Yikes, we just had a local Flooring Contractor begin our flooring project. We're replacing the carpet that was original to the home, and ripping out the tile in several areas to install LVP over slab. The Contractor talked a great game, telling us about his 15 years experience and his "5 Star" reviews. When I asked about getting the old carpet glue up, he assured me he had a "power scraper" that will take the glue right up. Asked about filling nail holes from tack strips, he said he had self leveling stuff to fill those. My wife and I knowing we were getting new flooring began removing old carpet and tack strips where accessible. I filled the little craters left by pulling up the tack strip and scraped up what I could with the glue. Figuring this would save some time for the contractor. Well when it came to do the actual prep, he suddenly changed tune saying he's never fills those hole in the concrete it doesn't affect the floor at all and is a waste of time. I can see that might be true with the small holes, but pulling up the tack strips left from pretty sizable "craters." The next "red flag" was when he changed his tune on scraping the glue, he claimed the underlayment would take up any imperfections and we'd never notice once the floors are in. He said something interesting, when he said that when he's installing he asks himself if the floor will feel good under foot to the customer. Which we took to mean, if the customer never knows he didn't do a proper prep or follow manufacturer installation requirements, it's a win. When it came to following Manufacturers installation procedure, he claimed that's just CYA stuff and he does it his way. Running the underlayment perpendicular to the direction of the LVP, nah, he said you don't really need to do that, besides it takes more time. Then there's the logistic accommodations we went over with him from the get go, due to our pets. He agreed to 3 phases...until he began work then he suddenly claimed he never agreed to 3 phases, just two, then went into how he's never had a client who couldn't just put the pets in carriers and put them all in one room, then he questioned why we would adopt feral cats. That was not his job to judge our choice to rescue some cats. Oh it gets worse, with him not respecting our property. When he was taking up the tile in a bathroom, he put the toilet in our Jacuzzi shower. Did not cover the glass shower doors to protect them from "flying" mastic and tile chips. When we called him on it, the excuse was "I know what that shower is made of, and putting the toilet in there won't hurt it." We said that wasn't the point, the point was you didn't respect our property. Anyway it was excuse after excuse, argument after argument about how we trying to tell him how to do his job. Well in the end he was pretty pissed off that we expected he followed through on things we discussed and do a proper surface prep, so he quit the job. We now have a living room with basically a pallet of LVP, boxes of QuietWalk and bundles of base board. We've got another contractor coming in a few days to give us a quote on completing the project.

We had planned to install the Coretec Grande Lotte Oak; however have ultimately chosen another color. I have approx 1,500 sq ft available for sale -- willing to offer deeply discounted pricing. We are located in WI but can ship. Pls contact me at jwire@tds.net if interested.

OK...a little education for you. 1. Laminate sits in a LOWER category BUT it overlaps with vinyl once it gets into the higher value range. 2. Vinyl is technically a higher category but it a cheap vinyl is less durable (more problematic) than a higher end laminate. This is commonly seen in the flooring industry. A high-end product in a lower category will OUT PERFORM a cheap product in a higher category. Like purchasing a top of the line HYUNDAI ($80K vehicle) will out perform an entry level Volkswagen ($23K). Technically VW is a better brand but their entry level products have no hope of competing with an $80K Hyundai. Right. So a $3.50/sf EUROPEAN laminate will OUTPERFORM a $3.50/sf vinyl. I can guarantee it. If you must have vinyl you want: 1. total thickness to be MORE than 7mm - rigid is better 2. Wear layer = 20mil minimum (the 12mil wear layers = not good enough for American households) 3. SPC core or WPC core - in your price range this is going to be STUPID TOUGH...you can try for it but be aware $2.99/sf vinyl isn't going to have this option. And remember: floors are you most ABUSED finish. Like your roof, it must do WORK. Gravity works which means your floor is working every second of every minute of every day. Like your roof, you should be prepared to spend money on a quality product. If you don't it will show up VERY QUICKLY (would you purchase shingles on clearance for $0.99/sf??? I hope to h3ll not!). If you cannot afford the good stuff in the category you have chosen, then go down one category and purchase the HIGHEST LEVEL product in that category. Which is why I suggested going with a $3.50/sf laminate instead of a $2.99/sf vinyl.

We installed 2600 sf of Happy Feet Pinnacle LVP in our new build and am very happy with it. i had read through this group many times prior but decided with grown kids it was more important to us to have a matte look and low maintenance than risk wearing out our socks. I definitely prefer the feel of natural wood under bare feet but this LVP is not wearing out our socks or our bare feet. So far it feels like a great decision. interesting anecdotal observation - when in our old house, which had hardwood throughout, when we laid out various LVP samples and left them there for a week, our dog stated laying on the Happy Feet sample section. Never the other samples. 🤔