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Flooring Design Dilemma

Wood floor, LVP, or laminate?

last year

We are wanting to remove our carpet in our lower level family room. There is cement floor under the carpet. Are we able to consider all these choices ( hardwood, lvp, laminate)? can you tell the difference between hardwood and the other choices? I’ve heard people say you cannot. If you used lvp or laminate, are you still

happy with that choice?

thanks!

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Comments (11)

tracefloyd
last year
last modified: last year
I think you mean Hardwood or LVP or Engineered Hardwood.

Get real wood.... Hardwood or Engineered Hardwood. They can be installed over concrete properly.

Engineeted Cork is interesting if you haven't thought of that.

Don't get LVP because it's not real wood and very few look real.
bkind37 thanked tracefloyd
Memphis Forrest
last year
Maybe 10 years LVP was different. If there’s no water around and you can install hardwood flooring. I’d do that. I have a smaller house so used new LVP throughout. After my washing machine totally broke water every where. No problem other than getting the water up. Laminate would have been warped.
bkind37 thanked Memphis Forrest
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I would really appreciate if some of you can help with my dilemma. We are looking into flooring options for our new home. We live in Arizona. I was looking in to wood look porcelain tile because I really like the look of wood, but I want something where I can have the same kind of flooring in the entire main floor, so hard wood tile combo is out. We have hardwood in our current house in both our floors except kitchen and stairs as much as I love the look of it, I don’t like the upkeep that comes with it. A couple of our friends got LVP done in their homes and they really like it. I love how it looks but just can’t get over the vinyl part and how will it effect the value of the house? I spoke to a couple of local suppliers and contractors and they said I can’t go wrong with either it just comes down to personal choice. And with regard to the value they said only hard wood increases the value and carpet may decrease the value because buyers would like to change the carpet but vinyl or tile don’t add or delete anything in our are. it most likely will be our forever home till we downsize but just in case. Our home will be around 700k. I understand that vinyl costs less in labor charges but a 20mil wear layer vinyl is not cheap in material and I don’t mind to spend more on the labor of tile and prefer to compromise somewhere else which I can change easily later . I know some of the same things were discussed in this thread but most of them are over a year old was wondering if everyone is still on the same page. For everyone who has wood look porcelain tile or LVP do you still like it after a couple of years? What are the pros and cons. For me one big con with the tile is grout. And LVP’s pro is it’s looks. Do you have problems with footprints being seen on LVP like how a few mentioned in an other thread? any pro’s please give your input on what you think? Thanks a lot if you read till now. I will greatly appreciate any help you can provide.
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Make sure you look for a water resistant laminate because most laminates don’t like water. We were looking at AtroGuard laminate by Lamett, but have since decided to install SPC (stone polymer composite) rigid plank SuperCore flooring from WeShipFloors.com. It’s not bothered by moisture and humidity, and living in Mississippi that’s a real plus. With the laminate we would have to run dehumidifiers 24/7 to maintain the 40-60% humidity to keep it happy during the summer and humidifiers in winter to maintain the humidity during cold weather when the heat has to be on. Most of the water resistant laminates are surface water protected for up to 72 hours, but if water gets under it the floor can be ruined. The Flooret Modin SPC plank has some colors you might like and so does SuperCore. It’s definitely worth reading up on the newcomer SPC since it can take temps much higher than LVP and WPC (wood polymer composite) vinyl plank flooring and is much more stable in sunlight. I also suggest you read a lot about laminate since you stated you are looking for flooring that will be durable with water. IMHO, the SPC flooring will fit your needs better. There are some companies that have a tile look SPC if that interest you. It may take some research to find them, but they’re out there. Good luck in your flooring search. I really suggest you do some reading on both types of flooring and then decide what you think will work best on a concrete slab in Florida that needs to stand up well to water with humidity, kids and a dog in the picture.
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Look at COLOUR and not the wood. Take a photo of your hardwoods. Do it in different lighting situations. Now go shopping for a COLOUR match. Ignore the species. Heart Pine is a very deep colour of orange/red. It is the COLOUR that is difficult to find because Heart Pine isn't a species. It is the wood found in the HEART of the Pine (hence the name). In design, we use COLOUR to tie things together. These floors are on different levels. That means the SPECIES match for a fake-wood product makes no sense. But a COLOUR match is what makes two different levels 'tie' together. The stairs will be the place where things tie in. What do you have on the stairs?
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@Ana Gutierrez: It’s least worth your time to research engineered wood. It’s not as expensive as people think and many handy homeowners are able to install it. It also goes over some types of existing floors. It looks the richest, especially if a medium brown is your preference. Laminate floors are the least durable and the worst in a wet climate. Any flooding, even a little, will ruin it. Luxury vinyl tile gets great reviews. The better products look more like wood than laminates. All of these can be bought in planks that are not hard to install. Tile, as was well pointed out, is ridiculously expensive and hardest on your back. Most vinyl will survive the dogs pretty well. I know a family with two Rhodesian Ridgebacks who installed luxury vinyl in the bedroom and bathroom of their twins’ suite. The mother wishes she had a reason to put it around the whole house. Do your research. Ask questions at flooring places so someone knowledgeable can answer about durability and dog-nail scratching. You can shop for bargains after you get all the information together. Don’t go to big box stores yet.
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BPMBA
last year
last modified: last year
Our laminate is waterproof. It's from the Restoration Collection by Mannington.
bkind37 thanked BPMBA
PRO
G & S Floor Service
last year
There are no substitute for the real thing.
bkind37 thanked G & S Floor Service
Susie .
last year
If it were my house, I’d want wood. You may need to go with engineered if it’s on concrete, but talk to a reputable local flooring company. LVP and laminate are photos of wood, so you can definitely tell the difference, especially if they’re floating. Think about your lifestyle, though. If this is a room that gets heavy traffic from dogs and kids then LVP may be a better option for your family. Engineered wood and hardwood can be refinished and are easier to repair than LVP or laminate.
bkind37 thanked Susie .
PRO
Norwood Architects
last year
If you can afford real hardwood flooring I would champion that. Nothing really compares to real wood floors. Although other materails can look quite good you will always be able to tell what is real and what is not.
bkind37 thanked Norwood Architects
lisaj1354
last year
I have LVT throughout and I absolutely love it. Especially with having a dog. All I have to do is vacuum and/or damp mop. I looks enough like wood to have fooled friends and neighbors.

. Its installed over concrete.
bkind37 thanked lisaj1354
PRO
Patricia Colwell Consulting
last year
IMO this choice is 2 fold. Do you have a totally always dry basement and waht is your lifestyle. We have 3 huge dogs and have laminate from Germany on the main floor and LVP in our walk out basement . The dogs have free run through a doggie door all day in all kinds of waether the floors get dirty and a quick vacuum or sweep and adamp mop on raint days is all it needs to look like new 16 yrs alter. The laminate upstairs was bought for the fabulous finish which 16 yrs later does not show any scratches .I did nit plan to try to fool anyone with the LVP into thinking it is wood but it is funny how many people think it is. The mainfloor looks like slate even has a bit of the teture slate would have. I think flooring needs to be chosen for how you live
bkind37 thanked Patricia Colwell Consulting
kandrewspa
last year
No matter what you choose, you will probably find out your concrete floor is not level. Usually builders do not take care to assure a level floor when pouring. Carpet disguises that. All of the products you're interested in require a level floor (to some degree - it doesn't have to be perfect). There are ways to level it after the fact, but it costs extra. So when talking to the flooring contractor, be sure to discuss that.

As for which product, I have LVP in my basement and I'm very happy with it. I don't think it looks like real wood exactly, but it's a good product for a basement. I have real wood upstairs, but for me it isn't worth the expense of having it in the basement also. Our basement is walk-out and finished with drywall and has a home office and a family room (only 2/3rds of it is finished space). We carpeted the steps to have a break between the wood and the LVP. If you put vinyl next to wood it looks extra fake.
bkind37 thanked kandrewspa
tracefloyd
last year
I guess I don't know what laminate is but I looked it up and it is not waterproof. Must be regional because people don't use it in California.
bkind37 thanked tracefloyd
Jan Donovan
7 months ago
@lisaj1354 what flooring do you have? It looks very nice!
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