@merriebeth437 Go to this Houzz gthread -- https://www.houzz.com/discussions/5396961/coretec-calypso-oak-noble-oak-or-pembroke-pine-photos

There area bunch of photos of Noble Oak and there is one responders who have comparison shots of Hayes, Noble and Calypos together. You can tell in this photo that Noble has a yellow look to it in the sample. I also noted that there is more of a pattern with the planks -- more lines within the plank itself. One of my concerns about LVP was an overwhelming pattern look so I worried about getting something that had a lot of lines, squiggles or those knotty hole looks. This is why I chose Hayes. It's def more plain. Hayes planks about about 1" wider than Noble, but both are the same length --72. I like the look of the long runs in my house, so I'm thrilled with the 72" length. In addition, Hayes as the stair tread/nose so I have it running up my stairs. Noble Oak does as well. I think Noble Oak is beautiful. Now that I have Hayes down and see what the wide planks/long planks look like I would not be fearful about Noble Oak having more of a pattern. I love Hayes and have zero regrets, but I think I would've loved Noble as well!

@myellamae have you chosen your paint colors yet? I currently have a beige that has a slight sage undertone. Having my house painted and I'm torn between going with a true gray that brings out some of the grays in Hayes or to do a Greige. I have warmer toned furniture so I think I'd probably be better off with a greige, but I'm just so sick of beige walls!

Deann, thank you so very much!! This was exactly the information I was looking for!! I didn’t realize that Hayes was a wider plank. I’m thinking the 7in wide plank may work better in my house. It is a true post and beam with 7in tongue and groove vertical boards rather than sheetrock on the walls. I think keeping the floor the same width will be better on the eye. What do you all think??? Here is a picture of the walls/beams. Pls excuse the chipped paint. It’s all getting done when we do the floors.

I was farmhouse before farmhouse was cool. 😉

That’s noble oak next to Provenza at ease.

Thank you for the photos - I am following also as we have to replace our entire first floor coverings (due to earthquake foundation repair) - visuals from a real home (vs. flooring websites) really help. Your floors look great!

The one thing to consider about Noble is that it’s thicker than the others so it will impact the height of the floor. The ramifications for that is that you may have to cut doors or consider other impacts especially if you are covering another floor.

@merribeth437 if I remember correctly, Noble Oak was a top contender for us but the color of the edges for us were too pink for us. I think it was Noble Oak and I just couldn’t see anything but the pink.

@deannjackson we picked SW Pure White for our ceilings and trim and picked SW Aesthetic White for the walls. I wanted a warmer tone but new I didn’t want a darker beige. Our walls aren’t finished yet, so really hoping all the colors work well together while still keeping things warm and earthy. I gravitate toward warm rather than cool and grey.

Excuse all my spelling errors!

@merriebeth437 I hear you girl on the wide plank. And honestly, that was probably one of my biggest worries about Hayes Oak. The beat up hardwoods I had that Hayes went on top of were the ones that were maybe 2" wide. I couldn't imagine what the 9" plank would look like in the narrow hallways. But I was pleasantly surprised! I don't think you can go wrong with Coretec. My flooring person said their floors are quality. I'm so thrilled with the floors. They are absolutely beautiful. I was really worried they'd go down and I'd think why did I get fake hardwoods? But they are so gorgeous!

FYI Pinnacle Oak is a 7" plank with the same design as Hayes but in the style of the Coretec Plus Premium line.

@Bethany Hauck how often do you mop your floors? It's only been a week since they've been installed, but it's rained the entire week and to my delight and utter shock, I don't see any muddy paw prints. After reading the horror stories on mopping and film, I'm going to stick with plain water for now. I am also so surprised at how well dirt is concealed by this floor.

It does conceal dirt amazingly well. I went with the recommendation to use only water to clean it until recently (7 months into having the floor installed) and... that is a bad recommendation. So if all you do is spot clean the floor and the floor doesn't show dirt, it ends up really dirty. And when it's really dirty, water doesn't cut it anymore. Add to that my concerns about my pets making messes on the floor (to put it politely) and - granted you're not eating off the floor - it started to feel really unclean. I just bought the Coretec Encore cleaning product and that is what I'll use from now on. It seems to do a good job, gets out things like scuff marks, and it easy to use with a spray mop - no rinse. It says it is a detergent, so I'm hoping it is actually cleaning the germs. Not endorsing that product specifically (I think Bona laminate will work) but I figured I paid enough for the floor, so I will use the brand name. I will probably be mopping sections of the floor weekly now.

Thanks @Bethany Hauck. So it sounds like mopping these floors isn't really a dunking of a mom in solution, rinse, then mop -- it's spray as you go.

I never thought I'd be so nervous mopping floors until I saw the Houzz thread where people had issues with a hazy film!

HI Deann,

Thanks for all the details you provided! As you know it's so hard to tell with a sample and I'm going to be installing LVP on my entire first floor very soon. There is a lot of natural sunny light (in San Diego) and I'll be having white cabinets, navy island and my color scheme is gray, navy, white and black. I really love a light neutral floor, no knots, definitely not farmhouse style, not a lot of variation, look.

My husband is insistent on wide and long planks so I think Hayes might be our choice. Do you think Hayes meet's those requirements? Really appreciate your feedback and your place looks gorgeous!

Maggie, it will work perfectly! It's been almost 2 weeks installed and I have zero regrets! It's absolutely beautiful. @Bethany Hauck said it perfectly -- you look at the sample board and it looks absolutely plain and damn near gray. But when it's installed, it's a chameleon. It's not nearly as cool looking as it is on the sample board. It definitely warms up. The area rugs I had over my banged up hardwoods look so much better against the Hayes. Your navy island will look incredible against it!

I was at first concerned that it was going to be too light against my white kitchen cabinets that have a bit of a grayish overlay to it. But it looks great!

I was also concerned at first the width and the length would make it odd in a narrow hallway, but it looks fantastic. The width and the length really cut out the patterny look of LVP.

My house is still in a bit of disarray because my painter is going to paint the house so now I've got the joy of picking out paint colors. I'll post more pics when it's done!

Here is my kitchen. I really wanted the floor not to clash or compete with my walnut island and this def did the trick!

The photos really don't do it justice! Also after having glossy floors before that showed everything, I actually like the matte look.

Oh I’m sold!!! Thanks so much for helping me and it looks stunning and not in disarray at all. I have that same color on the banister, what color are you painting it?

Maggie I am not sure yet! I may just have him do the whole thing white or do this -- darker on the rail only!

And @Maggie Mclaughlin you are so welcome! I was really nervous picking out LVP. It took me about 6 months before I finally made up my mind. My first two selections were Napa Dry Cork (Aduramax) which looked great in pics but when I bought the carton it was two gray as in darker gray. I bought the carton of a warmer version Napa Tanin and it looked orangey and too close in color to my walnut island (I didn't want it competing with it!). I knew at that point there was way too much variation between planks and that I didn't want a darker floor since it was going to be covering ~2000 square feet. I fell in love with Hayes after seeing some pics on instagram. @Bethany Hauck really swayed me too! I loved her pics and her experience with it!

I love the darker rails! Let me know what you end up going with, I'd love to see pictures of that. I had no idea flooring would be the hardest choice in our complete first floor remodel, thank goodness for people like you and Bethany who share your experiences.

I will do that! The cool thing about Hayes is that they have the treads for the stairs and they look really good! And I am so happy to help. This forum was so helpful to me. I told my flooring people that anyone who is interested in it to contact me. It really is such a hard decision to make, especially when it's a lot of it in your house. I just didn't want to have that bad patterny look. Coretec was more expensive than the other brand, but I'm glad I didn't cheap out on it because it's such a big part of your home!

look at the damaged hardwoods! And my disgusting damaged hardwoods and golden oak hell!

Wow. All these pictures and comments have really helped me. I picked out Hayes Oak flooring for my condo a week ago, then had second thoughts and have been continuing to bring other samples home from the store. But I keep liking the Hayes the best. The photos and comments in this thread have helped me feel more confident. I am meeting with my flooring guy on Monday, and am going to go ahead with the contract for the Hayes Oak. Thanks!

I am so happy for you @K H! It really is so pretty! I have zero regrets! And I doubted myself even the day of install before I walked upstairs and saw the bedrooms on day 1. house is getting painted, still in disarray but here is a pic of it in the room the painter hasn't finished. And my dog with the battle of the Swiffer and microfiber sweeper! I had to pull both out because she likes to play as I sweep!

One other thing I like so far better than my hardwoods is that the click and lock system means that it's easier for me to get stuff that gets between the planks. It's not as deep so it is easier for me! Also K H I know you've seen the "Prints on LVP" thread and you'll also see a thread about Coretec denting. I think lighter floors don't show as much as the dark. So far, it conceals dirt much better than my old hardwoods. I have yet to see any dents or scratches and my painter has moved furniture all over the place and I'm sure not that carefully!

Also I noticed some cat paw stains on the floor today. I used Shaw Hard Surfaces, spray a small area and uses a microfiber sweeper. it looks great! No film.

Tomorrow I'm meeting with my floor guy to sign contract and determine direction of the boards. I think I will put them on the diagonal.

Can't wait to see the after!

Ha, I just realized I must have 2 different accounts -- one with my married name and one with my maiden! I figured you all aren't confused. :)

Look how cute she looks against Hayes Oak? it has been almost 2 months since they went in and I have zero regrets.

She is adorable! And the floor looks great too! I am still waiting for my Hayes Oak flooring to be installed. The materials have arrived and are at the flooring store I ordered them from, but installation held up because of COVID. So I look at the sample I have, and your photos, and dream....

I was wondering if COVID impacted your install. What an awful time it is. Hopefully we get some relief soon; it sounds like it will get worse before it gets better, but maybe summer heat will help?

I'm watching a rerun of The Deed: Chicago and this episode has the expert going into a house in the process of being flipped. Looks at the floor and said, "I see you went to Vinyl..." The flipper said something like yes, it is scratchproof, waterproof... The expert asked the cost savings. He said 6K from hardwood. The expert then said, "That's a great cost savings and it looks fantastic, no one would even be able to tell it wasn't hardwood..." It wasn't Hayes Oak; don't know the brand it was (it looked like a cheaper brand to me) but it was so nice to see a real estate expert who does a lot of high end stuff talk about how great it looked.

Hey everyone! Just a floor cleaning update for you. I was using a microfiber swiffer like flat mop head and Shaw's Hard Surfaces. I liked it, no film left on the floor. But I kinda like the whole wet mop really clean feeling so I bought O'Cedar Easy Wring microfiber mop and used water with a little vinegar. I was a little nervous last night and hoping that I didn't mess up and that there would be some film over top. Today, I am very happy to see no film, just a nice shine on a matte floor. I've heard others have had success using that type of mop. (BTW, had to fire my first painter so my stair railings are still in that golden oak color! New painters in May). I know there are people that complain about LVP showing prints, but I've not had that with Coretec. I don't know if it is in part the embossing of Hayes Oak or just the color, but I'm not having the problem. Also, I don't have this denting problem I've seen complaints on regarding Coretec. I have dropped some heavy items on the floor and no dents, no scratching.

For those who are asking about Noble Oak, it went in our house yesterday and got pulled up today. There is just way too much repeat in the pattern, especially for the high cost. Our professional flooring guys stopped installing because they felt like it was too obvious. They give Noble Oak an 8 out of 10 (1 being no repeat, 10 being lots of repeats) and they were really only able to identify 5 different patterns to choose between. They said they get less repeat on the cheap stuff. Even though the boards are cut at different lengths to limit the appearance of identical boards, since the color is so light and the pattern is dark, the repeat pictures really pop out. For example, there is a 7-inch knot we found on 10 boards out of 30. And most of the patterns are very linear, so you really see it on long runs. We stood at the end of an 8 row section (5 boards each = 40) and counted the same 5 patterns repeated 6-7 times each. This was after spending a lot of time carefully trying to avoid repeating. Also, it looks very yellow in our home.

All that said, the quality and feel was amazing. It was soft underfoot (installed on a cement slab), the embossing looked great, and it seemed to be quality stuff. We will still use COREtec, but we will be avoiding the Plus Premium line (the other sample we had, Valor Oak, had the same exact repeats/pictures but with even more color variation).

Hikinganne!
Those were my exact concerns. I can pick a repeat out of anything and I knew it would make me nuts. I would love to know what you end up using. I think I have given up on lvp and am going with engineered hardwood. 🤷‍♀️

Merriebeth,

I hear you--I can pick out the patterns instantly. The repeats in Noble Oak were so distinct, long, and dark grey against the light wood color it made it worse than usual I think. We are sticking with LVP because it's going in our walkout basement, and because I can't get my money back. I was lucky the flooring company we hired agreed about the repeats (they stopped work and brought it to my attention), and they are willing to exchange for a different color. We are going with Hayes Oak. There will still be repeats (the price you pay for LVP), but the pattern is much less obvious because background and markings are lighter and the boards are bigger.

Any thought on how Coretec Hayes Oak would compare to Karndean Korlock?

I've been looking at the washed butternut

https://www.houzz.com/photos/korlok-select-washed-butternut-transitional-entry-phvw-vp~96311985

https://www.karndean.com/en/floors/easy-fit-ranges/korlok-select

Hi everyone! I am also thinking about the Hayes Oak. These pictures are very helpful. Do you think it would show darker prints too much? We have a lab and a creek in the backyard so we do get some mud by the door.

@User - did you paint your railings? my home has the same color. I came across your post about the flooring i wanted to check how is it holding up a year later? any regrets? issues? how is it doing with a refrigerator on top of it? Thanks,

Hi where is the best place to order Coretec, we decided on Hayes Oak but havent gotten any purchase info

@Maggie Mclaughlin did you end up getting your floors installed? Fellow San Diegan over here and would love to know who you used and how the floors are holding up.

Bethany Hauck, how are you liking your floors?

I finally went with Hayes Oak for my lakehouse basement. I am very pleased!

Considering putting Coretec Hayes in our basement. I'm concerned it will look to grey or dark. Can anyone with Hayes in their house or basement provide some feedback? We're after a European white oak type of oak, and I want to avoid a 'grey' color 100%. If it will look grey, what other Coretec colors would you suggest? thx!

Everybody still happy with their floor? I’m thinking of the Hayes oak too. Thanks!

Hi Kim, I've had Hayes Oak installed for 3 years now and I still love it. I get lots of compliments and as other commenters have mentioned, it pulls both warm and cool, depending on the amount of lighting in the room as well as paint and time of day but it always looks great. I'm also pleased that it doesn't have any yellow tones to it. Also love the wide plank look.

Everyone still happy with their Hayes oak?? Getting ready to make the decision. Feel free to send pics!!