Luxury Vinyl Plank WPC vs SPC, Paradigm SPC or Cortec WPC?

6 months ago

last modified: 6 months ago

I have three dogs, two are elderly and sometimes have accidents. I love the look of wood but think LVP is a better choice for us. I have exhausted my search for flooring and am more confused now than before I started. I know I want high definition, embossed imaging.

Some stores push WPC core saying the SPC core joints break easily during install. The Paradigm Conquest SPC is 8mm total, 6.5mm core. The product is beautiful, but I looked online and its like it the flooring doesnt exist. I found ONE post on Houzz with several claims that their floors came up one year after install. Paradigms website doesnt even have a contact number. A salesperson said that Paradigm has a 5G locking system which is the best one available. She claims it takes a skilled installer and is way better than competitors.

I also looked into Coretec. I was told by another sales person some major stores are pulling the coretec SPC Pro products because there joints are breaking. Apparantly the claim is that Cortec Pro SPC is too thin. One store said they have pulled all their SPC off the floor due to numerous claims. Due to this I started looking at the Cortec Grande WPC line of products. When I got the samples of Cortec Grande home I was able to easily scratch it with keys. Back to square one.

I'm not doing the install myself and want the most realistic look I can find. If you are an installer or in the flooring business what are your thoughts on WPC and SPC when looking at floors over 6mm? If ignoring budget, which specific lines within a brand have been reliably good choices (dont come up at the joint, dent, or are easily scratched)?

If you have had SPC or WPC flooring in place for over a year, which brand line and what was your experience?

Thank you to anyone sharing their knowledge !

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Comments (4)

HU-227031627
6 months ago
Wood look tile?
PRO
Sonoma Wood Floors
5 months ago
In my view, if you are looking at man made choices in wood look planks, you should not only consider WPC, SPC but Laminate as well,

- WPC and SPC have plasticizers in them while laminate is compressed wood fiber. Laminate is a green product in the sense that it can be recycled which is not done for WPC or SPC due to plasticizers in them.

- as far as water resistance is concerned, all three of them are similar in water resistance. Please note that lot of flooring companies claim that product is water proof but check their track record and claims against them before you buy into water proof story.

There are good wood look laminate products available nowadays with attached pad and scratch resistance.

Should you be interested in actual engineered wood at all, I invite you to look at www.SonomaWoodFloors.com

Hope you find the right product for you.
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Eagle Flooring Distributors
5 months ago
If you want are still looking into wood look options, you may want to check our the new laminates. These new laminates are thicker so that the click system does not break easy. Also the AC4 scratch resistant product makes it very pet friendly and EIR technology gives a wood look and feel.

You may want to check www.EagleLaminte.com

These new age laminates are at par with luxury vinyl planks when water resistance is compared.
Jen K (7b, 8a)
5 months ago
In our new home build, we chose Armstrong empower rigid core which is an RMC or rigid mineral core. The RMC is one step after WPC or SPC and has a stronger barrier to indention.

As I said the flooring was installed by the home builder, in mid to late October, November 2021. We had options of a hardwood, laminate and this line of Armstrong. I didn't want to deal with hardwood floors or laminates with dogs so I went with the LVP. We've been living on it for 2 years and we have not seen any bowing, cupping, edging, issues with the digital printing or bevel.

We have the flooring throughout our whole home except the bathrooms and laundry. I've never had hard floors in a bedroom, but we mitigated the stiffness with a rug. At first it was noisy because it's on a crawl space but it has a lot more give than tile which is what we're used to and I like the feel now.

Were two adults and two dachshunds. Our wear is minimal but we have a lot of heavy furniture which is all padded or has coasters.

I think I've might have found one or two indentions after heavy objects have fallen. I've dropped plates and cups, and they haven't broken unlike tile, but they haven't left an indention.

https://www.floorcoveringweekly.com/main/topnews/what-can-rigid-core-flooring-offer-your-consumer-33969

Luxury Vinyl Plank WPC vs SPC, Paradigm SPC or Cortec WPC?

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HU-227031627

Sonoma Wood Floors

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Jen K (7b, 8a)

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