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Vinyl plank woodgrain look flooring

10 years ago

We (me, husband, 10 year old son, 2 year old labrador 'indoor' dog) are building a new custom house in the country. We really need to decide on flooring for the main area of the house -- Kitchen, dining, great room, foyer, and hallway to bedrooms. We really want low-fuss and easy maintainence and have decided that 'luxury' vinyl planks with a woodgrain look are the way we want to go because of 1) reputation to be scratch resistant more than hardwood finishes 2) 'realistic' type look to mimic hardwood. We've seen three different types of vinyl plank top textures: absolute smooth like most hardwood floors, light surface texture almost like a mahogany type texture, and a very deep woodgrain texture/pattern. We've attempted to 'scratch' the samples of all three types across different brands and even compared them to hardwood samples. All, with enough effort, will scratch of course but the toughest we found was a smooth finish Konecto product -- and, it looked the most 'real'. Our builder thought this looked best. But, the local flooring rep in our town thought the textured finish would be easier to live with whenever scratches occur as well as being better at hiding dust and dog hair. We tend to think this light textured finish looks the most fake but we wondered what those who have it think of it over time. We're not out to impress anyone but don't want to be irritated with it over time either. I'd love to hear others' experience about finish -- whether hardwood, engineered wood, or of course vinyl. What do you like, not like? Thanks so much! I'm going crazy!

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Comments (2)

missylin
10 years ago
I can't help as I've been looking at vinyl plank flooring as you have and each store just has a tiny sample, which I can not imagine in a large section. There are no photos or anything to see what a room of it will look like. I have not seen anything that looked shiny or smooth. I mean when I look at real wood floors, I like the handscraped and the shiny ones best. I have not seen the Konecto in person anywhere. It sounds nice. I hope some people answer you. My carpet is disgusting now and must go. My (RIP) Lady Marisa at the end made many "mistakes". Oh, I was told by a friend's daughter who is an interior designer (like an architect but for the inside) that engineered wood is wonderful, but not for homes with pets. She also suggested against wood if the dog makes mistakes. Mine doesn't now- but he's only 7. She suggested tile- I hate walking on tile. I hope you will get answers, m2day.
m2day
Original Author
10 years ago
Thanks missylin - it does sound like we're in the same boat. We had a contractor in our house today while we were looking at our floor samples and so we asked him what he thought of the smooth (hardwood-like) sample versus the two others we had out with a slight surface texture. He said not to go with the smooth. He put in hardwood floors and he regrets it terribly. After cleaning the floor he said dust and dirt appear (he has kids and a dog). It always catches his eye and bugs him. So, that did it for us -- confirmed our worst fears about the lifestyle we'll lead in this house. We tossed the smooth shiny sample and are going to go with a vinyl plank version with a matte type texture. Just haven't decided on which one yet.
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@V M sorry, just seeing your post above. We are just now finally breaking ground on our home so I don't have pics of the flooring to show you from my house. I will come back and post when I do but that will be some months from now. But we are paying, I think, 15K for our Multi-Length Rigid Core SPC floors in color Sandhill. Our house will be 2975 sf and this floor covering will be throughout the home, except in 3 of the full baths and the utility room. I'm not exactly sure how many square feet that leaves but hopefully you can do some rough math. Everything goes through my builder so I don't have an exact price per square foot to provide you. I also am not sure if this includes labor to install.
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