Completely OT - need help with deciding flooring

HunterBoo

Mouseketeer
Joined
Jun 1, 2011
Hello - I have taken the carpet out of my daughters' bedrooms and out of mine. I am now trying to figure out flooring. I got a great deal on clearance vinyl planks for my daughters' rooms - saved $800 dollars!! So they are getting vinyl plank. The difficulty is that my room is next to my living room flooring and it is engineered hardwood (a dark brown with some hints of grey in there). So I am struggling. I have been to Lowes and I have been to Home Depot. I have found ones I like that meet my budget - some is so expensive! I can't decide between laminate and vinyl plank for my room. Do any of you have any experience with what you prefer or differences?
I've decided to go lighter in my room, rather than try to be matchy matchy with my living room ... but then I go and read reviews on the websites of HD and Lowes and as soon as I read a bad review, I don't know what to do then.
Any ideas? Anyone can help me out? Pictures don't really do any justice to colours in person. I'm just so confused and I'm not sure if I am just making this a harder decision than it really needs to be!
 
I have no practical experience but have heard really good things about the vinyl planks. It's what they are putting in some of the new homes they are building around here, it's durable and looks nice. I, personally, like the grey-ish coloured ones, but I'd see which look best with the wood you already have. My parents got a bunch of stuff done from Home Depot when they moved, they hire contractors to install things, and some are good and some are not. One guy they had install a sink tried to charge them extra for the work, they got a refund of that from Home Depot. Another guy did the backsplash tile and he was really good. I'd say the problem there is you can't really choose who you get. But for sure if there is a problem they seem to want to fix it.

And I'd go for Rona or Lowes to get the Airmiles :) Because I like to get something back ;)
 
My daughter has vinyl plank through her entire house and loves it. It is hard wearing, dog friendly and very easy to keep clean.

They put theirs in 5 years ago. I'm sure there are lots more patterns since then.
 
We have laminate in some rooms of our house and vinyl plank in others (our vinyl looks like stone not wood). I like the vinyl in the areas we have it because it’s so durable and I don’t have to worry about things being spilt on it, the dog running on it etc. But to me the laminate feels more like a wood floor when I walk on it. Although not all laminate floors are created equal.
 


We replaced our basement floor with the “luxury” vinyl plank after we had a flood. We like it better than the laminate we had in there.
There are different grades of vinyl plank. We went with the thicker one. We went to a flooring company. Had lots more selection than box stores. And their floor layer was great. He worked for the company, not contracted out.
 
We installed vinyl plank in our basement and love it. It is easy to cut, easy to install and wears nice and very forgiving if you are not very gingerly with your installation techniques lol. We shopped air miles and the store we went to had a 60% off sale. At 65 dollars a box that's a big deal when you need 20 boxes. We couldn't get everything from the store we were at and that's when we found out stores have territories. If you don't see any sales where you are start checking other stores in the province, even an hour away and you might be surprised.
Our house has every type of floor from laminate to carpet and it's on our radar to replace. One major thing now is to remove transitions and have 1 level flow from room to room. Just something to keep in mind :)
 
I had luxury vinyl planks flooring in my townhouse in Ottawa when I still lived there (I'm back in my hometown of Victoria now!!!!). Loved it. Waterproof, and warm under the feet. It did look just like wood. So much better than laminate if you have pets or might get wet, etc.
 


I've installed all of them in different projects (I'm the family handyman for myself and most of my extended family). My best tip is don't cheap out. Most good quality (moderate to higher priced) products install much better and wear and last longer. Really thin vinyl products generally don't wear as well, and mar easily. My worst install was cheap vinyl plank for WalMart that my MIL got on sale. The planks weren't even cut evenly, so matching seams was a nightmare.
A good engineered hardwood takes more effort to install and more skill but the results are well worth it. We refloored the entire 3rd floor of our home (4 bedrooms, hallway and ensuite) a few years ago with a solid bamboo engineered interlock. It was a ton of work, but the results are still amazing years later. Note that more effort also becomes higher installation cost if you are not DIY.
I would suggest that you also deal with any subfloor issues before installing either type. Mine was nailed down when the house was built, so I screwed it all down to the joists and eliminated any squeaks in the floor. A couple of hours and several hundred screws well spent.
Vinyl is much easier to work with and looks great. Last project I did was to refloor our travel trailer with a really nice hickory pattern. It has a raised grain that makes it feel very real underfoot. The product cuts easily and is flexible so easier to work with in tight places. It has 2 seasons use so far (lots of gritty sand tracked in) and is performing very well. It was a mid grade vinyl from Lowes - not too thick as weight is an issue in a trailer, but thick enough to be better quality and softer underfoot.
 
Hello - I have taken the carpet out of my daughters' bedrooms and out of mine. I am now trying to figure out flooring. I got a great deal on clearance vinyl planks for my daughters' rooms - saved $800 dollars!! So they are getting vinyl plank. The difficulty is that my room is next to my living room flooring and it is engineered hardwood (a dark brown with some hints of grey in there). So I am struggling. I have been to Lowes and I have been to Home Depot. I have found ones I like that meet my budget - some is so expensive! I can't decide between laminate and vinyl plank for my room. Do any of you have any experience with what you prefer or differences?
I've decided to go lighter in my room, rather than try to be matchy matchy with my living room ... but then I go and read reviews on the websites of HD and Lowes and as soon as I read a bad review, I don't know what to do then.
Any ideas? Anyone can help me out? Pictures don't really do any justice to colours in person. I'm just so confused and I'm not sure if I am just making this a harder decision than it really needs to be!
Curious what you chose to do!
 
Sure hope you made the decision to go with vinyl planks. About 10 years ago, we decided (against my better judgement) to install laminate, because it was being pushed by flooring place as being so durable with large dogs. We chose a high end, recommended product and while I liked the look, it failed to stand up to our everyday use. Two adults and a dog in our house, BTW. It is true, our dog did not scratch the top surface, however, he inflicted a lot of damage at the seams. Within a month of installation, a package of frozen ground beef fell out of fridge and chipped the corner of a piece!

We have since removed the laminate and gone with vinyl and the stuff is as tough as nails, quieter underfoot, easier on feet and legs, and looks even nicer. 2 years in, there is no damage anywhere.

Also, while it is not a soft landing, I notice a huge difference when I drop a breakable item. Sure, it breaks, but things hitting the laminate seemed to explode, sending shards in all directions, even upward. I have been cut...
 
Very helpful thread. We are just about to tear out our carpet and replace it with vinyl plank flooring. I don’t want to go too dark as I hear it shows the dirt and dust a lot (a big dog living here right now that sheds like crazy!) we have a lot of wood furniture so ?I am trying to find a colour that will coordinate with it. Nice to hear it is not too hard. I have two knee replacements and bad feet!
 

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