I installed LVP throughout the house. I was quoted $18,000 for labor and the LVP--which didn't include removing and reinstalling the toilets ($200 each X three), moving the fridge and stove, installing new baseboard throughout. The final cost would have been in the $20,000. range. I did the same job myself for $7000, and saved $13,000. I watched many TH-cam videos on how to do this work, how to prepare the subsurfaces, how to cut the LVPs. I also purchased the best tools that the pros use. It took quite a while, and I'll never do it again, but thirteen grand is a lot of money to me, so I bit the bullet, and my floors look amazing.
Is it low VOC? It's going to be cheap if it's toxic. I wouldn't bid on your home full value because of that specifically. IDC if it's new...that's probably worse TBH.
@@ari3lz3pp $7K is not cheap for LVT being installed by the homeowner…. Mine was LOW VOC with a 20m thick covering and the flooring itself cost me $4800 for 1500 sq feet of floor.
I live in Florida and I have ceramic tile throughout my house. We have sandy soil, so the sand will damage vinyl plank or wood floors. The ceramic holds up to our sandy soil, so it suits us. I also have a vacuum robot and mop robot to keep them clean. It makes life easier!
My daughter also lives in FL and anything other than tile would just not work! The dust and sand that comes in every day would destroy the flooring if it ere not tile.
I live in North Carolina and I have Porcelain tile that looks like wood in my home, I love it. I have pets and porcelain tile works great for them. It also keeps the house cooler in the summer. 😊
My house is 105 years old and still has its original hardwood floors. I had 3 dogs who lived here for years with zero issues. My neighbors also have hardwood floors and I have never heard them say their cats caused an issue with their hardwood floors.
7 dogs and 2 guest dogs have lived in my home at various times. Usually, we have at least 3 dogs in the household. They have turned polished hardwood floors into "distressed" wood floors. But everyone else LOVES wood floors. I like how they look, but I don't love them as a dog owner.
It’s a combination of dog weight and nail maintenance, mostly. If you are constantly maintaining the nails and you never hear a click when the dogs walk, they will not scratch the floors. If this is not the case and the dog is lightweight, the nails will not scratch the floors. If the dogs are large and the nails are not constantly maintained, the nails will scratch/dent the floors unless the wood is particularly dense or it has a rock hard factory finish. If the floors are scratched or dented, it will be more or less visible depending on the finish (color/sheen). And how much you care will depend on the look you’re going for. Also, I’ll note that the fir my house was built from is rock hard and difficult to drill through. Fir I buy in the store is much softer. It’s also possible for the older wood to have different properties from the new growth wood- so what may be true of your hardwood may not be true of similar wood type purchased new today.
@@whiteserpent6753 Exactly. Our dogs are 6 lbs and 12 lbs, and their nails get trimmed regularly. No problems with our post Civil War hardwood plank floors (which we love).
I’m one person with 3 cats whose nails get trimmed monthly and my wood floors have been damaged. I even chose one that supposedly had one of the strongest finishes at the time. I’m in FL so it’s engineered. You can’t put true hardwood on a slab.
Hardwood can last, and be scratched proof but it depends on how they were treated, and varnished. A few coats of boat varnish and they become water proof too. Our real hardwood floors will never need to be refinished, and we have cats. They were installed at a time construction of hardwood floors included aluminum oxide. They are extremely durable, scratch proof and with a top coat of boat varnish are water proof.
Yes, I bought a home with glossy engineered wood floors and the immediate problem was paw prints from the natural oils on my pets feet. The floor looked bad constantly. I ripped them out and put tile as that is a desirable floor in Southern California.
All oil based products break down. Engineered wood is made from oil, and it looks cheap. Go with real hardwood, use a boat varnish to seal the floors in high humidity and put a couple of layers of varnish on it to make it scratch proof. The finish will last years and later, if you want to refinish the option is there.
In my house (Toronto) we did 4 inch wide 3/4 inch thick solid oak, site finished, unfinished planks were laid down then sanded and stained in Duraseal Fruitwood low gloss, this way you don’t see the joints, beautiful seamless look. Never use carpet, frickin unhygienic.
I guess I’m just a boomer at heart because I thought the title in your house was beautiful!! Yes tile is hard and can be loud but it is durable, easy to clean,and timelines. If you want carpet throw some rugs down. Rugs create soft places, define a space and provide noise dampening.
My in laws always have put tile in their homes because they could run their pipes under it to make it heated. I always thought it was still cold and slippery. Now they have engineered hardwood and complain constantly.
I disagree. The right hardwood does great with dogs. Lasting many many years. Builder grade birch is a soft wood that does not perform well. Oak and hickory in matte finish performs extremely well.
Purchased a new built house, had carpet taken out and hardwood installed the entire first floor, including the kitchen. Previous house carpet over hardwood had carpet removed, floors refinished and wood flooring in the kitchen. It was an excellent decision when it came time to sell.
The term ‘Luxury Vinyl’ is an oxymoron.. if the hardwood gets scratched then so be it. That’s what it’s there for. I would also avoid high gloss and go with a more matte finish. Also go with area rugs in high traffic areas.
Exactly. We used a varnish that prevents scratching on our real hardwood floors. I've dragged furniture across the floors, we have pets and we aren't careful, but we don't have scratches.
Luxury vinyl is a locking system, floating floor, the cheap stuff is glue on and far thinner. Put yes, it's still vinyl at the end of the day. Not much different than polypropylene carpets.
@@marcirobins5144 It's still plastic on your floors, but the branding/propaganda is brilliant. Pretty much just a worse version of a solid, continuous vinyl sheet floor.
Hmmm, my experience with LVP (two homes both sold 200K+ over purchase), don't go cheap, get a good installer that can do straight runs, and keep a magic eraser on hand for scuffs. Had it in my open concept first floor, spills, puppy messes, and 3 pit bulls and a rotty couldn't scratch it. Took it like a champ, if that were new hardwood, i would have been in tears.
@@marinahillier3292 I Had it my entire life; yes, it is, but one excitable day from the Amazon delivery guy with my 140lb Rottie, and you can pay the damage to my floor. Had it in my Hoboken apartment - Brazilian walnut, gorgeous, but the only thing I worried about on that floor was my girls' 4 inch heels.
I have to LOL, I looked at a brand new condo a few weeks ago, and they were price in a medium rage, 55 plus. I could not believe they didn't even have hardwood as standard, they were legit putting sheet vinyl in the kitchen, dining, bathrooms, and laundry room as standard! WTF, you want me to pay 520K to get sheet vinyl flooring?! 🤦♀
There are exceptions, but it is mostly 90s, 80s or 70s houses that have hard wood, especially if want solid hardwood. At least in this price range, but I think part of it is solid hardwood is way more now than it used to be and it is not easy to add since it requires more depth than standard floors.
@@misterogers9423 In my area a brand new build is EXPECTED to have zero carpeting and either LVP or Hardwood at least on the entire first floor with exception of bathrooms!
I agree! It's a new SCAM. Vinyl is slightly less maintenance but it's not worth the feel IMO AND the toxins....high VOC with vinyl. Some companies lied before...then when tested by a trustworthy third party they had all the toxins expected. I won't trust vinyl and I also don't like carpet because if it's not wool it's not great either. But even polyester carpet is better than vinyl and laminate. It's sad people don't do their research thoroughly. So many places legitimately are bragging about new vinyl. They can call it "luxury" like putting a pig in lipstick.....it's still a pig. But many of the younger people also that DO have money for a home are easily fooled. They don't put the effort into details much so they eat up that marketing. 😢Even plenty of wealthy people with blind trust. It's pretty wild.
The niche market to Boomers is a ripoff to our downsizing and releasing liquidity for our future needs…!!! Pure greed to rob us after life savings!! I was in a beautiful home In Lebanon County, Pa… I customized much and it was a gorgeous place….my financials changed and I moved to Tulsa to be near children….My Pa house is still a looker and I am happy on same size home for less expenses but ….builders are sucking the blood out of their elders here by selling $500,000 55+ housing!! (Obviously the old oil money people can do this but not typical middle class citizens!!!
Sheet vinyl, well laid by a pro can look amazing. And it will look good and last for years. But so often it is not put in right and starts to form hills and valleys. Our retirement home had it in the kitchen and dining room. I liked the pattern, but a trip hazard, especially for my husband. Thankfully, I know how to tile. I put the orange underlay under. Strongly recommend. The main bathroom had laminate laid over 2 layers of sheet vinyl which had been stapled on. No hills or valleys though. Just lumpsm bumps and cracks. Last year we ripped out the tub and put in a walk in shower with seat and rail. This year I put in the tiles, and tiled around the tub. Hardwood, laminate and tile floors are all easy to learn to install. However, condos are designed and built to fall apart in 10 to 20 years.
We have a 1930's home. We remodeled our kitchen years ago, removed the vinyl laminate flooring, water stained pine underneath, we had hardwood floors installed to match the rest of the home. Love it, yes, hardwood floors are lovely in the kitchen, they clean well, look warm and inviting. I always encourage people that hardwood in the kitchen is a great choice! Thank you for the video!
I grew up in a house built in 1720, with an addition built in 1830. The floors were pine. The back stairs were uneven in height, and were dished out from centuries of people going up those stairs. Loved that house. (The pine was a harder pine than you get today, and old, slow-growth pine that was harder than pine from managed forests.)
I replaced my carpet and tile mix with LVT from California Bamboo. I purchased the xtra wide plank. It looks real, it’s waterproof and the stuff I got is much stronger than engineered hardwood. It does not scratch. I spilled nail polish on it and removed it with nail polish remover can’t tell. I have I all over my home. I love this stuff! Oh, it wasn’t cheap. It was around 15k for 2000 sq feet. I shopped around and got the best looking and most durable I could find. But definitely pay for an installer.
I have Cali bamboo flooring in our main living area. I was considering their vinyl for our bedrooms since they no longer make our color of bamboo. Was it easy to install?
Good to hear some people still love hardwood floors. We have a regional place that manufactures hardwood flooring and they say they have really seen a down trend in sales due to the use of the LVP. Glad to hear people in the know still appreciate the real thing.
My house was built in the 60s. Previous owners put asbestos tile over original hardwood flooring and then later put expensive wool berber carpet on top of the asbestos tile. When we bought the house we didn't know what was under the carpet but it looked nice enough that we planned on keeping it. During the final walk through we found out there was water damage on the carpet in multiple spots that had been hidden under large heavy furniture pieces. We still closed on the house but wanted to replace the carpet right away. That's when we realized there was asbestos tile underneath. We ended up paying a lot of money to an asbestos abatement company and then thousands more to install hardwood... and the asbestos abatement company told us the original flooring was hardwood but it wasn't salvageable.
I generally agree with everything you recommend with the following caveats. First, wood flooring in a kitchen is not always a great choice because a kitchen floor often has much more traffic than the rest of the house. Our last house had wood flooring in our kitchen that needed refinishing prior to being placed on the market while our other floors were in very good condition. Fortunately, we were able to hire a flooring refinisher that did a very good job at the openings to adjacent rooms. I would always suggest tile in kitchens. Second, I would usually recommend ceramic tile in finished basements. Third, if at all practical, I would avoid prefinished wood flooring, it looks like prefinished wood flooring. As a retired architect I wish real estate agents would use correct terminology. Two examples of incorrect terminology heard on this video include two favorites of real estate agents: "home" and "hardwood" when referring to floors. an unlived in house is not a home, it is not a home if no one lives in it. Not all wood floors are hardwood, douglas fir, and other species of softwoods are often used for flooring. Unless one is specifically speaking of hardwoods such floors should be referred to as wood floors.
We just had Provenza Moda LVP, (color is Buttercup) installed in our entire home. Absolutely beautiful and highly recommend! We also protected all our furniture legs just to be extra cautious.
I bought a house in 2010 that had wall to wall carpet. I removed the carpet. As a hardwood flooring contractor, I put in hardwood flooring everywhere, except for two of the 3 bathrooms. I also put in white oak treads and risers and new white oak posts and handrails. For the floors, I put in 13/16 inch thick rosewood parquet that I had bought 30 years ago in Thailand, and bordered it in each room with 2 rows of select white oak flooring. I did the same in the master bedroom and in the basement. For the 2 smaller bedrooms, I put select white oak flooring in. I plan on selling house in 2-3 years and refinishing floors before selling. I’d love to put solid white oak 6 paneled doors in house but I’d never get my money out of it.
I live in Southern California and tile floors are very common, we have a expensive neutral beige/white tile that looks very good and is easy to keep clean, just have to have the grout professionally cleaned every few years. We do have an upgraded low pile carpet in the bedrooms but that is just our preference.
Neutral color ceramic, marble, and slate tile, are among my top flooring choices (after solid hardwood). Tile is durable, easy to clean, and a great choice when indoor air quality is a top concern.
Indoor air quality and VOCs are a top concern of mine, along with allergies. Nothing beats tile for that and ease of cleaning. @@altitudeiseverything3163
Grey is depressing. Mine is brown with some grey in it, with natural looking knots. Uniform all around with no light/dark boards. It's looks more than fine for my rental.
My apartment (built in 80s) has the gray simulated plank flooring, so ugly. And oddly a remodel of an old apartment has the very same. A Chinese restaurant has the identical same floor, it's approx. 20 yrs old and all the finish is worn off. Heck, I'd take the 60s - 80s vinyl flooring over that! And the gray has simulated knots that conceal dirt, floor always looks dirty!
There is nothing wrong with grey luxury vynal flooring. I was raised with’ ‘earth tones’ and I’m sick of them. I love grey, it’s not depressing, especially in sunny areas like calif. I just went to a flip today and it had grey luxury plank.
I put in light toned, wide, engineered hardwood in our house, all myself. It was a bit expensive at over $6.00 a sq ft, for materials only, but this is our long term house and we did an entire reno and we are very happy with how it all turned out.
We remodeled an older home and added engineered hardwood throughout, including the kitchen. It is warm and beautiful. On the day we moved in though, our movers gouged the floor by scooting our heavy sofa. Luckily I was there and put a stop to everything until I got felt pads installed under every single surface that was touching the floor. I can now easily move heavy pieces of furniture to clean. After 11 years, our floors look great! We also bought extra flooring, luckily, since we have had 2 water leaks. Our flooring company removed and replaced the damaged, warped pieces and you would never know it.
My husband always buys an extra case or two of tile, wood, and LVP for that reason. Thank goodness! At least 3 times it saved us from having to replace an entire floor. Also, for tile and lvp, they go in and out of style and chances are, 5 or 10 years later, you won't be able to find a replacement.
We did a pretty big remodel and we used a designer for the big, permanent stuff like cabinets, countertops, backsplash and floors. I’m so glad we did. It didn’t cost that much.
A good idea for sellers is to go to new home displays, they will see the up to date choices in flooring, countertops, fixtures, lighting etc. i was in real estate for years partly working selling existing and also worked for builders. If a seller has decorating, that is too specific it can hurt thecsale, that is why new home displays are so good because the choices appeal to the masses.
One thing I know is that, if you live where sand gets tracked in, you better have some kind of durable tile or even concrete at the entry doors. That sand will eat through wood and vinyl real quick.
no only sand, but salt or other road chemicals, if you live in a snowy state, it's going to end up in your home regardless of having rugs in your entry way.
@@cherylanon5791 , or you could just do what millions of people around the world do: don’t wear your outside shoes in the house. Put on house shoes inside.
@@wallihaley5194 Yes, so simple and widespread. Americans are still at the were-you-raised-in-a-barn level it seems. It's hard to train children and men to not wear outside shoes in the house. Japanese people have it down practically to a science, having separate toilet shoes in some households.
@@virginiamoss7045 , yes, and I read recently that not wearing your outside shoes in the house keeps the floors 80% cleaner. I do know that this is a more common practice in some parts of the country especially where the winters are cold and snowy. But I do it as a standard practice. I keep a basket of washable slippers by the front door for guests, and that helps.
Homes in the southwest are almost always, slab on grade, with very little soil moisture. So, tile makes much more sense, as it can be installed directly over the concrete slab.
Thank you, it is music to my ears to hear you telling people to not put carpet in bedrooms. I like the feeling of walking around on a cool hard surface, and I don't have to worry if my dog has an accident on hard surfaces. What I am not sure of is putting hardwood floors in with my propensity to bring home every stray puppy I find.
I’m so glad you said LVP next because I am in the process of finishing the upstairs of my house in it with the wide plank vinyl look and we love it and we don’t hear the dogs nails on the flooring either 😅
I am going with Engineered Hardwood as my son is a Flooring & Tile contractor and he recommended the engineered hardwood. Its a bit cheaper and yes you can refinish a couple of times. There is some sort of vinyl floor covering on my floors now. I hate it. I don't have a huge home but I am glad my son will be the professional installer for me. 💖 All I have to do is pay for the flooring.
We put white oak hardwood in our homes, kitchens included. We put large white porcelain tiles 0.4 inches thick in the bathrooms and laundry rooms. We matched floor height so hardwood and tile are level. Small tile is out. Large format tile is in. Use 1/16 or 1/8 inch grout lines. Wider grout lines are out. I disagree on the engineered hardwood. It is difficult to match years later, if you have to do a repair or an addition. Sunlight eventually changes the color of both engineered and regular hardwood flooring. Engineered hardwood is more difficult to sand. Whereas hardwood flooring can be easily sanded and color matched by professional hardwood installers. Engineered hardwood is indeed a lot tougher, more stable, and lasts a long time. The only issue I have is trying to match engineered hardwood flooring years later. You are correct about carpet. I abandoned carpet in 2017. No one wants carpet anymore. Not all decorators are equal. Beware of decorators who want to experiment on your dime. Trying things they have never done before. One decorator talked one woman into staining a new hardwood floor black. The homeowner hated it. The floor never looked clean. I experimented with laminate flooring, but abandoned it. I did try vinyl tile flooring in a well pump room. It was a good option in the pump room where the well pressure tank and water treatment equipment is located. That room has a drain, in the event of a tank leak. That room has two tanks holding 156 gallons of water, a water softener, and a 49 gallon water heater. The floor is recessed one inch so water will drain before reaching the hardwood in the adjacent utility room. The tanks do not burst, when they fail, because well systems operate between 40 and 60 psi. The tanks typically develop a small leak. We have a moisture detector at the lowest point that alarms when water reaches the detector. That detector has saved us twice so far. The way I do tile is to use 1/4 inch Hardiebacker board that is nailed to the wood subfloor. Never had any tile crack, in over twenty years, and it can be removed years later if you want to change the flooring. In older homes, the bathroom countertops are usually too low. I raise the bathroom countertops 3.5 inches. I use 3/4 inch quartz or solid white cultured marble countertops in bathrooms. I use thick ( 1.5 inch ) quartz countertops in kitchens. Quartz never has to be resealed like granite does. Here is a tip for all homeowners. Fill out and send in the warranty cards for all new appliances. If you don’t do that, you will have to prove you purchased the appliance to get warranty work done. We had a $2700 smooth electric cooktop that was recalled due to a fire hazard. The company paid us the purchase price including tax, plus $300 for an install, plus sent a technician to remove it. It was so dangerous, we were told to turn the breaker off and stop using it. The company cannot contact you, if they don’t where it is. They know what store sold it, and when it was purchased, but have no way of knowing who is using it, if you don’t send in the warranty card or fill one out online at time of installation or purchase.
Absolutely on hardwood! Bought a 1941 home and discovered Cherry hardwood under carpet. Cherry trim in formal rooms had been painted over. I do think carpet is a good choice in upstairs rooms over principal downstairs rooms where foot traffic above would be distracting.
Vinyl flooring has BPA. Though covered with a "protective layer", wear will eventually cause the layer to erode and release the BPA in the vinyl. BPA is a known endocrine disruptor. With babies crawling around at floor level, vinyl flooring shouldn't contain a substance that impacts development.
@@lhartwig2354 I have looked for such labeling and have not found it. Perhaps it is in the fine print. VOC Free flooring is easly found but BPA free more difficult to find (as yet even a google search for "BPA free vinyl flooring" fails to produce BPA flooring options.
The old linoleum had asbestos in it, I grew up on a farm our house had it in and it was wore through and I was a flooring installer for many years. 63 yrs old and still healthy. I bet you drink and eat out of plastic containers.😅
As always a video full of valuable info….Several years ago I ripped out my three different styles of ceramic/porceline tile (previous owner installed) that was mismatched and installed a super premium (thicker protective layer) LVP floor throughout the house….it looks great! My home has same flooring thru the home which makes the rooms appear bigger - without those different flooring transition's from room to room…I use area rugs and I get many compliments on my floors. Also, it’s super easy to care for. Speaking of ceramic tile, it was a horror show removing 1500 sq feet of it and was a mess to do it….yes, it was also very expensive removal - but am so glad it’s gone! No more dirty looking grout due to constant mopping.
@@alyross2850 I am sorry to hear that! The moron who installed my tile did the same thing - they used PORTLAND CEMENT rather than thin set. It destroyed my concrete slab in some places. I hope your removal goes smoothly. Word of advice…make sure they have machines in place BEFORE they start grinding to minimize the dust..which is very dangerous to breathe…there’s special equipment for that and its well worth the expense to have them use it…
We bought a house 8 years ago and the floors were horrendous. That did not stop us from buying the house. Our contractor with specializes in flooring. We were suggested to just tile or use wood over the existing floor and it's been fantastic. No problems at all. You do not have to remove the old flooring, save you thousands.❤
Great video. My only reservation about engineered hardwood is it may warp, swell, or disintegrate if you have a leak, pipe burst, or even a spilled drink that forms a tiny puddle and doesn’t get cleaned up quick enough. There are drawbacks to every one of these options, but since I live in the southeast where it’s humid it seems that LVP is the lesser of all the evils. Its main drawback is that if you have a leak, pipe burst, or spilled drink that doesn’t get cleaned up quick enough it won’t warp or swell, but mold and mildew can form underneath it. LVP also cannot be resurfaced so if you scratch it moving around furniture or something you’ll have to replace that piece of the flooring. So none of these options are perfect. It’s just what you deem to be the lesser of the evils. One type of flooring she didn’t mention is bamboo. I would like to get peoples opinions of bamboo flooring.
My daughter loves her bamboo floors. She has had them in her main living area for years and is now adding them to her bedroom. And she has had large dogs in the family the entire time. Not cheap though.
Bamboo is a great floor! Go with the expensive ones though. Cheap ones are made cheaply and you will have issues. Cali and Teragren make great products.
We bought our home with a $.79 per sqft laminate flooring. We assume the previous floor was pretty bad. It’s not fooling anyone but it’s easy to keep clean. We’ve lived with it for 7 years and it’s held up okay. We have plans to replace it when the kids get a little older. For now it’s nice to have a floor I don’t care if it gets damaged.
Anything replaced before the kids move out will be replaced again after. I still have vinyl in my one upstairs bedroom. Very outdated. It is a guest/ craftroom. But it was well laid and still going strong. Guessing it is 34 years old.
Yes we got hardwood all over the first floor and the half bathroom. However for the den which has concrete underneath, we got the engineered hardwood with 4 mm top which matches the solid hardwood on the first floor.
Yes. Hardwood is beautiful. But the way we live nowadays, LVP is the way to go. For pets and kids. Put them in my last 2 homes.. and I hate wall to wall carpet anywhere. I have area rugs. The worst is when people put new carpet in to sell.. I just think it needs to be ripped out.
LVP is shorthand for Luxury Vinyl Plank. There are five main types of hardwood floors. They are: vinyl, laminate, parquet, solid and engineered hardwood flooring.
@@bettysmith4527 If the house is going to come with carpet anyway, it might as well be NEW carpeting. I wouldn't let the carpeting be a deal-breaker for an otherwise nice or suitable house. All things considered, new carpet isn't the worst thing. The only caveat would be if you thought the carpet was covering something up.
@living2day617 Plantar fasciitis? I think tile of any sort can be exceptionally dangerous for older people. It can be very slippery when wet, but if they are to fall for any reason, they will have more risk of substantial injuries from broken bones or head trauma.
I have tile in the house I bought last year. I'm not sure if they're porcelain or ceramic, but I love the flooring. The kitchen and dining room floor are made to look like wood, and the living room has a mottled warm neutral look. But the tile is amazing in the dog days of summer in Texas, and I wouldn't want to change it unless I needed to. And then I might try to find a similar tile. If I lived in a cooler climate, a different flooring would be better.
Hardwood looks great, but any cat owner knows that cat barf will eat the finish no matter how quickly you clean it up. Tile or LVP is the way to go IMO. As a long time pet owner I would pass on a home with hardwood flooring.
I have LVP and as soon as it was installed, my cat had an accident on it, aka pee, it floated on top, didn't penetrate. I cleaned it and no smells remained. My dogs didn't scratch it, but when I moved some furniture, I scratched it a bit. Fortunately it doesn't show.
I grew up with hardwood and have it now. The materials used to refinish hardwood has improved a ton. I have a cat that pukes a lot and it has not damaged the floors.
We have been in our older (1908) home for almost 50 years. We have raised our children here and have had many cats. Our original hardwood floors still look great!
I totally agree with you. I had carpet throughout my house and it detest it. Finally was able to update and put in LVP. The first time I heard the cat puking I came running with a paper towel and a Clorox wipe. As easy as that.
This is a great video. Thank you. I have hardwood throughout. Except my open concept kitchen - we have slate floors. They are beautiful but, I realized I’m a bull in a China cabinet. Between my granite countertops and slate floors- my dishes and glassware don’t stand a chance. lol Just something to think about when buying your first home. 😉
We live in Florida. When we moved in, we took up the carpetee áreas and had dark LPV put down. The rest of the floors are white (very cheap looking) 12" square ceramic tiles. I hate them, but don't really want to have them removed as it will be dirty and expensive. What do you think of putting epoxy covering over them? I know the grout marks would show, but a neutral off white with two colors swirled in......
Yes, hopefully she put the engineer wood over the tile so the next person can restore it. I put in engineered wood just in the bedrooms and it didn’t survive my teenagers so 16 years after it was installed it was ripped out and replaced with a commercial glue down LVP.
I'm astonished that such a beautiful house (at least the entry way) was rejected by buyers because of what looked like a nice tile. Hopefully there was more to object to than that. Such wastefulness.
What flooring is recommended for bathrooms? My 100 year old house has tile in the bathroom that need replacing. My floors are hardwood that have always been covered with carpet. When I go to sell I plan to remove the carper, should I leave the floors with their old dark stain or refinish. If I refinish is is better to use a light or dark stain?
That luxury vinyl plank top layer looks like the Armstrong cushion-step vinyl flooring I had installed throughout most of my custom house. It's incredibly durable, easy to clean, very non-slip, warm and soft under foot, and spilled liquids don't drool down between planks of wood or engineered wood or vinyl wood planks. People look down on sheet vinyl, but I could not be more pleased with this flooring. It was top of the line, but you generally get what you pay for. It's less expensive than planks and installation should be professional to avoid seams (it's amazing to watch them work).
I completely agree with you! There is unwarranted snobbery regarding sheet vinyl. Stay away from builder's grade. I went with commercial grade Armstrong sheet vinyl flooring in my kitchen and bathrooms in 2002 -- it looks fantastic today AND does not suffer from seeping of liquid and dirt between seams. Only thing is if you dropped a seering hot saucepan onto vinyl -- it will scorch!
@@lanialost1320 Oh, that's one thing I never thought about and have yet to experience. I'll be extra careful from now on. With my pattern, I can cut out the section damaged and inlay a matching cut out piece from scrap I saved and you won't even see the repair; So it can be repaired as well. One more: you won't hear your dog's click-click-clicking with it's claws when it walks or trots about at all.
I have sheet vinyl in my kitchen and bathrooms and I absolutely love it. I would still have sheet vinyl in my house if I became rich. It looks great, is none slip, comfortable under foot and has no cracks for liquids or worse to get into.
@@rosieposie9564 "... or worse ..." Made me laugh; my neighbor has a cat that is frequently vomiting a mess to clean up and she complains about the joints in her flooring. Then there are all the puppies in house training leaving puddles all over the floor. Vinyl has it's place; definitely better than carpet.
Had a leak on my hardwood floor while the house was in escrow. Replacing with tile. Too many things to leak in a kitchen. Unfortunately the MAJOR manufacturer quit producing their top seller so I could not get more to replace.! I was stuck with doing the whole downstairs of a perfectly good floor save 100sf of a wet damaged floor.
That really stinks and I'm sorry you had to go through that. I love the look of hardwood in kitchens but I always stick with tile for the reason you mentioned. I have tile and the first week living here I dropped and shattered a Costco size jar of pickles. I was glad to have tile when that happened, lol. The tile is very high quality with a good installation. I have seen homes with cracked tiles, so I know it isn't always ideal.
If you'd had a wood floor, there is a slim chance that the jar wouldn't have broken when it hit the floor. That's one thing I can say in favor of wood vs tile from personal experience. A tile floor virtually guarantees that anything glass, or fragile, that falls on it is likely to break. Wood can be a little more forgiving.
@charmc4152 That's true. I personally would love hardwood throughout the whole house other than bathrooms, but my husband can't be convinced so we have tile in the kitchen and front entryway because of harsh winter weather bringing in snow, salt and ice.
We stained our concrete floors with soy Crete, $600 for entire downstairs. Labor intensive to prep the slab but we love it and it looks amazing, great for our dog.
The real estate market is about ready to burst. Like in 2008, Hardwood is really nice, however put on slabs in Florida as well as humidity just makes it risky..we love our tile flooring that looks likes wood. It also works out well with having our dogs. Our beautiful tile is porcelain tile. Great quality. We kept every bedroom, 4 bedrooms with same floring.
The main thing to keep in mind when choosing a hardwood floor for a kitchen is to select a wood essence that has a janka hardness rate of at least 1300 and up
I shied away from Hickory for my customers here in the desert southwest because of end-checking (see below). A smooth finish maple will show dents no matter how hard it is - it's wood after all. Just be realistic, manufacturers and refinishers can make the wear surface as resistant as possible but can't do much for impact damage (and a Janka test is just for that, good advice). And you're going to need humidity control if you live where it's dry - sometimes lots of moisture added just to get to 50% relative.
Great advice to talk to an agent about changing stuff. 4 year ago we bought our home from an older woman and for the sale she replaced the kitchen cabinets with new good Kraftmade quality cabinets with dovetail corners in a shaker style which is good, however she chose a golden oak color! I wish she would have consulted an agent. Also the new quartz tops are a bad color too.
I think the advice to talk to an agent is really only relevant if you are doing upgrades in order to sell or you think you may sell in the next 5 years. What is on trend today will probably look dated in 10 years anyway, so if this is your forever home, do what you like and can afford .
I live in a log cabin, so my late husband had rustic wood flooring installed. It looks beautiful, but is impossible to clean. Swiffer products can’t be used because the floor shreds the dry cloths and the wet ones don’t get in the crevices. The floor destroyed a Floormate machine, so I had to buy a very expensive commercial floor machine. Even then I have to do touchups by hand because of all the dips and “rusticness”. Don’t put in “rustic” hardwood flooring unless you can get on your hands and knees to clean it. I have 5000 ft of hard flooring to clean.
Hardwood can definitely go into homes in humid climates - we have it everywhere in the tropical parts of Queensland Australia. Our home is over 20 years old , no warping of our true hardwood floors at all. We have pets, and hardwood everywhere. No problems. The best flooring!
We live in south Louisiana and have solid oak flooring. It does cup seasonally but that is now very minimal after 15 years. I probably would have gotten engineered hardwood if I’d known about this problem. My parent’s house had 2” solid strip oak and cupping wasn’t a problem. I have 4” and 5” planks.
I used white oak laminate from Australia. I looks beautiful. I get a lot of compliments on it. When we bought this house, in Florida, it had engineered hardwood that had not been maintained correctly and was not a good quality. So glad to get rid of it.
The tile in your house was gorgeous I agree wouldn’t want that throughout my whole house but dang I’d love to know what it was, it looks like what I want for my kitchen when I remodel.
People weren't buying the house that we bought because of the carpeting. Previous owners had the Dark Red and Burgandy wall to wall carpeting put in before they moved in, when the house was brand new. When we moved in I ripped out the Shag and found beautiful hardwood floors.
Hardwood has gone through as many trends in finish as anything else. 2000s purpleheart can make your home unsellable. And hardwood is frequently destroyed in kitchens from ice maker failures.
This is so location based. Laminate is #1 in my area. Easy to repair and affordable as well as requested. Scratch resistant for those of us with dogs. Wood floors are a disaster in a coastal wet locale. LVP? Make sure you investigate the off gassing. Been renovating since 1988.
I installed LVP on my rental side, 8mm. I like it well enough, but don't love it. On my side I used half inch laminate that I absolutely love. One of the things I first noticed with the laminate was it was far more comfortable underfoot. I fine with the decision I made and am looking forward to moving back to my side...Soon.
Thank you for this information. We have a beautiful house with a mountain view that we built 26 years ago and a gorgeous natural maple custom kitchen. The cabinets are in excellent condition but are yellow now. We walked in to the design flooring store the other day and asked their recommendation for our kitchen flooring. They said that there is none right now because everything is so GRAY. The decorator said that the light gray that is in every new house right now is on it's way out and we will swing back to warmer colors. We have a ton of natural daylight and live in Alaska... so our shopping is very limited. We are also replacing counter tops and working on that choice right now granite vs. quartz. Thank you for any input that you may have. P.S. We do have a very light colored new carpet in our living room, loft and bedrooms and love it. Alaska is cold and dark in the winter and carpet is comfy and we much prefer it. We also have a chalet style that would be unbearably noisy with hard flooring everywhere. . We don't have pets and the kids are gone so it will remain nice if we sell in the next few years. Thank you again :)
If you live in the southwest hardwood and it’s friends scratch with all the sand and grit, lvp outgasses which can be a problem with anyone with respiratory issues, carpet is a no because it is a money sink. I put in wood look porcelain plank tiles and love them. Easy clean, look great, and if you safe a few, easy repairs if someone drops something very heavy from a height.
My decision for any change in my home to sell is based on ROI. If a home decorator runs $1000 and the tile swap out is $4000 then will I received more than $5000 in sales price? I am not a realtor but I can add just fine. Valuation used to be based on comps and square feet. Small adjustments can be made from new upgrades but they are just that, small. My thoughts are different than yours, I would rather see the potential ROI as a gain and not a loss. There is no doubt that making the home the best in city will increase sales price, but spending $5000 for new floors to get the same sales price makes no sense to me. I would rather given a cash incentive to the buyer for $2000 if new floors were indeed bad. Not to just change white to beige.
I think there are two potential issues. One is, keep in mind that realtors benefit if your house sells for more money because their percentage commission is applied to a higher price, correct? So, if you do the math and the only person coming out on the transaction is the realtor, think hard about whether you want to go down that path. On the other hand, I remember being a new home buyer, looking at houses, and thinking, "I'm going into home buying expecting that I need to repaint everything, which I can do. I also need to buy appliances (which don't come with the house). But I can't also replace all of the flooring." If you give me a $2k credit and I need $5k+ to do the flooring, well, that's an issue. If the flooring just isn't my ideal, depending on how far off it is and how long I'll need to tolerate it, I may be able to handle it. If it's not in good repair, that's different.
@@whiteserpent6753 No disagreement from me. My home is in excellent shape not because I might want it sold but because I have no interest in living in trash. I comprehend the realtor is the one who really benefits from any upgrade. And I never found any realtor who cared more about my listing than her own new car outside. Once I sign the paperwork with the realtor, I doubt very much if they will do more than list and then expect that big commission. Very high reward for not much effort. My approach is to do my homework and give the realtor a finite time frame to sell. Only if that realtor works by showing the home, having open houses, and keeps in weekly contact will that realtor get any time extension at all.
@2023Red I always interviewed multiple realtors before deciding which one would represent us in selling our home. It was sometimes hard giving the news to a candidate that we selected someone else, but we typically got good results.
@@charmc4152 I have not met a realtor who had our interests in mind.? Their only objective was getting us to sign them as the listing agent. At age 76, we are cautious.
Amateur installation of engineered wood and laminate is a huge issue, it even sounds bad walking on it! Pay a professional for installation! Also, no matter what, do not change flooring from room to room, unless it’s carpet in a bedroom of tile by the tub. When I was in real estate , I saw homes with tile in one room, laminate in another, a different tile in another, what a mess!
If the floor is uneven underneath the lvp or laminate you are going to have issues with the floor moving up and down as you step on it. A professional is only going to fix that if you pay them extra, and it's going to cost quite a bit extra perhaps even more than the installation
I used a high quality white oak laminate from Australia. I looks beautiful. When compared with engineered white oak it was difficult to tell the difference. I get a lot of compliments on it. When we bought this house, in Florida, it had cheap engineered hardwood that had not been maintained correctly and was not a good quality. So glad to get rid of it. Selecting a high quality material, whatever flooring you select is a must.
I think you are correct. I know people with great looking laminate floors. The quality of the material is definitely more important than which material you use.
I'm torn. My home was originally built in 1950 and has hardwood subfloor in the original part of the house, but an addition was added in 2011 in which laminate flooring was used. Over the years the kitchen has had so many layers of plywood and vinyl added to it so that it is now a full inch higher than my other floors. The original hardwood subfloor is not in great shape. It has some large (1/4") gaps throughout and physical damage in some areas. I would like to level the kitchen floor and lay LVP through out the house to give it a more cohesive look. What are your thoughts?
I put carpet in bedrooms and ripped all carpet out of the main living and traffic areas and had a LVP FROM LUMBER LIQUIDATORS it looks like real hardwood floor,has ridges and is a Rustic Acacia.
I think sheet vinyl is great! I miss how easy it was to mop my parents kitchen. Now I have my starter house with an annoying combo of hardwood, LVP, and tile. I'm terrified to get the LVP more than the tiniest bit damp due to the cracks in between boards.
I have a long kitchen 10x25, After removing the old linoleum I discovered in the eating area 10x10 that there was beautiful heart pine flooring under, The rest of the floor, which is the cabinet area with sink , frig and stove has plywood. I heard what you said about never covering hardwood and I feel the same way. The rest of the house also has all hardwood floors. How should I approach this area? Any ideas?
I have a quality berber in the large family room and am loathe to rip it up when we sell in a couple years. It's beige and, has warmed up a room where we primarly live in long winters. I hope it might come across as more of a neutral vs a negative. But maybe not? Matching up woods becomes an issue then, as all we had to start with was carpet and lousy subfloor so did go engineered hardwood for the rest of the 1st floor minus kitchen tile. No hidden gems under the carpet. :)
I don't think replacing the carpet in just the one area is going to change your sales price enough to make it worth it, as long as the rest of your floors are desirable.
Nothing plastic will hold up to sparks. That includes, carpet, vinyl, paint and varnish. What people do is put an apron of brick, block, or ceramic in front of the fireplace. Then do the rest of the floor in whatever.
Dear you have made good decision it looks very nice please share the more information about your colour and type of wood for me bc I am in decision process it would be helpful. Thanks
we have zero hardwood floors, spec house built in 1960's, so there's carpet in bedrooms, LR & formal DR, and vinyl in the kitchen. There was slate in the entry area and half bath but it was ugly black slate in strange shapes---we had it jackhammered away and did put in porcelain tile which has been awesome. Wood in our snowy climate would be awful in an entry area due to sand/salt, I've seen it in other homes in our area and it always fails the snow-sand-salt test.
Thanks for the good video. And thanks to your viewers for the helpful comments too. I’m choosing new flooring for my kitchen & laundry room. To replace the very old linoleum. The rest of the flooring is the original hardwood - warm maple/oak, narrow boards. Any suggestions?
We had hardwood in our main living areas in our home when we moved in. The carpeting in the bedrooms was not in good shape, so we shelled out the money to put hardwood floors that match in all of the bedrooms. Our kitchen and laundry and powder room has beige tile. It’s fine and I don’t know if we would ever change it but I think most people probably would have ripped it out. It might be a problem on down the road but I’m not sure what flooring we would put in to replace it. It doesn’t run under the cabinets in the kitchen and I don’t think wood floors can be butted up against cabinets.
A problem with carpeting not noted. My late wife used a powered wheelchair after her stroke. The existing carpet floors allowed her about 6 hours use until another all night charge was needed. The cheap and fast to install vinyl provided 12 hours use. Carpeting may be a good option for other seniors, falling down on carpeted floors is not as bad on you.
I laid engineered hardwood throughout my home and it was, in fact, beautiful for so many years. Until.... dishwasher leak destroyed a huge area in both the kitchen and dining room. No problem, I had 3 leftover boxes to do just as you suggested and replace them bad boards with my back up boards, right? Wrong! Unbeknownst to me, after 14 years, the color of the floor does change as much as any other wood floor would have and the spare boxes of planks did not match so well. I just wanted to share this incase that would be the reason anyone decided it is THE reason to choose engineered wood. It's not something to factor into your equation. Another problem, the high end oak version I purchased did scratch and mar much much easier than I expected from dropping things to moving not so heavy furniture etc. I am currently in a Reno mode for our new home and chose wood looking tile for these reasons. Fingers crossed, but I think I will be much happier with this option despite the tremendous cost increase for this floor.
We bought a house in 2021, it was built in 1900, the previous, and very elderly owner put cheap laminate flooring on top of absolutely perfect hardwood floors. It was a mess to remove, the glue was horrible. But in the end, we are refinishing the floors, still debating the colors. The house trim is a darker wood, though that may change as well. Would you go for lighter or darker for the floors?
What would you do with 120+ year old softwood plank that is end of life with no subfloor? I hate to cover it with anything, but refinishing is no longer a good option with edge splits in traffic areas.
@@KatiSpaniak Seems about middle of concealable condition. It's a 1901 build with plumbing, HVAC, electrical, roof, foundation, and insulation all redone 15 years ago. Baths and kitchen also redone at the time with some more recent appliance updates. It still has original double hung windows that operate and seal well, and a rough value of $500-$600k. Exterior paint is fresh last year and it shows well, but I am starting to get nervous about the age of the roof and HVAC blowing my budget for other things. Floors are serviceable and in relatively good condition right now, but there are areas of concern with gaps between the boards and splintering. I don't believe anything I do to them would add value so much as improve salability, but maybe it's better spent elsewhere?
@@ksnax Thanks for this. So no. I wouldn't do the floors. To confirm, I would ask your agent what he or she thinks. But once you start on updating you won't be able to know where to stop. I would keep the money saved in case you need to put on a new roof. Keep me posted!
The snobbery against sheet vinyl is just ridiculous and undeserved. Vinyl sheet has many advantages and it can also look great too if you get the better quality ones and get it installed professionally.
We made a mistake and put wall to wall carpet over our hardwood floors. We have lived here for 20 years. We are planning to move and we are wondering if we should just leave the carpet or rip it up. We are NOT going to refinish the floors, so whatever it looks like underneath the carpet, that will be the new owners problem to deal with. My question is, should we just leave the carpet, or rip it up and have the hardwood floor exposed (potentially damaged from years of carpet on top of it).
Very impractical advice. I'm 73 years old. When I was a boy all new homes had hardwood floors, anything else was an upcharge. My home was built in 1921 and had beautiful white oak floors. Over the years I've had them refinished 4 times. It's a real pain to do and the floor doesn't look good for long. I put luxury vinyl plank over the wood. If people don't like it, they can pick up the vinyl and the floors will be there ready to refinish. You don't glue or nail vinyl plank down so the wood floor is intact. Engineered hardwood is not as durable as she is hoping it is. Additionally, she could have used a sheet underlayment over her tile and used whatever flooring she wanted. Simply have the doors cut down and install thresholds. Remember them? They had a purpose. Builders don't use them to save money
i would only add that it isn't very practical for her to advise we talk to our designer to make our choices. how many of us are going to hire a designer when we change our flooring? average people don't hire designers or decorators!
Yes, the LVP floor can be easily removed if someone else doesn’t like it. We just installed it in the entire house except bathrooms and kitchen. We are loving the easy upkeep. It is a nice choice.
Transitions are super important. There are some very smooth ways to transition from wood to tile that are very nice. Hate those hump pieces! One neighbor put in water proof laminate which I thought was an oxymoron. It’s very ridged like wood and is beautiful. I like it a whole lot better than nursing home LVP.
This advice is very regional. You are correct for the Midwest. Tile is great in a mid century modern home or ranch style home or Mediterranean style home which are fairly rare in the Midwest and northern east coast. Wood floors with wood cabinets is very hard to pull off so unless you have painted cabinets I would never put wood floors or wood look (engineered, tile or lvl) in a kitchen or great room if wood cabinets are the choice. Especially if you have a lot of wood furniture. The only way this works is in very large McMansions.
I love hardwood. I put engineered hardwood in my home. My 70 pound standard poodle would slip and slide on the floor so he extended his toenails. The floor now has indentations from the his nails. Yes, they can be sanded out. I wished that I had put in porcelain tile which would hold up to a big, heavy dog. I rejected vinyl plank flooring because it outgases. Otherwise, it would have been great.
I installed LVP throughout the house. I was quoted $18,000 for labor and the LVP--which didn't include removing and reinstalling the toilets ($200 each X three), moving the fridge and stove, installing new baseboard throughout. The final cost would have been in the $20,000. range. I did the same job myself for $7000, and saved $13,000.
I watched many TH-cam videos on how to do this work, how to prepare the subsurfaces, how to cut the LVPs. I also purchased the best tools that the pros use. It took quite a while, and I'll never do it again, but thirteen grand is a lot of money to me, so I bit the bullet, and my floors look amazing.
Nice! I love mine too! Look great…and super easy to clean. Glad you saved all the extra 💰💰
Glad you learned how to do the job right, big savings!
LVP is awesome and probably the easiest planks to install.
Is it low VOC? It's going to be cheap if it's toxic. I wouldn't bid on your home full value because of that specifically. IDC if it's new...that's probably worse TBH.
@@ari3lz3pp $7K is not cheap for LVT being installed by the homeowner…. Mine was LOW VOC with a 20m thick covering and the flooring itself cost me $4800 for 1500 sq feet of floor.
I live in Florida and I have ceramic tile throughout my house. We have sandy soil, so the sand will damage vinyl plank or wood floors. The ceramic holds up to our sandy soil, so it suits us. I also have a vacuum robot and mop robot to keep them clean. It makes life easier!
Great tip!
Steamer is great on tile as well ...I also am in FL. Won't have anything else for flooring in FL. Then porcelain tile rectified!
@@debram476 that makes sense.
My daughter also lives in FL and anything other than tile would just not work! The dust and sand that comes in every day would destroy the flooring if it ere not tile.
I live in North Carolina and I have Porcelain tile that looks like wood in my home, I love it. I have pets and porcelain tile works great for them. It also keeps the house cooler in the summer. 😊
My house is 105 years old and still has its original hardwood floors. I had 3 dogs who lived here for years with zero issues. My neighbors also have hardwood floors and I have never heard them say their cats caused an issue with their hardwood floors.
7 dogs and 2 guest dogs have lived in my home at various times. Usually, we have at least 3 dogs in the household. They have turned polished hardwood floors into "distressed" wood floors. But everyone else LOVES wood floors. I like how they look, but I don't love them as a dog owner.
It’s a combination of dog weight and nail maintenance, mostly. If you are constantly maintaining the nails and you never hear a click when the dogs walk, they will not scratch the floors. If this is not the case and the dog is lightweight, the nails will not scratch the floors. If the dogs are large and the nails are not constantly maintained, the nails will scratch/dent the floors unless the wood is particularly dense or it has a rock hard factory finish. If the floors are scratched or dented, it will be more or less visible depending on the finish (color/sheen). And how much you care will depend on the look you’re going for. Also, I’ll note that the fir my house was built from is rock hard and difficult to drill through. Fir I buy in the store is much softer. It’s also possible for the older wood to have different properties from the new growth wood- so what may be true of your hardwood may not be true of similar wood type purchased new today.
@@whiteserpent6753
Exactly. Our dogs are 6 lbs and 12 lbs, and their nails get trimmed regularly. No problems with our post Civil War hardwood plank floors (which we love).
I’m one person with 3 cats whose nails get trimmed monthly and my wood floors have been damaged. I even chose one that supposedly had one of the strongest finishes at the time. I’m in FL so it’s engineered. You can’t put true hardwood on a slab.
Hardwood can last, and be scratched proof but it depends on how they were treated, and varnished.
A few coats of boat varnish and they become water proof too.
Our real hardwood floors will never need to be refinished, and we have cats.
They were installed at a time construction of hardwood floors included aluminum oxide. They are extremely durable, scratch proof and with a top coat of boat varnish are water proof.
🐶. I live in Georgia. Engineered hardwood is fine. However, DO NOT get a high gloss finish. The dogs will scratch it. Matte is your friend.
Yes, I bought a home with glossy engineered wood floors and the immediate problem was paw prints from the natural oils on my pets feet. The floor looked bad constantly. I ripped them out and put tile as that is a desirable floor in Southern California.
Don't let dogs go inside your home. Yucko.
@@pinkorganichorse Don't have dogs if you aren't going to let them in your house.
All oil based products break down. Engineered wood is made from oil, and it looks cheap.
Go with real hardwood, use a boat varnish to seal the floors in high humidity and put a couple of layers of varnish on it to make it scratch proof. The finish will last years and later, if you want to refinish the option is there.
@@Ninjanimegamer I have bamboo hardwoods.
Had to refinish them with a matte finish and a lighter stain to mask pet scratches.
In my house (Toronto) we did 4 inch wide 3/4 inch thick solid oak, site finished, unfinished planks were laid down then sanded and stained in Duraseal Fruitwood low gloss, this way you don’t see the joints, beautiful seamless look. Never use carpet, frickin unhygienic.
I guess I’m just a boomer at heart because I thought the title in your house was beautiful!! Yes tile is hard and can be loud but it is durable, easy to clean,and timelines. If you want carpet throw some rugs down. Rugs create soft places, define a space and provide noise dampening.
Yep. Many people said that. But the tile was way too much.
I agree with you. That tile would have been a selling point to me. It was beautiful.
My in laws always have put tile in their homes because they could run their pipes under it to make it heated. I always thought it was still cold and slippery. Now they have engineered hardwood and complain constantly.
I disagree. The right hardwood does great with dogs. Lasting many many years. Builder grade birch is a soft wood that does not perform well. Oak and hickory in matte finish performs extremely well.
Purchased a new built house, had carpet taken out and hardwood installed the entire first floor, including the kitchen. Previous house carpet over hardwood had carpet removed, floors refinished and wood flooring in the kitchen. It was an excellent decision when it came time to sell.
The term ‘Luxury Vinyl’ is an oxymoron..
if the hardwood gets scratched then so be it. That’s what it’s there for.
I would also avoid high gloss and go with a more matte finish.
Also go with area rugs in high traffic areas.
Exactly.
We used a varnish that prevents scratching on our real hardwood floors. I've dragged furniture across the floors, we have pets and we aren't careful, but we don't have scratches.
Luxury vinyl is a locking system, floating floor, the cheap stuff is glue on and far thinner. Put yes, it's still vinyl at the end of the day. Not much different than polypropylene carpets.
@@snoopybluejeansThere are different levels of LVP. Many commercial establishments use LVP.
Thank you, I laugh every time I hear someone says because I’m not buying what you’re selling.
@@marcirobins5144 It's still plastic on your floors, but the branding/propaganda is brilliant. Pretty much just a worse version of a solid, continuous vinyl sheet floor.
Hmmm, my experience with LVP (two homes both sold 200K+ over purchase), don't go cheap, get a good installer that can do straight runs, and keep a magic eraser on hand for scuffs. Had it in my open concept first floor, spills, puppy messes, and 3 pit bulls and a rotty couldn't scratch it. Took it like a champ, if that were new hardwood, i would have been in tears.
Hardwood is much more durable than people think
@@marinahillier3292only if it’s properly maintained. A lot of folks neglect their hardwood floors.
@@marinahillier3292 I Had it my entire life; yes, it is, but one excitable day from the Amazon delivery guy with my 140lb Rottie, and you can pay the damage to my floor. Had it in my Hoboken apartment - Brazilian walnut, gorgeous, but the only thing I worried about on that floor was my girls' 4 inch heels.
A house with LVP is an instant no for me. It's great branding, but it's still just plastic on your floor.
I have to LOL, I looked at a brand new condo a few weeks ago, and they were price in a medium rage, 55 plus. I could not believe they didn't even have hardwood as standard, they were legit putting sheet vinyl in the kitchen, dining, bathrooms, and laundry room as standard! WTF, you want me to pay 520K to get sheet vinyl flooring?! 🤦♀
There are exceptions, but it is mostly 90s, 80s or 70s houses that have hard wood, especially if want solid hardwood. At least in this price range, but I think part of it is solid hardwood is way more now than it used to be and it is not easy to add since it requires more depth than standard floors.
@@misterogers9423 In my area a brand new build is EXPECTED to have zero carpeting and either LVP or Hardwood at least on the entire first floor with exception of bathrooms!
I agree! It's a new SCAM. Vinyl is slightly less maintenance but it's not worth the feel IMO AND the toxins....high VOC with vinyl. Some companies lied before...then when tested by a trustworthy third party they had all the toxins expected. I won't trust vinyl and I also don't like carpet because if it's not wool it's not great either. But even polyester carpet is better than vinyl and laminate.
It's sad people don't do their research thoroughly. So many places legitimately are bragging about new vinyl. They can call it "luxury" like putting a pig in lipstick.....it's still a pig. But many of the younger people also that DO have money for a home are easily fooled. They don't put the effort into details much so they eat up that marketing. 😢Even plenty of wealthy people with blind trust. It's pretty wild.
The niche market to Boomers is a ripoff to our downsizing and releasing liquidity for our future needs…!!! Pure greed to rob us after life savings!! I was in a beautiful home In Lebanon County, Pa… I customized much and it was a gorgeous place….my financials changed and I moved to Tulsa to be near children….My Pa house is still a looker and I am happy on same size home for less expenses but ….builders are sucking the blood out of their elders here by selling $500,000 55+ housing!! (Obviously the old oil money people can do this but not typical middle class citizens!!!
Sheet vinyl, well laid by a pro can look amazing. And it will look good and last for years. But so often it is not put in right and starts to form hills and valleys.
Our retirement home had it in the kitchen and dining room. I liked the pattern, but a trip hazard, especially for my husband.
Thankfully, I know how to tile. I put the orange underlay under. Strongly recommend.
The main bathroom had laminate laid over 2 layers of sheet vinyl which had been stapled on. No hills or valleys though. Just lumpsm bumps and cracks.
Last year we ripped out the tub and put in a walk in shower with seat and rail. This year I put in the tiles, and tiled around the tub.
Hardwood, laminate and tile floors are all easy to learn to install.
However, condos are designed and built to fall apart in 10 to 20 years.
We have a 1930's home. We remodeled our kitchen years ago, removed the vinyl laminate flooring, water stained pine underneath, we had hardwood floors installed to match the rest of the home. Love it, yes, hardwood floors are lovely in the kitchen, they clean well, look warm and inviting. I always encourage people that hardwood in the kitchen is a great choice! Thank you for the video!
I grew up in a house built in 1720, with an addition built in 1830. The floors were pine. The back stairs were uneven in height, and were dished out from centuries of people going up those stairs. Loved that house. (The pine was a harder pine than you get today, and old, slow-growth pine that was harder than pine from managed forests.)
And if you use a boat varnish on the hardwood in the kitchen and bathrooms it makes for a water proof seal.
I agree!
We have hardwood in our kitchen and I love it. So easy to clean, and it’s beautiful too!
I replaced my carpet and tile mix with LVT from California Bamboo. I purchased the xtra wide plank. It looks real, it’s waterproof and the stuff I got is much stronger than engineered hardwood. It does not scratch. I spilled nail polish on it and removed it with nail polish remover can’t tell. I have I all over my home. I love this stuff! Oh, it wasn’t cheap. It was around 15k for 2000 sq feet. I shopped around and got the best looking and most durable I could find. But definitely pay for an installer.
I have Cali bamboo flooring in our main living area. I was considering their vinyl for our bedrooms since they no longer make our color of bamboo. Was it easy to install?
Good to hear some people still love hardwood floors. We have a regional place that manufactures hardwood flooring and they say they have really seen a down trend in sales due to the use of the LVP. Glad to hear people in the know still appreciate the real thing.
My house was built in the 60s. Previous owners put asbestos tile over original hardwood flooring and then later put expensive wool berber carpet on top of the asbestos tile. When we bought the house we didn't know what was under the carpet but it looked nice enough that we planned on keeping it. During the final walk through we found out there was water damage on the carpet in multiple spots that had been hidden under large heavy furniture pieces. We still closed on the house but wanted to replace the carpet right away. That's when we realized there was asbestos tile underneath. We ended up paying a lot of money to an asbestos abatement company and then thousands more to install hardwood... and the asbestos abatement company told us the original flooring was hardwood but it wasn't salvageable.
That sounds like an incredibly painful experience. Sorry that happened to you. 🩷
Yikes.
That's rough
sucks when people hide shit. i missed a lot of stuff in my home (still my only house so far).
I generally agree with everything you recommend with the following caveats. First, wood flooring in a kitchen is not always a great choice because a kitchen floor often has much more traffic than the rest of the house. Our last house had wood flooring in our kitchen that needed refinishing prior to being placed on the market while our other floors were in very good condition. Fortunately, we were able to hire a flooring refinisher that did a very good job at the openings to adjacent rooms. I would always suggest tile in kitchens. Second, I would usually recommend ceramic tile in finished basements. Third, if at all practical, I would avoid prefinished wood flooring, it looks like prefinished wood flooring.
As a retired architect I wish real estate agents would use correct terminology. Two examples of incorrect terminology heard on this video include two favorites of real estate agents: "home" and "hardwood" when referring to floors. an unlived in house is not a home, it is not a home if no one lives in it. Not all wood floors are hardwood, douglas fir, and other species of softwoods are often used for flooring. Unless one is specifically speaking of hardwoods such floors should be referred to as wood floors.
We just had Provenza Moda LVP, (color is Buttercup) installed in our entire home. Absolutely beautiful and highly recommend! We also protected all our furniture legs just to be extra cautious.
I bought a house in 2010 that had wall to wall carpet. I removed the carpet. As a hardwood flooring contractor, I put in hardwood flooring everywhere, except for two of the 3 bathrooms. I also put in white oak treads and risers and new white oak posts and handrails. For the floors, I put in 13/16 inch thick rosewood parquet that I had bought 30 years ago in Thailand, and bordered it in each room with 2 rows of select white oak flooring. I did the same in the master bedroom and in the basement. For the 2 smaller bedrooms, I put select white oak flooring in. I plan on selling house in 2-3 years and refinishing floors before selling. I’d love to put solid white oak 6 paneled doors in house but I’d never get my money out of it.
I live in Southern California and tile floors are very common, we have a expensive neutral beige/white tile that looks very good and is easy to keep clean, just have to have the grout professionally cleaned every few years. We do have an upgraded low pile carpet in the bedrooms but that is just our preference.
Neutral color ceramic, marble, and slate tile, are among my top flooring choices (after solid hardwood). Tile is durable, easy to clean, and a great choice when indoor air quality is a top concern.
Indoor air quality and VOCs are a top concern of mine, along with allergies. Nothing beats tile for that and ease of cleaning. @@altitudeiseverything3163
I did the absolute worst by accident. Got duped into gray lpv with grooved wood graining. I'm freaking sick to my stomach every day.😪😪😪
Grey is depressing. Mine is brown with some grey in it, with natural looking knots. Uniform all around with no light/dark boards. It's looks more than fine for my rental.
Why? The color? The graining?
You can do area rugs.
My apartment (built in 80s) has the gray simulated plank flooring, so ugly. And oddly a remodel of an old apartment has the very same. A Chinese restaurant has the identical same floor, it's approx. 20 yrs old and all the finish is worn off. Heck, I'd take the 60s - 80s vinyl flooring over that! And the gray has simulated knots that conceal dirt, floor always looks dirty!
There is nothing wrong with grey luxury vynal flooring. I was raised with’ ‘earth tones’ and I’m sick of them. I love grey, it’s not depressing, especially in sunny areas like calif. I just went to a flip today and it had grey luxury plank.
I put in light toned, wide, engineered hardwood in our house, all myself. It was a bit expensive at over $6.00 a sq ft, for materials only, but this is our long term house and we did an entire reno and we are very happy with how it all turned out.
I am not about to sell or buy and I just love to hear her advice. lol
We remodeled an older home and added engineered hardwood throughout, including the kitchen. It is warm and beautiful. On the day we moved in though, our movers gouged the floor by scooting our heavy sofa. Luckily I was there and put a stop to everything until I got felt pads installed under every single surface that was touching the floor. I can now easily move heavy pieces of furniture to clean. After 11 years, our floors look great! We also bought extra flooring, luckily, since we have had 2 water leaks. Our flooring company removed and replaced the damaged, warped pieces and you would never know it.
My husband always buys an extra case or two of tile, wood, and LVP for that reason. Thank goodness! At least 3 times it saved us from having to replace an entire floor. Also, for tile and lvp, they go in and out of style and chances are, 5 or 10 years later, you won't be able to find a replacement.
We did a pretty big remodel and we used a designer for the big, permanent stuff like cabinets, countertops, backsplash and floors. I’m so glad we did. It didn’t cost that much.
A good idea for sellers is to go to new home displays, they will see the up to date choices in flooring, countertops, fixtures, lighting etc. i was in real estate for years partly working selling existing and also worked for builders. If a seller has decorating, that is too specific it can hurt thecsale, that is why new home displays are so good because the choices appeal to the masses.
One thing I know is that, if you live where sand gets tracked in, you better have some kind of durable tile or even concrete at the entry doors. That sand will eat through wood and vinyl real quick.
no only sand, but salt or other road chemicals, if you live in a snowy state, it's going to end up in your home regardless of having rugs in your entry way.
@@virginiamoss7045 that’s why I don’t wear my outside shoes in the house. I take them off and put on house slippers.
@@cherylanon5791 , or you could just do what millions of people around the world do: don’t wear your outside shoes in the house. Put on house shoes inside.
@@wallihaley5194 Yes, so simple and widespread. Americans are still at the were-you-raised-in-a-barn level it seems. It's hard to train children and men to not wear outside shoes in the house. Japanese people have it down practically to a science, having separate toilet shoes in some households.
@@virginiamoss7045 , yes, and I read recently that not wearing your outside shoes in the house keeps the floors 80% cleaner. I do know that this is a more common practice in some parts of the country especially where the winters are cold and snowy. But I do it as a standard practice. I keep a basket of washable slippers by the front door for guests, and that helps.
Homes in the southwest are almost always, slab on grade, with very little soil moisture. So, tile makes much more sense, as it can be installed directly over the concrete slab.
Thank you, it is music to my ears to hear you telling people to not put carpet in bedrooms. I like the feeling of walking around on a cool hard surface, and I don't have to worry if my dog has an accident on hard surfaces. What I am not sure of is putting hardwood floors in with my propensity to bring home every stray puppy I find.
I’m so glad you said LVP next because I am in the process of finishing the upstairs of my house in it with the wide plank vinyl look and we love it and we don’t hear the dogs nails on the flooring either 😅
I am going with Engineered Hardwood as my son is a Flooring & Tile contractor and he recommended the engineered hardwood. Its a bit cheaper and yes you can refinish a couple of times. There is some sort of vinyl floor covering on my floors now. I hate it. I don't have a huge home but I am glad my son will be the professional installer for me. 💖 All I have to do is pay for the flooring.
That's fantastic that you have a professional recommendation from your son! Engineered hardwood sounds like a great choice for your home.
We put white oak hardwood in our homes, kitchens included. We put large white porcelain tiles 0.4 inches thick in the bathrooms and laundry rooms. We matched floor height so hardwood and tile are level. Small tile is out. Large format tile is in. Use 1/16 or 1/8 inch grout lines. Wider grout lines are out.
I disagree on the engineered hardwood. It is difficult to match years later, if you have to do a repair or an addition. Sunlight eventually changes the color of both engineered and regular hardwood flooring. Engineered hardwood is more difficult to sand. Whereas hardwood flooring can be easily sanded and color matched by professional hardwood installers. Engineered hardwood is indeed a lot tougher, more stable, and lasts a long time. The only issue I have is trying to match engineered hardwood flooring years later.
You are correct about carpet. I abandoned carpet in 2017. No one wants carpet anymore.
Not all decorators are equal. Beware of decorators who want to experiment on your dime. Trying things they have never done before. One decorator talked one woman into staining a new hardwood floor black. The homeowner hated it. The floor never looked clean. I experimented with laminate flooring, but abandoned it. I did try vinyl tile flooring in a well pump room. It was a good option in the pump room where the well pressure tank and water treatment equipment is located. That room has a drain, in the event of a tank leak. That room has two tanks holding 156 gallons of water, a water softener, and a 49 gallon water heater. The floor is recessed one inch so water will drain before reaching the hardwood in the adjacent utility room. The tanks do not burst, when they fail, because well systems operate between 40 and 60 psi. The tanks typically develop a small leak. We have a moisture detector at the lowest point that alarms when water reaches the detector. That detector has saved us twice so far.
The way I do tile is to use 1/4 inch Hardiebacker board that is nailed to the wood subfloor. Never had any tile crack, in over twenty years, and it can be removed years later if you want to change the flooring.
In older homes, the bathroom countertops are usually too low. I raise the bathroom countertops 3.5 inches. I use 3/4 inch quartz or solid white cultured marble countertops in bathrooms. I use thick ( 1.5 inch ) quartz countertops in kitchens. Quartz never has to be resealed like granite does.
Here is a tip for all homeowners. Fill out and send in the warranty cards for all new appliances. If you don’t do that, you will have to prove you purchased the appliance to get warranty work done. We had a $2700 smooth electric cooktop that was recalled due to a fire hazard. The company paid us the purchase price including tax, plus $300 for an install, plus sent a technician to remove it. It was so dangerous, we were told to turn the breaker off and stop using it. The company cannot contact you, if they don’t where it is. They know what store sold it, and when it was purchased, but have no way of knowing who is using it, if you don’t send in the warranty card or fill one out online at time of installation or purchase.
thank you, great tips!
Absolutely on hardwood! Bought a 1941 home and discovered Cherry hardwood under carpet. Cherry trim in formal rooms had been painted over.
I do think carpet is a good choice in upstairs rooms over principal downstairs rooms where foot traffic above would be distracting.
Vinyl flooring has BPA. Though covered with a "protective layer", wear will eventually cause the layer to erode and release the BPA in the vinyl. BPA is a known endocrine disruptor. With babies crawling around at floor level, vinyl flooring shouldn't contain a substance that impacts development.
Thanks for sharing this info, I didn't know
No some vinyl flooring has BPA but many do not. The ones that do not are clearly labeled.
@@lhartwig2354 I have looked for such labeling and have not found it. Perhaps it is in the fine print. VOC Free flooring is easly found but BPA free more difficult to find (as yet even a google search for "BPA free vinyl flooring" fails to produce BPA flooring options.
The old linoleum had asbestos in it, I grew up on a farm our house had it in and it was wore through and I was a flooring installer for many years. 63 yrs old and still healthy. I bet you drink and eat out of plastic containers.😅
Taking out tile floors that are functional is wild to me.
We made the choice to do hardwood in our kitchen and no regrets like 7 mos in.
As always a video full of valuable info….Several years ago I ripped out my three different styles of ceramic/porceline tile (previous owner installed) that was mismatched and installed a super premium (thicker protective layer) LVP floor throughout the house….it looks great! My home has same flooring thru the home which makes the rooms appear bigger - without those different flooring transition's from room to room…I use area rugs and I get many compliments on my floors. Also, it’s super easy to care for. Speaking of ceramic tile, it was a horror show removing 1500 sq feet of it and was a mess to do it….yes, it was also very expensive removal - but am so glad it’s gone! No more dirty looking grout due to constant mopping.
Ugh. Tile removal. We have to replace our whole subfloor because of the cement used under the tile. I feel your pain.
@@alyross2850 I am sorry to hear that! The moron who installed my tile did the same thing - they used PORTLAND CEMENT rather than thin set. It destroyed my concrete slab in some places. I hope your removal goes smoothly. Word of advice…make sure they have machines in place BEFORE they start grinding to minimize the dust..which is very dangerous to breathe…there’s special equipment for that and its well worth the expense to have them use it…
we recently used luxury vinyl plank in our living room. It's excellent!
We bought a house 8 years ago and the floors were horrendous. That did not stop us from buying the house. Our contractor with specializes in flooring. We were suggested to just tile or use wood over the existing floor and it's been fantastic. No problems at all. You do not have to remove the old flooring, save you thousands.❤
Great video. My only reservation about engineered hardwood is it may warp, swell, or disintegrate if you have a leak, pipe burst, or even a spilled drink that forms a tiny puddle and doesn’t get cleaned up quick enough.
There are drawbacks to every one of these options, but since I live in the southeast where it’s humid it seems that LVP is the lesser of all the evils. Its main drawback is that if you have a leak, pipe burst, or spilled drink that doesn’t get cleaned up quick enough it won’t warp or swell, but mold and mildew can form underneath it. LVP also cannot be resurfaced so if you scratch it moving around furniture or something you’ll have to replace that piece of the flooring. So none of these options are perfect. It’s just what you deem to be the lesser of the evils.
One type of flooring she didn’t mention is bamboo. I would like to get peoples opinions of bamboo flooring.
My daughter loves her bamboo floors. She has had them in her main living area for years and is now adding them to her bedroom. And she has had large dogs in the family the entire time. Not cheap though.
Bamboo is a great floor! Go with the expensive ones though. Cheap ones are made cheaply and you will have issues. Cali and Teragren make great products.
We bought our home with a $.79 per sqft laminate flooring. We assume the previous floor was pretty bad. It’s not fooling anyone but it’s easy to keep clean. We’ve lived with it for 7 years and it’s held up okay. We have plans to replace it when the kids get a little older. For now it’s nice to have a floor I don’t care if it gets damaged.
Anything replaced before the kids move out will be replaced again after. I still have vinyl in my one upstairs bedroom. Very outdated. It is a guest/ craftroom. But it was well laid and still going strong. Guessing it is 34 years old.
Yes we got hardwood all over the first floor and the half bathroom. However for the den which has concrete underneath, we got the engineered hardwood with 4 mm top which matches the solid hardwood on the first floor.
I hope you sealed the concrete . . .
Yes. Hardwood is beautiful. But the way we live nowadays, LVP is the way to go. For pets and kids. Put them in my last 2 homes.. and I hate wall to wall carpet anywhere. I have area rugs. The worst is when people put new carpet in to sell.. I just think it needs to be ripped out.
LVP is shorthand for Luxury Vinyl Plank. There are five main types of hardwood floors. They are: vinyl, laminate, parquet, solid and engineered hardwood flooring.
Agreed! When reading real estate listings and the agent proudly puts "new carpeting", I just sigh and say... no thanks, moving on!
Carpet is gross.
@@bettysmith4527 If the house is going to come with carpet anyway, it might as well be NEW carpeting. I wouldn't let the carpeting be a deal-breaker for an otherwise nice or suitable house. All things considered, new carpet isn't the worst thing. The only caveat would be if you thought the carpet was covering something up.
@living2day617 Plantar fasciitis? I think tile of any sort can be exceptionally dangerous for older people. It can be very slippery when wet, but if they are to fall for any reason, they will have more risk of substantial injuries from broken bones or head trauma.
I have tile in the house I bought last year. I'm not sure if they're porcelain or ceramic, but I love the flooring. The kitchen and dining room floor are made to look like wood, and the living room has a mottled warm neutral look. But the tile is amazing in the dog days of summer in Texas, and I wouldn't want to change it unless I needed to. And then I might try to find a similar tile. If I lived in a cooler climate, a different flooring would be better.
Hardwood looks great, but any cat owner knows that cat barf will eat the finish no matter how quickly you clean it up. Tile or LVP is the way to go IMO. As a long time pet owner I would pass on a home with hardwood flooring.
I have LVP and as soon as it was installed, my cat had an accident on it, aka pee, it floated on top, didn't penetrate. I cleaned it and no smells remained. My dogs didn't scratch it, but when I moved some furniture, I scratched it a bit. Fortunately it doesn't show.
I grew up with hardwood and have it now. The materials used to refinish hardwood has improved a ton. I have a cat that pukes a lot and it has not damaged the floors.
We have been in our older (1908) home for almost 50 years. We have raised our children here and have had many cats. Our original hardwood floors still look great!
Have cats…haven’t had any issues with engineered hardwood. Has been great!
I totally agree with you. I had carpet throughout my house and it detest it. Finally was able to update and put in LVP. The first time I heard the cat puking I came running with a paper towel and a Clorox wipe. As easy as that.
This is a great video. Thank you. I have hardwood throughout. Except my open concept kitchen - we have slate floors.
They are beautiful but, I realized I’m a bull in a China cabinet. Between my granite countertops and slate floors- my dishes and glassware don’t stand a chance. lol
Just something to think about when buying your first home. 😉
This is an excellent video! Very informative. I have Brazilian cherry floors downstairs. I had it installed 17 years ago and it still looks fabulous!
Glad it was helpful!
We live in Florida. When we moved in, we took up the carpetee áreas and had dark LPV put down. The rest of the floors are white (very cheap looking) 12" square ceramic tiles. I hate them, but don't really want to have them removed as it will be dirty and expensive. What do you think of putting epoxy covering over them? I know the grout marks would show, but a neutral off white with two colors swirled in......
I guess I’m weird I liked your house tile much more then the floor you put in
Yes, hopefully she put the engineer wood over the tile so the next person can restore it. I put in engineered wood just in the bedrooms and it didn’t survive my teenagers so 16 years after it was installed it was ripped out and replaced with a commercial glue down LVP.
I'm astonished that such a beautiful house (at least the entry way) was rejected by buyers because of what looked like a nice tile. Hopefully there was more to object to than that. Such wastefulness.
What flooring is recommended for bathrooms? My 100 year old house has tile in the bathroom that need replacing.
My floors are hardwood that have always been covered with carpet. When I go to sell I plan to remove the carper, should I leave the floors with their old dark stain or refinish. If I refinish is is better to use a light or dark stain?
That luxury vinyl plank top layer looks like the Armstrong cushion-step vinyl flooring I had installed throughout most of my custom house. It's incredibly durable, easy to clean, very non-slip, warm and soft under foot, and spilled liquids don't drool down between planks of wood or engineered wood or vinyl wood planks. People look down on sheet vinyl, but I could not be more pleased with this flooring. It was top of the line, but you generally get what you pay for. It's less expensive than planks and installation should be professional to avoid seams (it's amazing to watch them work).
I completely agree with you! There is unwarranted snobbery regarding sheet vinyl. Stay away from builder's grade. I went with commercial grade Armstrong sheet vinyl flooring in my kitchen and bathrooms in 2002 -- it looks fantastic today AND does not suffer from seeping of liquid and dirt between seams. Only thing is if you dropped a seering hot saucepan onto vinyl -- it will scorch!
@@lanialost1320 Oh, that's one thing I never thought about and have yet to experience. I'll be extra careful from now on. With my pattern, I can cut out the section damaged and inlay a matching cut out piece from scrap I saved and you won't even see the repair; So it can be repaired as well. One more: you won't hear your dog's click-click-clicking with it's claws when it walks or trots about at all.
I have sheet vinyl in my kitchen and bathrooms and I absolutely love it. I would still have sheet vinyl in my house if I became rich. It looks great, is none slip, comfortable under foot and has no cracks for liquids or worse to get into.
@@rosieposie9564 "... or worse ..." Made me laugh; my neighbor has a cat that is frequently vomiting a mess to clean up and she complains about the joints in her flooring. Then there are all the puppies in house training leaving puddles all over the floor. Vinyl has it's place; definitely better than carpet.
@@virginiamoss7045 Her home is going to smell really bad if that continues.
Had a leak on my hardwood floor while the house was in escrow. Replacing with tile. Too many things to leak in a kitchen. Unfortunately the MAJOR manufacturer quit producing their top seller so I could not get more to replace.! I was stuck with doing the whole downstairs of a perfectly good floor save 100sf of a wet damaged floor.
That really stinks and I'm sorry you had to go through that. I love the look of hardwood in kitchens but I always stick with tile for the reason you mentioned. I have tile and the first week living here I dropped and shattered a Costco size jar of pickles. I was glad to have tile when that happened, lol. The tile is very high quality with a good installation. I have seen homes with cracked tiles, so I know it isn't always ideal.
If you'd had a wood floor, there is a slim chance that the jar wouldn't have broken when it hit the floor. That's one thing I can say in favor of wood vs tile from personal experience. A tile floor virtually guarantees that anything glass, or fragile, that falls on it is likely to break. Wood can be a little more forgiving.
@charmc4152 That's true. I personally would love hardwood throughout the whole house other than bathrooms, but my husband can't be convinced so we have tile in the kitchen and front entryway because of harsh winter weather bringing in snow, salt and ice.
You know that leaks can result in tile floor needing to come up too right?
We stained our concrete floors with soy Crete, $600 for entire downstairs. Labor intensive to prep the slab but we love it and it looks amazing, great for our dog.
The real estate market is about ready to burst. Like in 2008, Hardwood is really nice, however put on slabs in Florida as well as humidity just makes it risky..we love our tile flooring that looks likes wood. It also works out well with having our dogs. Our beautiful tile is porcelain tile. Great quality. We kept every bedroom, 4 bedrooms with same floring.
The main thing to keep in mind when choosing a hardwood floor for a kitchen is to select a wood essence that has a janka hardness rate of at least 1300 and up
I shied away from Hickory for my customers here in the desert southwest because of end-checking (see below). A smooth finish maple will show dents no matter how hard it is - it's wood after all. Just be realistic, manufacturers and refinishers can make the wear surface as resistant as possible but can't do much for impact damage (and a Janka test is just for that, good advice). And you're going to need humidity control if you live where it's dry - sometimes lots of moisture added just to get to 50% relative.
Great advice to talk to an agent about changing stuff. 4 year ago we bought our home from an older woman and for the sale she replaced the kitchen cabinets with new good Kraftmade quality cabinets with dovetail corners in a shaker style which is good, however she chose
a golden oak color! I wish she would have consulted an agent. Also the new quartz tops are a bad color too.
The color of wood can be easily changed.
@@Matthew_Loutner 💙
I think the advice to talk to an agent is really only relevant if you are doing upgrades in order to sell or you think you may sell in the next 5 years. What is on trend today will probably look dated in 10 years anyway, so if this is your forever home, do what you like and can afford .
I live in a log cabin, so my late husband had rustic wood flooring installed. It looks beautiful, but is impossible to clean. Swiffer products can’t be used because the floor shreds the dry cloths and the wet ones don’t get in the crevices. The floor destroyed a Floormate machine, so I had to buy a very expensive commercial floor machine. Even then I have to do touchups by hand because of all the dips and “rusticness”. Don’t put in “rustic” hardwood flooring unless you can get on your hands and knees to clean it. I have 5000 ft of hard flooring to clean.
Hardwood can definitely go into homes in humid climates - we have it everywhere in the tropical parts of Queensland Australia. Our home is over 20 years old , no warping of our true hardwood floors at all. We have pets, and hardwood everywhere. No problems. The best flooring!
We live in south Louisiana and have solid oak flooring. It does cup seasonally but that is now very minimal after 15 years. I probably would have gotten engineered hardwood if I’d known about this problem. My parent’s house had 2” solid strip oak and cupping wasn’t a problem. I have 4” and 5” planks.
I used white oak laminate from Australia. I looks beautiful. I get a lot of compliments on it. When we bought this house, in Florida, it had engineered hardwood that had not been maintained correctly and was not a good quality. So glad to get rid of it.
The tile in your house was gorgeous I agree wouldn’t want that throughout my whole house but dang I’d love to know what it was, it looks like what I want for my kitchen when I remodel.
People weren't buying the house that we bought because of the carpeting. Previous owners had the Dark Red and Burgandy wall to wall carpeting put in before they moved in, when the house was brand new. When we moved in I ripped out the Shag and found beautiful hardwood floors.
Hardwood has gone through as many trends in finish as anything else. 2000s purpleheart can make your home unsellable. And hardwood is frequently destroyed in kitchens from ice maker failures.
Absolutely. We had a freezer die and leak all over the hardwood, it warped a bit.
This is so location based. Laminate is #1 in my area. Easy to repair and affordable as well as requested. Scratch resistant for those of us with dogs. Wood floors are a disaster in a coastal wet locale. LVP? Make sure you investigate the off gassing. Been renovating since 1988.
I installed LVP on my rental side, 8mm. I like it well enough, but don't love it. On my side I used half inch laminate that I absolutely love. One of the things I first noticed with the laminate was it was far more comfortable underfoot. I fine with the decision I made and am looking forward to moving back to my side...Soon.
SW here, going more for a concrete tile look, not grey, but warm and light and neutral.
Concrete greige tile is amazing!!!👌
@@adriaba790 ty. Going for a modern adobe look. Instead of tile around the fireplace, planning on Venetian plaster
Thank you for this information. We have a beautiful house with a mountain view that we built 26 years ago and a gorgeous natural maple custom kitchen. The cabinets are in excellent condition but are yellow now. We walked in to the design flooring store the other day and asked their recommendation for our kitchen flooring. They said that there is none right now because everything is so GRAY. The decorator said that the light gray that is in every new house right now is on it's way out and we will swing back to warmer colors. We have a ton of natural daylight and live in Alaska... so our shopping is very limited. We are also replacing counter tops and working on that choice right now granite vs. quartz. Thank you for any input that you may have.
P.S. We do have a very light colored new carpet in our living room, loft and bedrooms and love it. Alaska is cold and dark in the winter and carpet is comfy and we much prefer it. We also have a chalet style that would be unbearably noisy with hard flooring everywhere. . We don't have pets and the kids are gone so it will remain nice if we sell in the next few years. Thank you again :)
Thank you for sharing your home details! Your thoughtful choices and planning are evident in every aspect.
What do you think about epoxy flooring for Florida condo?
We built our house 24 years ago. We have stained & scored cement. Always loved our downstairs floor. Carpet upstairs but vacant.
If you live in the southwest hardwood and it’s friends scratch with all the sand and grit, lvp outgasses which can be a problem with anyone with respiratory issues, carpet is a no because it is a money sink. I put in wood look porcelain plank tiles and love them. Easy clean, look great, and if you safe a few, easy repairs if someone drops something very heavy from a height.
My decision for any change in my home to sell is based on ROI. If a home decorator runs $1000 and the tile swap out is $4000 then will I received more than $5000 in sales price? I am not a realtor but I can add just fine. Valuation used to be based on comps and square feet. Small adjustments can be made from new upgrades but they are just that, small. My thoughts are different than yours, I would rather see the potential ROI as a gain and not a loss. There is no doubt that making the home the best in city will increase sales price, but spending $5000 for new floors to get the same sales price makes no sense to me. I would rather given a cash incentive to the buyer for $2000 if new floors were indeed bad. Not to just change white to beige.
I think there are two potential issues. One is, keep in mind that realtors benefit if your house sells for more money because their percentage commission is applied to a higher price, correct? So, if you do the math and the only person coming out on the transaction is the realtor, think hard about whether you want to go down that path. On the other hand, I remember being a new home buyer, looking at houses, and thinking, "I'm going into home buying expecting that I need to repaint everything, which I can do. I also need to buy appliances (which don't come with the house). But I can't also replace all of the flooring." If you give me a $2k credit and I need $5k+ to do the flooring, well, that's an issue. If the flooring just isn't my ideal, depending on how far off it is and how long I'll need to tolerate it, I may be able to handle it. If it's not in good repair, that's different.
@@whiteserpent6753 No disagreement from me. My home is in excellent shape not because I might want it sold but because I have no interest in living in trash. I comprehend the realtor is the one who really benefits from any upgrade. And I never found any realtor who cared more about my listing than her own new car outside. Once I sign the paperwork with the realtor, I doubt very much if they will do more than list and then expect that big commission. Very high reward for not much effort. My approach is to do my homework and give the realtor a finite time frame to sell. Only if that realtor works by showing the home, having open houses, and keeps in weekly contact will that realtor get any time extension at all.
@2023Red I always interviewed multiple realtors before deciding which one would represent us in selling our home. It was sometimes hard giving the news to a candidate that we selected someone else, but we typically got good results.
@@charmc4152 I have not met a realtor who had our interests in mind.? Their only objective was getting us to sign them as the listing agent. At age 76, we are cautious.
Amateur installation of engineered wood and laminate is a huge issue, it even sounds bad walking on it! Pay a professional for installation! Also, no matter what, do not change flooring from room to room, unless it’s carpet in a bedroom of tile by the tub. When I was in real estate , I saw homes with tile in one room, laminate in another, a different tile in another, what a mess!
If the floor is uneven underneath the lvp or laminate you are going to have issues with the floor moving up and down as you step on it. A professional is only going to fix that if you pay them extra, and it's going to cost quite a bit extra perhaps even more than the installation
I used a high quality white oak laminate from Australia. I looks beautiful. When compared with engineered white oak it was difficult to tell the difference. I get a lot of compliments on it. When we bought this house, in Florida, it had cheap engineered hardwood that had not been maintained correctly and was not a good quality. So glad to get rid of it. Selecting a high quality material, whatever flooring you select is a must.
I think you are correct. I know people with great looking laminate floors. The quality of the material is definitely more important than which material you use.
Thanks. I was going to get some good laminate flooring but keep hearing people talk about it being awful.
I'm torn. My home was originally built in 1950 and has hardwood subfloor in the original part of the house, but an addition was added in 2011 in which laminate flooring was used. Over the years the kitchen has had so many layers of plywood and vinyl added to it so that it is now a full inch higher than my other floors. The original hardwood subfloor is not in great shape. It has some large (1/4") gaps throughout and physical damage in some areas. I would like to level the kitchen floor and lay LVP through out the house to give it a more cohesive look. What are your thoughts?
Yep. Do it. You’ll love it and you’ll get a great return on it!
What about cork flooring and parquet? Have both in my house, will be remodelling but like those too..,
What is your opinion of black flooring, laminate? Thanks
I put carpet in bedrooms and ripped all carpet out of the main living and traffic areas and had a LVP FROM LUMBER LIQUIDATORS it looks like real hardwood floor,has ridges and is a Rustic Acacia.
I think sheet vinyl is great! I miss how easy it was to mop my parents kitchen. Now I have my starter house with an annoying combo of hardwood, LVP, and tile. I'm terrified to get the LVP more than the tiniest bit damp due to the cracks in between boards.
I have a long kitchen 10x25, After removing the old linoleum I discovered in the eating area 10x10 that there was beautiful heart pine flooring under, The rest of the floor, which is the cabinet area with sink , frig and stove has plywood. I heard what you said about never covering hardwood and I feel the same way. The rest of the house also has all hardwood floors. How should I approach this area? Any ideas?
I have a quality berber in the large family room and am loathe to rip it up when we sell in a couple years. It's beige and, has warmed up a room where we primarly live in long winters. I hope it might come across as more of a neutral vs a negative. But maybe not? Matching up woods becomes an issue then, as all we had to start with was carpet and lousy subfloor so did go engineered hardwood for the rest of the 1st floor minus kitchen tile. No hidden gems under the carpet. :)
I'd just clean the carpet when you sell if it still looks presentable.
I don't think replacing the carpet in just the one area is going to change your sales price enough to make it worth it, as long as the rest of your floors are desirable.
what do you think about installing high quality lvp over tile? rather than removing the tile
What flooring do you recommend in a room with a fireplace. Will LVP hold up to sparks?
Nothing plastic will hold up to sparks. That includes, carpet, vinyl, paint and varnish. What people do is put an apron of brick, block, or ceramic in front of the fireplace. Then do the rest of the floor in whatever.
Dear you have made good decision it looks very nice please share the more information about your colour and type of wood for me bc I am in decision process it would be helpful. Thanks
we have zero hardwood floors, spec house built in 1960's, so there's carpet in bedrooms, LR & formal DR, and vinyl in the kitchen. There was slate in the entry area and half bath but it was ugly black slate in strange shapes---we had it jackhammered away and did put in porcelain tile which has been awesome. Wood in our snowy climate would be awful in an entry area due to sand/salt, I've seen it in other homes in our area and it always fails the snow-sand-salt test.
Thanks for the good video. And thanks to your viewers for the helpful comments too. I’m choosing new flooring for my kitchen & laundry room. To replace the very old linoleum. The rest of the flooring is the original hardwood - warm maple/oak, narrow boards. Any suggestions?
Refinish it. If it is done right, it will be beautiful and durable. I would use an exopy of some kind.
I’m curious to know what you have to say about flooring for bathrooms.
Tile is usually best
Downloaded your Seller’s Playbook because you mention in this video you have LVP recommendations. Couldn’t find any in there :(
I just bought a house with no floors -- just bare concrete, so this video is good advice for me.
Glad it was helpful!
We had hardwood in our main living areas in our home when we moved in. The carpeting in the bedrooms was not in good shape, so we shelled out the money to put hardwood floors that match in all of the bedrooms. Our kitchen and laundry and powder room has beige tile. It’s fine and I don’t know if we would ever change it but I think most people probably would have ripped it out. It might be a problem on down the road but I’m not sure what flooring we would put in to replace it. It doesn’t run under the cabinets in the kitchen and I don’t think wood floors can be butted up against cabinets.
A problem with carpeting not noted. My late wife used a powered wheelchair after her stroke. The existing carpet floors allowed her about 6 hours use until another all night charge was needed. The cheap and fast to install vinyl provided 12 hours use. Carpeting may be a good option for other seniors, falling down on carpeted floors is not as bad on you.
I laid engineered hardwood throughout my home and it was, in fact, beautiful for so many years. Until.... dishwasher leak destroyed a huge area in both the kitchen and dining room. No problem, I had 3 leftover boxes to do just as you suggested and replace them bad boards with my back up boards, right? Wrong! Unbeknownst to me, after 14 years, the color of the floor does change as much as any other wood floor would have and the spare boxes of planks did not match so well. I just wanted to share this incase that would be the reason anyone decided it is THE reason to choose engineered wood. It's not something to factor into your equation. Another problem, the high end oak version I purchased did scratch and mar much much easier than I expected from dropping things to moving not so heavy furniture etc. I am currently in a Reno mode for our new home and chose wood looking tile for these reasons. Fingers crossed, but I think I will be much happier with this option despite the tremendous cost increase for this floor.
We bought a house in 2021, it was built in 1900, the previous, and very elderly owner put cheap laminate flooring on top of absolutely perfect hardwood floors. It was a mess to remove, the glue was horrible. But in the end, we are refinishing the floors, still debating the colors. The house trim is a darker wood, though that may change as well. Would you go for lighter or darker for the floors?
I’d go for a little lighter than medium. I have dark wood and hate it.
What would you do with 120+ year old softwood plank that is end of life with no subfloor? I hate to cover it with anything, but refinishing is no longer a good option with edge splits in traffic areas.
What category is your home in my sellers playbook?
@@KatiSpaniak Seems about middle of concealable condition. It's a 1901 build with plumbing, HVAC, electrical, roof, foundation, and insulation all redone 15 years ago. Baths and kitchen also redone at the time with some more recent appliance updates. It still has original double hung windows that operate and seal well, and a rough value of $500-$600k. Exterior paint is fresh last year and it shows well, but I am starting to get nervous about the age of the roof and HVAC blowing my budget for other things. Floors are serviceable and in relatively good condition right now, but there are areas of concern with gaps between the boards and splintering. I don't believe anything I do to them would add value so much as improve salability, but maybe it's better spent elsewhere?
@@ksnax Thanks for this. So no. I wouldn't do the floors. To confirm, I would ask your agent what he or she thinks. But once you start on updating you won't be able to know where to stop. I would keep the money saved in case you need to put on a new roof. Keep me posted!
We had a bedroom with severly damaged hardwood floors. We put sheet vinyl over it, looks great and is wearing well. Sorry!
Good to know!
The snobbery against sheet vinyl is just ridiculous and undeserved. Vinyl sheet has many advantages and it can also look great too if you get the better quality ones and get it installed professionally.
@@rosieposie9564 It looks almost exactly like my wood floors and has been down for several years with cats and dogs and still looks great.
Do you recall the specifics of the engineered hardwood you chose for your home? Brand, color? So beautiful! Robin
Thanks!!
palmettoroadfloors.com/hardwood-flooring/Charleston/FrenchOak/Courtyard-flooring.aspx
Ha, I live in Charleston…thank you!! Robin
We made a mistake and put wall to wall carpet over our hardwood floors. We have lived here for 20 years. We are planning to move and we are wondering if we should just leave the carpet or rip it up. We are NOT going to refinish the floors, so whatever it looks like underneath the carpet, that will be the new owners problem to deal with. My question is, should we just leave the carpet, or rip it up and have the hardwood floor exposed (potentially damaged from years of carpet on top of it).
What do you recommend for stairs?
Very impractical advice. I'm 73 years old. When I was a boy all new homes had hardwood floors, anything else was an upcharge. My home was built in 1921 and had beautiful white oak floors. Over the years I've had them refinished 4 times. It's a real pain to do and the floor doesn't look good for long. I put luxury vinyl plank over the wood. If people don't like it, they can pick up the vinyl and the floors will be there ready to refinish. You don't glue or nail vinyl plank down so the wood floor is intact. Engineered hardwood is not as durable as she is hoping it is. Additionally, she could have used a sheet underlayment over her tile and used whatever flooring she wanted. Simply have the doors cut down and install thresholds. Remember them? They had a purpose. Builders don't use them to save money
i would only add that it isn't very practical for her to advise we talk to our designer to make our choices. how many of us are going to hire a designer when we change our flooring? average people don't hire designers or decorators!
My grandmother is gone now, but her entire house was built of maple. 🍁
@michelle-vl3me Yes I've seen enough horrific style choices by decorators (not designers, but sometimes them too) to stay far away from them
Yes, the LVP floor can be easily removed if someone else doesn’t like it. We just installed it in the entire house except bathrooms and kitchen. We are loving the easy upkeep. It is a nice choice.
Transitions are super important. There are some very smooth ways to transition from wood to tile that are very nice. Hate those hump pieces! One neighbor put in water proof laminate which I thought was an oxymoron. It’s very ridged like wood and is beautiful. I like it a whole lot better than nursing home LVP.
This advice is very regional. You are correct for the Midwest.
Tile is great in a mid century modern home or ranch style home or Mediterranean style home which are fairly rare in the Midwest and northern east coast.
Wood floors with wood cabinets is very hard to pull off so unless you have painted cabinets I would never put wood floors or wood look (engineered, tile or lvl) in a kitchen or great room if wood cabinets are the choice. Especially if you have a lot of wood furniture. The only way this works is in very large McMansions.
Your engr wood floor looks great. Could you please provide brand and color?
I love hardwood. I put engineered hardwood in my home. My 70 pound standard poodle would slip and slide on the floor so he extended his toenails. The floor now has indentations from the his nails. Yes, they can be sanded out. I wished that I had put in porcelain tile which would hold up to a big, heavy dog. I rejected vinyl plank flooring because it outgases. Otherwise, it would have been great.
I was looking at homes for sale online and I could pick out LVP every time. It just has a sheen that gives it away. Not a fan.
You absolutely cannot tell what flooring they have on line. Stop the lies.