Wow this thread has helped so much with alleviating my vinyl floor reservations! Every time I go to a newly renovated Home Goods and see their awful, wavy, glue down vinyl "wood" floors I cringe, and it had totally put me off vinyl for a minute.
For those that have this in the basement, does it keep your feet from freezing? We are looking to replace our tile on a slab that gets super cold during the winter. Ideally we would use a cork underlayment but it sounds like that doesn't work so hot with vinyl.
Does anyone have pictures of the lighthouse oak color?

I installed Coretec (a similar product) in my daughter's townhouse on concrete. It is MUCH warmer underfoot than just glue down vinyl. However, Coretec has an attached cork backing. So if your choice has backing, or you use an appropriate underlayment, I would say yes, they are warmer underfoot.

You CAN use a cork underlayment with luxury vinyl planks, but there are restrictions on how thick it can be. Check with the manufacturer!

I've used Grey Sterling Oak in 4 projects so far. It's decent. But still doesn't have the higher end look like hardwoods.

Hi Chrissy, I used the color "greige" or grey beige. I forget the brand, but I got it at lowes. I hope this helps!

I also picked the sterling oak for my bathroom. love the quality and color but my personal dilemma is figuring out whether it will look good against pastel walls and a dark brown vanity.

Lotus flower, I think it will look good as long as the vanity isn't darker than the darkest brown in the "wood".

Dark Brown vanity, yes. Pastel walls, not sure, could if you have other soft colors in the room.

This has been so helpful! Sterling is IN STOCK and time is an issue so I might give up my first choice of Ocala!

This is how the Sterling Oak looks with furniture

Considering these for our daylight basement, over concrete. Also thinking about cold feet/cold room and wondering if heated floor pads could be installed underneath? Glad to see there is an option for stairs that matches.

Thanks for all the comments. My wife and I plan to install the Sterling Oak in our townhome in the living, kitchen, dining and the bedrooms but were wondering if there is anything slightly grayer/ darker than the Sterling Oak. We really like the Natural Oak Grey color but would like a similar one from LifeProof. Any suggestions?

How easy is this to install ourself? Home depot quotes 2 to 3 times the price of the product itself. We are home newbies, so we were wondering if this is something we could do ourselves.

Also, looks like the Cap-a-tread are really expensive. We have 3 flights of stairs in the house (averaging 10-15 steps each). Any economical alternatives to this? We would hate to do carpet on the stairs.

Any suggestions/ advise would be much appreciated.

You can definitely install it yourself, but there is a bit of a learning curve. Some of them say you can score with a carpet knife and snap, don't count on it, borrow a miter saw/jig saw if you don't already have it. They won't snap together properly if the tongue and groove have any shavings/sawdust stuck on/in them, so be prepared to use a brush or air gun to clean each plank after cutting (I even blow on a whole plank to get out any dust from packing/shipping). Be prepared to start your first row a time or two until you get the hang of it. And make sure your subfloor is level and flat before you start (can vary no more than 3/16 per 10 feet).

I'm a middle aged DIYer and I've installed several click laminate floors and a Coretec floor by myself so it can be done.

Yes the capatreads are outrageously expensive. You can do stair nose and planks on the stairs instead, but I'm not sure if Life proof has a FLUSH stair nose which looks much better and minimizes tripping hazards.

Addendum--I checked and the Lifeproof stairnoses are NOT flush. And they're about as pricey as the capatread. Do you have treads you could refinish and stain close to what you've chosen for flooring?

Thanks Nancy. Though we are excited to DIY this ourselves, the stairs seem troublesome. We haven't moved into our property yet, but looks like the stairs already have laminate cap-a-treads, albeit this isn't the color of Sterling Oak we wanted to try. I doubt if I could stain the stairs in a color closer to Sterling Oak. Any suggestions on how I could do the stairs?

You can't stain laminate because it's not porous, it's plastic. You could install unfinished wood and paint them? Or pay only for the stair Sterling oak installation.

Yeah if they are truly laminate you can't stain them, and don't sand them to allow them to accept paint 'cause you'll destroy them. If they're wood you can stain or paint. Do you have a carpenter friend who can take a look at them?

One option would be to redo the floors, and redo the stairs in the future when you can.

Check Lowes website for "Stairtek retrotread". These are unfinished oak (or maple) treads that you install on top of the current treads (or on top of the actual structural tread underneath your laminate treads). Although by the time you finish them (stain, varnish) they're probably as expensive as the Capatreads.

On a different note, did lifeproof change the color of it's Sterling oak. It looks completely different on their website and samples than the posted photos (the gray is darker in the photos shown in this discussion thread). Here's a photo of the plank which looks different from the photos in this thread.

Thanks!

Hmm. I bought my Sterling Oak in May - my planks don't have as much contrast as your 1st pic (note: vanity drawers not built yet). Mine look kinda like your 2nd picture though. The flooring I have definitely has medium gray tones, not beige and not light gray. fyi: old-school incandescent lighting/a bit of sunlight in my photo. Stuff will look different in flourescent lighting typical of stores.

Installed essential oak. Pretty nice outcome !

Does furniture leave dents in the flooring?

Really heavy furniture items with small feet (so all the weight is concentrated in a small area) could leave dents, as could a chair with a heavier person sitting in it. So a pool table, china cabinet etc could be an issue. If you're handy, you could make something out of a piece of board or plywood (with felt on the underside) to go under the feet and spread the weight out a bit (and paint or stain it to match your décor). You'd probably only have to do a piece a few inches across for each foot.

In another discussion about Coretec (a similar product), the manufacturer of that flooring actually recommended that if you knew you were gonna put a pool table on it that you GLUE DOWN the portion of the floor that went under the table. That part of the floor wouldn't be able to expand/contract with temperature variations and apparently gluing it down mitigates that problem.

Thanks so much. I go back anf forth between this and tile. I will be putting it throughout the house so I am concerned for furniture like a couch, dresser etc.

Johanny jacobsen, what color are your living room walls? The sterling oak goes well with it. I plan to put it in my kitchen but I'm a little concern on how it will look with White cabinets.

Look how it looks in different places in my house. I love this floorings and lightning

More areas so you can see the effects. It’s beautiful, pet friendly, easy to clean and goes with greige tones as well as white tones. Consider that if needs replaced, it’s easier than tile.

I love that you changed the kitchen cabinet colors. This flooring looks amazing.

Planning to put lifeproof sterling oak in all rooms in the second floor and want to put it on the stairs as well. Where can i get the same color flooring for the stairs or what did anyone used?

@sandra flores Go to Home Depot

How are your floors? Are you happy with the product? I've researched reviews on Home Depot Canada and found 75 1-star reviews that can be summarized as Buyer Beware. The LIFEPROOF name is a misnomer

Sample reviews: A cat and border collie scratched the floor and HD Rep said "we suggest you keep the pet claws trimmed." Rubber locks break easily, even when removing from the box. Floor isn't suited for laundry or kitchen where moving heavy appliances scratched floor. Difficult to clean, must get on hands and knees to scrub gunk from between the ridges. Colored surface flaked-off following the sawing the plank to size with a NEW chop saw blade. Limited pattern variety- there are only four patterns to the boards.

My DH just brought home a sample of the sterling oak.

I read the same reviews - very strange how people can have such different experiences with the same product. I asked an independent installation guy who gave us an estimate and he said that if you move heavy furniture across any LVF, it will scratch. Or as another poster noted, if you have a lot of weight on small feet, it will likely leave a mark. I'm on the fence with lifeproof... although the pictures look great.

Johanny- can you share the color of paint you used in the living/family room area? matches nicely!

Would Stirling Oak look good with Knotty Pine walls in a cabin?

@nicole the color in my walls are “accessible beige”. Chose this color as the floors have a cold undertone and wanted a bit of warmth around me.

To all: I have not checked reviews since I first put in the floors 2 years ago. I have 4 Pomeranians and nobody takes off shoes in the house. My floors look as new as they did the first day. Having said that, I use common sense and I don’t move heavy furniture without care. This product is vinyl and not diamond, so I do know that at some point if I try really hard they will scratch. I am more than happy with my floors and really, if I move to a different house that has natural wood floors, I will cover them this type of product. That much I am satisfied!

BTW anyone that comes and visits me for the first time falls in love with my floors

@Shelly I think this floor goes with any color as very neutral. However, please do consider your natural lighting. I live in Oregon, during the summer months, the floors look very light. In the winter, they look dark trending grey. I love this changes but you might not. Traditional wood colors have the same hue all year around. This color changes with the light. At least that’s what I’ve observed

I have installed 2000 sq feet so far in the sterling oak and we love it our foyer is marble look porcelain 24x24 polished..we put the sterling oak in our family room..living room and Dinning room we choose mega Greige lighten 25% by sherwin Williams and chantilly lace in family room Foyer is also Chantilly lace by Benjamin moore it all goes beautiful ❤️ we are bringing Sterling oak upstairs to the hallway..guest bath..kids bath ..kids rooms guest room and The master I think we are putting the chiffon lace color which is the off white with grey but The sterling oak will go good to the master walls are a beautiful off white like simply white by Benjamin Moore .. .. we have a yorkie and the floor is awesome for pets we love them and the color selection..any Greige paint color or whites even blues goes good with these floors...Hope this helps

I was curious what everyone uses when knitting this carpet, I know that wooden planks have laminate cut molds but attach a metal bracket to the longer floor slab of vinyl. In a residential home I don't consider it as thick. Maybe someone can educate me on this.

Thank you @Johanny I was worried that the knotty pine walls would compete with the flooring I was just wanting neutral.

So how is this flooring holding up for everyone that’s had it for 6 months or more? That 6 mil wear layer is scaring me off but I love the color in sterling oak.

I bought lighthouse oak life proof floor 1.5 yrs ago. It has held up great. Everyone loves my floors. Definitely would by lifeproof again.

I love everyone's pictures of sterling oak since we're looking for a gray/light brown color. When I went to home depot to see it in person all I see is gray. Will it show some light shades of brown when installed?

Judy my floors are definitely grey, but there are many options available. I stand by my recommendation of this product. It's been 3 years and they still look new. I have no rugs and I have 4 dogs and lots of walking on these floors.

Don't forget torlys It comes in 8mm and the underlay is cork so you do get what you pay for. You also get more color range tones in the planks. Just saying to compare,

we just renovated spent a lot of money on this Kitchen, so the compromise is to spend 35%

more for that 8mm thickness and cork backing.

For sure life proof in your basement Torlys upstairs.

Lighting definitely affects the color. I have Sterling oak in my master bath which is very bright, and it is a beautiful true gray - just what I wanted. I am putting it in my family room and it is a beautiful taupy gray (more of the brown comes out) which is exactly what I want. It is definitely a chameleon

Johanny are your stairs wood stained or cap a tread in sterling oak? Thanks!

I swear I read the comments. Did you go with the Sterling Oak?

How did you get the LifeProof on your stairs? We are struggling to find the best products to cap our existing treads and yours look great!

Check out a product on Home Depot's site called cap-a-tread. They're laminate treads with bullnose and you should be able to find either an exact match or something close. They glue on, I used them when renovating my daughter's townhouse. I'll try and find a picture.

Edit-I apparently deleted the pictures after I sold the townhouse.

Johanny (and any one else who installed Sterling Oak) - do you have any tips on how to arrange the tiles during install given the limited variation of the pattern. I heard that it only has four repeating patterns which can be distracting, but your pics look great - the pattern is either not noticeable or very subtle.

I've not installed lifeproof, but one thing to consider is, if there are any really outstanding noticeable patterns (a big knot, for example), those are planks to primarily put where furniture and rugs are intended. Not that you won't put that big knot out in the open occasionally, but if it's really noticeable fudge its use so more are in hidden areas. Also you can "dry lay" out a bunch of planks and stand back and look at the pattern in various lightings and from different angles and see what stands out.