Luxury vinyl flooring in entire home........

[LuckySevens]

We are considering putting luxury vinyl flooring throughout our entire house (a Gardenia) including closets, bathrooms, laundry and kitchen.
I am wondering if anyone has done that and could share their thoughts ...love it or regrets? Most people I have talked to said they left tile in their wet areas. Since luxury vinyl is waterproof, and can even be lightly mopped, I am thinking there would not be any problems as long as a person quickly mopped or cleaned up water spills. Also, we haven't picked a store yet, and wondering who is best to work with, who has best prices, installation, etc. We want the baseboards removed before installing flooring. In fact, having new taller baseboards installed. Have been to Roberto's and LA Flooring to look at samples, and they all seem nice. But picking flooring color is HARD!!! ☺ Appreciate any and all advice.

[Pairadocs]

We are considering putting luxury vinyl flooring throughout our entire house (a Gardenia) including closets, bathrooms, laundry and kitchen.
I am wondering if anyone has done that and could share their thoughts ...love it or regrets? Most people I have talked to said they left tile in their wet areas. Since luxury vinyl is waterproof, and can even be lightly mopped, I am thinking there would not be any problems as long as a person quickly mopped or cleaned up water spills. Also, we haven't picked a store yet, and wondering who is best to work with, who has best prices, installation, etc. We want the baseboards removed before installing flooring. In fact, having new taller baseboards installed. Have been to Roberto's and LA Flooring to look at samples, and they all seem nice. But picking flooring color is HARD!!! ☺ Appreciate any and all advice.

Can't give you advice on your specific focus... pro and con on vinyl flooring, but will offer up that the MOST important question to ask is: WHO will be coming to my house to put the flooring down ? How long have they worked FOR YOU, not how much experience, but for YOU ? If they give you the "we really can't tell you which specific crew would be assigned to your home, but our people are VERY experienced, tell them "WE PASS". If they say we have 3 crews, Bill Jones and Jim Green live here in Leesburg and have worked for us for 18 years now, Tim and Joe Adams are brothers, they have worked for us for 12 years and work only for us, .... and so on, telling you specifics. That's where you want to buy. Flooring people are notorious for not staying with an establishment for long. It's a very itinerant profession, and the really skilled ones do carpet, tile, wood, etc. all very well. There are technicians who live here, with their families, and work only for one specific store... THAT is the crew you want, not the crew HD, or Lowe's, or many of these flooring only stores "schedule" for your installation day. You will not be sorry if you take the time to search out the experienced people who work for one (usually small, not chain) local flooring store, I can promise you you will be happy you did... we learned an expensive lesson about how some floor technicians roam from store to store all over Florida and beyond. Stick with the small store with the crew that lives here and has worked for the owner for 15, 20 years now. Forget price, focus on installation, it's like a roof, it's not that the shingle (or the flooring) is not important, but it's the INSTALLATION that counts, a lower quality shingle CORRECTLY installed by a real professional, one who KNOWS the importance of how to do a peak and valley, how many nails per strip to use, can last longer than a very expensive shingle put on by the latest "crew" picked up in some parking lot where "workers" hang out before dawn. A lower quality flooring, that is water resistant, installed by a master technician, will be water resistant. The highest quality (price) flooring, water resistant, will NOT be water resistant if installed by a less skilled technician... floors, roofs, focus should be on the technician AND which techniques they use... there are many way to do a roof, and a floor !

[Two Bills]

Go for it.
We have a top quality vinyl flooring throughout our house, except bedrooms.
Warm, silent to walk on, and the oak effect fools many who think it is wood.
Had all the other types of flooring, but would never go back to any of them.
Preparation, and laying correctly is the key.
Get a proper vinyl laying craftsman to do the job, not some local handyman.
Not cheap, but worth the extra money.

[rustyp]

Isn't "luxury vinyl" an oxymoron ?

[bespoke]

We've had LVP installed in our last two homes in The Villages. We love it. Our current home is a four bedroom Lily and LVP was installed throughout. I would never have two different types of floor. We also had the larger base installed. Robertos did ours in both houses and they are wonderful to work with.

[Miekies]

We installed LVP throughout our house except for the spare bathroom, the master shower area and laundry area (it's a closet laundry, if it would have been a room; we would have put in LVP.)

We absolutely love it and had the larger vase boards put in after wards instead of the 3".

Holds up great, easy to clean, no problems with a large dog. If you want it in the bathrooms instead of tile, I say go for it

[kkingston57]

Make sure that the installer levels out all of the floors, especially in area where there was carpeting. If floor not level, can have minor hollow sounds. Personally, I prefer tile in the bathrooms, but is more expensive.

[Papa_lecki]

Isn't "luxury vinyl" an oxymoron ?

No, its marketing. It’s vinyl flooring, but they put Luxury in front of it and everyone loves it. Then, create the term LVP - sounds even better.

It’s still vinyl flooring.

[Cupcake57]

I did it in my entire house before I moved in-Flooring Masters on 301. They installed it right over the sheet vinyl and where they took out the carpet in the bedrooms they put down a vapor barrier sheet first. I absolutely love it. Its warm, quiet, and very durable. Not slick underfoot when wet. I haven't made any marks on it and I shove furniture around, scoot around on a folding chair, etc. Easy to clean. I wish I had chosen one a little less 'knotty' and I wish I had installed taller baseboards at the same time.

[LuvtheVillages]

Don’t pick a dark color, it will show all the dust.

Insist that the baseboards be removed so that the new flooring goes up to the wall. Then reinstall the baseboards. Good time to upgrade to taller baseboards if you have high ceilings. Do not let them simply add a quarter round in front of your current molding.

We have it everywhere except the lanai and shower, and it’s wonderful. Did it 7 years ago and no problems.

[Two Bills]

No, its marketing. It’s vinyl flooring, but they put Luxury in front of it and everyone loves it. Then, create the term LVP - sounds even better.

It’s still vinyl flooring.

.............and you get what you pay for, just like any other type of flooring.
There are some very high quality vinyl flooring products out there.
Cheap is cheap, whatever the covering!

[Two Bills]

Make sure that the installer levels out all of the floors, especially in area where there was carpeting. If floor not level, can have minor hollow sounds. Personally, I prefer tile in the bathrooms, but is more expensive.

I agree about level floor, but properly laid vinyl is laid with a mastic adhesive.
There are no hollow areas!

[upstate]

We had LVT installed in our kitchen, laundry room and bathrooms to replace the original vinyl. It’s softer than tile to walk on and easier to clean, no grout lines. No water issues,
and it’s been down around three years. The baseboards were removed and set back once the floors were down. It’s costs more, but I think it gives it a finished look.

[JMintzer]

No, its marketing. It’s vinyl flooring, but they put Luxury in front of it and everyone loves it. Then, create the term LVP - sounds even better.

It’s still vinyl flooring.

Someone doesn't know the difference between thin cheap roll out vinyl and plank vinyl...

We looked at a re-sale home where the current owners had used roll out vinyl. It was horrible. It showed every imperfection in the subfloor and had a few areas lifting and a few tears in it...

The previous owners of our home had the entire house (except the bathrooms, which were left as ceramic tile) re-done in LVP. We love it.

I'd use it again in a minute...

[retiredguy123]

I think that vinyl plank is a good way to go. But, I especially like the idea of having the same flooring material throughout the house. In my opinion, a house with the same flooring in every room is more attractive and has more resale value.

[JMintzer]

I think that vinyl plank is a good way to go. But, I especially like the idea of having the same flooring material throughout the house. In my opinion, a house with the same flooring in every room is more attractive and has more resale value.

I agree. But if the bathrooms are still ceramic tile, it's fine by me...

We passed on several homes that had tile or LVP in the living areas, but cheap builders grade carpet in the bedrooms...

Or those that had tile in the kitchen and a transition to LPV or some other solid surface flooring) in the living room/dining room areas...

[Dond1959]

LVP does work well but there are two main factors to determine if it will turn out well. We built our home here and put down LVP. The original flooring began to curl at the edges in various places. It was a year long process of getting them to replace different sections with the end result of the flooring continuing to curl up on the edges in various places. We finally told the contractor (Great Lakes) we wanted a new floor. They agreed and we chose a different type that didn’t have the cork backing. I believe the flooring was placed down before the concrete floor fully cured and the cork took on water and then the planks curled at the edges.

When the old flooring was pulled up it was obvious the concrete foundation had uneven and chipped areas. The new installer smoothed out the floor and did some type of scraping to the floor. So the two main factors are a good installer and a smooth clean concrete floor. I have also heard that LVP can be put over tile but only if the grout lines are not too big.

The floor we have looks great and it is easy to take care of and no problems with the new floor.