After reading the various threads and looking at the pics, I'm sold for the basement but we're also considering it throughout the first floor. I'm concerned about resale (though it's would be decades away). The homes in our neighborhood are selling for $700,000+, and the expectation of course is high end everything. I'm considering putting this in the main living area too due to the ease of care and who knows what I'll like in 10 years? Our last home we had extensive use of hardwood. I loved the look but the constant worry, and no shoe policy was unpleasant. I want a house that we can live in. For as cheap as this stuff is, we couldn't even have the floors refinished, for what this stuff costs new. We currently have hardwood in the front foyer, front bath, dinette, kitchen, and laundry room (I wouldn't say the previous owner made a wise move on that decision). With all the remodeling though, much of the wood will be trashed anyway, so it's like we'd be starting from scratch. Are we crazy to even consider vinyl (even for a decade) when we can afford the real thing (installation and all), when the expectation is high end? It's only my husband, myself, and a little dog on a daily basis.

I was going to go with engineered hard wood--BR111, amendiom fooring. I LOVE it. It is beautiful. I went back and forth to the stone yard, etc., to make sure it was the one I truly wanted to go with my kitchen cabinets and granite. Then, I heard the final quote from Lowe's for my kitchen, dining and living room area and hallway, which desperately needs new flooring. I figured since I was redoing the kitchen I may as well....I also wanted to eventually do hardwoods in those rooms as they are all open to each other. I wanted to make sure the the hardwood would be the same dye lot, etc. I was going to go with the engineered hardwood in the kitchen, dining area, living room (it is all one big room) and the hallway area. The quote for the engineered hard wood, materials and labor was almost $10,000! That was a far cry from the $3700 Lowe's first quoted me (of course, not on paper). I could have just cried! Now I am too looking at laminate again. I have had wood laminate in the kitchen, (before the demo), and the bathrooms and laundry room. I have an Armstrong one that looks like tile--25 year warrenty. My CG hates laminate, but he won't live with it (I will be the one, not him) nor will he install it. His, in his house, was ruined by a water leak in his kitchen. He has forever sworn off the stuff. I have had my wood laminate for about 5 years. I have loved it! It is easy to clean and maintain. Still looks new. If there is a ding in it, it comes with a putty kit to fill in the ding. I have only had one ding, put in by the installer! I don't have small children nor pets, however, my neighbor has wood laminate in her entry way, dining and living room area. She loves it and has grandchildren and a rather large golden. It looks great and she loves the upkeep as it is very easy. I really, really wanted the engineered wood for resale value. Once you see the depth of real wood, it is hard to go back to a "picture" of wood. It just doesn't have the same depth. The installer who came out to measure my house stated to go middle of the road with the warrenty for engineered wood. Don't pay more for the 25 year one, go for the 15 year one. Said the finish was the same for engineered wood, only difference as the thickness of the wood. He stated in 15 years, I would probably be tired of it anyway and would want a change. Also, even the 25 year warrenty floors will show wear and tear after 15 years. (Don't you hate the "throw away" mentality? But I probably won't be living in this house in 15 years and will be in a skilled nursing facility by then) However, you can refinish the thicker engineered wood a couple of times if you want. So, I am looking at the Pergo and Armstrong wood laminate floors. For the Pergo floors for the 30 year wood laminate, it does have a thicker coating on it. I took a screw to the samples this morning to see how they scratched. I didn't press real hard, but no scratches--or at least none that I could see. I am looking at a medium tone walnut. I do know that when I have inadvertantly dropped things on my wood laminate in the kitchen in the past, (glass bottles of things like grapeseed oil) they didn't break. They would have on real tile and I would have had to worry about keeping the grout clean. Ugh! So, I am trying to soothe my broken heart with the laminate and will ask again why the engineered wood (same price as the laminate or cheaper) costs so much more to install. I know they do level the cement slab prior to install. My GC stated one of his wood floor people he uses, could install a distressed wood floor in my kitchen for about $500 total cost for material and labor. I just didn't like the "distressed" floor samples he had. I am very tired of the country look and am going for the transitional look instead. I have done country for the past 35 years. I need a change! I have a very small kitchen and the flooring size is about 9 X 8 feet. Lowe's price was $1600 for the cheaper (15 year warrenty) engineered wood (materials and labor)! I am not sure the person there knew what she was talking about. Stated the vinyl that came with the house, which is glued to the slab floor of the kitchen would have to come up for the wood floor to go down. Then she was stating it might have asbestos! I said, oh please, it is the same cheap stuff they happen to have as one of their samples at the store! I thought the last part in my head and didn't state that out loud. I don't know what haz mat thing she was thinking! I showed her the cheap vinal I had. I asked if Lowe's sold something that had asbestos in it. I still may have to go with carpet in the dining and living room from Lowe's. They are having a special right now and I am just broke from my remodel of the kitchen. I will find out the cost of the laminate this morning when I am over there in a few minutes. I am sad about the whole thing. I was so happy to have finally made up my mind on the engineered wood. It really was going to be very pretty.

My husband and I recently relocated from Indiana to Florida. We installed LVP in our Indiana home prior to selling. With so many different types of flooring (hardwood being one) we wanted a co-hesive look for the 1968 home prior to putting it on the market. We used floating as to not damage the existing hardwoods should the new owner choose to refinish. When we moved to Florida the home we bought had old carpet, it was a no brainer on our part to replace the carpet with LVP due to humidity issues is Florida. We used the same brand just a lighter shade in our very large greatroom, dining, kitchen and guest bath areas. LVP is easy to clean, wears well with our two dogs, stays cool and provides a great waterproof surface when coming in from the pool. It's affordable and relatively easy to install for any DIYer with some experience in home remodel. We get compliments all the time and visitors have to reach down and touch the floor as they believe it is hardwood. I am sold on the product.

I know you want to leave the laminate (because it A. still looks good and B. to save money) but you will be falling into the design rabbit hole of TOO MANY flooring choices in your home. Remember: man made products (like your laminate or LVP and porcelain tile, etc) have a 'shelf life' of 24 months (sometimes porcelain goes longer...but not always). That means in LESS THAN 2 years you will NEVER find more of the same. That means you will have: 1. Older laminate in the living areas 2. Vinyl 'something' in bedrooms 3. ? Tile in bathrooms? 4. ?? Different tiles in kitchen??? 5. ??? What about entranceways??? Is that laminate or stone/tile??? Right! Just for arguments sake (I'm just doing this for an example...I do not know your house nor your situation) lets PRETEND you have 5 DIFFERENT floors going on right now. In today's design era, we (the industry and the regular public) *expect to see the same flooring throughout. The TWO exceptions being: Bathroom and kitchens. That's it. Which means you will be well past that 2 different floors number (again, this is assuming you have as many as 5 different floors going on). If you ONLY have the budget to do the bedrooms RIGHT NOW, then I suggest you go ahead and replace carpet with carpet. It is cheap, it is fast, you can do everything in one day. You can as cheap as you want so that you don't feel so bad when ripping it out in 5 years. Now that you have replaced like with like, you will need to start saving for flooring replacements for the entire home. Remember: ONE floor throughout with the exceptions of baths and kitchens. Your laminate is coming up on it's 20th birthday. That is about the limit of use for these types of floors. With EXCEPTIONAL up keep they can get to 25 years...but they often look tragically old for the last 2-3 years. That means you really must start looking at replacing the laminate in the next 7 years!!! Which means if you install a vinyl in the bedrooms today....you are going find yourself in the SAME dilemma in 7 years....just in the reverse order.