Yes, I have had three experiences with vinyl plank flooring, as follows: My father installed Konecto in his addition- a woodworking shop, bathroom workout room (with treadmill) and wine cellar (including stairs). The floor has been in for over two years and looks fantastic. Any scratches disappear with the same vinyl spray you use on your car's dashboard. I installed Konecto in the bathroom of my home that has now become a rental. The floor was so uneven that the tile installed, most likely just prior to sale, cracked and the grout fell out within a week of my moving in. Wet towels and puddles of water have sat on the year-old vinyl plank, with no problems. My father owns a working farm that he rents; Allure was installed in the kitchen and held up to the mud-and-gravel-encrusted boots that slog through the kitchen. It has been in for almost a year and looks great. These experiences drew me to vinyl plank flooring in the house I "inherited" when I got married; however, I still researched other options such as hardwoods and laminates. While it is a personal choice, I have found the following in my particular case: The house, in its present condition, needs so much work that we are upside down already (purchased from a family member, you know how it goes...) and have major expenses such as plumbing, electric, flooring and a kitchen- the current kitchen is gutted. For my neighborhood, I will never recoup the costs, even at bargain-basement prices. This is something all remodelers should consider- are you creating a $300,000 home in a $150,000 neighborhood? Also, with the way that folks love to remodel these days and put their own stamp on their homes, who is to say that the next owners won't cover your beautiful hardwoods with carpet? Finally, practicality: we have 2 dogs and 3 cats and plan for children soon. In our shotgun house we don't want to break up the visual aesthetic of openness by having different types of flooring in the living room, dining room, kitchen and bath, we wanted a unified, seamless look For water resistance, vinyl is the way to go. Not to mention the logistics of installation- in our situation the thickness of the vinyl works best with our current flooring/trim combination. If my situation were different, I might choose a different floor, but when looking at the whole picture, vinyl seemed the way to go for us! We also plan on staying here for some time, so resale is less of a concern, but it is in our minds (though I have never bought a house I didn't change, so your potential buyer might too!). If you would like pictures of the three aforementioned vinyl plank "experiences" I can ask family members/tenants to send some. Also, check out your local commercial joints. For example, my grocery store has vinyl plank floors that look great after 5 years of squeaky, wobbly cart wheels running over them. Hope this helps and good luck with your remodel!!

It will NOT look stupid. There are vinyl plank floors that imitate the real thing so well, that you have to get down on your hands and knees to discover it's not the real thing. You want to use a cementious skim coat floor filler to make for a smooth and flush substrate. Most of these have the binder incorporated in the powdered formulation, so there is no need to add a binder or a primer with any of those. But...read the product labels to know what you're buying and what performance you can expect. Of course, if the fillers available to you suggest adding a liquid binder or using a primer, then do that. A trowellable skim coat floor filler is done with a smooth edge trowel in several passes. After the first coat is set enough to walk on, it should be ready for another coat. Remember, a smooth and flush result is what you want to achieve. After the floor is absolutely smooth, then install your vinyl plank using the recommended adhesive.

jakkom, I am also choosing Mannington Adura, but having a tough time with the color options! I want a color that will stand the test of time (not trendy), warm, light to medium brown and I would say my decor leans towards tropical/Hawaiian. A lot of the vinyl colors are trying too hard and end up very busy and stripey, The Oak looks really good in this regard, but then Oak is, well, Oak and I was hoping for something a little different. I'm wondering which Essex Oak you went with...is it "Natural" or "Honeytone"? It seems the Natural looks less grainy but also a little less warm looking and in some lights falls a little flat and goes a hair pink. The Honeytone is warmer but more grainy. I definitely don't want an orangey Oak, does yours go orangey at all? The other color I was considering for its plainness and non-oakyness was Canadian Maple, but can that be combined with a warm tropical vibe? And it seems like it would show every little speck of dirt if I don't clean all the time. To the other extreme I was looking at Burma Teak Butternut. The coloring is tropical but I fear it will be too stripey busy and scream "look at me". Thoughts? Also your vinyl stair treads look fabulous, the installers did a great job cutting them to butt flush against the wall without adding fussy trim pieces. Do you know how they did that? My installer doesn't want to do the vinyl stair caps because he said there are often not perfect straight edges on either side of stair treads at the wall and wood is easier to cut and sand to get that exact fit so you don't see thin gap lines at the side wall edges. Also, do you think a carpet runner down the center could be put down on top of the vinyl or if that is my plan should I go with wood for all the stapling that would happen and it would put holes in the vinyl? Do you have any pictures you could post of a full length of your stairs and the room with the Essex Oak with furniture in it now? I'm hoping to hear from jakkom but any one else please chime in as well! FYI, I am also having my installer do the glue down method. I have looked at other brands including Modin (which can be special ordered to do glue down, but the color choices just aren't right unfortunately... they look so different online vs in person samples). Many thanks! Lisa B

Plot twist- Our youngest child has been struggling with allergies. Yesterday, her Dr suggested it is most likely the carpet. This is a new issue as our last space had carpet but she never struggled to this point. The children currently sleep in a triple bunk bed and she sleeps closest to floor. We had a few estimates done to replace carpet for upstairs bedrooms (3) all came out to over $1000. (One company flat out told us the carpet was newer but poor quality, not properly cared for & he could tell pets were an issue.) We ended up deciding on Waterproof laminate Flooring from a local flooring liquidation store. We will be using it on the entire third floor. We were able to secure a medium grade wood look with underlayment. We also purchased underlayment to help with noise reduction. I kiltzed/treated the subfloor and it has been airing out. We purchased a open box floor cutter and spent a total of $498 for the Entire floor . and supplies. (My husbands military discount really helped) We plan to install ourselves. I know it's not many people's first choice but, it seems to be the best financial option for us at this time. I will attach photos of the flooring. Instead of sulking I am thrilled our children will have clean flooring and am looking into some reasonable area rugs. We are using some of the money we saved on flooring to head start our upstairs flooring fund & a portion to buy the kids warm area rugs & bedroom shoes. :) Thank you all for your valuable feedback, my husband now asks me lol “What did your internet friends say?”