Thank you so much for sharing your experience. I’d love to see pictures and wondering which color you chose. My house is on a slab and floors are fairly level so not worried about the subfloor other than needing a vapor barrier. I haven’t received my samples of Modin yet. They are expected Thursday but leaning towards Noret. That may change after I actually see the real thing. I appreciate so much you sharing your experience! It helps me with decision making.

Slabs are not necessarily FLAT enough for vinyl plank without some preparation. If they were covered by carpet, sometimes they are very rough underneath. Don't skimp on preparing the subfloor, it'll come back and haunt you. Allow some of your budget for prep. Especially if it's a floating installation.

We chose Anura - a gray/taupe sort of color. Room was very bright for this (old) picture; floor reads a medium tone in normal light. We were looking for consistent coloring among planks vs. much variation because we have relatively long expanses of exposed floor and did not want a "patchwork" feel - just a calm floor that would allow for color in area rugs and artwork.

Thanks m_gabriel love the picture. I too am looking for a consistent design, not impressed with these wide ranging variations in color. Guess I’m old fashioned in wanting my floors finished with a smooth harmonious design without knots haha. But you are right in that color choice is no longer available. Thanks so much for for help!

Thanks Hal_Braswell! I actually did see the concrete slabs when I bought the house 9 years ago. At that time I put carpet in the bedrooms which I sincerely regret. But I am no installer and definitely need to follow your advice about making sure prep is done to my subfloor. I’ll talk to my installer next week. I may need to get him in to remove some of the carpet before I make the final decision on the floors. I’ll talk to him and see what he thinks. Thanks for your help!

When you go shopping for a vapor barrier,if you do, our friends were told by their installer to just buy the cheapest vinyl roll flooring you can and have that installed. It creates the moisture barrier needed for the floating 'wood look' flooring. It's been at least 5 years, and they have had no issues..

Good to know! Thanks redsilver

Thanks fly4fun! Good advice I’ll talk to my installer this week. Appreciate your input!

I found the product online and ordered samples. Fell in love with the cali longboard north shore oak. I did an entire house in it 3 stories 40K

I specifically asked about stairs because in previous homes that i have done vinyl in I had to use real wood for the treds and the nosing. I was told they have a "solution" an additional product, nosing that they manufacture.

I was out of town during the install. When i returned the floor looked great, but the stairs' nosing wasn't flush. It hit the ball of my feet as well as caught dirt, hair etc .

I reached out to the sales rep that had been hounded by for month for the sale and he didnt respond. After maybe 5 emails with pictures, asking him if the install looked correct. He finally responded and said another department would be in touch with me, which never happened and he (Austin Fish) stopped all communication.

I found a customer service number and spoke with someone who asked me to forward the emails to her, which i did. The response i got was that the install looked to be incorrect.

in the meantime the nosing is now lifting and is a serious hazard, as anyone could get their foot stuck and trip. Now i have 3 that have lifted so much i had to tare them off to make sure no one does trip.

My contractor, a processional in the industry got evolved, He was not able to get ahold of anyone via email (Austin and the other rep that i had sent emails and pic to) He finally sent an inquiry to sales, about a purchase, sure enough he got a response.

The company has offered no help.

They do have "instructions" for the install, but there is nothing in them about the actual install of the nosing.

He had to order new treds and new nosing

he has had several installers out to see if they can come up with an idea of how to get the nosing secure and flush, meaning safe! clean and esthetically pleasing

the work will begin Monday sept 20th almost a year later

and the company still ignores me

although the flooring is beautiful the company is not!

I like to give my business to those who earn it

This is not one of those companies. I know the industry has suffered during covid, good help has been harder to find, but if you know you know your are going to have an issue and that the company isnt going to help in any way shape or form

And knowing that this type of product is getting better by the Day

i highly suggest you seek out the competition!

Absolutely an avoidable headache

(I am a Realtor and flipper this product as it stands and the lack of care, and response is not one to do business with! when and if inspector saw this the homeowner would be called out on it etc.. I could go on and on)

We installed Cali Northshore oak longboard in our rental cabin when remodeling it and absolutely love it. The oft mentioned issue of repetiveness did arise but our installers did their best and we don't even notice it now. We are now thinking about doing the same in our main house on the entire 1st floor. I since discovered flooret and understand it's wear layer is twice as thick on the signature versions. I ordered samples. Upon comparing with Cali I still like Cali better - it's texture is more 3 dimensional and it feels better to our bare feet. The color, hue and design on the northshore is better than all the samples from flooret ( kingswood, elmsford and sutton ). The floorets are definitely nice but somehow the Cali feels better. Also the Cali rides a bit higher - it's backing is thicker than the flooret. We are torn on this decision because it seems a thicker wear layer for around the same price would be better. But in terms of appearance and feel the Cali wins out. If anyone has any suggestions I welcome them!

@seattlevinay thanks for your post. i'm looking at Cali Vinyl now and am wondering how you are liking your floors now that it's been close to a year?

Paula, We have an airbnb with high traffic and pets and the cali has held up quite well. There are some surface scratches that you have to look close to see since it's basicalliy discoloration in the transparent wear layer. We put flooret in the basement in the same house with a higher wear layer and like that but the cali colors and feel are better. There is one area in the house where a realliy bad scratch showed up on the cali but we think it was a delierately malicious event that caused it ( like dragging a fireplace poker etc ) since it hasn't occured anywhere else and the house regularliy sees dogs. Hope this helps.

@seattlevinay thanks so much for your insight! it is very helpful indeed. such a tough decision when we'll have to live with it for who knows how long! LOL. I'm happy to hear that you are happy and like the Cali floors - and it definitely helps to hear your feedback. Thanks again.

This has been a great post. I too am considering the two companies. Thanks for all the feedback!

@Paula Moggio and @Elaine Rogers We're happy to hear you guys are considering CALI floors. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to our team. :) @seattlevinay Thanks for sharing your feedback and experience using our floors!

thanks @Cali Floors. we currently have a sample of Golden Hour and really like it. We like the color and finish. However, we think it may be too busy (pattern wise) once it's all over the house. Do you recommend any other similar color that may not be as busy? open to recommendations :) thanks!

Hi There @Paula Moggio, Dawn Patrol is a pretty neutral tone we'd recommend checking out as well. If you're worried about what it would look like in your home, we recommend you check out our flooring visualizer tool: https://www.calibamboo.com/roomvo It gives you a pretty realistic idea of your potential new floors in your home. :)

@Cali Floors do you have any examples of Dawn Patrol in real life? I too and considering it. Also looking at Sandbar.

@Cali Floors I would love pictures of install as well. I have a sample box, and there seems to be a lot of variation, i would prefer less variation.