Software
Houzz Logo Print
beaglesdoitbetter

Show my your luxury vinyl flooring :)

I don't want to hijack Robo's thread but I saw a lot of talk of LV flooring in there.


I am seriously thinking about possibly doing that for the new FL vacation house. With a young baby, 2 dogs, the possibility of another baby perhaps, and the fact we will have a pool, I want a very durable floor. We have travertine and hardwood in our current house and I love the look of it but it gets very slippery and when I carry the baby in dripping from the pool to change him, I am constantly terrified I will fall...


If you've done luxury vinyl wood or tile, I'd love to see it and hear about your experience.

Comments (46)

  • 6 years ago

    beagles just an FYI I was seeing it in a lot of new builds at the mid-price range. I only visited one new build >800k but it was throughout the top floor of that new build over here on the gulf side. Main floor was super shiny impractical white tile haha.


    A few of the model homes I saw had scratches, and I have heard depending on the line it can scratch a little easier than laminate.



  • 6 years ago

    Beagles, we are in our Florida house doing total renovation.

    DH really wanted hardwood and we spent weeks looking at possibilities.

    It came down to the moisture test. I was glad because I wanted low maintenance here.

    We went with Cortec Hayes Oak, a light driftwood look. Neighbors liked it so much they had it installed (although different wood tone)

    No way can our dog scratch this. Drop something? No worries.

  • 6 years ago
    last modified: 6 years ago

    Here is mine, it is a bit lighter in person.

    We did it everywhere except the bathrooms.

    ETA just realized you mentioned slipping. I have not slipped when wet.


  • 6 years ago

    We just had Coretec LVP installed in the kitchen at our vacation house.



  • 6 years ago

    Beagles, we’ve been in our house with LVP for about 2.5 years with three large dogs and an almost 3 year old grandson in a very snowy area. Our flooring has a bit of texture, but I haven’t noticed a single scratch and it isn’t slippery like tile even when wet. It’s also easier on my back when I am standing and cooking a lot compared to the tile in our old house and softer when a toddler inevitably falls.



  • 6 years ago

    Bonnie, what is the name of yours?

  • 6 years ago

    These all look extremely nice. I am now leaning even more towards LV. I suppose if I don't love it, I can keep it for 10 years or so until the kid(s) get older and switch it out. But it looks gorgeous in the pictures so I probably wouldn't even do that if it holds up well.

  • 6 years ago

    Eld, It’s Coretec Ivory Coast Oak, which is a popular choice in our coastal town, according to the installers. We haven’t been there to enjoy it yet.

  • 6 years ago
    last modified: 6 years ago

    We tore out the tile in the laundry room and replaced with Coretec Plus in Red River Hickory. The cats have their litter box in that room. We vacuum in there a couple times a day and I wash the floor as needed. I love it!


  • 6 years ago

    Hallmark Flooring. Courtier Collection, Archduke in Oak, in our basement (den, kitchen, bathroom/2nd laundry and exercise room). I've had people reach down to touch it when I tell them it's LPV.



  • 6 years ago
    last modified: 6 years ago

    We have luxury vinyl tile in our basement. It’s been there at least 12 years and still looks brand new.


    Sorry. Can't seem to flip that pic.


  • 6 years ago
    last modified: 6 years ago

    Everyone of these is gorgeous. Now I am really kind of excited about this :) Thank you guys so much for sharing these pictures!

  • 6 years ago

    We put LVP in our vacation house as we were not dealing with water/snow/hardwood issues! We've had it for two and and a half years now with no problems. If I knew how to upload pics and had a good one of just the flooring, I would. I remember when choosing the flooring, we were told that the darker the color, the more 'natural' it would look. As darker colors of flooring are our preference, that was not a problem. I later found out that I was one of the first in my area to have this flooring- neighbors checked it out when it was being installed at my house. More than a few changed to LVP.

  • 6 years ago

    The posters here have all been very happy with their LVP and the pictures are lovely and enticing. Be aware of how you clean them however. This thread is in the Cleaning forum:

    https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/4060775/prints-left-on-luxury-vinyl-plank-floors#n=166

  • 6 years ago

    Also, because ours is a basement, there were a couple of places they had to make cut outs to access drains under the subfloor. With regular vinyl or wood or tile, this would look horrible. With the LVT, they made clean cuts, glued it to the access panels and they still look exactly like the day they were made - no curling or separating.

    The texture on our tile and on planks I've walked on in friends houses means you'd have to try pretty hard to slip.

    I really want to do the LVP in our lake house, but when I looked into it about 5 years ago, they wouldn't guarantee the glue would hold as it is unheated and our winters are harsh. This reminds me to look into again.

  • 6 years ago

    I have been seriously thinking of LVP and went so far as to look in an actual flooring store. To be honest, I am not sure that I am convinced ( I am talking about the wood look ones). After reading that thread from the cleaning forum, I am really confused. So many people talking about the floors not cleaning up well and having hazes and footprints after cleaning. Seems to happen more in darker finishes but still overall too many complaints. And it seems to e all brands as well.

    All the people on this thread, sharing their lovely flooring seem really happy with it . so confusing!!!

  • 6 years ago

    I just finished reading the link June posted.

    The one person who did not have complaints had my Cortec Hayes Oak.

    I do think the way to go is to choose a light finish.

    We have ours for 6 months, staying here fir three of those. I don’t have any of the issues. The dog runs from outside in. If it’s muddy of course I wipe his feet like I do at home for my hardwood floors.

    This really was my only choose. Hardwood was out, ceramic is way to hard on aging joints and I certainly didn’t want wall to wall.

    Beagles, wood of course will look better than vinyl and ceramic wood look tiles look great too, but not practical for your immediate lifestyle.

  • 6 years ago

    We’ve had our LVP flooring for almost 2 years. I‘m not sure the brand, I’m not where the file or flooring is. I read the thread about cleaning and the post of Robo’s about scratches and have had no problems. Our big (100 lb ) lab has not scratched it.


    Our LVP replaced a high quality laminate after our house flooded. The LVP has a more ‘solid’ feel and is much quieter.


    Be sure the installer takes their time mixing the planks so that the repeat of patterns is not obvious.

  • 6 years ago

    Haven't been in the market so I'm sure a lot of changes have taken place, but 10 yrs ago we put in Amtico and love it. It has really stood up well. Another advantage is you can go from a stone look to a wood look seamlessly. It doesn't clatter at all like pergo and we've had people reach down and touch the floor as they don't believe it isn't real stone/wood. Cleaning it is a piece of cake, and it's cushioned so a lot easier on the feet than real stone would be.

    We wanted to demarcate the area between the kitchen and the family room visually without any actual walls, so with the amtico, we curved the floor transition to match the island and the soffit.

    The compass in the foyer would also be difficult to do in natural materials, but easy with LVT.

    They also did some custom work for us. The original "brass embossed" borders were half as wide, so I had them double it up for me and we laid it to match the coffers in the ceiling in the enfilade. We ran the flooring the other way as another visual clue that the rooms are separate though there are no walls.

  • 6 years ago

    These floors are gorgeous. I love the way you transitioned rooms Annie.


    Looking at these, I would never guess you guys weren't showing pictures of "real" wood floors...


    I am concerned, mildly, about that thread in the cleaning forum BUT it seems everyone on here has had no problem and I am going to choose a light colored wood anyway, so...


  • 6 years ago

    I see a "stripe" effect in most of these floors that I couldn't live with. I also don't like the short board lengths, might as well go with indestructible porcelain tiles and get a similar look.

    Even with 3 dogs, I am sticking to engineered wood floors and looking at companies that have board lengths from 3 ft to 10 ft and 6 mm wear layer. The dogs won't be around for ever and I can refinish the floors a few times after they are no longer around.

  • 6 years ago

    I don't really see the stripe effect... Plus, these are photos focused on the FLOOR whereas when you're in a room with furniture and rugs, etc. and you have the whole picture, I think that would make any striping less obvious.


    I do plan to have dogs forever (albeit sadly not the same dogs as I realize that's impossible)

  • 6 years ago

    I'm curious about LV so I did a bit of reading. Robo, one lady did a two year review and said her son did scratch the top coat from riding his toy car, but she was able to buff it out. Her floor is dark.

    It seems if you have dogs you would need a light color that won't show prints, and IMO, drool is the worst culprit on vinyl. I recently had to order a special car cleaner for the vinyl dashboard when a big dog drooled all over it after I picked him up off the highway.

    If I had big dogs or small kids and wanted a medium to dark floor, I'd research to find out how much scratches and prints/drool shows.

    Chip, why not get a broom and dustpan and sweep the litter? It's faster and easier on the body, then you can dump it right back in the box! :)

  • 6 years ago

    My GF wanted cork flooring in her kitchen so she brought home samples and tested them with her spike heels....some didn't dent, some dented but recovered, some dented badly and it stayed. That helped her decide....I suspect one could do the same with dog drool...

  • 6 years ago

    Oakley, no way a broom and dustpan would be faster, or as efficient, as my Riccar cordless.


    https://riccar.com/product/cordless-supralite-r10cv

  • 6 years ago

    On paw prints and cleaning, I can give a bit more experience. Paw prints show on mine, but not DD’s. Why? Because on mine the sun shines in with the grain and in hers it shines in across the grain. Same paws, same snow and I clean mine more often. I spot mop the doggie path in less than 10 minutes. Just as easy as getting the toddler hand prints off the glass coffee table.

  • 6 years ago

    We put this in the kitchen and I love it. It is not slippery. It has a textured semi gloss or matte look.

    https://www.lowes.com/pd/SMARTCORE-Ultra-8-Piece-11-97-in-x-23-62-in-Lucca-Stone-Luxury-Vinyl-Plank-Flooring/1000789148

    They also have a wood version that is supposed to be water proof also.

  • 6 years ago

    We put LVP in the lower level of our home and love it. Before we bought it, I tried to beat up a plank to make sure it would hold up to any damage we could inflict. I wasn’t able to scratch or gouge it. We’ve even had a cat urinate and barf on it and it cleaned up beautifully with no lingering stain or smell.

  • 6 years ago

    We just put this in our basement. I can’t really catch the right angle because the light makes it look much more two-tone than it is. It really is a very warm and kind of all over walnut-brown. I wanted real wood, but my husband insisted on LVP in case we had water in the basement (which we never have).

  • 6 years ago

    Jojo what brand and style is yours?

  • 6 years ago

    Eld, Ours is Mannington Adura max LVP and the style is Napa and the color is tannin (Looks like they call it #NAX061)

  • 6 years ago

    Here is a close-up

  • 6 years ago

    Jojo that is really nice. I searched it and there are rigid and flex. Do you know which yours is?

  • 6 years ago

    By the way, my floor is not glued down.

  • 6 years ago
    last modified: 6 years ago

    Salonva i’m not sure. I am down in our storage room looking at the label of a leftover box. Maybe that will help

    And here is an individual plank.

    The boards have some give to them, but it would be a stretch to call them flexible.

  • 6 years ago

    thanks- appreciate it. I have no idea if I will be doing this but I like to get as much info as possible. Yours looks like what I wan!


  • 6 years ago

    I think I will get some samples and try them out. I'm a bit concerned because I was reading about not letting the floor be exposed to a lot of direct sunlight. The entire house will be windows in Florida and we don't like window coverings so I'll have to check if that affects the warranty.

  • 6 years ago
    last modified: 6 years ago

    Beagles.. our flooring store recommended we get LVP made with a SPC core. It withstands direct sun. We have western exposure here in CA, so this was a big concern of ours as well. Ask about that at your store.

  • 6 years ago

    Another idea is to have tinted windows.

  • 6 years ago

    Thanks czarinalex I will ask.

    @eld6161 do tinted windows show/appear tinted though? I have basically the entire house windowed to enjoy the pond/tree views and I don't want the view obstructed at all.

  • 6 years ago
    last modified: 6 years ago

    Beagles, engineered wood would also fade and I am prepared for that to happen. My current solid site finished hardwood has faded where it isn't covered by rugs/furniture. The only thing that will not fade is a good porcelain tile.

    I also like to have the windows uncovered most of the time, but will install roller blinds or cellular shades (that mostly disappear when open) for some sun control. Maybe I'll look into getting them motorized and on a timer, so I don't have to do it manually all around the house.

  • 6 years ago

    We have them here in the front and back. When looking out you don’t notice it.

    But, you can notice it from the outside. I only noticed it after we installed our white plantation shutters. Basically you don’t want the string. Sun beating down into the house.

    cz, what brand of flooring do you have?

  • 6 years ago

    Chipolte, no wonder you don't sweep! Now I want a Riccar. :)

  • 6 years ago

    eld.. This is what we have


    We do have solar shades on all our west facing windows. Mostly used in the late afternoons when the sun is blinding. They also help a lot when it is hot out.


  • 6 years ago
    last modified: 6 years ago

    I ordered a bunch of samples from top brands. If I stay in this house I’m going with the newer Modin rigid plank. They are very realistic and have a slight bevel at the edges. The wear layer is commercial grade and they are 9” w x 72” L planks.

    Some of the color choices are not a striped look which I prefer.










    See info Vid here...

    https://www.flooret.com/vinyl-plank-modin-collection/