Thank you for the information on the Ultra. I appreciate it. The product I'm considering is the (supposedly) newer version of the Ultra called SmartCore Pro. It's a litle thinner, denser, and more expensive. The middle layer is dark and seems to be denser. The bottom is dark and the bumps are smaller and more distinct, no holes. I'm wondering if maybe smartcore responded to some of the complaints about the ultra? The photos compare Ultra (lighter) with Pro (darker)

Thanks. I liked the medium gray color of the Pro and am trying to do my diligence! Thanks for your comments.

We are also considering the PRO. Have you made any decisions? Any pros or cons you came across? Ours will be going in a basement. Thanks for your thoughts.

My Dad put Coretec in his whole house. I was worried it would look cheap and plasticy, but it looks great. And it's comfortable underfoot. There are many competitors in this market. I think every flooring/carpet brand now has a waterproof LV line, such as Shaw, Armstrong, etc. I was told that the wear layer was the most important thing to look for.

Did you wind up going with this product? We are considering the exact same. If so, how is it working out so far?

I just purchase the SmartCore PRO, It does NOT lock together. The Ultra is supposed to lock together. The PRO is "drop" in technology. The top of the PRO has thicker wear layer. So as far as being waterproof, the drop in technology is junk, it will allow for liquid to reach subfloor easily. I also have pieces that are not of the same size, so they do not install properly. I would stay away from the PRO version of this product, and Ultra version has cheap wear layer. Better off going with Shaw or Armstrong. During installation, the long pieces of boards seem to connect better, the ends of the plank have NO locking at all. So thinking of terms of waterproof, the product is waterproof, but it would be easy for water to flow between end of planks to subfloor, causing a MOLD nightmare.

We're laying the subfloor this week so haven't bought the LVT yet. HU-579985857: The interlocking mechanism between the PRO and Ultra seem to be the same. It locks on all sides (except for the wall edges which one scores off and caulks). The sample pieces that are free in the store have been chopped up for demonstration, so most only have two interlocking edges - the whole tiles in the boxes have the interlocking edges all around. If you received mismatching pieces, you should definitely return them! You must have received a defective batch. I think we're still planning on the PRO version. My biggest concern is that the PRO will feel more like a commercial restroom floor because it's thinner and harder than the Ultra.

If you go with the PRO id like to know what you think, we are debating between that line and the Pergo Outlast. I really want the waterproof part of the vinyl though.

Yes, that's why we didn't really consider Pergo. We're doing the remodel to fix a black mold problem from a slow seep from the shower.

Did anyone end up with Pro? If so what color?

We are still considering, just trying to make a decision on color...Our house isn’t that big and I really wanted to go lighter ( Burbank oak ) but also considering the Claremont oak. There isn’t a perfect color. The only other brand we’re considering is the Tranqulity line from Lumber Liquidators..thinner by about a mm, cheaper....same wear layer...honestly it is overwhelming

I understand completely! It is a big choice! I am having trouble with finding a color that isn't too orangey or yellowy and not too dark.

I don’t want orangey either (actually what we replacing) , I was looking for a light medium warmer oak..so far it’s either the Burbank oak from lowes or the Lumber Liquidators river walk....waiting on a few more samples to be mailed

We bought the Smartcore Pro to put in the bathroom of a small rental house we bought. The room is very small, so we sprang for the more expensive product since the cost wouldn't be very much for the small area. We definitely needed something waterproof, and I liked the marble-look design we chose. Well today we attempted to put it down. We have never put down any of these types of floors before. These pieces do NOT snap into place, so if you're expecting a snap to indicate the pieces have sealed, you won't get it. We had to take a rubber mallet and hit the end edges fairly hard to get them to connect, and even at that, they didn't seem to be fast. They can be disconnected very easily, which makes us worry that water will seep through the cracks. On the long side, they seem to connect very well, but still no "snap." We haven't finished it yet, but will put a bead of bathroom caulk in the 1/4" gap next to the tub. The floor is a floating floor. When you put pressure on it (like when walking) the floor raises up slightly. We're concerned the caulk won't hold with that type of movement. If anyone has had any experience with this flooring and can ease our minds that our concerns aren't warranted, I would appreciate it!

Thanks for all the comments. We bought the SmartCore Pro (Riverside Granite) and it arrived yesterday. I just opened the box. The tiles do fit together (no Snap) on the long edges, but the short edges just overlap, no click, no snap. I poured some water on the edge and none had seeped through in 15 mins, but that doesn't mean a longtime seep wouldn't get through. I'm not sure what I'll do. In any case, I'll let Lowes know. I'll either take them back or put a bead of caulk on the bottom flap of the short sides. Stephanie: Did you have any compressible underlayment on yours which might account for the raising up when walking on it? That's a distressing observation in terms of caulking the short joints. (BTW, the color/pattern on the tile is really pleasing. We like it much better than any of the Ultra patterns)

I'm going to return the SmartCore Pro tiles to Lowes. I'm planning to oder some Mannington Andura Max LVT interlocking tiles. They have several patterns and colors that are similar to the Riverside Granite we liked in the Pro. they're a little more expensive, but I want to do this job only once! I'll probably order through Wayfair if I can't find them locally.

WeShipFloors.com sells the Adura Max flooring. They have their own brand called SuperCORE which is what we're putting in our home. It's a limestone polymer composite, and is far better than what you will find at the big box stores. It's worth checking out.

Just had the installer put in Pro, Claremont Oak. The trick is adding the small bead of glue which guarantees the waterproof install. The product has a cushioned feel (not pronounced) and exceeds my expectations. The cost for professional install is well worth it for something receiving the abuse a floor does daily. Our Lowes rep was extraordinarily helpful and informed. I research as part of my work and feel a high level of confidence with my choice.

We've been looking at LVT for some time now. My son installed the Mannington Adura Max in a black/silver metallic dark color, in his home 2 years ago and has been very disappointed at how it has scratched. Finding something we like that has a 20 mil or higher wear layer has been incredibly difficult! We recently found, and are planning to purchase, the Smartcore Pro in Burbank Oak from Lowe's and use them to have it installed within the next month or so. We will be putting it in our 3 season porch, so the ability to install it in -25 - 155 degree fahrenheit environment is fantastic. Some of the consumer questions and answers were confusing as to wether it could be installed in a non-heated porch so I contacted Shaw directly. They confirmed that it indeed can be. Thanks for the insight and tip of using a bead of glue. Hoping all goes well.

We have worked all day trying to install and have come to conclusion that it is garbage. Getting ready to box up and return to Lowe’s. It does not snap together on the ends which makes the installation very difficult. About the time you think you have got it what you have laid begins popping up. It has taken about 6 hours to lay 3 rows and that needs to be pulled back up because doesn’t appear stable. I have rubber malletEd it to death and it just won’t work

HU-601735993, you are not the first person who has thought that about that particular flooring. We ordered our flooring from WeShipFloors.com after researching various kinds of flooring for more than a year. I ordered a sample box of the SUPERCore Krypton from WeShipFloors.com and was impressed with the flooring. It’s an SPC product (stone polymer core) and is more stable and dent resistant than the WPC (wood polymer core) products. There is a lot of info on their website about the SUPERCore flooring. If you are interested, read Flooring 101 on the website. They also have very good pricing on their flooring and sometimes have a sale on it. There is a huge thread here on Houzz that has a lot of info and pictures of SUPERCORE installed if you’re interested. It’s Adura Max Versus CoreTec.

Sorry about your experience with the Lowe’s product. Good luck in finding something you like.

Hello Everyone its it's been 8 months since installing smartcore ultra ...very disappointed We have a dog and there are scratches everywhere. So dissatisfied..stay the hell away from this product

Amy Hinojosa how is your Sovereign floor holding up? I am actually looking at purchasing Sovereign myself but am having trouble locating it locally. I can have it shipped from Florida for an extra cost and would love to know where you got yours from?

We love the look and feel of our smartcore pro gardenia marble, but installation is a challenge. Followed the directions but we have had sections pop up. Our house is old, 1870, but we put in a sub floor. So ready to pull it all up and return it for a different floor

So, after all this time, I finally installed vinyl flooring in the bathroom! I went with Mannington Ultra Max Plank. It interlocks on both the ends and the sides. Once it's locked together, it seems fairly stable. I love the foot feel of it (but wish I'd gone with a more daring color!). The installation was challenging. Every piece has to have at least one interlocking end on it (only one if it goes up against a wall, otherwise two interlocking ends). So there's at most one cut per plank. It took more planning but worked out okay.

The videos show how to lift up the row, interlock the end, and then slide the plank up into interlock groove on the long edge before lowering it down. This takes some finessing and the plank never does "slide up" neatly. And it has to be totally in the right place in order to be stable. My 6x7 foot bathroom took 11 hours to place.

The other challenge concerns the floating floor. You keep it 1/4" from the walls so it ca shrink and expand.. But that means that caulking around the shower is dicey. Also, I set the toilet on the tile - the room is small and I presume it can just move in other places! I hope the caulking around the shower keeps its integrity.

Overall, I'm happy with it so far (haven't finished or used the bathroom yet). But I see the advantages of glue down tile!

Thank you everyone for your comments. I'll continue to read these, as I have one more half bathroom to floor.

we insinstalled many LVT floors since ULTRA and ULTRA remains the worst product we've installed, other brands no problemproblems My guys install floors of all types for many years as I explained in previous posts the issues. I am very upset over scratches and now going to see what this warranty is all about The gaps between the planks are different between the two different manufactures. I will add photos some day when time persists

Tanna Hill what kind of glue did you use?

@Tana Hill i just purchased the same color choice. Yours looks amazing! We’re putting ours in the living room, and have the laminate tongue and groove shaw Brand in two other rooms of our home. We installed both rooms, one was fairly large, ourselves and plan to do this flooring ourselves also. We chose the vinyl for the livingroom due to the laminate chipping on top, from wear. It’s fairly new (less than 2 years old) so im really hoping this flooring will be great! And a lot more resistant to the heavy and rough traffic we get!

I'd like to know why the samples at Lowe's of this product are thicker than the actual planks. Seems deceptive to me. Anyone else notice this?

Honestly, our Lowes is so bad. The help is clueless. I hate Home Depot even more. Although I'm carrying around a Smartcore Pro sample I'm pretty worried about the installation and all the comments on here.

@HU-391474507, curious if you or anyone here has considered Swiss brand LICO's HydroFix? Or their new US product (in partnership with a Wisconsin company) Finesse Floors? Or their Microdur or Lipur floors? They talk up their organic, non-toxic bonafides, but who knows. Lico U.S. info: Lico U.S. website

HU-461674326 No, we did not use a thick underlayment. Six months in with this floor, I hate it and would not recommend it. It has not stayed together and we are going to have to remove the toilet and sink to replace the flooring with another product. We are DIY'ers, and see no need to hire anyone to do this seemingly simple task. There was no mention of glue, so we didn't use any. I have used other Smart Core products including SmartCore Naturals, in another bathroom, and we are very pleased with it. It went together very well with no beating with a rubber mallet necessary. I would highly recommend that product, but not the SmartCore Pro - at least not in the granite pattern.

Just went through trying to use Smartcore Ultra travertine flooring from Lowes. The product looked good in the sales floor. But when my installer tried to install...it would not click together properly....there are flaws in the clicking mechanism that prevent the product from butting up fully. In about 20% of the seams there are gaps...some as big a 1/4" which makes the floor no longer water proof. Additionally, there were color flaws in the surface of the tiles...one tile with extra black dye for example and popped bubble looking circles on quite a few of the tiles. My installer will never work with this product again. Lowe's agreed to refund my money for the cost of the tiles if returned within 90 days of purchase. However, nothing on the installation.

It may have already been stated but the reason it is thinner and denser is because the core is limestone and not PVC. I think what they've done with vinyl flooring lately is amazing, the looks and color possibilities are fabulous. I just wish it had a "green" story.

DH installed Smartcore Pro in Burbank Oak in a small bathroom refresh recently; he didn't make any comments about it being difficult to work with, and I think it looks great, I'm very happy with it -- we are easy on our floors, though (no shoes in the house other than an occasional guest, and dog nails are kept pretty short).

I just installed an ultra bathroom floor and I'll NEVER do another one!

It doesn't lock unless everything is PREFECT! which no house is. Spent a ton of time to get it right... NOT a fan.

The customer loves how it looks but I'm not sure if it will stay locked. I'm pretty sure this will be a warranty issue... I'll just say no in the future.

We installed in our small bathroom we went with Burbank oak, we are installing in all three of our bedrooms now, we love it and it looks beautiful

My wife and I just laid 322 sq ft of SmartcorePro LVP in our LR and DR. We had only 2.6% waste. Looks great and was fairly easy to lay. We have never done this before. I am a physical therapist and she is a teacher and NOT professionals at this work.

We watched several youtube videos before doing it. They had great tips. Also, uncharacteristically, we read the entire instructions before laying it.

Don’t expect a loud click when putting it together, but you can easily tell if it did not seat, properly, in which case, you just do it, again.

Take care to do the simple math needed to lay out the room, before starting, as was recommended on ALL the videos. Ours worked out very well.

We were surprised at ourselves. We are, already, planning to do another room.

We just finished a SmartCore Ultra install in our Den. It looks and feels gorgeous. The install was a bit rough, the concrete foundation had been patched badly and required a lot of grinding to get it level. I'm thinking of installing the same flooring across the entire back of the house--17x60 feet--but if we do, we'll float the floor instead of grinding.

The Ultra installed easily enough once we learned how to get the edges to truly lock in, on the third try. Watch a few videos and have your rubber mallet ready.

1/ Once you think you've got the plank locked in, tap along both of the locking seams -- left and top as you're kneeling looking at the plank -- to get the locks to fully engage.

2/ Use another plank or a piece of scrap to bridge between the plank you're installing and the previous one as you tap the ends together, it will really help guide them together.

3/ It also helps to have someone stand on the plank you are locking into; she can feel when the seam has fully closed because now you're tapping on her foot.

We've had the floor down for two weeks now, so obviously we can't speak to wear at all yet. We'll be here another 8 years, hopefully it will look good enough to sell the place without replacing it then. If that holds true, we're absolutely golden.

The people at Lowes were unhelpful. Taking advice from someone who hasn't installs this is just not helpful. The tools Lowe's carries are adequate for this 12 x 12.5 room, but I will want a better pull bar if we tackle the big install. The one Lowes carries is too short, if you're not careful working near the wall you'll end up bonking the wall and leaving rubber mallet smudges on the paint.

Lisa Miller... Did you install it? How do you like it? I have 22 boxes and my husband gave up after the 3rd row. Will NOT snap in the short ends. Incredibly frustrating! Not sure if we should bother going ahead. It's on concrete and perfectly flat.

I used Smartcore Pro in a Kitchen back in February and it was easy to use and seems durable so far!

Just finished an entryway with the same stuff today!

Used the Burbank and I'm very satisfied with the results!

**please read if you are considering this flooring. My husband tried to install when I wasn't home. Wanted to surprise me. I have never seen this man so defeated in my life. Worked for 3 hours she couldn't get 3 rows to stay connected. He was ready to return it all! I sat down, researching, found this post and Wes' comments were the MOST helpful along with youtube on this exact floor. It changed EVERYTHING. The trick is YOU HAVE TO TAP LONG EDGE WITH 2X4 GENTLY AND USE A RUBBER MALLOT to really WACK the short sides together. It is TIGHT once it's correctly hammered together. We finished 600 sq ft in 6 hours. It looks great and we are SO happy we didn't return it because it took me sooo long to pick out. If you love it... Do not give up!

We purchased smart core pro in glendale pine color. After less than a year we discovered the backing was falling off. The glue was defective. We had to go through Shaw and Lowes for manufacture warranty. Painful process. I would not reccomend this product.

I bought approx. 1000 sq. ft. of SmartCore Pro, Riverside Granite, had it professionally installed in June not by a Lowe's contractor on my entire main floor; great room, hall, two bedrooms, bath... with custom painted shoe molding at cedar baseboard

Have an active warranty claim due to a black tarry residue on the entire floor that is best removed spot cleaning with 91% alcohol on a paper towel. Acetone and mineral spirits much less effective.

Shaw has not contacted me directly at all, but sent an inspector that didn't know about the photos and samples I gave to Lowe's, or much else regarding the claim. He used a "degreaser" that didn't pick up the small bits of rubber backing and tarry residue that were on samples i gave him at the time, and previously submitted to Lowe's.

Not a happy customer.

Lowe's and Shaw had better come through on this issue or there is going to be grief for them.

I have bought and installed $3000.00 worth of smartcore pro 1 year ago in my unheated cabin since it said good for extreme temperatures down to 25 degrees below zero and Lowes said it was the best and only flooring that will work for me. The floor started to seperate in December 2020 at 19 degrees. Lowes said they can not help me and to file a claim with Shaw. Shaw sent an independent inspector to see flooring in March 2021. The so called independant inspector came and pretty much told me that his job is to find things to void the warranty so no claims get paid. He crawled on my floor throughout all rooms with a 6 foot level and found one high spot on my l floor that tilted his level uneven. I told him every house built has a joyce that is a little high or a little low. He agreed and said that he goes through million dollar brand new homes and always finds the same. He measured the space at edges an said some spots were too close to wall. I told him nothing expanded or contracted and its the locking that has failed. He also said the floor molding was touching the floor and that will also void a warranty. I told him there are no houses where the wall molding is not touching the floor and that no one keeps a gap below the molding. He agreed but said even if my floor did have more spacing and wall molding had a gap under it that Shaw would still void my claim since he found a joyce high spot. He left and I never had a returned call since March. I even offered to lift my floor and pay the $1.49 per square foot and to have it reinstalled by anyone of thier choice to prove it was not an installation problem and it is a locking failure problem with the flooring. I am a tipical hard working person that saved for two years to buy the best flooring made for my conditions. Shaw or Lowes have not even called me to offer me a solution or any compensation towards my $3000.00 invested. I do not know if my floor will continue to worsen but I do know it will not get better. I told the inspector that if Shaw really wanted to improve thier product that this was the perfect chance. An unheated cabin that temperatures go down to a couple of degrees below zero in the coldest part of the year. I have 8 rental proerties, a house and 2-cabins that I wanted to do all over with this flooring and now I can not trust Shaw flooring or Shaw customer service to correct the failure. My cousin is a contrator that build homes and works with hundreds of other contracors and said that he will no longer use Shaw flooring after he sees what happened to me. SHAME ON YOU SHAW FOR NOT FIXING YOUR FAILED FLOOR LOCKING PROBLEM. I or my cousin will never buy another Shaw product unless this is fixed by compensation or what I prefer which is to lift and reinstall new flooring by anyone of Shaws choice. The cabin next to me installed a cheap laminate flooring from Pergo at 1/2 the price and it has not failed under the same temperatures. I am out $3000 but you are out hundreds of thousands of dollars when contractors will not trust your products since you chose not to do the right thing.***SHAME ON YOU SHAW FOR NOT FIXING YOUR FAILED FLOOR LOCKING PROBLEM. Tim Sommers Mongomery, Pa. 17752 (570-220-8070)

It's been 8 months since we installed this on our basement over concrete. It's tough as nails and once we got the gist of the install (joints are too be really hammered TIGHT) it went quickly. I filled in some very tiny areas around existing door jambs with wood filler and it's seamless. BUT... Then we had a pipe burst last month. Water came in from the UNFINISHED storage side of the wall, seeped under our smart core and got about 6 feet under it. Insurance was a little tricky, should just dry out because it's "waterproof" BUT that's only if the water is spilled on top, I explained. Our water was from behind the wall so got in under the free edge of the baseboards, and of course this item had attached pad. So they took out anything that had water underneath (no way for it to completely dry out) and are paying replacement costs. Now one thing I didn't think of is if we didn't do with an attached pad, we could just remove and replace wet pad and use existing floor boards... Can't do that with this. Not a big deal though since they are paying for replacing, we will still do it ourselves. This is really bullet proof... Unless you get water from UNDERNEATH. I would stop recommend this product and I am extremely picky. I have burbank oak smart core.

I have the twilight in my laundry room and office! Love it. Now going g to put the Burbank in the basement.

I did not know where to add my review, so I stuck it here responding to above and as a Consumer FYI. I hope it helps you. This flooring is impossible to install.

SMARTCORE Pro Paramount 12-in x 24-in Water Resistant Interlocking Luxury Vinyl Tile

With an upcoming bedroom renovation, I was looking for something modern and different. This was one of the floors that I found that had a unique pattern and was very modern-out of the norm from the other boring wood and marble patterns. I saw it at Lowes and I had to have it. It was very pricey, that was an issue, but I really liked it, so I ordered 330 sq feet. Another great selling point was that it stated on the description that it was 100% waterproof.

We did not lay the floor immediately; it was stored for about 8 months. Recently we started the renovation we attended for the floor.

To begin, my contractor has laid many laminate and vinyl floors so there is no unfamiliarity with installation. When it came time to lay the floor, the first two pieces were cut and laid down and we discovered that the leading ends did not snap together. My contractor spent a lot of time trying to figure out why. My next fear, was that I could not use it, and that was a lot of money for something that I would not be able to return.

We went onto the internet to get some answers. The customer frustration in regard to the installation of this flooring was unanimous. What most blogs stated was that the leading edges did not snap together. The snapping in-which is really not snapping in at all- occurs on the long sides of the planks. Really, none of them snap together tightly. Basically, you have to carefully pound the crap out of the seams to get then to lock. With an extremely high frustration level, I called Shaw industries (who makes the floor) the secretary talked to us like we were stupid, like we should have known this, with absolutely no answers, support, or care, used a monotone voice, and of course, the snark. Perhaps this process should be mentioned in the directions for the flooring which I read over and over again-nothing. Is stated about this issue. My next question is why in the heck would you design something like this?

With the fact that the leading ends do not really fasten, our next question was how can it possibly be waterproof?

So now half of the room is done and here is the rundown so far:

All Cons:

· We are going to need a bigger/heavier mallet

· Each seam will need to be smacked down at the end-this labor costs$$$$

· My contractor stated he will never use this product again

· The seams do show- which is not my favorite/The pattern in the floor helps this somewhat.

· It gets more stable as more flooring gets laid down

· Unfortunately I am stuck with it!

· The long-term wear stresses me out

· You can guarantee if this does not wear well, that I am going to raise holy hell!

· Shame on this company’s engineers for designing this expensive inferior product!

· Beware-The thresholds are flimsy plastic and do not have any metal fasteners-a plastic strip only…absolute junk-I am not using them. I bought 4 of them! Lost my $$$