Sophie - all good questions, thanks. Currently there is no basement floor (new construction) as the poured wall forms came off yesterday. We go to parade homes and see glued down LVT or LVP in basements and I scratch my head wondering how the adhesives work with so much water still in the concrete and I am still wondering. We have a number of bids from reputable flooring and no one has mentioned new basement floor and moisture. Thought I would ask the question here and see what others felt.

It is a requirement. You still need it and here is the reason why: We ALWAYS ASSUME that the "underslab" vapour barrier HAS BEEN or WILL BE compromised at SOME POINT in its life. We don't know when, we don't know how badly, but it will happen. Heck, it can happen WHILE they are POURING the concrete. Or when they are spreading concrete. Or when tree roots grow underneath the concrete, etc. So, the moral of the story is: always use vapour barrier (6mil poly sheeting = $0.11/sf at HD) over slab on or below grade when installing rigid flooring. It is the CHEAPEST FORM of "warranty saver" you will ever have. I promise you, that vapour barrier will come in REALLY handy at some point in the house's life span.

First of all, I've taken carpet out of many areas where there were original hardwood floors underneath them. A hardwood floor is not structurally worse than plywood; in fact it is better quality wood and therefore structurally better. So, if I were going to do LVP throughout the home, and I was worried about the subfloor (the plywood part), I would pull the carpet up first to see what is under it. If there is structurally sound plywood under the carpet then you can make your decision from there about the hardwood. You could always raise the carpeted area to the level of the hardwood and do the LVP then, which could potentially save you money, depending on the size of each room.. Or, you can look for a reducer (strip that connects two different kinds of flooring), but that probably won't be your first preference because it will create a lip and looks old fashioned. Second, in my area (midwest) the market for good used carpeting and any hardwood flooring is so hot that pre-pandemic I advertised an entire second floor of carpeting, in good used condition (no stains, but used) on craigslist and within 24 hours it was gone. People came and took it all, padding and everything. Same with hardwood - family members took theirs out, replaced it with LVP, and sold the used hardwood at an overall profit. It is not hard to take carpet out; hardwood can be trickier depending on how it was put down. Seriously, I'm a 50 year old woman and with a claw hammer and some gloves I could get that carpet up in an 6 hour day, pad and all. Two preteens could take it up in half that time. Now if the subfloor is concrete (no basement), then you may have to scrape the glue off when you remove the padding, but even then glue is usually just in targeted lines, not evenly spread all over, so there is not much to get up.

Once you get furniture and rugs, etc., I doubt anyone would notice. It would be a challenge to replace since they are most likely click and lock planks.