What a wonder site and thank you to each one of you for your contribution. We are avid DIY'ers and done floors from hardwood to ceramic and porcelain, but never slate or any other stone or marble. The picture I posted (hopefully the picture posts properly) is of a portion of a home we did in a porcelain tile that mimicked a natural stone wonderfully and we considered using this same porcelain in our present home, but I've now seen a travertine tile that amplifies exactly what we loved about this particular porcelain so much and I can't seem to shake it. Even the cons that I've read I feel are worth accepting because this travertine is so beautiful. Can anyone tell me........if you seal the floor as instructed and you were to spill something (say some pickled beet juice), but wipe it up reasonably quickly, will it STILL stain??? Also, we have shied away from using hardwood under the dining table area because we are afraid of it being scratched from the chairs regardless of the fact that we have pads under the legs - does anyone out there have experience with travertine under their dining table and did / do the chairs scratch the flooring? I am truly attached to this travertine and really hope that we can make this work, but if it really is NOT practical, then the logical side of me will dictate that we do not use it (sniff, sniff) and perhaps we'll use the same porcelain we used before. One more question though.......I've heard that travertine can be sealed and then a finish can be applied that will give it a nice gloss (similar to a glossy porcelain tile) now is this true and does anyone have experience with this? The "flat" finish on the porcelain tile was probably the only thing that we didn't care for about it as we do like a gloss although I would probably forego that too for these travertine tiles. BTW.......we think the most beautiful thing about the travertine is the highly irregular patterns and colouring as the background is basically a mix of bright white and creamy white, the striations and streaks and lines and "blobs" of rusty orange, gray and even a bit of maroon are unbelievably BEAUTIFUL !!!!

If we hadn't been able to reveal and use the original linoleum in our home, I would have put in VCT. I love the look as well. I have a friend who has VCT in her kitchen and she has told me that she simply mops it and, once in awhile, puts on a coat of wax. I don't think it's anymore maintenance than vinyl. I think once in a very long, blue moon, she does strip the wax off but I've done this myself on my linoleum and it's a quick, easy job with today's products. Just mop the stripper on, rinse, dry and then mop on a thin coat of wax. Done. If you have renters that take reasonable care of the flooring, I'm betting you'd only need to do that when prepping the apartment for new renters so things are fresh and shiny to attract a new renter. Of course, do more research to be sure but my friend's floor looks great and she's fastidious and I know she doesn't go to all that trouble you mentioned. I would guess shes had it in for about 10 years or so.

This thread is a replay of everything I've thought about for the last three months while deciding on new flooring. Thank you for all the great pros and cons on this topic. It's been over a year since this thread started...has anyone purchased new flooring in the last year and if so what did you choose? Key west: have you enjoyed your LVP? Any suggestions on brand etc? We're in N FL coastal region so many of your needs are spot on in our decision process. I'm looking at NAF, Hallmark and Marcello engineered and some high quality gorgeous lvp's.

Bathrooms can have separate flooring. There are doors there to cover the transition, so don't worry about that. It depends if you want to run the flooring into the bathrooms. If so that limits your choices due to moisture. -LVP is good for all rooms. It holds up well, is soft under feet, and durable. -Tile is colder (a plus for Florida) can run into bathrooms and will hold up well -Laminate is nice, closest to real wood look, but shouldn't be put into bathrooms. Also is the least durable IMO