I love Novalis peel and stick flooring. I used it in my previous home in the entire house and it sold quickly. My previous home was not a cheap starter home or a mobile home but a nice home in a desirable area. It is easy to install and durable. I have expensive tastes and this stuff looks great. It looks like real wood. It has a texture that feels like wood grain. I will post pictures on this page of my novlais floor that I installed myself in my master bedroom. I laid it directly onto the slab. No underlayment or professional leveling or a professional installer to come in and help me. I used heavy duty shears to cut the pieces to fit. To give it an even more upscale look I laid the planks in a herringbone style and it looks fabulous. It looks like designer flooring straight out of a magazine. I spent about 300 dollars on materials and nothing else. My room is about 15 by 18 almost 300 square feet. I don't have fancy tools either. That is awesome compared to the 1400 dollar quote for laminate to be installed. More people should use this. They are all hung up on real wood and spending thousands of dollars on their floors. You dont have to do that to get a great look. You can have the look of hardwood on a budget. You can do it. I am a 45 year old mother of two with a full time job ouside the home, if I can do it you can too. I could afford to purchase real wood if I wanted to but why spend more if you dont have to. Using novalis on my floor left more cash for me and my family. And for the naysayers--no problems with loose or peeling planks or shifting. As long as you fit them in tightly when installing that does not happen. If it does happen occassionally remember that also happens with distressed floors so whats the big deal it is so small no on would even notice it. I will upload photos of my room so you can see for yourself how great it is. P.S.--I do not work for Novalis but I should because I really believe in this product!!!

We were considering putting a better grade of the vinyl planks in a rental condo. The newest products most clic together and are thicker-floating, some out there just lay down like the Starloc glue-less. Husband wants a thick product.I read some good reviews of the some older products here but were used in homes -read about some problems too. We live in NC -very humid and hot in summer when it will be installed.Read here that in winter when cold it will shrink and look terrible at least the glue kind, from you guys. Some have problems some do not. Even though we would acclimate to the condo longer than asked to, it sounds like a vinyl plank installed in NC in summer would always shrink in winter.at least the glue strip kind? With this being a rental, not a personal home, we cannot control of periods of extreme temp in the unit as well. Has anyone in this part of country, NC had this problem (shrinkage) or maybe buckling with the clic together vinyl planks installed in the summer? Would not even question this if not read here. There are so many new products out there thicker -some clic some do not and many are very pricey and hard to get- dealers are just getting samples themselves. Are all of these a bad choice for a rental if put in during this hot summer? We were really considering this for the wear ability, and laminate isn't waterproof enough for a rental condo kitchen.If some hype was correct spending a little more might be OK but not if it didn't. If anyone has experience with newer products,summer installation, has experience in type of situation, I know some people in Europe got these products earlier. Also Read of some of you picking up from warehouses etc at great savings. Anyone know of warehouses or direct distributors in NC? Anyone put floor down in summer in similar situation and not have shrinkage in the cold weather? Hate to do porcelain tile in kitchen and laminate in the rest. But without some real info it is scary to spend more on a thicker 4-5mm clic plank vinyl and have it fail. On One of the posts the question was about the clic together floating thicker allure but half the answers were responding about the old thinner glue strip allure. I know this is long post, but reading all the different posts, I am more confused and needing advice about what the good products are and I do not want to pay the high price of fancy dealers for a rental, especially if I do not know it is proven product for my area and a rental. You can run the HVAC all you want in NC today but hard to cool a house.So really concerned about a humid summer install then winter shrinkage.I GUESS IT MIGHT BE BETTER TO INSTALL PRODUCTS IN THE WINTER. All opinions, recommendations for products, personal experiences and sources to save would be appreciated. Such a great site.

CoreTec wood line is a hybrid product. It has the water proof core (mineral core) that is very stable (doesn't move too much). This is a core that is NORMALLY paired with laminate (a paper photograph on top) or vinyl. CoreTec has used the wood product on top to reach out to customers who will NOT have laminate or vinyl in their homes. They are trying to capture the 'wood market' without producing a wood floor. My problem with this situation is: Wood expands and contracts in the presence of moisture. This is normal and to be expected. The CORE underneath the wood DOES NOT. Hmmmmm. That means the expensive TOP stuff (that you pay $$$ for) will do everything wood is supposed to do (expand/contract) while the stuff it is GLUED TO does not. And that brings us to the next concern: the Glue. A layered floor (like CoreTec Wood) has a weak link = the glue that holds the layers together. The Wood can and will expand. That will STRESS the glue underneath. Eventually (and no one knows when 'eventually' will be...the product is so new that no one knows it's breaking point) that glue will let go. The CoreTec core works well with laminate (the photograph) and vinyl because both are relatively stable when dealing with humidity and with spills. The WOOD is NOT stable. My concern is the hype around the water proof CORE is going to be the selling feature when the WOOD on top (and the glue below) are NOT. I would get a sample of this product and soak it in a fish tank for 24-48 hours. Then pull it out and see if the wood has been affected. At that point you can assess the legitimacy of the claims re: water proof wood flooring. Please get back to us once your experiment has been conducted.

I have lived in and had decks on the Peninsula and South Bay. Redwood is not as long lived as it used to be, and should have some maintenance. I have ipe on the boat and have little experience with it, it is a new installation. I now have trek at the cabin, friend and brother also have trek. I like my trek, no maintenance vs Redwood. It was expensive compared to Redwood, I didn’t price it against ipe. Trek is heavy.