Flooring - laminate vs. vinyl vs. ??

5 years ago

We are going to get rid of the carpet in all our main living areas. (3 dogs). We are on a pretty tight budget and I was researching vinyl and laminate flooring (for the money savings). Looked at some at the stores and to be honest they really look nice. I am concerned though that it would be a mistake for resale purposes. Is this no longer the case? We moved here to Florida 3 years ago and no plans to move again. The wood look plank flooring really looks nice and I like the durability and resistance to scratching. Your input would be appreciated! Thank you.

Comments (5)

Jamie
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
If you have no immediate plans for moving (or any for the next few years), don’t worry too much about resale.

I used vinyl planks as “temporary” flooring in a house I owned. I ended up liking them enough that I keep them for 8 years (and the new owner kept them as well). I had them in 3 bedrooms and a hallway. They looked as good after 8 years as the day I installed them and, at about $1 a square foot, I got my money’s worth out of them. I also sold that house the day I put it up for sale.

I had an elderly dog that had frequent accidents inside the house and the vinyl planks help up well. There are more expensive vinyl products but I wanted something I could install myself without any tools. I didn’t want laminate because they don’t hold up to moisture too well.

I think vinyl planks are a good option for inexpensive flooring- and You can always use them as a temporary solution until your budget allows you to install hardwood, tile or some other more expensive flooring.
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BeverlyFLADeziner
5 years ago
Laminate is not waterproof so if you have 3 dogs, vinyl might be the best. Laminate can scratch under extreme conditions.
six2zero thanked BeverlyFLADeziner
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We have gone back and forth on this as well- we are doing a major dining, living, kitchen remodel. We have decided to go with a beautiful wide plank engineered hardwood (French oak) from Bella cera called “Monza” bivio. It’s just light and natural and I think will look beautiful with our white cabinets. It’s a wire brushed engineered hardwood which I like more than the rustic hand scraped ones. It was very affordable at less than $4/SF. We have had a few people try to discourage real wood in the kitchen but my parents have had knotty pine floors for 30 year and they’ve held up fairly well and have been refinished twice. The only thing with engineered wood is the top layer is fairly thin with plywood underneath, so you can’t really refinish them but most wont need to be since they have a 25-50 yr residential warranty. I chose one that had some knots and grains and looked like it’d be forgiving. Some of the new lvt is more expensive but really pretty, I can just tell it’s not real wood and it feels a little plasticky and I just like natural materials. My friend has it in her yoga studio and for that application I think it’s great. The only thing I am nervous about is not being able to steam mop my kitchen and having to use wood cleaner with a microfiber mop. But I like rustic and genuine surfaces- we went with granite and are refinishing Saltillo. It’s not perfect but I’m just a natural materials person. You really can’t go wrong! But I think wood floors are always better for resale personally. The new vinyl is great though, and I would def do it in a bathroom, playroom, mud room, but don’t love it throughout the main house. Laminate is ok, but I don’t like the clickety clack sound when you walk on it, and I can almost always immediately tell something is laminate vs wood.
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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.
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six2zero
Original Author
5 years ago
Thank you Jamie and Beverly, I think we are going with vinyl. My next question will be the ease of installation and how noisy it is. :)
Jamie
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
Haha well I used the peel & stick stuff and had a concrete slab foundation. It stuck very well and there wasn’t any noise at all, unlike a floating floor. I don’t really have any experience with those. If you’re on a slab, make sure it’s clean and scrape up any drywall mud or paint - you’ll see the lumps through the vinyl. If you use peel & stick, consider using Henry vinyl primer - it will help them stick better. I also filled in the holes from the carpet tack boards that I pulled up and there were a few chips in the slab that I filled in.

The hardest part for me was cutting around closet door frames but if you’re careful and good with a utility knife it’s not too difficult. You have to pay attention and make sure all of your cut edges are hidden under your baseboards. Make sure to get the first one straight and make sure to align the edges of each plank so that there aren’t any gaps. Pay attention to the pattern so that you have some randomness in the lengths of each plank, so that it looks more like properly-laid hardwood flooring.

Good kuck!
six2zero
Original Author
5 years ago
Yeah I hear you! We had some difficulty with a wood floating floor at our prior home. There was some very slight dips in the underlayment that weren't noticeable until the new floor was in and it had a slight sag when you stepped in places. Nightmare. Especially since we put the floor in just to upgrade for sale of the house. Our underlayment here is concrete, so hoping that won't be an issue, but it makes me nervous.

Flooring - laminate vs. vinyl vs. ??

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Flooring - laminate vs. vinyl vs. ??

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