right now the painters have returned to do some final touch-ups and the place is a disaster.

We all would love to see your pictures!

Needinfo1, thank you SO MUCH for the additional info. I have similar Modin samples and had similar reactions to them. Stavern seems closest to what I was looking for, but hearing your installers' advice NOT to use light floors made me think twice. This week I have been carrying around my Noret to look at it in all kinds of light. That was my fav color on the website but in person it looks darker brown. It does have nice gray/white highlights though. Would love to see photos when you are ready. What color paint did you use on your walls with the Noret? Thanks again and glad you are happy with the outcome!

Hello needinfo1

I live in MSP and would love to see your flooring installed! Any possibility? Also, may I buy your flooring samples off of you? If you liked your installer, a reference would be great too.

You know how it is, I'm having a heck of a time finding the right color and a quality product and finally thought to go outside the box and look for something other than what the showrooms have!

Thank you,

Lisa

aka needinfo2

btw, just add @g_ _ _ _ .com to my houzz id. Would love to hear from you!

Lisa

Modin should have a full video of an installation on a cement slab with a long run (60ft ) so it's prospective buys can get a sense of the product. All other lvp company's are on YouTube. I wonder why Modin doesn't, could be installing problems with such a large plank??? That's a question. Their product sounds superior to others.. just wonder about such a large format being installed in a long hallway that runs into other rooms with no interruptions. Will it be a struggle to fit thevplanks together the longer the run..... ??

I can't remover what their maximum run length is, but i thought it was less than 60'...something like 40' maybe. I could be wrong. You may have to do glue down with that long of a run. I would give them a call on that. They are super helpful on the phone. I'm not going to use them because I didn't like any of their actual color samples. They didn't look anything like their online representations....at least not on my computer. They do seem to be a really good quality for the price though.

Needinfo1 - I am actually trying to decide between Noret and Parkhurst too and I too have natural maple trim in a very large room and wanted a lighter feel. I am so torn, because the Parkhurst would match the trim so nice, but it is interesting that that is the very thing that stopped you from choosing it. I don't suppose you have a picture of your finished room you could post? I see that I am not the first one to ask you. This is my first comment ever on houzz so I am not sure if there is some info I should be giving you first. If you see this post, I thank you!

We installed Noret in our large basement and it is wonderful - it really brightened up the space and it is easy to clean and comfortable to walk on. We didn't glue the planks, except on the stairs. I will take some photos and post tomorrow.

I’d love to see the pictures too!!

Wow, that does look really good! The stairs look exceptional. No fussy trim pieces. How did they do the stairs? And how did you get a matching stair nosing? Who installed it for you?

Photos of the new basement above. Our sitting area furniture won't be delivered until just before Thanksgiving, but these photos show more floor anyway. The fourth photo shows a combination white board, bulletin board and chalkboard made by Chalkboard.com. They make their products in Connecticut and what a high quality operation. Back to the floors - every person who worked on our project was gaga over the Flooret floor. And we are too.

Thank you ishop19. Our contractor did the installation, although Flooret has recommended installers too. Flooret sells the matching stair nosing. Our contractor decided to use four white screws to attach the nosing. It worked well - the stairs are tight and look neat.

I have the same question as ishop19--the stairs are wonderful...it appears they do not have the usual trim that is part of LVT flooring. Can you tell us how the look was accomplished? By the way, your basement is gorgeous!

We used the same flooring as the floor for the steps - our contractor just cut the planks to fit and then attached the matching nosing for the edge. We painted the risers. Thanks for the nice comment on the basement. We still have some finishing touches but we're thrilled with how it's turned out.

Susan, let us know how the nosing holds up. We have Cortec, but we did not use it for the stairs. Both their representative and our contractor said that it is not advised since the nosing will fall at some point

Maybe since it is screwed in instead of glued the stair nosing won’t fail? My treads are not solid wood so that may not work for me.

You had an excellent contractor, most flooring professionals won’t take the time to fit vinyl that tightly on stairs. Then all the dumb trim pieces are needed around each tread! Are the edges caulked at all to cover a slight gap?

Would you post a closeup of the screw(s) in the nosing?

Thank!

I will send an update printesa -maybe in six months?

maybe..If I remember correctly, these were supposed to be glued. Our contractor is really good and would have had no problem installing them..He said what he would do for himself

sure Susan:) No rush. Our stairs are not finished,,just some old paint...Still have time to decide if I do a new paint on them or use the same Coretec as we used for the floor

Ishop19 - yes, we are blessed with an amazing contractor. This is our third project with him and he shows up every day, some weeks he has been here Monday-Saturday. He's the hardest-working, most careful person we've ever known. I will ask him about the caulking.

Printesa, that's exactly what we did. I didn't order the nosing with the original order. The stairs were the last part of the project and because we had enough flooring left to do them, I then ordered the nosing to complete it. We were swayed too, by how great the floor looked.

I think I made a mistake. I got Karndean Van Gogh. The subfloor was properly prepped and 1/4” birch underlayment stapled every 4”. Unfortunately there are rippling waves, ironically every 4”, on the surface of the Karndean that were immediately visible the evening of the installation. The flooring professionals walked off the job and left me with it until we resolve it. However, since the installation is to “spec” with no imperfection rising more than a 1/8”, they won’t fix it. Bottom line, I wish I would have gone with Floret, but I didn’t like any of their colors. I’ll have to do a separate post on this with pictures when I get a chance.

Oh gosh, I'm so sorry you are going through this. You will be helping others by sharing your experience. I wish I knew enough to give you some advice. Perhaps you could post and some flooring experts would give you their opinion about what can be done. I hope it gets resolved for you.

Thanks Susan! I will talk to our contractor about this. We have leftover planks as well. Your floor looks great

@ishop19...The "Best Practices" (as stated by the NWFA) for subfloor preparation for resilient flooring (ahem...vinyl and linoleum and cork) include the use of a patch compound over top of an imperfection in the plywood - which INCLUDES staple/screw/nail holes/dimples.

You have an argument because of the staple "holes" were left untreated = imperfections every 4". The STAPLING guidelines where met (for the plywood) but the "smooth" requirements for resilient flooring (the vinyl) was NOT.

Sigh. I'm sorry to say but this should be redone - if possible. The dimples will only get worse. As your floor ages it will slowly "fall into" those dimples more and more and more. It is better to do the correction as soon as possible before the vinyl planks take on the dimple shape permanently.

One of the issues with resilient flooring is it will conform or "telegraph" all the imperfections that are underneath it. Which is why subfloor preparation is much more involved than with rigid flooring like hardwood, laminate or cork floating planks.

Cancork,

Thank you for the input. However, it is NOT sinking into the staples creating a waffle pattern, but it IS in a wave pattern. I think because the 1/4” underlayment must not have been flat when stapled and it was stapled row after row. These rows made the underlayment have a wave pattern every 4” to which the Kardean vinyl conforms of course. Since the waves are less than 1/8” it is to spec evidentally. Have you ever heard of this problem with underlayment? Could it be cause be another reason?

I looked for a NWFA reference for resilient flooring, but could only find one for wood flooring installation. Could you provide a reference for resilient flooring?

I like the idea of Modin Flooret since it’s stiffer and probably won’t conform to every imperfection underneath it like Karndean does.

Its a shame Karndean is providing no support on this.

ishop19, I promised to ask our contractor if he used caulk on the stairs. He did. I shared your comment that he is an excellent contractor and he was pleased.

We just tore up carpet and installed flooret modin Nevis in our family room. A big dog and two kids with woods out back and we wanted something durable and waterproof. It took a lot of work prepping the subfloor with anchor screws and self leveling underlayment but was worth the struggle. Installing the modin planks wasn’t too bad and we love the look and feel of the floor. Susan your basement is beautiful!

Can you describe your floor prep in more detail? What was the self leveling underlayment? I assume this is on top of plywood subfloor (anchor screws).

It seems like modin is nice and think and stiff so that the subfloor prep isn’t as important as with something very thin like Karndean, but maybe I’m wrong?

Nick K - you chose the perfect color floor to go with your sofa - beautiful space!

We walked the entire subfloor and drilled 3 inch screws at an angle into the joists for any plywood that had a squeak or was slightly raised. Then we used a long level to locate any areas that required adjustment. We used Tec self leveling underlayment on any areas that required it. I used a flat piece of steel to lightly spread any high areas and attempted to feather the edges. Once dried a sanded any locations that were raised. The modin flooring is 5mm thick but is sturdy and the locking mechanism works great and the size of the planks help. We careful inspected all planks when locked in place to make sure there were no gaps - even the slimmest amount.

Thank you for the info!

The installer finally elected to rip out my Wavy Karndean floor! (See waves on left side of installed floor picture.). It turns out that the waves were caused by the high grit sanding he did across my subfloor seams. This was correct prep to sand the seams to make sure they are level, but the sander made very slight grooves in the floor the telegraphed up through the underlayment and the Karndean plank. Unbelievable! Either that or it was the stapling of the underlayment (now torn out-not pictured). However, at any rate, you can feel the grooves on the subfloor sanding areas.

Installers out there, what would you have done differently?

Susan, your basement looks gorgeous! Can you post more pictures of the kids area under the staircase? Its very neat!!!how do you heat the basement? Does the LVP feels cold?

Sure, happy to - We wanted the space to feel like a little house, yet have a lot of openness. The windows don't have glass. The door is a half door. Our grandson really likes the door knocker. The mail card below the mail slot is cardboard - we'll update it if we're lucky enough to have more grandchildren. The window inside the house is for puppet shows or maybe to have a little store in a few years.

Our house has electric heat and there were already some vents in the basement ceiling, so we didn't need any HVAC work for the project. It's been very comfortable.

That space is adorable!

Thank you so much!!!

so cute! I know my granddaughters would love a space like that!

Susan, thank you. My 3 and 5 yro would looove some thing like that. I will show the pix to my husband. We were think of hire someone to build a free standing playground first. maybe incorporate your ideas into it. Can you guys look at my layout, see if it’s functional? TIA

Your space looks like a lot of fun. Would you consider a teepee that you could fold up later when the children are older?

Susan, that’s a great suggestion! I have a 2 person tent i could put it up for the kids. The kids have been putting blankets and parachute over chairs and trampoline:)

I think the teepees scream "fun!"

Susan are you sure you used Noret color because it looks like the lightest of the flooret colors. Thanks pjb.

Pj Bob - should have looked it up before - yes, our floor is Nordland - the lightest. Still loving it!

Flooret finally got a warm medium brown color (Kingswood)! I ordered 3 planks to sample it. I can’t wait to see it. I’m hoping it works for me. The Nordland is beautiful in your home, but I’m looking for a more traditional wood look. I’m hoping this will be the solution that I’m looking for since the Karndean had to be ripped out! (Yes, if you read me (ishop19) on this thread thread, my project is taking forever!)

Kingswood didn’t do it for me. The brownish yellow went went too greenish on me. Going to sample Brenwick.