We used LVP (nothing luxury about it, just a brilliant marketing idea) for a gut remodel of a second home used as a short term rental.

it looks fine after two years but there are scratches on the floor from furnitire movement.

i would never put it in my everyday home. go with tile and match the grout to the tile color or darker.

Like many things, there are different quality levels. Lvp can have good or poor locking parts. It can have very scratch resistant clearcoat or a finish less scratch resistant. Lvp has always been moisture proof. In the last few years, a competitive product, laminate, has become moisture proof. It doesn't have the 20-40mil clear vinyl layer over the wood picture. It may have a harder clearcoat. Test samples with the tines of a fork. And see if the tongue in the locking system is easily broken. Modine by Flooret has both products and a good rep. They are direct to consumer. Laminate was just recently added. Many use engineered wood for kitchen flooring. light European Oak is popular.

Don't use fake wood look tile or LVT next to real wood. It will make the fake look worse and the look of an obvious miss more telling.

LVP is a great product, easy to install or remove and a very durable product, I would not hesitate using it throughout an entire home. We Installed some on a neighbors lower level last month and looks absolutely wonderful with wood grain you would hardly be able to tell the difference, They picked out cheap LVP 8 mm thick with a top coat of 8 mil. I prefer 10 MM or thicker plank which allows for a stronger locking system and a 20 mil urethane top coat (wear coat) for the durability to withstand abuse. I state abuse because I personally don't slide furniture around without sliders on any kind of flooring. Wood, engineered wood, laminate or tile all can be scratched and just as easy as LVP, but with a thicker top coat you will gain longevity.

There are applied finishes available to keep the top coat looking great over time, but something people may not be aware of is the LVP finish can be damaged by oil based or vinegar based cleaners along with certain types of wax based products. People here only know the word's hard wood, it's been etched into their brain as the all mighty one and the only flooring on the planet, just. But in reality LVP flooring is close to or already has taken over hardwood in new homes, even high end homes.

Vinyl has a TON of warranty claims. That are mostly denied. There are a lot of "do not do this" things in the fine print, which why they are denied. You have the have the subfloor FLAT to 3/16" in 10". You cannot put a padded underlay beneath it. You need expansion gaps at all walls and built ins, and at thresholds, if the run is long. You have to keep the temperature and humidity within specified ranges. No direct sunlight heating up a patch and expanding it.

And their definition of "waterproof" is a joke. Water vapor damages the heck out of it. Which is why you need a vapor management protocol. Liquid water gets underneath it, and you have to remove the whole floor to dry it out. Then it won't go back like it came out. Etc.

You are far better off with wood look tile and a modern stain resistant acrylic or polyurethane based grout. Even for that, the subfloor has to be flat, and have a L/360 deflection rating.

Nothing is 100% waterproof!

Any real flood in a house will damage the under-layment of most floors and they would all need to be replaced.

I have (old, refinished) solid white oak floors in my dining and living rooms but installed porcelain tile (discontinued but similar to Emilgroup Viva Metallica Calamine) in the continuous kitchen-hallway-powder room between them. As suggested above, wouldn't put solid wood and wood-look LVP together.

Wood-look LVP and wood-look porcelain tile will look fake and like a poor design decision next to real wood. It just doesn’t work. If you want LVP or porcelain tile instead of real wood, please consider choosing something that is not “wood-look”.

@pennfire: Have you tried to repair the scratches? It looks like it's relatively easy to fix scratches?

Here is a video: https://youtu.be/AC9_adkNZdo?si=5OXvYfV412RQu-kK

If you are to do it again, would you buy LVP again in the future? Thanks!

You do not "repair" scratches in plastic. You barely disguise them.

@rebasheba:Based one what I have been reading, typical hardwood flooring is NOT inherently water-proof, so it may not be a good choice for kitchen and bath and that's why we are not considering using real hardwood flooring for kitchen and bath.

For us, we had good experience with wood-look porcelain tiles - durable, scratch resistant, good looking. The only problem with wood-look porcelain floor tiles is the grout lines would need some maintenance over time. Here is a project that we did before:

For our local market (San Francisco), wood-look porcelain tiles (about $4.29/sqft) generally speaking have about the same price as a quality (22MIL or 30MIL) LVP ($3.28/sqft). It also seems that for LVP (e.g., Lifeproof from Home Depot), there are a LOT of Color/Finish to choose from (versus limited selection for wood-look porcelain floor tiles, at least from our local building supply stores). Since we have exposed hardwood floor for the bedrooms and hallways, our contractor told us that he can try to "match" the color/finish of the hardwood finish with our fake wood-look porcelain tiles or LVP.

Based on all these, would you choose wood-look porcelain floor tiles over LVP? Thoughts? Thanks again!

I have Coretec in Hayes Oak in my Florida home going on 6 years. I slide furniture away from the wall to vacuum. We had a 40 pound dog running through the place, no scratches.

I have dropped a heavy object or two without an issue.

Do your research.

People here are more decorator savy

Because of our experience with LVP, we used LVP flooring in a hall and kitchen in a rental. The other rooms we kept the hardwood.

I happen to like porcelain wood look tiles and gave them in a room in my NY house. But it doesn't try to mimic the wood flooring in the room next it.

You might be able to find what wdccruise did but in a vinyl tile.

UThis is a photo taken from a nearby newly remodeled home (for sale) here in San Francisco. I guess this is what you guys were referring to don't use fake wood look tile or LVT next to real wood....

Update: BTW, found another example here, which IMHO the transition is not so bad:

Yeah, pretty much. Makes the fake wood look super cheap.

How about SPC (Stone Polymer Composite)? Anyone has any experience with them? Are they considered as a better alternative than LVP?

It seems that sometimes they (SPC) are used interchangeably with LVP? Or maybe the top products of LVP is comparible as SPC (e.g., ASPEN FLOORING Revere 30 MIL Waterproof "Rigid Core" LVP, which the "Rigid Core" seems to imply that there are some "stone" materials used in the plank? Any idea? Thanks again!

To me both floor coverings look cheap and fake, and no transition strip? Which one is fake?

SPC, same thing as LVP with just a different core material. You still have the picture of a pattern covered by a wear coat.

When I bought my beach cottage in CT (it was my first and favorite house) I was feeling totally broke. I almost decided to carpet the place and cancel the hardwood flooring. My brother talked me out of it, and I was always so glad he did. I didn’t really notice the additional financial burden (it was a small house), but I loved having the same flooring throughout the house and it was so easy to clean.

Continue the hardwood in the kitchen, and have it all finished/refinished together. Then lay appropriate tile in the bathroom. You’ll be glad you did.

There are vastly different quality levels of lvp just as there are in engineered hardwood. Investigate the locking system, the thickness of the clear vinyl top layer and the scratch resistance of the finish coat. Some have stripey tone variations in the wood pictures used, Buy a full box to test how it looks in your space for your final choice.

The grout on wood-look tiles can be close in color to the tiles for better blend. Epoxy and urethane grout won't change color or need as much cleaning. Only the same as the tile.

Laminate is coming back on the market because it is now being made with a waterproof core the same as lvp.

Engineered hardwood doesn't have a repeat picture. It will give the better visual effect.

Flat cut European Oak.

@dan1888 Thanks for the feedback. That "Flat cut European Oak" looks gorgeous!

I'm seriously considering "Engineered hardwood" now, but based on what I have read, they are not really 100% waterproof. Since this house might be a rental later (not decided yet) and you never know what the tenants would do to the house and to the floor, so at this point I'm leaning toward using wood look porcelain tiles... It looks like all kinds of LVP may have "cleaning" issues (for maintenance).

Can anyone please recommend some wood-look porcelain tiles that really looks realistic? Thanks again!

There are lots of brands that look great. I bought mine from HD and laid it underneath the refrigerator cabinet run because the fridge has a water line for the ice maker, and we’ve all had that leak before. Here are two suggestions:

1. Do not use wood look tile in a bathroom.
2. Lay it like wood, not tile, so start your next row with the cut piece from the previous row, otherwise the grout lines will line up like they do in a backsplash.
3. Use a dark brown grout