We had our whole house re floored in LVP In June 2021. Within a few months a portion of the kitchen started bubbling up and splitting at the seems. The flooring guy originally came and said that he believed it was sun damage coming from our glass sliding door. We ended up replacing the door with uv protection glass and the flooring guy replaced the whole kitchen floor with a moisture barrier paper underneath. During the demo they said there was possible moisture on the floor. We had a plumber out and he determined we did not have a leak. Just a few months later it started to happen again in a different area of the kitchen. When they installed the lvp originally they went right over tile, so this time he took up the tile as well so we could see what was happening. There was no obvious water or leak. We then had all our pipes looked at. Our drain pipes scooped. Inside and outside, pool, etc. Spent a ton of $ on tests. There was no leak to be found. We think we must have a foundation slab that has a high moisture content or the soil below has a lot of moisture? That’s all we could come up with. This time for the 3rd installation they put down a moisture barrier epoxy, a wood plank sub floor, and glued the lvp down to that. It made it a year after that, but we have the same problem happening again. So they have replaced the flooring in the kitchen 3 times in less than 3 years and it needs to be replaced again now. We had the manufacturer out and they of course blamed the installation. It is mind boggling. We have had so many plumbers, and flooring companies out and no one has ever agreed on what the problem is. So, I have to replace the kitchen floors again and this time need to do something other than the LVP that matches the rest of the house. I have heard about epoxy/ painted concrete flooring and thought that might flow better than tile. Do you have a knowledge as to if it would hold up to moisture fumes as that is our best guess as to the moisture problem we have? Tile is the other option and that is what was originally in the house and there didn’t seem to be any issues with tile. any ideas?

Installing hardwood in Florida takes extra effort. The first part of that effort is having EXCELLENT humidity control in the home. In hot, humid climates that means the A/C might not be enough. It might require an additional whole-home dehumidifier. It can also rule out an 'open window' type of home. Again, it depends on the location and the humidity levels. Hardwoods must be kept in a 'happy humidity' range between 45% - 60%. At all times. Every minute of every day. For ever and ever. And ever and ever. That means you will spend more on your HVAC system to have that type of 'push button' control (whole home humidifier/dehumidifier). And then the type of build also dictates the best practice for installation of hardwoods. A concrete slab takes extra effort to glue down wood. A high-end adhesives must be used and those add $2-$3/sf...just for the glue. The hardwood and labour are on top of that. In Florida, the most appropriate floors are stone, tile, terrazzo or concrete. All of which are hard and cold. Of course a cool floor in a hot climate is a BENEFIT...not a drawback. Part of the cold flooring is it helps keep the house feeling cool. Vinyl is then the next option. The difference between the 'wood look' or the stone/tile look is simply aesthetics. If you LIKE the look of wood, then go for it. If you LIKE the look of stone/tile, then go for it. With vinyl you will require very good UV block on your windows. Ask your builder what level you have on your windows right now. You will want to find something with UV block ABOVE 50%. I prefer to see 70% - 75%. That keeps the vinyl and the house cool. But it also makes growing indoor plants a difficulty. Plants struggle with UV blocking windows at 70% or higher.

You will need to choose your MOST IMPORTANT aspects of the floor. All floors scratch and show wear. Even porcelain tile will look 'lived on' after a while. A house with 10 people would be considered a high-wear situation. I would look for a floor that offers commercial grade wear. Engineered hardwood offers the benefit of being able to add acoustic underlayment. Whereas most vinyl products (95-99%) do not. They will need to be installed straight down onto the subfloor. Engineered hardwood can scratch...depending on the type of finish. It can handle spills that are cleaned up within 15 minutes of so (1/4 cup fluids) but it won't handle a large puddle (the entire gallon of milk sitting on the floor) for that long. Yes, vinyl scratches. Sure. But everything will - eventually. The 20mil finish on vinyl is going to be good enough for most households. For yours I would suggest getting tougher (30mil - 40mil) finish. There are a few of these out there...but not many. Again, the noise reduction won't be very good (it is cheaper to insulate the ceiling than it is to get any meaningful noise reduction underneath vinyl. These two issues need to be reconciled to your level of acceptance. A scratched, beaten up vinyl is still a viable, sound floor. It just doesn't look nice. An engineered hardwood will scratch as well...but eventually it can be brought to the point of plank failure (cracks/splits, wear through causing raw wood to be exposed). This level of wear on an engineered hardwood is rare (especially if you work with the super tough finishes on the high-end products) but it still can happen with a family of 10. I suggest you decide which is more important - pretty vs. functional vs. quiet. It would be hard to have all 3 with a family of 10.

The ISSUE with finishes (wood or vinyl...doesn't matter) is the LOW GLOSS finish. Yep. The very look you want is the ISSUE that gets the biggest number of complaints. Sigh. A low gloss (unpolished) look is HORROR to keep LOOKING clean. Low gloss allows OIL to show. And by OIL we mean SKIN oils and PAW oils. Yessssssss....skin oil is SHINIER than the gloss on the floor. Ooooooohhhhhh dear. So...the vinyl planks out there have big complaints because of the GLOSS level. The low gloss wood floors have the same issues. So I guess you have to pick your poison. First things first: Homeowner know Thyself. Are you a 'clean-shiny' person? That is to say, do you feel GOOD when you see a newly cleaned floor look SHINY? Think about that for a minute. Imagine cleaning a low-gloss floor (wood or vinyl...don't care). Imagine you put some effort into a little damp mopping because the floor looks a little dusty or dull. While wet you feel the floor looks GREAT....but then it dries and it looks EXACTLY the same as it did before you pulled out the mop. Oh booo! Now imagine the same scenario but now imagine PAW prints on every square foot of floor. You do the mop...you follow the instructions given by the flooring producer. Your floors look great when wet....but when they dry the paw prints RETURN! Whaaaaaaaat? And to make things worse, the moment someone/dog steps foot on the floor, they leave prints once more. I'm not trying to insult anyone here. In fact these issues come up again, and again, and again on Houzz. Vinyl, tile, cork, hardwood, laminate, etc. Anyone of the that has a LOW GLOSS finish have complaints. And the complaints are almost EXCLUSIVELY about how the floors never 'stay clean looking'. Do yourself a favour and figure out if you are a 'clean-shiny' person (I am...but then again I couldn't careless if my floors look clean/dirty...I'm the worst housewife/woman in the WORLD!). If you are (nothing wrong with it...it's who you are) then STAY AWAY from low-gloss ANYTHING.