I know vinyl plank floors have been discussed on here and I've done some research.

We are building a house and in the design stage. I have hardwoods and tile in my current house and we really, really prefer not to have carpet. I like my engineered hardwoods, but I am always concerned about scratches from kids and dogs. I'm also tired of grout.

The home builder carries the Shaw brand of LVP and from what I can tell, they are one of the leaders in the industry. Any one used them before or something comparable? How do you like it?

I know LVP is becoming more popular as it is durable, no grout, relatively affordable, etc., but am I crazy to do most of this house in vinyl plank? We plan to live here till the kids are gone to school, so not totally concerned about resale for the next decade plus at least. I've seen some of the higher end LVP and it's impressive. It won't ever look as good as my wood floors, but I am impressed with some of designs.

We did our entire ground floor in vinyl plank at our last house. We used Karndean flooring I believe. I can't think of a single thing I disliked about it. Didn't have to worry about what the dogs would do to it, and didn't have to freak out over a little bit of water.

I am considering doing redoing my entire house with LVP. Not sure what brand yet. I'll be following this post.

We just installed LVP for our entire 1st floor, save the master bath. Our kids are 5 and 3, so we're expecting quite a bit of activity for years to come. We chose CoreTec Enhanced (parent company US Floors), and we're extremely pleased. Some of the characteristics we liked:

- Each plank is beveled on all 4 sides, so it's more wood-like vs. the typical flat vinyl planks. The day after it was installed, our painter asked how we were going to have the floors finished (thinking it was raw wood).

- Cork underlayment for sound and impact absorption.

- Floating install w/ ~48" planks. We preferred the easier floating (no glue) install and found the longer planks to deflect more. After several weeks under foot, there are very few dead spots - YMMV with slab variations.

- Durability. We've dragged a refrigerator, dishwasher, and assorted furniture around so far, and we haven't noticed any scratches or dings.

Back to the painter... Unfortunately, there's quite a bit of over spray here and there, but so far it's coming up with a bit of rubbing alcohol on a washcloth.

Thanks for the info Savant and Barney!

Any idea on your installed and material costs/sq ft? Where did you buy your material Savant?

I'm trying to get some pricing outside of the builder to have as a comparison and alternative. I saw that Coretec flooring at Lowes the other day and that was what really sold me on the material. I've heard the underlayment is really important to deaden the plasticy sound.

We paid $4.39/sqft from Carpet Stop in north Austin. Our remodel contractor bid removal of the old floors (mix of tile, wood, and carpet) and vinyl install together, so I can't say for certain our install $/sqft.

Just to be clear, the cork underlayment with the Core Tec product is part of the plank itself, not a separate sheet/cost.

From our experience, there are far better products vs. what's on the rack at Lowes and HD. Keep shopping until you're convinced you've found what you want. If you're around Austin, I can give you a few retailers/showrooms worth shopping.

Good luck!

LVP is becoming much more popular, as wood seems to be used less i/l/o this product.

Make sure you are using a rigid core product rather than the thin stuff. The thin stuff still performs, but it tends to follow the contour of the the concrete floor surface, and even the best float job will have imperfections/idiosynchracies that you will see. Some people are put off by that.

I used Coretec in the Kitchen of my 105 year old Victorian home. We have 200+ pounds of dog running, jumping or fighting at any given time plus future kids. I went with LVP over tile because the kitchen had both pier and beam and slab foundation underneath and I was worried about settling and shifting. I love the LVP and the rib is a large dog "enthusiast" so we will always look for homes that have it or are candidates for LVP in the future.

I would do some research into off-gassing of vinyl. Especially, in a home with kids, this is worth considering.

Hugh Stearns
Stearns Design Build

Cool, I really appreciate the feedback. We picked out the floors yesterday, but haven't finalized or decided if we want to carry it all the way into all the bedrooms, office, etc. yet. Obviously the builder is a bit on the higher side of things and we picked out some pretty high end LVP. Costs start to get kind of scary because I know we can do wood or wood-look tile at these prices, but the durability of vinyl with soon to be multiple kids and dogs is appealing. Plus no grout.

Thanks again.