I've about been convinced to put these into a new build of ours. Really love the supposed durability and cost. 5 - 10 years ago I'd never consider em...but I've seen some really good looking ones recently where it's hard to tell they're not real wood.

Does anyone have any experience, input, recs, etc? We really want something durable (water and scratch resistant) and that looks as close to real wood as possible.

The amount of products and manufacturers out there is really overwhelming. Any preferred brands to use (or avoid)? Coretec is one of the better looking ones. we've seen. But also have samples of Shaws, Home Depot brands, etc...

Appreciate any input/help!

Have them in our house and put them in our rental. It isn't real hardwood, obviously, but I like it a lot. Seems basically bulletproof and easy to care for. Has held up to multiple dogs and their accidents really well. Looks pretty good.

No real recs on brands and such. Not sure what brand is in our house, but know the previous owners were pretty cheap.

In our rental, we picked a discontinued mid to high price point one that had enough stock at Floor and Decor. Ended up getting about 60% or so off the cost. It is almost two years old and our tenants just moved out. Floor looks just like new.

Coretec is the gold standard (and what Costco will sell you through one of their packages). There are a million options it's really quite overwhelming

We went through this a couple of years ago with our homebuild and settled on Flooret. I am not sure there was a brand we didn't consider as my wife researched this thing to death (as she does with everything). With that being said, we are pretty happy with our decision. Between some of the Green Guard and Floor Scores (off-gassing and impact on air quality), durability and looks it was always consistently at the top of our list.

https://www.flooret.com/

One thing we didn't stay strict on was how level our slab was. We should have had them go back and fine tune the leveling. We have a couple of noticeable pockets where it feels hollow. I don't really care but maybe it would bother some. We also put down a moisture barrier prior to install.

My in-laws have the wood look tile and it is really hard on the body, in my opinion. I feel it more after walking around their house barefoot versus on the LVP.

Appreciate the info!

Yeah I don't like the look or feel of tile, wood look or otherwise (except in bathrooms).

I have tried a thousand different ways to clean mine (I have Coretec) and I can see every puppy paw print. I love the durability but I struggle to keep it looking clean.

We have a light gray (looks like driftwood) Shaw LVP at my office. It's a nice product but shows EVERYTHING. Footprints, chair rubber scrape marks, smudges. It basically never looks clean, in an office that is mopped nightly. It's a light color which is a lot of the problem but I'd hate it if it was in my home.

My wife and I just moved into a house which was renovated in 2018 with Nucore LVP (from Floor & Decor) throughout. The product is a click-lock flooring which feels great where the slab is perfectly flat. However, the house in question is from the 70's and has spots (mainly at the perimeter) where the floor slopes due to foundation settling over the years. At these spots, the click lock mechanism is buckling/snapping at a few spots, and we question the long-term durability. The previous owners of our house did have a large dog, for what that is worth. If you go with click-lock, be sure that you apply self leveler to your floors first (which we discovered was omitted in ours while being renovated thanks to a flipper).

Additionally, one significant disadvantage of click-lock LVP is that individual pieces cannot be replaced without removing all pieces between a wall and the piece in question. Often when removed, the click-lock mechanisms will break, so if you go with one of these products, I would strongly recommend picking up a substantial amount of extra material for replacement as needed down the road. This is a significant advantage of glue down and loose lay products.

You guys that have trouble keeping them clean, what color/shade do yall have? Darker, lighter, etc? We're thinking of a light/medium brown color.

MAS444 said:

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You guys that have trouble keeping them clean, what color/shade do yall have? Darker, lighter, etc? We're thinking of a light/medium brown color.

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This is the color of the one in my office. It shows scuffs, like rubber-type scuffs from shoes, and they don't mop out. We've even tried using a tennis ball to rub them out with no luck.

Damn - well that's really disappointing. Hoping that's an anomaly and/or manufacturer specific. But thanks for the info!

We're also in an office with 18 people not a house with 4 or 5. But it's been a real issue for us.

We had Coretec Pro Plus installed a couple years ago in our whole downstairs except the bedroom. We really like it and it has held up well with our dog. We have a robot vacuum that runs three times a week, it does a good job with the dog hair and general dust. You can see like wet paw prints and the like, but one of those spinning O-cedar mops does a good job when necessary. Or just a damp cloth for spot cleaning.

They did float the whole floor with self leveler before the install and in my opinion it made a huge difference, no bouncy spots or weird joints.

Ours is a darker driftwood grey I guess. Shows nothing. Always looks the same. It is important that the float the floor in any low spots.

Based on a recommendation of a local interior designer, we had Earthwerks 'Stadium Plus XL' LVP installed in our new home about a year ago (link) . We have been very happy with it. Visually, one of the most realistic wood-look LVPs we have seen.

hijakeroo123 said:

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My wife and I just moved into a house which was renovated in 2018 with Nucore LVP (from Floor & Decor) throughout. The product is a click-lock flooring which feels great where the slab is perfectly flat. However, the house in question is from the 70's and has spots (mainly at the perimeter) where the floor slopes due to foundation settling over the years. At these spots, the click lock mechanism is buckling/snapping at a few spots, and we question the long-term durability. The previous owners of our house did have a large dog, for what that is worth. If you go with click-lock, be sure that you apply self leveler to your floors first (which we discovered was omitted in ours while being renovated thanks to a flipper).

Additionally, one significant disadvantage of click-lock LVP is that individual pieces cannot be replaced without removing all pieces between a wall and the piece in question. Often when removed, the click-lock mechanisms will break, so if you go with one of these products, I would strongly recommend picking up a substantial amount of extra material for replacement as needed down the road. This is a significant advantage of glue down and loose lay products.

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not true
You can replace individual pieces

jt2hunt said:

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I prefer wood tile over wood Look vinyl for a primary residence! But for rental properties LVT all day long

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For my own home,

Wood
Wood Tile/Tile
LVP
Carpet

In that order.

For the rental
LVP everywhere

Stuff is bulletproof and reasonably priced. I'd have kept every security deposit in college as a renter (with a dogs) if the places had LVP and not carpet.

Anyone have an issue with the FEEL of the floors? Especially those who have a Flooret product? We have several samples from Flooret and the one we like the most has a sandy/gritty feel, but the other Flooret samples don't.

We went with Lifeproof from Home Depot a few years ago and love em. Easy to clean, even with dogs and a toddler. I did not use them to do the install, just purchased what I needed and hired my own crew.

DO NOT, REPEAT, DO NOT BUY HILL COUNTRY BRAND.

Our whole damn floor is warped and we are two months into the process of getting a warranty claim. We are still waiting for an independent inspector to come out and they are backed up due to all the flooding/storm issues the past few months.

MAS444 said:

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Anyone have an issue with the FEEL of the floors? Especially those who have a Flooret product? We have several samples from Flooret and the one we like the most has a sandy/gritty feel, but the other Flooret samples don't.

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Weird, no I do not have that experience nor can recall that with any of our samples.

Where are you located? Go find a flooring superstore. Online stuff just doesn't look the same. Also, be careful with going gray as its going to look very dated quickly. Also go easy on the yellow tones. Your home doesn't have showroom lights and everything is gonna look yellower with your lighting.

If I could do it over again I'd go with a design that didn't have as many knots in it and also with a lot less color variety across the boards. The nicest installs are very understated.

I'm in Houston - but some of the better brands we're considering don't have showrooms that I'm aware of. Flooret, for example. But I'm ordering lots of samples. Just ordered 3 full sized planks of one today. Happy to spend that money to try to get it right.

And I agree with you about grays and yellows. We're looking for a medium/light brown.

I went with Republic Flooring SPCMAX for my home 5 years ago. I would give them a try. They have a showroom, but its truly a wholesale showroom and they wont discuss prices directly, but will give you a list of who has the best prices.

Their address is:
3600 Brittmoore Rd # 100, Houston, TX 77043

Knoas and Mohawk are right next door as well. Seems to be a miniature flooring warehouse.

When we decided to go with Republic flooring, the cheapest (by far) open to the public warehouse was Sherwin Williams Floorcovering Store. SW is very much a commercial operation. They don't care about your retail suburbanite sensitivities for wanting a showroom. You show up, tell em exactly what you want, they give you the best price, and will be around with a forklift for your truck shortly. And then you get gone, its not in a nice part of town. They do deliver relatively cheaply as well.

Their address is:
1331 E 40th St, Houston, TX 77022

I installed it across my whole first floor. kitchen, living room, bedroom, bathroom. We really like the continuity. I would say they are probably a good quality upper mid tier brand.

If you really want to blow the bank, just watch what Matt Risinger puts in his builds on Youtube. LVP in the $10+ square foot range.

Thanks for this. I should have clarified - we're in Houston but this home will not be.

This is what we have. I love the look. I think the footprints will get better as our concrete continues to cure. The main things I see that drive me crazy are puppy print and dusty shoe prints. We have rugs at every door but I think it's just a new construction problem that there's super fine dust on the concrete that's hard to get off shoe soles.

https://coretecfloors.com/en-us/products/coretec-pro-enhanced/rocca-oak-vv492-02002