Luxury Vinyl Plank seems like an oxymoron.

I can't offer any input on those specific flooring products. I will say to follow your own desire and select what YOU want, not what might appeal to a buyer... unless you plan to sell in the next 4-6 years. Trying to satisfy a possible potential buyer somewhere in the future is tough to do. Personal taste is selective. I started out with choosing what I wanted, mahogany-dark floors, then looked at what might be similar to neighborhood sales photos, then went with something I liked and blended well with furniture and furnishings I had. Coretec Plus is what I used.

We picked the flooring store with the best install rep and then chose our flooring from what they offered. Worked out great, especially as there was a huge factory global snafu right before our install date (like, HOURS before they were to show up at the front door) so the store went to bat for us.

We got our new install date with only a minor delay. Plus they ate the cost for a second flooring (we were using different flooring for closets vs room/stairs) that wasn't going to be available in time. They let us pick a similar tile from another mfg that looked very similar but was more expensive.

I later heard that other people had their flooring jobs backed up for weeks and even months over this mfg problem. The store we used gave us great service, a beautiful install, and constant communication before and during the project. They gave us several pieces of very good advice as we were starting our selection, which really helped us define what we wanted.

Out of a large and expensive MBR remodel, the flooring install could have been the biggest problem, because a whole series of projects depended on the floor being already down. In hindsight we are very glad we went with the best service/install first, then picking the flooring.

We have the Mannington Adura Essex Oak LVP, glue-down. Been almost a full year and we love it. Even the other contractors who came in afterwards thought it was wood, not vinyl!

At the time the Adura was the only line that had one-piece bullnose stair treads. This was critical as the stairs run right into the main flooring.

The one disadvantage of LVT/LVP is that sunlight; e.g., UV, will discolor them. If you have direct sun streaming in, use something else. Indirect or shaded light, or windows with anti-UV film, aren't a problem.

A wider-angle shot of the LVP:

You can dent or scratch vinyl, but I have 80-yr red oak flooring in the main part of our house and believe me, you can dent and scratch that too if you're really careless.

I will reiterate what I've said in other posts here. The flooring co. we used refuses to do floating installs on LVP. They said they have had too many complaints arise on floating installs, versus zero complaints on glue-down. LVP and LVT are very easy to repair, btw. Just make sure you have an extra box of tiles/planks. Takes maybe 10 min at most to do a repair.

A lot of folks here have done DIY floating installs and have had no problems. So YMMV.

Good luck with your decision.

@

labdunbar_denver, what color is your coretec plus? I really like it.

Cbreeze, thanks. The first bedroom picture is Ivory Coast Oak (planks) and the family room picture is Antique Marble tile (18×24). We have the tile in most of our house, including 13 stair steps. The Ivory Coast Oak is in 2 small bedrooms where all of the furniture is white.

Are they holding up well? How easily are they scratched? Do you have to clean often? I mean both planks and tiles. Any cupping, curling?

Thanks.

cbreeze, my Coretec Plus floors are 18 months old and look like they did when installed. I do NOT see any scratches, dents, cupping or curling on either tile or plank flooring (even after my teen daughter practiced her tap dance routine repeatedly on her plank floor). They ARE floating, locking floors and there are two places in 1700 square feet where there has been a bit of movement near where the floor meets wall or cabinet, due to the expansion joints under trim. These are tiny, I mean tiny, expansions, probably less than 1/16th-inch. I fully expect these two small areas will expand back during warmer weather. I suspect the pattern on antique marble tile, and the light color on ivory coast oak plank are a factor in not showing scratches, but I don't feel any scratches either.

Regarding cleaning, originally I cleaned every 10 days with the Hoover Floormate Deluxe. It is time consuming, I won't sugar coat it. I spot cleaned with Ph neutral spray and then mopped up any problem areas in between major cleaning. Then we hired a cleaning crew that cleans our whole house every other week and now I rarely clean my floor in between! It's wonderful.

Labdunbar_denver I am looking to replace stained carpet with the Ivory Coast in my kids rooms and in my master bedroom. Do they stain at all? I have two small kids that love making messes. Would red jello for example stain them? Also I have very heavy furniture in my master. Does that cause a problem?

One of my daughters has bloody noses frequently. Sometimes the spots dry before we get to clean it up. It cleans up with water and doesn't stain. Best to go with the grain with a wet cloth or tissue. Just did that this morning. Red jello? Well, that's red dye, and if left on, it could very well leave a stain. However one daughter is very very messy, eats, paints and does other crafts in her bedroom, and we do get everything off of it. Her carpet was hugely stained when it came out!!

Regarding heavy furniture, I have a humongous wall unit in my master, and I opted for keeping old carpet, even though I really want to get rid of the carpet. I'm afraid to put Coretec in there unless maybe it's glued down. We did get rid of another huge wall unit in our family room before Coretec went in for reasons partly floor-related, partly design related. The biggest, heaviest pieces on this floor are a 3-case bookcase and a La-Z-Boy couch-size double recliner. The last time I moved the area rug in this room, the floor still looked perfect, no movement. Here's the bookcase, solid cherry and glass.

Here's my mr. monster. I priced Coretec and was ready to pay for the bedroom floors and backed out. I do want to use Coretec here and in our office but I need to see a superb track record on my existing floors first.

messy daughter's floor, photo just taken in December, so floors were 18 months old here

Heaviest furniture in this room, including a 72-inch sewing cutting table with casters.

If anyone does have super heavy furniture and a track record of 2 years on Coretec floors, please chime in!

Thank you!! I feel much better about going with the Ivory Coast in the kids room. I think I'm just going to take a chance on the master flooring with Coretec too. Your bookcase is bigger than any of my pieces and if you don't see any dents yet I think I'll be ok.

One more question: are you aware of any online places I can buy it from that would ship to west Kentucky?

labdunbar_denver, do the casters of your daughter's chair scratch/dent the floor?

I plan to put Coretec down in an out of town studio apt and we will have a murphy bed. I am wondering how the Coretec will perform. Should I glue down the planks there? I will also have tables and chairs on casters since the space is small.

Sellers and pros please chime in.

Toni, I don't know or have any experience with online sources. I bought through Carpet Exchange locally. Here's a link to a long-going Coretec thread. Several posters there bought online.

http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/2388434/anyone-used-coretec

Cbreeze, you might also want to go to the Coretec thread above for more Coretec owners' experience on casters. My daughters' office chairs haven't scratched the floors, despite my youngest using the new floor to roll about. They weigh less than 120 pounds and are not heavy users of those chairs. A poster on the Coretec thread, bmockler, has some furniture on casters so look for her posts. I would recommend calling Coretec directly or asking your question about glueing down on that thread as Coretec has answered questions there. None of my floor is glued down. The tile on my stairs are glued...only way it could be done.

One more thing, Toni. My kids are teenagers, if that gives you a different perspective. They did stain carpet when they were younger... a lot! What is interesting to me is that now, both daughter's vacuum (suction, no brush) their rooms, voluntarily and without any prompting from me! They see dirt now versus it being hidden in carpet. We did wait until they were older because my husband wanted them to stain the old carpet and not ruin new floors (his stance, not mine).

jakkom,

I am also choosing Mannington Adura, but having a tough time with the color options! I want a color that will stand the test of time (not trendy), warm, light to medium brown and I would say my decor leans towards tropical/Hawaiian. A lot of the vinyl colors are trying too hard and end up very busy and stripey, The Oak looks really good in this regard, but then Oak is, well, Oak and I was hoping for something a little different. I'm wondering which Essex Oak you went with...is it "Natural" or "Honeytone"? It seems the Natural looks less grainy but also a little less warm looking and in some lights falls a little flat and goes a hair pink. The Honeytone is warmer but more grainy. I definitely don't want an orangey Oak, does yours go orangey at all? The other color I was considering for its plainness and non-oakyness was Canadian Maple, but can that be combined with a warm tropical vibe? And it seems like it would show every little speck of dirt if I don't clean all the time. To the other extreme I was looking at Burma Teak Butternut. The coloring is tropical but I fear it will be too stripey busy and scream "look at me". Thoughts?

Also your vinyl stair treads look fabulous, the installers did a great job cutting them to butt flush against the wall without adding fussy trim pieces. Do you know how they did that? My installer doesn't want to do the vinyl stair caps because he said there are often not perfect straight edges on either side of stair treads at the wall and wood is easier to cut and sand to get that exact fit so you don't see thin gap lines at the side wall edges.

Also, do you think a carpet runner down the center could be put down on top of the vinyl or if that is my plan should I go with wood for all the stapling that would happen and it would put holes in the vinyl?

Do you have any pictures you could post of a full length of your stairs and the room with the Essex Oak with furniture in it now?

I'm hoping to hear from jakkom but any one else please chime in as well! FYI, I am also having my installer do the glue down method. I have looked at other brands including Modin (which can be special ordered to do glue down, but the color choices just aren't right unfortunately... they look so different online vs in person samples).

Many thanks!

Lisa B