Will it diminish the value of my high end home if I install vinyl in the main areas of the house?

Absolutely it will, and anyone who says differently doesn’t know what “high-end” means. Also, is there a reason you’re not installing wood? Porcelain travertine doesn’t exactly strike me as being a high-end finish, either! (To tell the truth, though, I’m just not very familiar with it, so I’d have to see it to be convinced of its worthiness.)

Vinyl is not accepted as a high end floor in my area. Cork and Marmoleum are accepted.

Nothing about vinyl is high end.

Horrible. No way, never. As Sammy said, its not at all "high end." I also wonder why you wouldn't do real wood? are you somewhere warm and humid? built on a slab? What is the style of your house?

Given that you said that you live 'in the country' and that you built a guest house on the property three years ago, it doesn't sound like you have plans to move any time soon. So it doesn't matter really, does it? Whatever you use for flooring is likely to be out of style/ favor or need replacing 15 years down the road anyway.

Even with using wood, whatever you would chose now...in 20 years, will be the Wrong width, the Wrong species, the Wrong color...for au courant sensibilities.

So use whatever flooring is practical and easy to live with (in the country). Considering your lifestyle...

The upside with vinyl is that it will be a lot easier to remove than something like porcelain is.

"Luxury vinyl" is an oxymoron.

Vinyl plank is "luxury" in the same way that cheap industrial-grade brown diamonds are "chocolate".

Around here, you get "L"VP in a lot of flips that try (and fail) to punch above their weight in terms of nice finishes because the flippers are cheap. The truly classy houses have high-grade solid wood.

No. It is definitely not used in high end anything

Probably a very local question that cannot be answered on an international forum.

Your best course of action to get an answer is to ask local realtors who are specialized in comparable houses and local listings of comparable houses in your neighborhood.

There are places where wood is the way to go and there are places where luxury vinyl is fine (and potentially a better choice for somebody who has animals or little kids).

This said, if you intend to keep this house for the long term, choose what you like.

If you are building for yourself, put in what you want to live with. That said, I think vinyl is not high end and would not want it. But porcelain tile in living area is too hard and I would not choose it in other than bathroom, laundry / mudroom areas. (I don't want it in my kitchen because it is too hard to stand on. When I was younger I never would have thought that.) I would choose wood or bamboo.

We love real wood floors in our area. Anything with the word vinyl in it is usually shunned in high end homes here. Except, have you seen what real, stained in place wood looks like in a beach home or home in the country where sand + dirt gets tracked in? It's pretty bad. My mom is in the industry, she does "regular" homes to $20M+ in south Florida, beach area. Tile will always be king down there. There is a product she loves that they sell, it is an engineered composite. It's called Lux Wood - Tesoro Collection. The product is waterproof and has an UV ceramic top layer to resist scratching. https://inspire-tesoro.com/luxwood.

Real wood flooring will always be the king of flooring. It can be refinished over and over with different stain colors used each time. That gives the homeowner flexibility as taste and styles change.

Wide Plank White Oak Wood Floor in Nashville TN · More Info

What is the point of having the resources to own and renovate a high end home if you can't put in what you want? Whatever you put in will be judged "tacky" or "dated" when it is time to sell, regardless of how au courant it was when you installed it. Throw caution to the wind and make your home perfect for you.

Unless it is a historically or archtecturally significant home. If we are talking about the Gamble House, then no, LVP won't cut it.

I don’t think you know what a high end home or design actually is, if you think that plastic floors get anywhere near it, No 90 percentile and above of the market will do plastic anything. Someone is upgrading status without any idea of what that status actually means. It’s not upper middle class, which would be the 70-80 percentile of the market. They might flirt with vinyl, but not put it anywhere that it matters.

Put in what you want & what works for you. If you ever sell at some point, the floors won be a deal breaker in my opinion since everyone buying houses in my area replace the floors anyway, with few exceptions.

Really? I can see carpet being replaced or wood being re-finished but not all the flooring being removed and replaced.

I don’t think vinyl would be high end it’s really gonna be about lifestyles n personal style. Also what is high in in my state is a entry home in Manhattan or some other expensive area. To me high end rural home would have site finished hardwood and real stone flooring in mud room dirty area. In my area example house at 300,000 you would expect prefinished hardwood n tile. You get to 500,000 level site finish hardwoods tile or stone. Anything under 200,000 the luxury vinyl would be good. If you r on the lake it doesn’t matter cause people want the water n will spend just to get land. So look at the sold homes for your area it shows pictures n what sold for it some ideas. Google sold homes your town they will come up on realtor Zillow etc. Enjoy your new home.

Is it true that people just rip out quality wood flooring just because? I don’t agree. They might refinish but I doubt they rip it out unless it’s inferior type flooring.
Or maybe I just have a naive trust that people wouldn’t be quite that wasteful and careless.

Not everything becomes dated in a few years. Quality materials and craftsmanship always stand the test of time. Plastic never ever will, IMO.

Are you planning to sell soon? Where are you? Are you on a slab? Would have to know all these salient facts to give specific useful advice. You mention that

"everyone" (including real estate pros) is telling you to do vinyl. (not advice you would ever get in my neck of the woods) Why don't you believe them? Is your gut telling you different?

My 110-year-old house has its original wood floors, and it would seem that the one on the main floor still has its original shellac finish. High quality wood flooring never goes out of style, lasts a century or more, and blows fakey petroleum products out of the water.

The only flooring I can imagine getting replaced every 15 years or whenever the house changes hands is carpet and sheet vinyl. And LVP/laminate if it's in one of those awful gray tones.

...andria564 & Michele .... unfortunately yes, I think it’s wasteful in some cases too. A neighbor of mine had a new kitchen & hardwood floors put in less than 3 years before selling. EVERYTHING was torn out & replaced by the new owners. It’s very common where I live. People across the street from me did the same thing PLUS replacing all of the new windows because they wanted dark framed. Everything else has been removed, although I must say the kitchen did need some work.

WOW! The response has been overwhelming and I just can't thank you all enough for your feedback. I am appreciative of all your responses and hear what you are telling me, greenfish1234, GreenDesigns, Oak & Broad, ljptwt7, Michele, andria564, Sammy, apple_pie_order, queenvictorian, and Joe T ""Luxury vinyl" is an oxymoron."

I started off not wanting hardwood because I had it in another house and because of leaking refrigerators and pet claws, I had to refinish that floor 2 times! That's why I originally went to the porcelain tile idea. A tile installer even told me people were taking out their tile and replacing it with LVF now, but I can't dismiss the fact that LVF is MUCH easier to install, and that may be why he was leading me in that direction.

I live in Fredericksburg, Texas where it gets really hot, but there's not as much humidity as when we lived on the Gulf Coast. Our home is built on a slab. Since my mom isn't moving in, we are thinking the house and our 17 acres will get the better of our 60+ bodies sometime soon, probably 3-4 years. Hopefully that answers most of the questions. To give a backdrop for my story, I am attaching a photo of my home, with the finished guest house on the right.

I appreciate your participation and comments on this project. I do not have a designer or anyone to kick ideas off of. My husband has been a very silent participant and my builder will simply do what I want. I have done this entire house on my own so far.

Bottom line: I absolutely do not want to put anything in this house that will diminish the value of this home!

Lovely home :) I think the reason tile is being pulled up is because, as a few have said, It really isn't a high-end finish in most cases either. Being in a hot region, it may have its uses outside of the kitchens and baths, but not in living spaces (go for it in entry areas and halls if you like). Looking at your home, it seems perfect for real-deal hardwood flooring.

Really nice house! Hardwood or natural stone “limestone” Would did be my choice. Limestone is very cool in the heat!

Nothing diminishes the value of your house until you put it on the market and lookers complain about the vinyl. Until then, IMO, you should put down what not only looks good (to you) and is easy care (for you). In the future, should you decided to sell, hardwood can be installed over top.

Before you discard vinyl, look at some of the top rated floors. Here are a couple of photos of Mannington Adura which would look great in your Texas home.

A Foster, we are estimating our property to be in the 1.2mil range, so your suggestions do hit home. I didn't mention, however, that we are on the Pedernales River. We also have an outdoor shower planned for the back of the house. I am hoping most people and pets will be towel dry before coming into the house, so I would hope the moisture will be kept to a minimum. Do you still recommend hardwood? I am trying to overcome my hardwood/moisture concerns!

Ceramic tile is low end as is vinyl tile and your house appears to be something that would appeal to the higher end market.

There are higher end hard surface floors that can be popular in hot climates. Saltillo tile (the authentic stuff) can be gorgeous but whether it would work would depend on the interior spaces. It would seem to be somewhat of a natural style fit for your location.

As others have posted, limestone can also be a nice high end finish. I would suggest going to a really good floor store and then posting possibilities on Houzz because there are a LOT of ways to wind up with hideous dated tile or other hard surface floors.

Oh, wow, this must be a really local thing. I am in a very HCOLA, and where I live, I do see LVP often, esp. in friends homes with kids/dogs. I strongly considered it, and eventually put tile in kitchen and engineered wood elsewhere. Starter homes in my neighborhood start at $1.2M, and most families are here for the public schools, and are busy families. But it's always a seller's market here, and new buyers often rip everything out anyway... Here's the deal. If it's really realistic looking LVP, in a current and easy-to-work with colorway, and you're in a neighborhood that sounds like this, then I cannot imagine that floor being a deterrent to sale. I just can't imagine it.

Edited to say: we also see lots and lots of ceramic/porcelain tile around here, but we are where it's quite warm, so cool floors often welcomed. I wouldn't consider it low end at all.

Mrs S, the "realistic looking" is the exact point. If you can afford it, and in a house that price you should be able to, why would you look for "realistic" over "real?" I may be wrong but it sounds to me like you live in a very hot real estate market where the house prices reflect not the finishes used but the land the homes are on. you could sell a dog house in some neighborhoods for upwards of a mil. In that case maybe folks have had to stretch their budget so thin to get in to the neighborhood that clean and durable are the primary attributes one would look for. For an expensive home in rural Texas I would want quality finishes both for my own enjoyment and for resale.

I have seen vinyl in million dollar show homes, yes. Does it look great? Yes, if you select the right wood look. However, If budget is not an issue I would always go with real wood. It can be refinished as styles change and it's desirable ALWAYS :)

Hi. I am in a similar situation. We built a large, wide ranch, as you have, with an apartment for my Dad attached. We have about 1.5 acres and zoned Agriculture, with our own well and septic. Very nice, upper-middle-class neighborhoods surround us. We also have a wide degree of income and home values on our road because of the zoning. One by one, people like ourselves are coming in, tearing down an old house and building new. We are almost done with our new build. I do know what high-end homes have in them for flooring. The high-end homes around me are running $800K and up...and these are not the waterfront homes. We are building in this price range. As for my home, I'm getting ready to order carpet for two bedrooms. In the main home, we put in marble floors everywhere except for a salon, laundry, and office, in which we put travertine. The flow and blend is just beautiful. Shiny to matte. Terrific. And here's the rub: I have a hidden room. It's about 16' x 15'. I am going to put bunk beds in this room for grand kiddos spend the nights. I have a 10' counter with cabinets and such for crafts and sewing. I didn't want carpet. I didn't want cold stone. I am a REALTOR and property manager. I decided to put in the same type of vinyl plank flooring as I found in my doctor's office. It looks amazing. I've also put this in rental homes that I manage. If an area is damaged, the plank, which is a clean cut, not a 'fin' on it, can be pried up and a new piece put glued in place. SO AMAZING. Do I want this in the rest of my home? Uh, no, I do not. I wanted something that the kids could be kids on. I will have a rug in the room that can be rolled up if needed. I also don't worry about ruining the floors in the room either should someone have an accident. Am I worried my home is devalued? Absolutely not. You don't want your appraiser in your home anyway unless you're selling. And by the way: I'm getting my current home ready to put on the market. I have wood floors, travertine, and carpeting. All carpet will be replaced and floors refinished. It's just the best way to go to get the most money. Put the best flooring you can. Only use ceramic on backsplashes. I avoid using ceramic for flooring. Ceramic can absorb water if cracked or crazed. Porcelain is a superior product if you are choosing between the two products, imho. My two cents.

One more thought. If you install vinyl now and you (or the next owner) want to put in wood, you will have to trim the bottom of every door to make room for the extra thickness of the wood and raise and reinstall every baseboard and door frame.

Do it right the first time--wood.

I had a home in the country at one time, and had bleached maple floors that were destroyed by just the stuff that migrates into a home in the country. I had walk off rugs all over, but dogs seemed to fly over the rugs and people walk in and out of the home and don't always take off their shoes, nor should they.

In my next house I had honed Travertine flooring. Great except stains have to be addressed ASAP.

If I had it to do it again, I would still want what I want, but would want to be able to simply mop up the floors when necessary. Wood look tile or travertine look porcelain would be good options. Frankly, 90% of the public viewing your home won't know the difference.

White Oak Porcelain Tile Floor & Decor

24x48 Porcelain Travertine Tile Floor & Decor

Everything is to some extent a generalization but ceramic tile is in general not considered as desirable as a porcelain tile is. Ceramic tile isn’t as strong as porcelain And is, with general exceptions, considered lower end. I am tiling my balcony and was advised against ceramic because it isn’t as strong. Ceramic tile is prone to chipping amd the color doesn’t go all the way through. In certain locales some for, of TILE or stone is desirable in even higher end homes

I hav nothing against ceramic tiles on the wall as I used some gorgeous Encore tiles in the bathroom. :-)

So, what about an engineered hardwood? It appears to hold up better to water.

PORCELAIN tiles are the best of the tile world. And IMHO the travertine-look porcelain tiles are the BOMB when it comes to beautiful/desirable. Porcelain is a FORM of ceramic tile, but ceramic is NOT always porcelain. Semantics...I know but it seems some people have been caught up in the 'ceramic tile' portion of this thread.

If you are preparing to move in 4-5 years, then you are well situated to put in something trendy. The travertine-look porcelain tiles are right on trend. They are appropriate for the area (hot climate) and appropriate for the USAGE (country lifestyle with outdoor shower).

As far as I'm concerned, the PORCELAIN tile in a travertine look will do JUST FINE. It is a step above most engineered hardwoods (not all...but most) and it is a permanent, hard wearing, trendy floor. It is in a VERY different playing field then LVP/LVT. It is one step away from REAL travertine (which is a form of marble = tricky to live with).

So long as you are talking about PORCELAIN tile and not CERAMIC tile...I say go with the travertine. It will most certainly maintain the value in the home for the next 10 years...without a doubt.

Engineered hardwood is better than laminate! There are some fabulous engineered products out there that will even allow refinishing, should it be necessary. With any wood floors, engineered wood, marble, or stone: there IS maintenance and special care. Porcelain tile is the least troublesome of all of these products. Wood floors are easier on the feet/legs than any hard tile or stone. I wanted to put in a specific wood floor to escape the Brazilian Cherry floors I've had for the past 14 years. I just could not bring myself to paying the price. So, I went with marble, which is just gorgeous...but it will be work to keep them. So what. If I don't like them, I'll sell the house.

No wood will hold up if you are flooded. It can be used in certain situations in which solid hardwood can't be.

If you are thinking about normal water from kitchen drips or whatever, most engineered flooring is factory finished and many factory finishes have finishes that are more durable than site finishes. But you can also get factory finished solid hardwood floors. And the durability of finishes is just a generalization depending on the factory finish and depending on the site finish.

There really is no flooring that can withstand a flood - even ceramic tile would have issues. One of my neighbors did not replace the ceramic flooring after a flood and when he sold his unit a few years later, the new owner found that when the flooring was replaced, the subfloor was infested with mold because the water permeated the floor and created ideal conditions for mold growth.

I took your advice A Foster, and looked at homes in my area, then consulted 3 local flooring stores, Hands down, I was told that for this market, and this price point, we needed to put in hardwood. This pretty much supported the overwhelming advice I received on HOUZZ. Decision made. Thank you to everyone! LOVE this forum for discussion!

Score one for the good guys :)

Your worry is about leaks in the pipes that damage any wood floors. So, get a whole house leak detector and get the hardwood - engineered or otherwise. I just ordered this: https://www.phyn.com/product/ . The other one that is highly recommended is Flo by Moen. They detect leaks through pressure changes and typical water usage. Also under the dishwasher put a dishwasher drip pan and buy a dishwasher that has a water shut off if it detects a leak. The drip pan channels the water to the front of the DW so that you will see the water before damage is done. https://www.amazon.com/Eastman-EZF70486-70486-Dishwasher-Black/dp/B00WQRKDNY/ref=asc_df_B00WQRKDNY/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=167125770928&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=2371089925326721163&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9032027&hvtargid=pla-312054148738&psc=1

I just installed 1700 sq ft of engineered flooring and I don't want to do it again due to water leaks. So I am doing the above. If there was a pan for the refrigerator, I would put one there too. But, the leak detector should solve most of my worries.

I live in East Bay and houses move and I was told that engineered wood can tolerate that better than hardwood. In the laundry I installed vinyl planks which I have to say, I really love as it is super easy to clean up, no worries about water damage. It is a gray plank and weirdly I have gotten compliments from neighbors thinking it was "real wood"...

We own properties in multiple states and in multiple locations within those states. Price points are between $800k and $3 million. While these are predominantly higher end vacation homes, we have sold a number of them over the years. Flooring has ALWAYS been an important issue.

Location however drives that decision. In the coastal south, tile, stone and LVP are much better choices than wood. In Florida, stone & tile. In Michigan and NY real wood only unless you put in a quality in floor heat system. Here in central North Carolina, it's basically real wood or nothing.

So there is no "one floor fits all" solution.

Tracey. I’ve read this entire thread. Your comment is spot on and the most accurate. I live in Las Vegas and Luxury Vinyl hands down is the preferred flooring. We don’t have moisture but hardwood floors crack and dry and require maintenance. Tile is cold and hard. It feels good in the summer but it hard and grout line’s are the worst. Most quality luxury most people mistake for real wood floors. Manufactured hardwood floors are not real solid wood anyway.

Interesting discussion, and greatly appreciated, but again - choose what’s best for YOU and YOUR situation. We already have 5 large rooms with “real wood”, 2 rooms (bathrooms) with “porcelain tile” (not counting the rooms we plan to change to LVP), and the remainder of the house (kitchen, hallways and 2 other bathrooms) “stone”. So I don’t need the necessary lectures on “you should get wood floors” - (I know them) nor the ones recommending we pull up the horrid existing black tile (in the living room and connected step up dining room) that we are considering placing the LVP flooring over - don’t want that mess or hassle. PLUS in our area of $2M-$6M homes, people really DO destroy the home they purchase and move into and REDO just about everything.

So the bottom line remains - Do what pleases YOU, after doing your homework and getting the best possible quality product of course. YOU’RE the one who will be living with it - hopefully happily.

I did not read the entire thread. There are many pros and cons well articulated. What I did not see, and I apologize if it was mentioned was the cushioning effect walking on it. My wife has a number of physical issues where hard surfaces really aggravate those conditions. We are building a “high end home”, and I want her to be comfortable walking in it. This might be a solution.

I own a 2 million dollar home & have vinyl planking. Hardwood is not an option with big dogs & in fact- my vinyl planking cost me more then Hardwood would of! Secondly, resale value doesn't get affected whatsoever & if it is a big deal for a sale you can always replace it with Hardwood easily. Pop baseboards off, spend 5k on flooring... but I doubt you'd have too. Vinyl planking is the most durable and waterproof flooring you can own!

@Ryan Sharma I think you meant 50K on flooring.