Flooring Options

[JAYSLOL]

What’s everyone’s preferred flooring product?  Looks like we will close on a house that needs a bit of work, and first on the list is removing the 30 or 40 year old carpet in the living room and replacing with some kind of hardwood looking material, either engineered wood flooring, or vinyl plank or something. What options don’t suck?

[bacchi]

Have you seen and walked on LVP? Do that first.

If you do go with engineered hardwood, make sure the wear layer is thick enough to refinish it a few times.

We used marmoleum when we replaced some 30 yo vinyl squares in the kitchen.

[nereo]

Really depends on the room and use case. We have hardwood, LVP and tile in our home, and we wouldn’t swap them around or replace them with something else.

[uniwelder]

I have done prefinished strand woven bamboo (solid, nailed down) flooring in two houses and love it.  After 4 years, our 65 and 110 lb dogs have yet to scratch it.  This is not the same product as most other bamboo flooring you have probably heard of.  It looks much like regular hardwood and 3x as hard as oak.  I happened to luck out and get it on clearance at $2 and $3 per square foot.  Here's an example--- https://www.ambientbp.com/products/strand-natural-wide-plank-bamboo-floor

edit to add- a short search comes up with this as the lowest price I'm seeing right now at $4.50/sq ft when buying 1,200 sq ft.  https://www.floorbros.com/cart/quote.asp?productlineid=55555&productid=537381

[franklin4]

Do you know there isn't old hardwood under the carpet? If so, good chance refinishing would be the way to go.

[JAYSLOL]

I have done prefinished strand woven bamboo (solid, nailed down) flooring in two houses and love it.  After 4 years, our 65 and 110 lb dogs have yet to scratch it.  This is not the same product as most other bamboo flooring you have probably heard of.  It looks much like regular hardwood and 3x as hard as oak.  I happened to luck out and get it on clearance at $2 and $3 per square foot.  Here's an example--- https://www.ambientbp.com/products/strand-natural-wide-plank-bamboo-floor

edit to add- a short search comes up with this as the lowest price I'm seeing right now at $4.50/sq ft when buying 1,200 sq ft.  https://www.floorbros.com/cart/quote.asp?productlineid=55555&productid=537381

That stuff looks pretty decent, I’m actually in Canada, so I’ll have to see if that’s an option here, I’d never heard of that before

[Radagast]

Below grade, bathrooms, or places that likely get wet: tile
Most elsewhere: hardwood

Actually my dream living situation would be a three level house with a daylight basement. I'd have tile and a heated floor in the basement, hardwood in the middle, and carpet on the top.

I was not aware of that particular bamboo product above though, and it seems like it might be a superior replacement to hardwood.

LVP seems like it could be ok, but then I never really got why it was better than say linoleum.

[uniwelder]

I have done prefinished strand woven bamboo (solid, nailed down) flooring in two houses and love it.  After 4 years, our 65 and 110 lb dogs have yet to scratch it.  This is not the same product as most other bamboo flooring you have probably heard of.  It looks much like regular hardwood and 3x as hard as oak.  I happened to luck out and get it on clearance at $2 and $3 per square foot.  Here's an example--- https://www.ambientbp.com/products/strand-natural-wide-plank-bamboo-floor

edit to add- a short search comes up with this as the lowest price I'm seeing right now at $4.50/sq ft when buying 1,200 sq ft.  https://www.floorbros.com/cart/quote.asp?productlineid=55555&productid=537381

That stuff looks pretty decent, I’m actually in Canada, so I’ll have to see if that’s an option here, I’d never heard of that before

It's all made in China, so I'm sure you can buy it from another company, though maybe not at that price.  I previously bought it from BuildDirect.com, which is headquartered in Canada.  Looking at the FloorBros shipping page, it says they regularly ship to Canada.

[FINate]

We have LVP in the basement, hardwood on the main level, and carpet in the bedrooms and upstairs.

Love the LVP. Looks and feels great, easily mistaken for engineered wood but much lower cost. Durable and water resistant.

[Cranky]

Depends on your budget. Hardwood is lovely but it’s more expensive and abit harder to take care of IMO.

When we moved in here the first thing we did was rip all the carpet out of the bedrooms and put down LVP. It was a nice enough carpet but we have pets and honestly, I know I’d be the first one to spill a mug of coffee.

The LVP looks nice and is easy to clean.

[Radagast]

Why is LVP better than vinyl sheet? It seems more expensive and less waterproof with no adantages?

[nereo]

Why is LVP better than vinyl sheet? It seems more expensive and less waterproof with no adantages?

It’s much easier to lay, particularly in large rooms and when it’s not a perfect rectangle.  Depending on the brand, it also can have a much thicker underlay. With sheets if it gets torn or if you have to do something to the subfloor you really have no choice but to replace the entire sheet, which typically is adhered with glue and difficult AF to remove. LVP can be entirely removed and then re-laid, which came in super handy for us when we had a sink flood.

[Metalcat]

Why is LVP better than vinyl sheet? It seems more expensive and less waterproof with no adantages?

It’s much easier to lay, particularly in large rooms and when it’s not a perfect rectangle.  Depending on the brand, it also can have a much thicker underlay. With sheets if it gets torn or if you have to do something to the subfloor you really have no choice but to replace the entire sheet, which typically is adhered with glue and difficult AF to remove. LVP can be entirely removed and then re-laid, which came in super handy for us when we had a sink flood.

It depends on the product. Sheet vinyl flooring can either need full glue, perimeter glue, or no glue.

I have thick, cushion vinyl flooring in my master bedroom extension and it required no glue, it was just cut, rolled into place, and that's it.

It's quite thick, around 5mm, so it's durable and very comfortable to walk on barefoot. Mine is matte grey, so you barely notice it's there, which is my personal esthetic preference for this particular space. 

The major downside with loose-lay vinyl is that you really can't be sliding furniture around on it because it will shift and create bumps. We did this moving a dresser and now make a point to get help to fully lift anything heavy that needs to be moved. That said, I probably wouldn't want to be dragging furniture over a lot of LVP either, so it might be a moot point.

I initially chose cushion vinyl as just "for now" flooring because it was so cheap and the supply chains out here were still a disaster during building, plus I was off the island and had no option to see anything in person. But I've been tremendously surprised with how much I really, really like this flooring and have no intention of changing it until I have to.

After this install, I would probably choose cushion vinyl over LVP for most spaces.

[rosarugosa]

We've replaced all of the floors in our old house with Bruce prefinished oak strip flooring over the years (except for using tile in the bathroom).  The oldest of these is 27 years old, and it still looks great.  I've not found them to be difficult to maintain. There are some dings and scratches here and there, but I think wood is like leather or oriental carpets and can still look great with a little bit of imperfection and "character."

Installation was not without significant effort, but it was achievable by two motivated people without a relevant skill set but a bit of research.  The floors made our home so much nicer; it was one of our best upgrades in the almost 40 years that we've lived in this little old house. 

I don't care for the ubiquitous LVT, but this is a matter of personal taste. 

[lthenderson]

I have prefinished solid strand bamboo hardwood flooring in my upstairs living areas, tiles in the bathrooms, carpet in the bedrooms and LVP on the basement concrete slab floor. I wouldn't want any other flooring on any of those floors other than what I have.

The bamboo is an extremely hard flooring nailed down to the subfloor and we love it in our living, dining, kitchen and hallways. It doesn't wear, is easy to maintain, feels solid like any solid hardwood flooring and will last a lifetime.

The tiled floors are in the bathroom and hold up well in the wet environment without mold issues like LVP or warping issues like a solid wood flooring. Tile also allows us to use in floor heating which is also nice in the wintertime.

We have carpet in our bedrooms where walking barefoot on soft warm surfaces in the winter months is nice.

We have LVP on our basement floor where there isn't a vapor barrier underneath the slab and vapor eventually destroyed the laminate wood flooring installed by a previous owner. I dislike the cheap feel of the LVP but it is probably the most durable and economic solution for that particular situation.

[GilesMM]

Engineered hardwood for durability and design appeal for sure.  Get multiple quotes from referred professionals.  Costco may have deals as well.

[Sibley]

You haven't given enough information to make an educated recommendation. Are you on a slab? Cold area? What's the usage expectations? Kids and big dogs are very different from a couple of adults.

Hardwood is not intended to be left bare. If you want hardwood, you also need to plan for rugs. If you choose to disregard that, then you can have all the fun with the wear and cleaning. That does not necessarily apply to engineered hardwood, but real hardwood you should cover high traffic areas.

Carpet is sometimes a very practical choice. The floor in my downstairs is cold enough right now that the cat doesn't want to come downstairs. Carpet helps a lot, but still the cat is upstairs. My feet are cold too.

Tile is hard and cold, but durable, generally easy to clean and good for areas that get wet.

Also consider other projects. Do you need to paint? Doing that before you pull up the old carpet can make painting a lot easier because you don't care if you drip on the carpet.

[JAYSLOL]

You haven't given enough information to make an educated recommendation. Are you on a slab? Cold area? What's the usage expectations? Kids and big dogs are very different from a couple of adults.

Hardwood is not intended to be left bare. If you want hardwood, you also need to plan for rugs. If you choose to disregard that, then you can have all the fun with the wear and cleaning. That does not necessarily apply to engineered hardwood, but real hardwood you should cover high traffic areas.

Carpet is sometimes a very practical choice. The floor in my downstairs is cold enough right now that the cat doesn't want to come downstairs. Carpet helps a lot, but still the cat is upstairs. My feet are cold too.

Tile is hard and cold, but durable, generally easy to clean and good for areas that get wet.

Also consider other projects. Do you need to paint? Doing that before you pull up the old carpet can make painting a lot easier because you don't care if you drip on the carpet.

Living area is on a wood floor 4’ or so above a crawl space that has concrete walls, and a plastic vapour barrier laying on the dirt below. Two adults and a kid, no pets right now but possibly in the future. We do need to paint, will be doing some plumbing work right off the bat, removing some old curtains etc, and then paint and flooring.  We do plan to throw down some rugs on top.

[Paper Chaser]

I actually like carpet in bedrooms, but it's subjective. Hard floors in all high traffic areas or wet/damp areas.

[BiggerFishToFI]

We recently did a whole house remodel and went with LVP.... it's my one major regret of the project.

If you walk around barefoot, to me it doesn't feel "authentic" and you can feel ANY slight imperfection of the subfloor below it. Everyone else seems to like it though (wife included), so take this with a grain of salt. It has proven to be very durable as well so if you have pets and kids (like we do) it is probably still a good option.

If I'm to ever remodel a place again, I'll go with real hardwood.

[Metalcat]

We recently did a whole house remodel and went with LVP.... it's my one major regret of the project.

If you walk around barefoot, to me it doesn't feel "authentic" and you can feel ANY slight imperfection of the subfloor below it. Everyone else seems to like it though (wife included), so take this with a grain of salt. It has proven to be very durable as well so if you have pets and kids (like we do) it is probably still a good option.

If I'm to ever remodel a place again, I'll go with real hardwood.

Yeah, I think there are just two types of people, folks who like LVP and folks who just can't.

I just can't. I have it in my mud room and one of my bathrooms and I deeply dislike it. They're two different types, but both are strangely difficult to sweep clean. The texture of the boards makes dirt, cat litter in particular, impossible to sweep up.

I swear at those stupid fake plastic boards quite often because to me they look stupid and don't work very well. To me, a huge point of having plastic floors is how easy they're supposed to be to clean.

Obviously different LVP brands are different, but both very different LVPs in my house have the same stupid issue.

[Sibley]

We recently did a whole house remodel and went with LVP.... it's my one major regret of the project.

If you walk around barefoot, to me it doesn't feel "authentic" and you can feel ANY slight imperfection of the subfloor below it. Everyone else seems to like it though (wife included), so take this with a grain of salt. It has proven to be very durable as well so if you have pets and kids (like we do) it is probably still a good option.

If I'm to ever remodel a place again, I'll go with real hardwood.

I have LVP in my kitchen. I hate it, it's ugly, but I can not dispute the durability. That floor has taken a lot of abuse and is fundamentally the same. That said, I'm not putting it in.

[lthenderson]

Hardwood is not intended to be left bare. If you want hardwood, you also need to plan for rugs. If you choose to disregard that, then you can have all the fun with the wear and cleaning.

Perhaps I'm not normal but we have nary a rug on our hardwood flooring. I find it very durable and easy to clean. We broom sweep it a couple times a week and mop it maybe every two or three weeks. I do tend to wear socks in the winter time (like now) to keep my feet warm and in the summer I go barefoot which does require sweeping a bit more often to avoid grit on the bottom of my feet. That would definitely be a plus for the rug/carpet column. I have always found rugs much like carpet, just disguises dirt/spills and are difficult to clean thoroughly and to sweep/mop around. There is also the danger of sliding which means all rugs need to be rubber backed or taped to the floor.

[nereo]

Hardwood is not intended to be left bare. If you want hardwood, you also need to plan for rugs. If you choose to disregard that, then you can have all the fun with the wear and cleaning.

Perhaps I'm not normal but we have nary a rug on our hardwood flooring. I find it very durable and easy to clean. We broom sweep it a couple times a week and mop it maybe every two or three weeks.

I'm also very confused about that comment.  We've intensionally never purchased rugs to cover our hardwood floors precisely *because* it makes cleaning more difficult and because rugs exacerbate allergens (and because we have beautiful floors... so why cover them up??)

LVP and hardwood are the easiest to clean. Wall-to-wall carpet requires a decent vacuum, and a whole other set of techniques for liquids/mud.  Rugs make sweeping ineffective and the edges where hardwood meets rug complicates using a vacuum. Small/lightweight rugs can be washed in a large-capacity washing machine, but those tend to move around.  Really large, heavy rugs are annoying AF to clean.

[Sibley]

Hardwood is not intended to be left bare. If you want hardwood, you also need to plan for rugs. If you choose to disregard that, then you can have all the fun with the wear and cleaning.

Perhaps I'm not normal but we have nary a rug on our hardwood flooring. I find it very durable and easy to clean. We broom sweep it a couple times a week and mop it maybe every two or three weeks.

I'm also very confused about that comment.  We've intensionally never purchased rugs to cover our hardwood floors precisely *because* it makes cleaning more difficult and because rugs exacerbate allergens (and because we have beautiful floors... so why cover them up??)

LVP and hardwood are the easiest to clean. Wall-to-wall carpet requires a decent vacuum, and a whole other set of techniques for liquids/mud.  Rugs make sweeping ineffective and the edges where hardwood meets rug complicates using a vacuum. Small/lightweight rugs can be washed in a large-capacity washing machine, but those tend to move around.  Really large, heavy rugs are annoying AF to clean.

You are either thinking of something that is not actually hardwood (LVP), or something that has thick layers of poly on top. The hardwood that I'm referencing is behaves significantly differently. Hardwood is sensitive to water and is easily scratched, dented, and gouged. Depending on the finish and lifestyle you can mitigate these issues. My floors do not have thick layers of poly, so the "rules" are dramatically different than your experience.

You also clearly don't have extremely cold floors, otherwise you'd have rugs.

And yes, rugs are a PITA. That doesn't mean the pros can't outweigh the cons.

[uniwelder]

Hardwood is not intended to be left bare. If you want hardwood, you also need to plan for rugs. If you choose to disregard that, then you can have all the fun with the wear and cleaning.

Perhaps I'm not normal but we have nary a rug on our hardwood flooring. I find it very durable and easy to clean. We broom sweep it a couple times a week and mop it maybe every two or three weeks.

I'm also very confused about that comment.  We've intensionally never purchased rugs to cover our hardwood floors precisely *because* it makes cleaning more difficult and because rugs exacerbate allergens (and because we have beautiful floors... so why cover them up??)

LVP and hardwood are the easiest to clean. Wall-to-wall carpet requires a decent vacuum, and a whole other set of techniques for liquids/mud.  Rugs make sweeping ineffective and the edges where hardwood meets rug complicates using a vacuum. Small/lightweight rugs can be washed in a large-capacity washing machine, but those tend to move around.  Really large, heavy rugs are annoying AF to clean.

You are either thinking of something that is not actually hardwood (LVP), or something that has thick layers of poly on top. The hardwood that I'm referencing is behaves significantly differently. Hardwood is sensitive to water and is easily scratched, dented, and gouged. Depending on the finish and lifestyle you can mitigate these issues. My floors do not have thick layers of poly, so the "rules" are dramatically different than your experience.

You also clearly don't have extremely cold floors, otherwise you'd have rugs.

And yes, rugs are a PITA. That doesn't mean the pros can't outweigh the cons.

Certainly not all hardwood is the same, whether that be the type of lumber or finish on top.  In my case and for @lthenderson , we're both promoting stranded bamboo, which is definitely not a traditional hardwood floor material and is highly engineered.  It is however, an incredibly durable choice, water resistant, looks great, and can be installed/refinished (not likely it will ever need to be refinished though) like regular prefinished t+g hardwood planking.

At my house, we have small latex backed area rugs scattered around because our dogs slide and crash too much otherwise.  They do complicate cleaning and aren't necessary otherwise (the rugs, but the dogs do add extra cleaning).  Since OP is talking about installing new flooring and doesn't sounds like they live in a historical home, I think any hardwood floor choice will be probably have a polyurethane finish. 

[lthenderson]

we're both promoting stranded bamboo, which is definitely not a traditional hardwood floor material and is highly engineered.  It is however, an incredibly durable choice, water resistant, looks great, and can be installed/refinished (not likely it will ever need to be refinished though) like regular prefinished t+g hardwood planking.

I found out the hard way just how hard and durable the finish was. I thought I might run a offcut piece through my planar to take off the factory finish and make something with it. It made it less than a foot through the planar before the extreme hardness of the finish dulled my blades so much that the motor stalled out. I had to replace those blades after getting the chunk of stranded bamboo flooring out. It was a fairly expensive lesson.

[JAYSLOL]

So we decided to go with the glue down style vinyl plank, a friend of mine who has built and renovated a ton of homes convinced me to go with that style for a few reasons, mostly low cost and durability, but also the glue down doesn’t have as hollow a sound when walking on it compared to the floating vinyl floors, and since they aren’t interlocked, it’s easy to pull up and replace a plank if damaged without having to rip out a whole pile of them just to replace one, as well as the installation was actually quicker than the interlocking planks. 

[uniwelder]

Thanks for the update!