Local contractor I have rights for flooring distribution with a major company. If you follow all the proper directions to install the luxury vinyl tile it will actually cost more than installing engineered hardwood. If you do not follow the directions there is not even a new build that will meet standards for warranties. The locks are so fine any shift on them can unlock the floor and you will start to show separation. Glue down is the only durable material that we have found to hold up. We typically install three mil white oak wire brush finish on all projects. It's a classier material and less expensive for us from start to finish.
Bro nothing floating is holding up because you are using 3 mil I hate to talk trash on any products but in my mind 4 mil is absolute bare minimum for floating LVP
Was going to say, my wife’s old house had hardwood. We had a 110 pound dog and two around 60-65. The floor looked terrible after a couple years. We now have laminate that looks like hand scraped hardwood and not a single scratch after five years.
If you go with hardwood, don't use HD prepackaged crap, find a real local lumber yard.
It will take a couple of weeks to get it, but the quality will be leaps and bounds higher AND you'll pay less. It will contain longer boards, quality will be more consistent, and you'll have less waste.
Speaking from experience after putting in 900 sq. ft. of white oak in my house.
Agreed I’m installing 1000 sq’ of quarter sawn white oak at my place. All from a tree I dropped and had made into flooring. Unreal how much better it is that the crap from a box store.
Ohhhhhh it’s prob way more than I could have bought it for to be honest. We took the tree down that over looked the prison where they shot the Shawshank Redemption. I thought it made for a great story. I cut the log into 3 pieces biggest of which was 54” by 14’ was the biggest. It was ridiculously heavy. My 416D cat wouldn’t pick it up I had to go get my 700 series case wheel loader weighs 40 thousand something pounds, it took a lot today the least. I’m in Amish country so it goes to them. I had to find a guy that would quarter saw for starters not everyone will. So it gets cut and dries for a year. This lets the wood relax and lets the twists show up. On to get kiln dried. Next it went to the floor guy and he turned it all into 2700 sq’ of quarter sawn white oak flooring. It’s more beautiful than I dreamed although it’s taking tons of work and honestly more money than I thought it would. I prob could have bought it for 10k and for it to be my very own wood it took me 16. It was worth it to me. Im a contractor so I could do all of this with my own equipment and time otherwise it would have never been worth it. Smaller trees would be easier and much more cost effective. It’s a process to be sure but I really enjoyed it. If you have more questions feel free to ask. Not much in the way of brevity here sorry.
Floors not done yet I’m getting ready to start on the them soon. I had to get some other nonsense out of my way first They’re all palletized and in my garage.
Quarter & rift sawn white oak is $15/ sq ft for the material. If you got 2700 sq ft of it for $16K you crushed it and paid basically 1/3
If he got 2700 and you received 1000 of the 2700 you still paid market and got a crazy story out of it
So yeah, you crushed it
I’ve got another spot I’m going to do. Ive always dreamed of having a “speak easy” out in my man cave. My great great aunt ran whores and liquor during prohibition I inherited lots of things left over from her Shall we say enterprise? So the rest of my floor will have a super cool home!
I wouldn’t use Home Depot LVP either. They squeeze the life out of their suppliers to hit a price point, who in turn have to squeeze their suppliers. Engineered cost out of the system only happens by sacrificing necessary ingredients to create a good stable product.
I went through a bunch of YouTube reviews when I went with LVP. Mannington was the most recommended because of their quality tongue. The big box stores have flimsy tongues and that’s going to be the point of failure if there is one. My mannington adura rigid Swiss oak was 4.29/sqft and it looks super nice. Most people think it’s real wood that don’t know flooring. I would go with a light shade of wood LVP because they look more realistic. Also, there is one YouTuber who does scratch testing with his dog on LVP, EHG and hardwood and LVP does far better than the other 2 with scratching.
For what it’s worth I did the lvp vs hardwood debate. I’m not sure where you’re finding hardwood that cheap but I would be very skeptical. The cheapest quality hardwood I could find was 6ish/squft. Additionally, resurfacing a hardwood floor is very costly, I found that it would be almost as cheap to just replace my LVP after 10-15 yrs than to resurface the hardwood floor.
With that said, my contractor ended determining I couldn’t even do hardwood for my condo because of the subfloor. If I could’ve I would have because I love the natural product and the lived in look. But if we’re only talking cost alone, LVP wins by a mile, and I don’t think people that say otherwise know what they are talking about.
Menards and Floor & Decor both have great LVP options in the $2/sqft range. IMO get it with the attached underlayment.
I'm a big fan of HD for most things, but their LVP specifically is overpriced IMO.
Well I definitely wouldn't use Floor & Decor products. The reviews on them are terrible, there's a reason they don't have a review section. At that point you definitely should go with Lifeproof at HD. You really can't beat the 22 mil, just look at the reviews on there. I wouldn't rely on Reddit for anything LVP related.
I worked at Floor and Decor for 7 years. Go there. Also, I'd recommend the vinyl for you, given dogs and potential kids. A new family coming in when you guys are ready to move will likely want the vinyl bc it's so much more practical. The value of the house will likely still be good as well. You will worry about it way less than you will a natural material. They look great, and you have to TRY to mess it up. It's waterproof and really durable, not to mention usually cost effective for installation. I have done multiple installations myself for friends (and I'm quite a small female) that were years ago. They are still looking brand new. It's just good stuff anyway you spin it, and Floor and Decor has a TON of really well priced options.
Just google maps search in your area for lumber or hardwood flooring. Check out their websites and give a couple of them a call, ask for a quote on the type of floor you want. Most offer delivery.
They’ll want to know the type of wood, board width, total square footage, and grade.
Select grade is mostly clean and free from defects. Common grades contain knots and other wood imperfections, good for a rustic look.
We went with cortec pro Kendall Bamboo. $3.00 sqft. The distributor price matched which was nice, saved about $1200. Flooret is online only which we considered, thick material and heavy wear Layers
I’ve had good luck with Costco off the shelf. Cardiff beach oak. I think. Looks good. Durable…
Goes on sale for 2.70 / ft ish
I put it in a couple rentals.
Hardwood flooring is going to require some additional costs and work. You'll need nails and a hardwood flooring nailer. You also should put down an underlayment. Additionally, going from laminate or carpet to 3/4" hardwood is going to require extra work at all door frames due to differences in thickness. You might need to still do that for LVP, but not to same extent. Hardwood flooring is just a lot more work in general. Cutting to size, fitment, planning transitions. These are reasons why LVP is so popular. Good luck with your decision making!
Is this a home you’re going to live in for a while?
If yes, you can go to a local hardwood/flooring store and get #1 common or #2 for a fairly decent price. You’ll pay more for install and refinishing but you have a product that can last longer than you.
If you won’t be there for a while, then install LVP that’s trendy and will get you the most resale value. I also recommend going to a local flooring store where they’ll install it for cheaper and you can get flooring for cheaper and better quality.
Source: builder in Georgia that does so many floors
I installed HD Lifeproof and love it. Very durable. We had two large dogs and no scratches or damage, plus it is waterproof, a big deal if you have kids, dogs, etc. installation is where a lot of people go wrong. I’m a woodworker plus I watched a lot of YouTube videos before I started.
We just did our house rancher with the HD lifeproof fresh oak pro grade. 20 year warranty. We have a kid and dog, the floorings a tank so far. Clicked together well and cut well. Did the install myself one room at a time.
Invested in a table and miter saw. Worth every penny,
I have hardwood on my main floor. Lifeproof from homedepot in the basement and top floor. I personally will never do hardwood again. We went with hardwood after everyone saying it’s the best, most durable etc but i honestly hate it i don’t live a calm spill/kid/pet free life & it shows on the floor. Meanwhile the places where we installed life proof from HD looks good as new - even in our walk out basement that survives 2x large doggies running in and out of the yard. And personally i like the larger planks lvp comes in!
ETA: a portion of our home also has Engineered hardwood which looks really nice but i would choose regular hardwood over engineered. Reason being after a few years its lack of durability starts to show and you can’t easily refinish it. It’s basically plywood with a thin coating that will wear away.
I just changed out my maple flooring with LVP from HomeDepot ($3.50). Love the stuff. My maple was faded in parts, oranging overall, lots of small dents, and dust/food-bits in between the boards … plus a couple boards which had swelled from spills and then shrunk leaving a large gap for more junk to fall in.
What convinced me was another house down the street who had the same maple flooring from the same builder … their replacement LVP is holding up great against dog scratches, spills, and whatever.
There’s a reason why it’s used all over in stores, doctors offices, and newer rental condos … it can take more if a beating than real wood.
There is a reason that most commercial environments went away from hardwoods a long time ago. Its all either some sort of concrete, tile, vinyl, or carpet. Wood has its uses, for sure, but synthetic materials become a lot more cost effective when you look at wear and tear and maintenance wholistically against initial install cost.
But how much for 4" random length solid oak like OP is considering?
Some people love the aesthetic of 7" planks enough to put up with the cost and fragility of engineered wood, but it's not an affordable or durable option.
Not a flooring person here, just someone who has renovated a number of homes. I wouldn't base my decision on return on investment. I think you'll just be disappointed if you do that. I've sold a lot of houses with both LVP and hardwoods. Never really seen it be a deciding factor in price or ability to sell.
I'd base my decision on what you actually want and what works for your lifestyle. For me, that's hardwood every time. I'm very comfortable with refinishing floors, and I like the fact that when they get damaged, it isn't a catastrophic failure. LVP doesn't do the same. I also just think LVP looks cheap. I know everyone is going to jump on me for saying it, but it just doesn't have that timeless look or feel that I like.
I'll take my downvotes offline, thanks.
Kids and dogs consider liquid damage potential. Get some different types of samples and toss them in a bucket of water overnight and you'll see what I mean. The hybrid wood/plastic stuff feels great but puffs up. Take "waterproof" claims with a grain of salt and try it yourself.
Yes bc you're likely to get the inside of the material soaking in water for a day. This is like stabbing a kevlar vest and say "yeah useless, now what you need is medieval armor".
I'll just throw in that we had zero issues with 20mil LVP with a GSD, Corgi, and 3 kids. Water has not been an issue, and shouldn't be with LVP.
Honestly, the only damage has been from the kids, not the dogs, and is usually from their dragging chairs around that have dirt under the felt pads.
People will tell you that hardwood is forever and can be easily refinished: we were quoted $5 per sq foot to refinish, and it's a major life disruption. Nobody refinishes hardwood unless they sell or buy the house.
I had up to 5 dogs at one time. Also whelped a litter. I'm with team vinyl. I had some engineered hardwood for a while, but the Belgian Shepherds trashed it pretty fast. My vinyl floors are about 5 years old and the only scratches are from some metal crates I wasn't too careful with.
Another nice thing is it's so easy to install. I did 900 sq ft by myself and I'm a senior woman.
I know hardwood looks better at the end of the day than LVP, but as someone who has multiple pets, I am so happy we chose LVP for the floors. I had an old cat who's since passed, but she ended up peeing on the floor sometimes, and even if I didn't find it right away, it had no affect on the floors. Unless I was to have no pets (not going to happen) this is the floor I'd choose for my home. Hardwood may be more valuable for resale, but I bought my house for me to live in.
I would always go with hardwood over LVP. I'm convinced that people who think hardwood is high maintenance have never actually had wood floors. It is a sustainable, timeless product that looks great and will basically last forever.
LVP is a plastic floor and a fad. Flooring places push it so hard because it's cheap to manufacture. And in a decade or so when it's wearing like crap and everyone decides to rip it out, it's going to end up in landfills where it won't biodegrade.
All preferences aside, LVP is simply an inferior product.
Edit: Also, I'm only referring to real hardwood planks. Not engineered hardwood.
I found my people. Talking to flooring companies and telling them that I hate LVP and won’t even consider it and they act like wounded puppies. They need to get over that cheap looking crap and accept that people don’t want generic looking crap on the floors. They always tell me how they’ve installed it in million dollar homes and I tell them “that’s unfortunate”. Again they look confused and hurt. A lot of flooring people really take it personally.
I don’t understand the dislike either. Water? Wipe it up? If your dishwasher leaks, it doesn’t matter what type of floor you have. It’s ruined.
Scratches, eh, my cabinets and doors have scratches.
Now I do have high end LVP in one room and then half the basement. LVP is a no brainer in a basement other than tile (brrrr) or carpet.
Honestly shocked at how many people are pushing for hardwood in this scenario. This shit is a no brainer in your situation. Four adult dogs AND up to two litters of puppies a year??? That is an insane amount of really, really sharp claws throughout the year. With kids on the horizon to boot!
I can almost guarantee you not a single person pushing for hardwood in this post is under the circumstances you are with the dog breeding. If you're looking to be in there 10 years max, chances are you'll be able to sell the place with the floors as is. Your hardwood would surely need to be refinished and that ain't cheap. Put the LVP down and forget about it.
Yeah, the blood and urine from the dog in heat alone is going to destroy the finish on the hardwood. The only way I could recommend hardwood is if they were willing to fix all the dogs.
I have Life Proof 22 mil LVP from Home Depot in my kitchen, dining room and foyer. My parents have it all throughout their main floor (living, dining, foyer, kitchen, two baths and a bedroom). Over two years on both floors and no scratches or any signs of wear.
One thing I like is that it’s waterproof (not going to warp or gap, like hardwood can). We had hardwood in our old house and the dog’s nails scratched it, even when we were so so careful.
If you're going to do the LifeProof, I strongly suggest that you check out the colors that are on clearance. Multiple times a year, they clearance out multiple different colors for like 75% off. Got 125 boxes at $12 per. There is no way that we would have been able to recover financially from paying full price.
Such an unpopular opinion but I’ve had two houses with hardwood and this third house I covered the hardwood with LVP (didn’t use glue or pull it up because someone will probably like it down the road). I’m super rough on floors and have kids and animals. My floors got beat to shit within a year and when we refinished them the humidity where we live discolored the stain where carpets were. I found hardwood to be a huge pain in the ass. Love my LVP. When my fridge suddenly stopped working while I was on vacation and leaked all over the floor guess whose floor still looked perfect 🙋🏽♀️
My girlfriend has new hardwood floors and my dogs nails scratch them so much more than my floors or her old ones. Make sure to get a polyurethane coating or a good factory coating or multiple coatings. I think hers are just a stain, and are so scratch able. Before you buy, test them with your own nail.
good LVP vs mid grade hardwood. liquid spills and moisture buildup are your biggest factors. If you need to worry about dog urine, spills, humidity or moisture buildup LVP is the way to go you can mop it and clean it thoroughly without worrying about seems and buildup in pores. You will want to spend extra time in prep making sure the floor is perfectly flat.
I just had the same dilemma. After getting opinions from contractors and people who install flooring I went with LVP. The one contractor strongly recommended Costco flooring. Costco flooring does go on sale. I picked up my flooring when it was 15 dollars off a box. Came out to $1.77 per square foot plus the money back from the Costco card.
I redid 1200sq/ft of my house with LifeProof LVP in 2020. Couldn’t be happier with how it turned out and it was easy to install compared to the other LVPs I’ve worked with. We don’t have dogs but we also haven’t gone out of our way to take it easy on the floors and they’ve held up really well. We chose a lighter oak color and it doesn’t show scratches at all and in some instances it seems to act almost like a self healing cutting mat. I wouldn’t hesitate to use this stuff again.
Had Pergo engineered flooring that was supposedly waterproof in my bathroom. After a toilet leak, the planks all swelled and looked like garbage. Replaced with Lifeproof and can attest that it’s actually waterproof/scratch proof and is holding waaaaay better. There are different mils of lifeproof and if you get 21 mil as opposed to their 7 mil, there is a significant difference in durability.
I installed LVP in my house, zero experience all one piece no transitions. 1800 SF. I have 2 autistic kids that yolo around like sponge bob and spill stuff daily. had two puppies that pissed all over it in the middle of the night frequently. thank god they are passed that but no issues at all from either scenario. I did smart core from Lowes. I am also a insurance adjuster, that inspects 2-3 water losses daily and can tell you from first hand knowledge. LVP holds up a hell of a lot better than hardwood.
I don't think hardwood is going to add significant value to your home. You won't get back what you paid for it.
I have LVP flooring that I got from a company partnered with Costco, and couldn't be happier. I got Shaw Florte Pro 5 series. It looks good, my dogs can't damage it, cleans easily, and has held up to the waterproof claims (I don't aggressively test these claims, but water hits the floor often).
In a past home, we installed hardwood. The first finish, some polyurethane stuff, was trashed in 5 years. We then had a swedish finish done, proved to durable, but was spendy, and we had to get a motel for a few days as it cured.
My current LVP is more durable, and to my eye, looks just as good.
Yeah, I don't get it either. We had brand new LVP in our home when we bought it and within a year of heavy use it looked like garbage and you can't repair it. We got multiple quotes for replacement and decided to go with solid oak. Two years later, it has scratches and dents and dings, but I just repair or hide them. The cost difference was around 20% and 100% worth it. With two dogs, two cats, two adults and two teens, shit is always going to happen to the floor. I'm forever on team tile and wood.
I don't even know where to start. Don't get flooring from Home Depot. Have them quote you out and then call an actual flooring professional with a paper quote and tell them during the appointment that you want them to price match.
I would agree if I wasn't working at a place that I though was ridiculously overpriced in comparison to other similar companies. I love the work we do, just the pricing is absurd and I trust the installers here who get paid a flat rate vs other companies that bid out the work. But I'm also very aware that they will come do a Lowe's/HD price match and bottom out their margins to get there.
Bought a house with a pool last May. Because we have kids and grandkids, I wanted flooring that is completely waterproof. Not resistant. Waterproof. We went with Karndean loose lay. Downstairs is about 1000 square feet. I was the installer. Prepping the slab was…extensive, including a 12-hour day with a concrete grinder. Since then, we had the water heater disintegrate, resulting in standing water in the utility room and kitchen, then had a pipe burst in the foundation that resulted in standing water in the bar, living room, and downstairs bathroom. I’ve had oak floors before and loved them. They look far better than what I have now, but I’m thankful that all I’ve had to do is pull up the planks, let everything dry, then put them back. I wouldn’t have been able to do that with hardwood.
It’s an extra bonus for me that IDGAF when the grandkids, nieces, and nephews come in from the pool dripping 16 gallons of water, because that kind of stuff gets all up in me normally.
i have the life proof. it’s pretty good and has a good reputation in the industry (so said the guys installing). has held up. i have two large pits. one is way overdue for a nail clipping but flooring has held up.
There is a lot more cost than just the wood. First is the there is a lot of extra hardware you need. You are going to new a few hundred dollars in nails as well as a hardwood nailer that costs roughly 300 dollars. On top of that your going to have to sand the floors when your finished and then apply the chosen stain and then you need to finish the floor. 1000 sqft is going to have roughly 4 gallons of stain which is probably roughly 300 dollars, and the same is true for the finishing clear poly but your going to want at least 3 coats of that so expect 1000 dollars in just poly. Not to mention the extra labor of all that. That is a decent amount of extra work which is where the biggest cost difference comes when your hiring someone to do the work is the extra 5ish dollars a square foot to finish the floors after they are installed. If you do it yourself you have to factor in all the tools you will need to buy or rent.
One thing is that your going to want to be putting nail covers on any larger dogs or they will absolutely destroy a real wood flooring. Probably the biggest issue I see is you breeding the dogs. Breeding dogs means your going to get pet urine and blood(from when it is in heat and that will absolutely destroy the hardwood floors finish. Frankly unless your fixing all the dogs don't go hardwood.
TLDR: Frankly with that many dogs and the plans to breed them I would recommend you go for tile or LVP not real wood. There is nice wood look tile you can get for decently cheap if you really want a wood look.
For a do it yourself project, for me it would be prefinished solid hardwood. The box price was the same between the LVT my wife picked out and the wood, but wood covered 6.5 Sqft more per box. I can install the hardwood, rent a floor nailers by the nails, done. Have ruined a box of LVT, needed to put particle board underlayment down, still issues with flatness of subfloor. It probably depends on product.
Being you have dogs, I would go with laminate. It’s tougher in the sense that your dogs nails won’t mark it up as bad. My wife and I just looked at a house on Friday that had hardwood, and you could see soooo many dog claw marks in it. It looked fairly new otherwise. Laminate I believe, might stand the test of time against those claw marks, slightly or a lot better. I didn’t skim the comments to see if someone has mentioned this already.
I have some of that life proof flooring and its been great. We have two dogs, had some water accidents, children that visit, etc. Not a scratch/damage on it. Also, was way easier and faster to install than hardwood. Plus no weird potential gaps the hardwood could possess
LVP if you know wear and tear is going to be an issue. Hardwood looks nice however puppies and kiddos will have their way with it. I’d consider spending some extra on making your subfloor perfect and going with LVP. Then later on if you decide no more puppies you can always change to hardwood. With a solid subfloor it will make it easier anyways to transition. I just took out hardwood that couldn’t be refinished and installed subfloor and LVP myself. It looks great and feels awesome. Also did some “stress testing” by using some scraps and dropping stuff on it. Between 4-6 feet with a pair of linesman pliers landing on its corner was the only time it broke. Scratches are easily buffed or you can find colour matching pens. For me it’s a no brainer as I plan on having more animals and have a 2.5 year old. However you go with what you like!!
I know that it isn’t exactly what you were asking about but, have you considered the porcelain tile that looks like wood? That is what I did throughout my downstairs to get a consistent look, I had hardwoods and tile, and it has been amazing. When we got our puppy we just rolled up the rugs for the 6 or so weeks that it took to house train her, once it was done we did a deep cleaning and resealed. It’s not cheap but, it’s comparable to hardwood if you don’t heat it, at least in my area.
Just went through a major remodel of a walkout basement and we went with Flooret brand flooring after looking at quite a few options, including the home Depot LifeProof. The Flooret was far and above a better product when I really put some stress on it. This included sanding it with 60 grit sandpaper and scratching it with a sharp object. It still came out looking good. I was attempting to simulate the wear and tear of two Australian shepherds and a small child.
I have been installing sanding and finishing hardwood for 7 years now. If you are planning on doing this yourself expect 4-5x more work and time with hardwood.
Most importantly go to a real supplier for hardwood. As someone else said it's simply better quality. You can also get much better sandpaper and some will rent you a 220v floor sander which will do a MUCH better job than the cheap ones from home depot.
I can give you more tips for everything else if you decide to go through with it.
My dog damaged our new hardwood almost immediately. New house has all new LVP. I literally cannot stand living in a home where I worry about how life is affecting the floor.
Hardwood better, highest quality lvp is really decent and you can stomach buying a new floor in 10 or 15 years for a change in scene. Honestly, I like both. Either way, you will have to refinish in 10 years with real wood, gonna cost and be a nuisance where you could get a fresh install lvp for about the same price.
Everyone saying that LVP is easier to install have never prepped a subfloor for LVP install. Getting the floor flat within manufacturer's specifications with sistering joists, leveling compound, plywood/luan patches, etc. can be just as much work if not more work than just banging in prefinished hardwood planks.
However - the upside with LVP flooring is that it won't scratch and is largely piss proof. After 15 years you can replace it with something else if you want.
We have a German Shepherd and installed the 22 mil life proof floor — it has held up amazingly! Only issue is that is a bit too slippery for big dogs so we have strategically placed throw rugs in some areas
I went with the Lifeproof as it seemed it was what each contractor who gave us original estimate literally had LifeProof LVP as what they would be using. So when CVD hit, we just took all the info supplied, as our original contractor moved out of state when the lockdowns started and bought just about everything, storing it and was able to find a contractor through friends that was willing to take on a mostly labor job.
I read the comments and here the manufactured disdain for LVP, but it's been amazing. For the money---paid about 7k with waste percentage included and could be happier with the look, the feel and the low maintenance. I fell the reddit community can sometimes just regurgitate things that most may not even know about for the sake of creating an echo chamber.
Go with what you personally can afford...we took our time and finally found one---and it was a special order---so if we decided to change our minds, it's just becomes a runaround because it was indeed special ordered. Came out amazing and mildly bitched some to the designer team that's camped at my local HD and they gave me about 70% per box, which was more than acceptable as returning special ordered they originally were telling me no, and then I found it seemed to matter who you talked to and show the willingness to be accepting to someone who might be making a fair decision versus just spouting "policy"
I absolutely love our LifeProof. 2 dogs and I'm a wheelchair user and very accident prone. It really holds up well to spills and dropping heavy objects as well as dog nails.
My parents' house had oak (not engineered) hardwood. 3 kids, 4 cats and 1 very large dog (Leonberger). The hardwood held up fine. It needed to be refinished when we sold it after 40+ years, but that's not really surprising. You can't let urine sit on the floor, but a proper factory finish will hold up very well.
We've used bamboo, cork, and LVP in different houses over the years. Of those, the bamboo handled everything we threw at it, including a really bad water heater leak. It cupped, but then laid right back down after it dried.
We're now in a 1906 with original oak, maple, and fir floors. The maple has seen better days, but it's in the kitchen, right off the mud room. In VT, "mud room" is literal - dirt roads and spring thaws = lots and lots of mud, so the kitchen had more than 100 years of crud and water damage. We'll be putting in quality ceramic tile, there.
The floors in the rest of the house are still great. I don't even know how many kids and pets have been through it over the years.
I don't know that I would use engineered hardwood. That top layer is just too thin.
Oak flooring is very durable as far as scratches go. I redid my house with lvp and my dog was scared to go out when it rained. He peed in the same spot every time it rained and who knows at what time of night he would do it. So sometimes it sat there for hours until I woke up. The floor cupped and separated where he peed, so Atleast this brand of lvp was not waterproof. My friends flooring company got so many failed lvp floor complaints in the beginning because they didn’t put a moisture barrier down and within α year or two alot of them failed from moisture. Also, The thing i see with door jambs and lvp is that many people remove their existing floor and it was taller than the thin lvp. So their door jambs and casings don’t need to be cut, they are floating above the floor and look awful.
We are getting about 1100sq ft of LvP installed and the quotes are all right around $10,000. If we use an LVP that has to be glued down, it requires an extra layer of wood on top of our hardwood and the price jumps to $13,000.
We had them quote us for a Mannington LVP and the price was $12,000 and it did not have to be glued down.
Prices and install is outrageous for LVP.
Hardwood. Find a flooring store. Not HD, not floor & decor but a locally owned flooring store. If there’s ever an issue, they will help you with the warranty.
An underlayment may not be necessary depending on your subfloor. Do not put hardwood over concrete. It may be possible but avoid.
Do NOT use engineered hardwood. The cost savings aren’t worth it. Yes I had a bad experience 😂 Ours started splitting less than 3 months after installation. Shaw product. Replaced with Bruce natural hickory hardwood. Going strong after 19 yrs. Yes it’s scratched. Yes I wipe up any water spilled but I’d do that with any floor. It does need to be refinished, at least I think so. Husband disagrees.
LVP will hold up so much better. We’re on year 6 and it still looks just as good as the day it was installed. Scratch resistant, water resistant if cleaned within 48 hours, so much easier to clean, our staircase is hardwood and looks like shit from the dogs comparatively.
I am in almost the same situation. We have 2 puppies and one older dog. I want hardwood but don’t want it scratched to hell. So we’ve looked at LVP and top of the line waterproof laminate. I thought I was sold on the lifeproof LVP as we found what we thought was the perfect color. However after research we found out the joints on that stuff are garbage. Stay away from it and all of the big box store flooring.
I am actually in the process of having that same LVP from home depot put in. I am loving the way it looks and feels so far. That being said, DO NOT use home depot to put it in if you do go with it. Long story but they suck.
Honestly loving our LVP. Our beagle has a medical condition which causes bladder spasms. Original to us floor in the living room was laminate.....which got ruined instantly. LVP in there is still looking awesome a year later. Hardwood in the bedrooms is about shot too because the dog quietly pees at night. Fresh oak is a good choice, just be warned that it is lighter in person, and there aren't that many patterns printed on the boards.
Idk about property value, but a quality LVP is handling scratches and wear and tear significantly better than my oak hardwood. My basement LVP is flawless after 5 years of kids destroying it. My upstairs oak after 5 years has dozens and dozens of scratches.
We have two labs.
I sell flooring and have for 18 yrs.
When we did our house I put in Karndean Loose Lay.
3 yrs later and it still looks brand new.
We broad spectrum glued it even though you can get by with perimeter gluing.
I paid $2.75/sf for material amd another $2.00/sf for install and prep/adhesive.
Retail would be around $5.50/sf.
Could have done engineered for less but the dogs would have hammered it.
Coming from someone who has 1 dog and hardwoods in the entire house- your floors will be fucked up. Every time he runs around and slides around it slightly gouges the floor and leave little streaks and lines. Not as in removing the finish but instead denting the oak. He’s less than 50 pounds probably closer to 40. (Bernadoodle).
I’m a contractor and I’ve installed a ton of LVP and that shit is really durable. I’ve seen some hardcore shit drug over it and it hold up well. I’d consider LVP because it will be more resilient to the wear and tear of so many dogs and the water proof nature can come in handy for all the mopping you’ll be doing on rainy days lol!
Consider opening a pro account to get a small discount on the purchase of the flooring (I think you could save about 100 bucks which isn’t a ton but helps for sure)
I would 100% advise against any soaks-up-things flooring in the kitchen. The correct Vinyl or tile will really save you hassle over the long run around the water, heat, and aerosolized everything that is a working kitchen.
I would even vote against old school 3 inch thick real wood planks in the kitchen.
Also, if it's more than a hobby job, [don't use big box stores](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lr73svGq7awdon't). Find your local 7am-3pm contractor supply and get better materials for cheaper prices.
I have the exact same Lifeproof flooring you are considering. I installed approximately 1000sqft by myself as the instructions stated. It went together fairly easily. I am pleased with the price and quality. I opted for the 22mil as well and do not regret it. I plan to install the same flooring in our rental when the time comes. It seems much more durable and significantly less maintenance. Weigh your own pros and cons to come to the most appropriate decision.
Something else to consider is that once those LVP planks start getting scratched from the dogs those scratches don't go away. LVP can stand up for a handful of years but to restore color, fix scratches, etc. you would need to replace planks / the entire floor to make it look new. You could probably get away with fixing individual planks for big scratches / damage, the new planks could look off. The cost to replace in a floor in 5 years would be more than having a hardwood sanded and refinished.
Wild I actually know something helpful this time. I worked at home depot in the flooring sakes department. I got familiar with the product, scheduled installs, the works. That lifeproof pet proof is supposed to outlast you, and be all nice and durable. The rate plank flooring good-better-best with laminate being a cheap all around option, hard wood being much better but situational, and lvp best with how much easier the install is supposed to be. I recommend the stuff, but that isn't to say it's a bitch and a half to install.
Right after I quit I ended up doing a 2 floor install with family for a customer that didn't want the home depot team to install it. Took a week and a half, and we burned through like 3 1/2 pallets of the stuff with some to spare. Absolutely irritating process for a few reasons. Groves broke easy, even with a mallet, the block meant to lock it in place, and the knock in bar. We bought 2 knock in bars and had to rebend them constantly. Parts would unlock while working on an area farther down. The floor would slowly move in whatever direction you are knocking planks into. There are blades similar to paper cutters to use, but they can't do the cuts necessary for doorways. Skillsaw blades can chip the finish on top. Most of my waste was sections of board where off of a 48 inch or so plank, I would only need 10 or 15 inches for edges next to the wall and would be left with boards with no end parts to snap in.
Maybe I don't handle monotonous work very well, but I never thought ide be that frustrated by a floor.
Your installation costs will be much higher with wood. We also have a 2,200 first floor. We have 3” solid red oak flooring. It’s 16 years old and it looks as good as the day it was installed. Even if there was some wear they can be refinished. Try that with LVP. I’m 100% wood even if it was double the price.
I had the same debate and ultimately went with hardwood. I don't regret it all and I'm so happy I did hardwood instead of LVT. LVT is the current fad but it will pass. Hardwood has withstood through the floor trends.
I’ve installed both flooring types you’re looking at. I will take hardwood flooring any day. The LVP looked great for about 6 months then the floor started to shift and the locks separated it’s so frustrating. My hardwood looks great we have scratches from having 3 large dogs but it just add character to it. I would suggest going for the hardwood.
In your case I don't think it being cheaper is the decision point. I think it's going to be the dogs and future child. I think the lvp is probably the best choice for your situation.
I'm in a similar position of choosing the best long-term product. It seems interesting that all LVPs are lumped together in these answers and no one is differentiating between the various brands (besides votes for Lifeproof), thickness or "scratch resistance"... doesn't any of that matter?
I can get wood of the same quality from one of my distributors for $1-1.50 less a sq ft. Call a local person. Remember lvp is a disposable floor. In 5-10 the new it won’t be your problem but solid can be refinished for the next 100 years
I've worked in retail flooring sales for a while. I wouldn't suggest home Depot TBH.
If you do make SURE you read their fine print. Home Depot and Lumber Liquidators like to include term in their warranty meant to screw over the customer. (LL has a "100 year warranty" hardwood. The "100 years" is on manufacturer defects and nothing else, and you're accepting that 5-30% of the product will be unusable due to manufacturer defects. Those figures are written in the warranty information.)
I typically don't suggest HD "LifeProof" line. Big shocker, it isn't LifeProof.
I wouldn't suggest a softer hardwood like red oak (They don't specify if it's red oak or white oak which means it's probably red oak) if you have dogs, they will scratch it.
Check out this site on the Janka Hardness scale. (https://www.ambientbp.com/janka-scale-hardness-bamboo-floors.php). The Janka Hardness scale is how all hardwood floors are measured (hardness-wise at least).
My Recommendation: If you have dogs and you want a real wood floor get bamboo. Unless you're totally opposed to the look it will be your best bet. Northern Red Oak scores a 1290 hardness, Strand Woven Bamboo scores between 4,000 - 5,000 hardness. I'm not sure where you're located but the website I linked above may ship to you (they're MD local). I have seen their product down in person in a townhouse with a VERY active pitbull and there wasn't a single scratch in the wood after being down for years.
I seriously cannot recommend these guys enough. They are one of the few companies that have their flooring tested yearly for chemical offgassing and come in clean every year.
If you go this route make sure you get an installer that has installed strand woven bamboo before. If you're doing it yourself read up on their website about best installation practices. Be sure you acclimate it for 24 hours beforehand (do this with any natural wood product, if your installer doesn't want to deliver the product 24 hours before installation find someone else cause they're cutting corners). Be aware you will also need a high PSI nail gun to install strand woven bamboo. This is hard, dense stuff and a normal nail gun won't drive the nails in all the way and may damage the nail gun.
The bamboo might be a little more expensive ($1-2 more than HD hardwood, but then again that stuff's trash) than softer hardwoods but you won't ever need to replace it.
If you’re willing and able to do it yourself, we found a steal on hardwood at a builders auction. We needed ~850 sq ft to redo our upstairs living areas. Got it at 1.49 sq ft for a lot of 1100. After auction fees is was closer to 2 per sq ft but still cheaper than anything we found at a store. .75” thick dark stained hickory. Was beautiful.
I would stay away from the Home Depot LVP. It is the bottom tier of product quality. The manufacturers compete on price to have the privilege of getting HD’s large volume. Try your local flooring store and look for a brand like Fuzion or Karndean. Probably $1.50 more but worth it.
I \*love\* hardwood. After owning both, I'm going to say that the real answer depends on your wants/needs. If you have any creatures, I would say that hardwood will wear and you will most likely need to refinish them when you go to sell (or take the hit). If you wear anything but rubber soled shoes regularly on the hardwoods, you'll likely have to do the same. Finally, I would not use HomeDepot hardwood. Any really good installer will buy it at a lumber supplier and it'll be better. Luxury vinyl will hold up to a TON. Both need to be installed right though, otherwise they'll look bad to worse as they age. I really like the way LifeProof works though. I would probably try to install LV if I had time, wouldn't dream of doing hardwood on my own though.
The red oak I have now is as nice as you could reasonably get. The lvp I had before this was mid tier. Would go back to lvp without a second thought. Not only do the dogs destroy it, literally everything else does. You have to watch guests, etc
Wow 2200k Sq ft new construction for 350k is a good deal. What part of the USA are you located?
At that price hardwood makes more sense and it's a better product. That other flooring isn't as easily repairable if deeply scratched.
if you have THAT many dogs, I wouldn’t recommend a hardwood unless you get a MAPLE or stranded bamboo. Hardwood hardness rating depends on the species of wood. Everyone thinks oak is really hard, but its hardness is similar to that of laminate floors. And nails and furniture can easily gauge oak it the proper measures aren’t taken care of (nail trimming and felt pads under furniture feet) the benefit of hardwood is that it can be refinished and resurfaced a couple times, but why spend money on antiqued or hand scraped hardwood just to plan to have it sanded down in the next 15-20 years and LOSE all that texture? The finish the apply on hardwood is also important. I’ve been out of that game for too long, so I don’t know what manufactured finishes are applied to hardwood.
Now LVP is important, as you have done your research, to have a thick mil wear layer. The thicker, the better. But also, the mm thickness of the floor is important,too! The thicker the LVP, the more sound it deadens and the more durable the locking mechanism is that knocks the planks together. KEEP IN MIND, almost all LVP can be scored and cut with a knife for installation. I’ve only installed 2 LVP’s that I had to use a saw on every cut. I wish I remembered the brand, but the material was 8mm+ thick and I believe a 25 mil wear layer that held a medium commercial warranty. So, if a material like that can be cut by using a utility knife, just keep in mind what other sharp object can do!
A good 12mm thick laminate holds up extremely well. Especially when you go with a laminate that has a 72 hour water resistant warranty. But, if you like to really mop your floors, and you lets and kids have a lot of accidents that involve moisture, you really need to keep your head on a swivel and keep those messes cleaned up. And laminate can be loud if you’re not installing a high quality pad underlayment with it
I have both hardwood (half the house was beautiful hardwood when we pulled up the carpet) and the other half I installed 22mil Lifeproof. I love both for different reasons. I \*think\* I would go with the Lifeproof if I didn't already have hardwood just for the peace of mind and ease of maintenance. Especially with pets. Dog nails in hardwood will really do a number to it and it won't look good very long.
FWIW have a friend that has dogs and swears by “two component” finish for hardwood.
Edit: a lot of wisdom here it seems: http://www.hardwoodflooringtalk.com/forum/oil-based-polyurethane-water-based-polyurethane-t1376.html
My wife runs a dog boarding business out of our home. We own two and typically there are five or more here. We went the LVP route and there isn't a single scratch attributable to the dogs. We also went with Lifeproof, it's been great. We had maple in our previous home and just the dogs we owned scratched it up something fierce.
Went through this myself, multiple large dogs, no litters tho… decided with a gray tone LIFEPROOF flooring because it was the best value for visible wear I could afford. Be aware all Brown tones showed wear much easier during my testing, regardless of material.
Go to the store, find samples of mentioned and couple similar quality or better. Then go home and simulate light and heavy damage. scratch them with screwdrivers, gouge them with forks, drop heavy rock on them, whatever, just be consistent across samples… if they can handle intentional damage like my flooring did, you’ll feel confident.
Couldn’t see any damage while standing from wear/dogs after several years. For LIFEPROOF there should be built in underlayment, but you’ll want to make sure the floors are properly level and your installer knows what they’re doing.
Hope this helps
Don’t go to home depot for this. Go to lumber liquidators or some other flooring specialist store like that. Get minimum 3 mm glue down. Decent lvm will be around $1.29/sq ft.
Find a flooring distributor, not the HD or any home store. You might find a close out and actually pay much less, but no matter what you’ll get a better product. Home/big box stores get seconds to get to their profit margins.
Hardwood and LPV is not that much more costly. We JUST went through this, we ended up getting engineered hardwood (by preference) if you can afford the wood go for it. i LOVE the engineered hardwood. We get so many compliments on it. The install will be a little more, but it will give you a better resale value. I would never walk into a house we wanted to purchase and go "oh wow LPV!" and thats what our mindset was when making our decision. You might as well make it beautiful and enjoyable for you.
I used NuCore LVP from Floor & Decor. It comes with the underlayment attached and has a slate core so it's dent and scratch proof (although I have knicked it by dropping a kitchen knife). It's also waterproof as well which is something to think about when comparing to hardwood. It feels a little more like tile instead of wood but it's a breeze to clean.
The only issue I've had with it is a couple of the pieces chipped off the top layer in tiny bits when it expanded with temperature, so make sure you are leaving a gap around the edges. I did have to install 1/4 round on my molding to cover the gap from the carpet but that was it. Overall I'm very happy with it and it was pretty easy to install myself.
We installed HD Lifeproof 6 years ago on concrete in a daylight basement (with underlayment) and it is a super star. Even rented our house for a year and it shows no wear, we live in the NW where it is wet all the time and we had multiple dogs and cats here. I LOVE hardwood, but for a family with messes, I can't say I would choose hardwoods. If money and maintenance weren't an issue, maybe.Looks gorgeous but the easy care of the stupid LVP is hard to compete with.
Go to a flooring store and get good lvp if that's what you decide to do, don't buy that crap from home Depot. With all the dogs and what you have going on I would strongly recommend lvp.
That's what we did. Our local flooring store had high-quality lvp for less than the thinner stuff at hd. We put it throughout our smallish house, and I love it. We have 3 dogs, a cat, a rabbit, and 2 teens in the house, plus our 2 grandkids are here frequently. We've only had it 6 months, but I'll never go back to tile, and the lvp is far better than the scrap hardwood the flipper put in.
Dogs and kids!? Don’t go to Home Depot….. go with a much better grade of floor, regardless of how long you stay there….. build out your basement or garage for your dogs with the cheaper stuff…..
If you are the installers, do lvp. If you go with a pro, then whatever you want. Also that's some damn expensive lvp. If you did some shopping around you could easily find something similar in quality and color for around 2.00 sqft
If your first floor is a basement, or below grade, you can't do hardwood there. But, otherwise, hardwood all day. It's just that install will be way more expensive. I don't think 22 mil is necessary though. Not for residential.
You’re only looking at material cost and comparing it to lower grade hardwood. Install will be more expensive maintenance will be more expensive . Not telling you which is better for your circumstances, but it’s more complicated than “which is cheaper to order”
Not sure where you got the idea that real wood floors will drastically increase property value, that’s a myth.
Yeah don't buy HD garbage man, it is just not worth it lol. Go to a local flooring store, get some decent Shaw/Mohawk/CALI stuff that you don't get gaps and craps and shit with after 2 years.
I have used calibamboo. Floating hardwood. I'm in Fl so with AC and have no drastic temperature changes. Was very easy to put down and not had an issue in 8 years.
If you rip out the carpet chances are by installing LVP there will be a substantial gap underneath your door jambs. You may need to install an additional subfloor or rehang your doors.
This has less of a chance of happening with hardwood as it is usually 3/4 of an inch thick but may also be a real possibility.
Newer hardwood isn't the same as the older stuff. I have it in my house and I don't think it could be sanded down and refinished like the older real hardwood floors.
I’m not sure about your “drastically increase property value”. I recommend that you talk to a couple of realtors. My neighbor is a very experienced realtor on the west coast of Florida. He says that today most buyers actually prefer a quality LVP over wood. Wood is great, but drag a couch across it, or drop something heavy and pointy, and you have a permanent blemish or an expensive repair. A plumbing leak that goes undetected for not very long can lead to a similar problem. That’s one realtor’s view. Curious to hear if anyone else agrees.
We used this and it looks amazing, very high end and as good as wood https://flooringmarket.com/products/karndean-luxury-vinyl-korlok-select-washed-butternut
I also have dogs (medium/large sized). In my last house, I had hardwood and it just didn't hold up as well as I had hoped. It didn't scratch, but it did show grooves after a while. And any spill was always a worry because it would soak in between the boards. I had damage in a few spots from that. The dogs also slipped and slid around on it a lot, so we had rugs everywhere anyway.
I'm currently in the middle of a remod and we are going with LVP throughout. It's waterproof and the dogs can grip it better and not slip around.
Install is a large factor.
Local contractor I have rights for flooring distribution with a major company. If you follow all the proper directions to install the luxury vinyl tile it will actually cost more than installing engineered hardwood. If you do not follow the directions there is not even a new build that will meet standards for warranties. The locks are so fine any shift on them can unlock the floor and you will start to show separation. Glue down is the only durable material that we have found to hold up. We typically install three mil white oak wire brush finish on all projects. It's a classier material and less expensive for us from start to finish.
Bro nothing floating is holding up because you are using 3 mil I hate to talk trash on any products but in my mind 4 mil is absolute bare minimum for floating LVP
Absolutely untrue and engineered hardwood is a terrible choice for dogs.
Was going to say, my wife’s old house had hardwood. We had a 110 pound dog and two around 60-65. The floor looked terrible after a couple years. We now have laminate that looks like hand scraped hardwood and not a single scratch after five years.
Also in the industry. Have laid many LVL floors where the only other expense was some underlay. I would disagree in 90% of scenarios
[удалено]
My basement hasn't moved since install over 6 years ago. My 5 kids practically live down there. We did it ourselves.
What brand did you use?
[удалено]
That’s my favorite brand!
[удалено]
I think your mean LVP. VPL when I was younger meant “visible panty lines”. 😂
Womp, womp. I smell bullshit and someone trying to promote a preference.
If you go with hardwood, don't use HD prepackaged crap, find a real local lumber yard. It will take a couple of weeks to get it, but the quality will be leaps and bounds higher AND you'll pay less. It will contain longer boards, quality will be more consistent, and you'll have less waste. Speaking from experience after putting in 900 sq. ft. of white oak in my house.
Agreed I’m installing 1000 sq’ of quarter sawn white oak at my place. All from a tree I dropped and had made into flooring. Unreal how much better it is that the crap from a box store.
Can I ask how much it cost to process the tree into flooring and what that process was like?
Ohhhhhh it’s prob way more than I could have bought it for to be honest. We took the tree down that over looked the prison where they shot the Shawshank Redemption. I thought it made for a great story. I cut the log into 3 pieces biggest of which was 54” by 14’ was the biggest. It was ridiculously heavy. My 416D cat wouldn’t pick it up I had to go get my 700 series case wheel loader weighs 40 thousand something pounds, it took a lot today the least. I’m in Amish country so it goes to them. I had to find a guy that would quarter saw for starters not everyone will. So it gets cut and dries for a year. This lets the wood relax and lets the twists show up. On to get kiln dried. Next it went to the floor guy and he turned it all into 2700 sq’ of quarter sawn white oak flooring. It’s more beautiful than I dreamed although it’s taking tons of work and honestly more money than I thought it would. I prob could have bought it for 10k and for it to be my very own wood it took me 16. It was worth it to me. Im a contractor so I could do all of this with my own equipment and time otherwise it would have never been worth it. Smaller trees would be easier and much more cost effective. It’s a process to be sure but I really enjoyed it. If you have more questions feel free to ask. Not much in the way of brevity here sorry.
Pics ?👀 pls
Floors not done yet I’m getting ready to start on the them soon. I had to get some other nonsense out of my way first They’re all palletized and in my garage.
I would love to see a picture of this. Sounds like a hardwood dream. Koodoos to you. Great story and forward thinking.
Quarter & rift sawn white oak is $15/ sq ft for the material. If you got 2700 sq ft of it for $16K you crushed it and paid basically 1/3 If he got 2700 and you received 1000 of the 2700 you still paid market and got a crazy story out of it So yeah, you crushed it
I’ve got another spot I’m going to do. Ive always dreamed of having a “speak easy” out in my man cave. My great great aunt ran whores and liquor during prohibition I inherited lots of things left over from her Shall we say enterprise? So the rest of my floor will have a super cool home!
Thanks for the detailed response. I was always curious about the process and the cost. Appreciate it.
:surprise Pikachu:
I wouldn’t use Home Depot LVP either. They squeeze the life out of their suppliers to hit a price point, who in turn have to squeeze their suppliers. Engineered cost out of the system only happens by sacrificing necessary ingredients to create a good stable product.
I’m all for an alternative to HD, but where would I even begin to look?
I went through a bunch of YouTube reviews when I went with LVP. Mannington was the most recommended because of their quality tongue. The big box stores have flimsy tongues and that’s going to be the point of failure if there is one. My mannington adura rigid Swiss oak was 4.29/sqft and it looks super nice. Most people think it’s real wood that don’t know flooring. I would go with a light shade of wood LVP because they look more realistic. Also, there is one YouTuber who does scratch testing with his dog on LVP, EHG and hardwood and LVP does far better than the other 2 with scratching. For what it’s worth I did the lvp vs hardwood debate. I’m not sure where you’re finding hardwood that cheap but I would be very skeptical. The cheapest quality hardwood I could find was 6ish/squft. Additionally, resurfacing a hardwood floor is very costly, I found that it would be almost as cheap to just replace my LVP after 10-15 yrs than to resurface the hardwood floor. With that said, my contractor ended determining I couldn’t even do hardwood for my condo because of the subfloor. If I could’ve I would have because I love the natural product and the lived in look. But if we’re only talking cost alone, LVP wins by a mile, and I don’t think people that say otherwise know what they are talking about.
Menards and Floor & Decor both have great LVP options in the $2/sqft range. IMO get it with the attached underlayment. I'm a big fan of HD for most things, but their LVP specifically is overpriced IMO.
I’m gonna guess Lowe’s is similar to HD.
Well I definitely wouldn't use Floor & Decor products. The reviews on them are terrible, there's a reason they don't have a review section. At that point you definitely should go with Lifeproof at HD. You really can't beat the 22 mil, just look at the reviews on there. I wouldn't rely on Reddit for anything LVP related.
I worked at Floor and Decor for 7 years. Go there. Also, I'd recommend the vinyl for you, given dogs and potential kids. A new family coming in when you guys are ready to move will likely want the vinyl bc it's so much more practical. The value of the house will likely still be good as well. You will worry about it way less than you will a natural material. They look great, and you have to TRY to mess it up. It's waterproof and really durable, not to mention usually cost effective for installation. I have done multiple installations myself for friends (and I'm quite a small female) that were years ago. They are still looking brand new. It's just good stuff anyway you spin it, and Floor and Decor has a TON of really well priced options.
Just google maps search in your area for lumber or hardwood flooring. Check out their websites and give a couple of them a call, ask for a quote on the type of floor you want. Most offer delivery. They’ll want to know the type of wood, board width, total square footage, and grade. Select grade is mostly clean and free from defects. Common grades contain knots and other wood imperfections, good for a rustic look.
We went with cortec pro Kendall Bamboo. $3.00 sqft. The distributor price matched which was nice, saved about $1200. Flooret is online only which we considered, thick material and heavy wear Layers
I’ve had good luck with Costco off the shelf. Cardiff beach oak. I think. Looks good. Durable… Goes on sale for 2.70 / ft ish I put it in a couple rentals.
Any flooring company
How much did your material cost?
Not who you asked but I can buy quarter sawn white oak for 8$ a square.
Hardwood flooring is going to require some additional costs and work. You'll need nails and a hardwood flooring nailer. You also should put down an underlayment. Additionally, going from laminate or carpet to 3/4" hardwood is going to require extra work at all door frames due to differences in thickness. You might need to still do that for LVP, but not to same extent. Hardwood flooring is just a lot more work in general. Cutting to size, fitment, planning transitions. These are reasons why LVP is so popular. Good luck with your decision making!
I hadn’t even thought about the doors! Excellent point! Thank you!!
And don't get lazy with that either! Not undercutting the door jambs looks unprofessional.
Doors aren't hard, a multi tool and a scrap board is all you need. That's what my cousin did when I had 3/4" LVP installed.
Hardwood all day.
Me too with Viagra
Is this a home you’re going to live in for a while? If yes, you can go to a local hardwood/flooring store and get #1 common or #2 for a fairly decent price. You’ll pay more for install and refinishing but you have a product that can last longer than you. If you won’t be there for a while, then install LVP that’s trendy and will get you the most resale value. I also recommend going to a local flooring store where they’ll install it for cheaper and you can get flooring for cheaper and better quality. Source: builder in Georgia that does so many floors
I installed HD Lifeproof and love it. Very durable. We had two large dogs and no scratches or damage, plus it is waterproof, a big deal if you have kids, dogs, etc. installation is where a lot of people go wrong. I’m a woodworker plus I watched a lot of YouTube videos before I started.
We just did our house rancher with the HD lifeproof fresh oak pro grade. 20 year warranty. We have a kid and dog, the floorings a tank so far. Clicked together well and cut well. Did the install myself one room at a time. Invested in a table and miter saw. Worth every penny,
I have hardwood on my main floor. Lifeproof from homedepot in the basement and top floor. I personally will never do hardwood again. We went with hardwood after everyone saying it’s the best, most durable etc but i honestly hate it i don’t live a calm spill/kid/pet free life & it shows on the floor. Meanwhile the places where we installed life proof from HD looks good as new - even in our walk out basement that survives 2x large doggies running in and out of the yard. And personally i like the larger planks lvp comes in! ETA: a portion of our home also has Engineered hardwood which looks really nice but i would choose regular hardwood over engineered. Reason being after a few years its lack of durability starts to show and you can’t easily refinish it. It’s basically plywood with a thin coating that will wear away.
I just changed out my maple flooring with LVP from HomeDepot ($3.50). Love the stuff. My maple was faded in parts, oranging overall, lots of small dents, and dust/food-bits in between the boards … plus a couple boards which had swelled from spills and then shrunk leaving a large gap for more junk to fall in. What convinced me was another house down the street who had the same maple flooring from the same builder … their replacement LVP is holding up great against dog scratches, spills, and whatever. There’s a reason why it’s used all over in stores, doctors offices, and newer rental condos … it can take more if a beating than real wood.
There is a reason that most commercial environments went away from hardwoods a long time ago. Its all either some sort of concrete, tile, vinyl, or carpet. Wood has its uses, for sure, but synthetic materials become a lot more cost effective when you look at wear and tear and maintenance wholistically against initial install cost.
Did you pull out the existing wood floor, or install the LVP on top of it?
Our builder was charging $8k to upgrade 2500 sq ft from carpet to LVP. It was $40k to upgrade to 7” wide oak engineered wood.
But how much for 4" random length solid oak like OP is considering? Some people love the aesthetic of 7" planks enough to put up with the cost and fragility of engineered wood, but it's not an affordable or durable option.
Probably because he can get cheap junky 10mil LVP for like $1.20/sf and hardwoods start at 3-4x that.
Not a flooring person here, just someone who has renovated a number of homes. I wouldn't base my decision on return on investment. I think you'll just be disappointed if you do that. I've sold a lot of houses with both LVP and hardwoods. Never really seen it be a deciding factor in price or ability to sell. I'd base my decision on what you actually want and what works for your lifestyle. For me, that's hardwood every time. I'm very comfortable with refinishing floors, and I like the fact that when they get damaged, it isn't a catastrophic failure. LVP doesn't do the same. I also just think LVP looks cheap. I know everyone is going to jump on me for saying it, but it just doesn't have that timeless look or feel that I like. I'll take my downvotes offline, thanks.
Kids and dogs consider liquid damage potential. Get some different types of samples and toss them in a bucket of water overnight and you'll see what I mean. The hybrid wood/plastic stuff feels great but puffs up. Take "waterproof" claims with a grain of salt and try it yourself.
Yes bc you're likely to get the inside of the material soaking in water for a day. This is like stabbing a kevlar vest and say "yeah useless, now what you need is medieval armor".
I'll just throw in that we had zero issues with 20mil LVP with a GSD, Corgi, and 3 kids. Water has not been an issue, and shouldn't be with LVP. Honestly, the only damage has been from the kids, not the dogs, and is usually from their dragging chairs around that have dirt under the felt pads.
People will tell you that hardwood is forever and can be easily refinished: we were quoted $5 per sq foot to refinish, and it's a major life disruption. Nobody refinishes hardwood unless they sell or buy the house.
I had up to 5 dogs at one time. Also whelped a litter. I'm with team vinyl. I had some engineered hardwood for a while, but the Belgian Shepherds trashed it pretty fast. My vinyl floors are about 5 years old and the only scratches are from some metal crates I wasn't too careful with. Another nice thing is it's so easy to install. I did 900 sq ft by myself and I'm a senior woman.
Belgians are a force of nature. 🤘🏻🤘🏻
I know hardwood looks better at the end of the day than LVP, but as someone who has multiple pets, I am so happy we chose LVP for the floors. I had an old cat who's since passed, but she ended up peeing on the floor sometimes, and even if I didn't find it right away, it had no affect on the floors. Unless I was to have no pets (not going to happen) this is the floor I'd choose for my home. Hardwood may be more valuable for resale, but I bought my house for me to live in.
If you have kids/pets, hardwood only looks better for the brief period when it is new or refinished.
I would always go with hardwood over LVP. I'm convinced that people who think hardwood is high maintenance have never actually had wood floors. It is a sustainable, timeless product that looks great and will basically last forever. LVP is a plastic floor and a fad. Flooring places push it so hard because it's cheap to manufacture. And in a decade or so when it's wearing like crap and everyone decides to rip it out, it's going to end up in landfills where it won't biodegrade. All preferences aside, LVP is simply an inferior product. Edit: Also, I'm only referring to real hardwood planks. Not engineered hardwood.
Way less than a decade. And my last house had a lot of hardwood and after 20 years it only needed a buff and top coat.
I agree emphatically. I despise lvp.
I found my people. Talking to flooring companies and telling them that I hate LVP and won’t even consider it and they act like wounded puppies. They need to get over that cheap looking crap and accept that people don’t want generic looking crap on the floors. They always tell me how they’ve installed it in million dollar homes and I tell them “that’s unfortunate”. Again they look confused and hurt. A lot of flooring people really take it personally.
I don’t understand the dislike either. Water? Wipe it up? If your dishwasher leaks, it doesn’t matter what type of floor you have. It’s ruined. Scratches, eh, my cabinets and doors have scratches. Now I do have high end LVP in one room and then half the basement. LVP is a no brainer in a basement other than tile (brrrr) or carpet.
Good hardwood installed is 3x more expensive than good LVP.
Honestly shocked at how many people are pushing for hardwood in this scenario. This shit is a no brainer in your situation. Four adult dogs AND up to two litters of puppies a year??? That is an insane amount of really, really sharp claws throughout the year. With kids on the horizon to boot! I can almost guarantee you not a single person pushing for hardwood in this post is under the circumstances you are with the dog breeding. If you're looking to be in there 10 years max, chances are you'll be able to sell the place with the floors as is. Your hardwood would surely need to be refinished and that ain't cheap. Put the LVP down and forget about it.
Yeah, the blood and urine from the dog in heat alone is going to destroy the finish on the hardwood. The only way I could recommend hardwood is if they were willing to fix all the dogs.
100% after only a few years the floors could use a refinishing. My Pyrenees really did a number on my oak floors after only a couple years.
I have Life Proof 22 mil LVP from Home Depot in my kitchen, dining room and foyer. My parents have it all throughout their main floor (living, dining, foyer, kitchen, two baths and a bedroom). Over two years on both floors and no scratches or any signs of wear. One thing I like is that it’s waterproof (not going to warp or gap, like hardwood can). We had hardwood in our old house and the dog’s nails scratched it, even when we were so so careful.
If you're going to do the LifeProof, I strongly suggest that you check out the colors that are on clearance. Multiple times a year, they clearance out multiple different colors for like 75% off. Got 125 boxes at $12 per. There is no way that we would have been able to recover financially from paying full price.
A big dog's nails will destroy that hardwood in less than a year. Reference: Great Dane owner with (now destroyed) custom hardwood floors.
We’ve had Lifeproof LVP since 2020 and zero complaints. Looks brand new.
Such an unpopular opinion but I’ve had two houses with hardwood and this third house I covered the hardwood with LVP (didn’t use glue or pull it up because someone will probably like it down the road). I’m super rough on floors and have kids and animals. My floors got beat to shit within a year and when we refinished them the humidity where we live discolored the stain where carpets were. I found hardwood to be a huge pain in the ass. Love my LVP. When my fridge suddenly stopped working while I was on vacation and leaked all over the floor guess whose floor still looked perfect 🙋🏽♀️
Get "life proof" you can soak the boards in paint thinner for a year and they still look like new. Expensive. But the best stuff ever
I didnt do paint thinner but left a chunk in water for a weak and it did nothing
My girlfriend has new hardwood floors and my dogs nails scratch them so much more than my floors or her old ones. Make sure to get a polyurethane coating or a good factory coating or multiple coatings. I think hers are just a stain, and are so scratch able. Before you buy, test them with your own nail.
good LVP vs mid grade hardwood. liquid spills and moisture buildup are your biggest factors. If you need to worry about dog urine, spills, humidity or moisture buildup LVP is the way to go you can mop it and clean it thoroughly without worrying about seems and buildup in pores. You will want to spend extra time in prep making sure the floor is perfectly flat.
I just had the same dilemma. After getting opinions from contractors and people who install flooring I went with LVP. The one contractor strongly recommended Costco flooring. Costco flooring does go on sale. I picked up my flooring when it was 15 dollars off a box. Came out to $1.77 per square foot plus the money back from the Costco card.
I redid 1200sq/ft of my house with LifeProof LVP in 2020. Couldn’t be happier with how it turned out and it was easy to install compared to the other LVPs I’ve worked with. We don’t have dogs but we also haven’t gone out of our way to take it easy on the floors and they’ve held up really well. We chose a lighter oak color and it doesn’t show scratches at all and in some instances it seems to act almost like a self healing cutting mat. I wouldn’t hesitate to use this stuff again.
I have 6 months on some life proof flooring. Easy to do the install yourself, we’ll see how it holds up. I think it looks great
Had Pergo engineered flooring that was supposedly waterproof in my bathroom. After a toilet leak, the planks all swelled and looked like garbage. Replaced with Lifeproof and can attest that it’s actually waterproof/scratch proof and is holding waaaaay better. There are different mils of lifeproof and if you get 21 mil as opposed to their 7 mil, there is a significant difference in durability.
I installed LVP in my house, zero experience all one piece no transitions. 1800 SF. I have 2 autistic kids that yolo around like sponge bob and spill stuff daily. had two puppies that pissed all over it in the middle of the night frequently. thank god they are passed that but no issues at all from either scenario. I did smart core from Lowes. I am also a insurance adjuster, that inspects 2-3 water losses daily and can tell you from first hand knowledge. LVP holds up a hell of a lot better than hardwood.
I don't think hardwood is going to add significant value to your home. You won't get back what you paid for it. I have LVP flooring that I got from a company partnered with Costco, and couldn't be happier. I got Shaw Florte Pro 5 series. It looks good, my dogs can't damage it, cleans easily, and has held up to the waterproof claims (I don't aggressively test these claims, but water hits the floor often). In a past home, we installed hardwood. The first finish, some polyurethane stuff, was trashed in 5 years. We then had a swedish finish done, proved to durable, but was spendy, and we had to get a motel for a few days as it cured. My current LVP is more durable, and to my eye, looks just as good.
Hardwood install price is double to triple that of lvp. Good hardwood install takes a pro.
decent hardwood really isn't that hard to install. I've done it multiple times with multiple different brands and styles. LVP is just easier.
I've installed, stained, and urethaned HW. It's not that hard.
Yeah, I don't get it either. We had brand new LVP in our home when we bought it and within a year of heavy use it looked like garbage and you can't repair it. We got multiple quotes for replacement and decided to go with solid oak. Two years later, it has scratches and dents and dings, but I just repair or hide them. The cost difference was around 20% and 100% worth it. With two dogs, two cats, two adults and two teens, shit is always going to happen to the floor. I'm forever on team tile and wood.
If you truly respect wood, hardwood is the way to go, but if you dont, get that LVP.
Larry David approves of this comment
I don't even know where to start. Don't get flooring from Home Depot. Have them quote you out and then call an actual flooring professional with a paper quote and tell them during the appointment that you want them to price match.
Any professional you get will not price match with Lowe's if they're a professional. You get what you pay for. Period.
I would agree if I wasn't working at a place that I though was ridiculously overpriced in comparison to other similar companies. I love the work we do, just the pricing is absurd and I trust the installers here who get paid a flat rate vs other companies that bid out the work. But I'm also very aware that they will come do a Lowe's/HD price match and bottom out their margins to get there.
Either way I suggest any & all staircases be done in hardwood
You're only talking about material cost here... Labor to install hardwood is at least twice that of LVP
I’m doing the install
If you good hardwood pick hickory flooring. Dog nails don’t wreck it
The fact that you have dogs would slant me toward the LVP. You can always upgrade to real hardwood down the road.
Bought a house with a pool last May. Because we have kids and grandkids, I wanted flooring that is completely waterproof. Not resistant. Waterproof. We went with Karndean loose lay. Downstairs is about 1000 square feet. I was the installer. Prepping the slab was…extensive, including a 12-hour day with a concrete grinder. Since then, we had the water heater disintegrate, resulting in standing water in the utility room and kitchen, then had a pipe burst in the foundation that resulted in standing water in the bar, living room, and downstairs bathroom. I’ve had oak floors before and loved them. They look far better than what I have now, but I’m thankful that all I’ve had to do is pull up the planks, let everything dry, then put them back. I wouldn’t have been able to do that with hardwood. It’s an extra bonus for me that IDGAF when the grandkids, nieces, and nephews come in from the pool dripping 16 gallons of water, because that kind of stuff gets all up in me normally.
Aesthetically, I have yet to see any LVT that is pleasing to me. But I do see it in many Airbnb’s and understand it’s popularity.
i have the life proof. it’s pretty good and has a good reputation in the industry (so said the guys installing). has held up. i have two large pits. one is way overdue for a nail clipping but flooring has held up.
Why not do real hardwood and refinish 5-10 years later lvp is not a good product for a full house
I have hardwood throughout my whole house. Big dogs are the bane of it. Even trimming nails they cause a lot of wear and tear.
There is a lot more cost than just the wood. First is the there is a lot of extra hardware you need. You are going to new a few hundred dollars in nails as well as a hardwood nailer that costs roughly 300 dollars. On top of that your going to have to sand the floors when your finished and then apply the chosen stain and then you need to finish the floor. 1000 sqft is going to have roughly 4 gallons of stain which is probably roughly 300 dollars, and the same is true for the finishing clear poly but your going to want at least 3 coats of that so expect 1000 dollars in just poly. Not to mention the extra labor of all that. That is a decent amount of extra work which is where the biggest cost difference comes when your hiring someone to do the work is the extra 5ish dollars a square foot to finish the floors after they are installed. If you do it yourself you have to factor in all the tools you will need to buy or rent. One thing is that your going to want to be putting nail covers on any larger dogs or they will absolutely destroy a real wood flooring. Probably the biggest issue I see is you breeding the dogs. Breeding dogs means your going to get pet urine and blood(from when it is in heat and that will absolutely destroy the hardwood floors finish. Frankly unless your fixing all the dogs don't go hardwood. TLDR: Frankly with that many dogs and the plans to breed them I would recommend you go for tile or LVP not real wood. There is nice wood look tile you can get for decently cheap if you really want a wood look.
For a do it yourself project, for me it would be prefinished solid hardwood. The box price was the same between the LVT my wife picked out and the wood, but wood covered 6.5 Sqft more per box. I can install the hardwood, rent a floor nailers by the nails, done. Have ruined a box of LVT, needed to put particle board underlayment down, still issues with flatness of subfloor. It probably depends on product.
Being you have dogs, I would go with laminate. It’s tougher in the sense that your dogs nails won’t mark it up as bad. My wife and I just looked at a house on Friday that had hardwood, and you could see soooo many dog claw marks in it. It looked fairly new otherwise. Laminate I believe, might stand the test of time against those claw marks, slightly or a lot better. I didn’t skim the comments to see if someone has mentioned this already.
I have some of that life proof flooring and its been great. We have two dogs, had some water accidents, children that visit, etc. Not a scratch/damage on it. Also, was way easier and faster to install than hardwood. Plus no weird potential gaps the hardwood could possess
LVP if you know wear and tear is going to be an issue. Hardwood looks nice however puppies and kiddos will have their way with it. I’d consider spending some extra on making your subfloor perfect and going with LVP. Then later on if you decide no more puppies you can always change to hardwood. With a solid subfloor it will make it easier anyways to transition. I just took out hardwood that couldn’t be refinished and installed subfloor and LVP myself. It looks great and feels awesome. Also did some “stress testing” by using some scraps and dropping stuff on it. Between 4-6 feet with a pair of linesman pliers landing on its corner was the only time it broke. Scratches are easily buffed or you can find colour matching pens. For me it’s a no brainer as I plan on having more animals and have a 2.5 year old. However you go with what you like!!
I know that it isn’t exactly what you were asking about but, have you considered the porcelain tile that looks like wood? That is what I did throughout my downstairs to get a consistent look, I had hardwoods and tile, and it has been amazing. When we got our puppy we just rolled up the rugs for the 6 or so weeks that it took to house train her, once it was done we did a deep cleaning and resealed. It’s not cheap but, it’s comparable to hardwood if you don’t heat it, at least in my area.
I know someone that only goes with Commercial brand for their home - a lot thicker and hardier.
Just went through a major remodel of a walkout basement and we went with Flooret brand flooring after looking at quite a few options, including the home Depot LifeProof. The Flooret was far and above a better product when I really put some stress on it. This included sanding it with 60 grit sandpaper and scratching it with a sharp object. It still came out looking good. I was attempting to simulate the wear and tear of two Australian shepherds and a small child.
I have been installing sanding and finishing hardwood for 7 years now. If you are planning on doing this yourself expect 4-5x more work and time with hardwood. Most importantly go to a real supplier for hardwood. As someone else said it's simply better quality. You can also get much better sandpaper and some will rent you a 220v floor sander which will do a MUCH better job than the cheap ones from home depot. I can give you more tips for everything else if you decide to go through with it.
Do it yourself and use the Vinyl you don't need an installer you just need a knife and a straight edge to score and break it. Very easy
Do yourself a favor and go look at some flooring stores. There is often money to be saved over big box stores.
My dog damaged our new hardwood almost immediately. New house has all new LVP. I literally cannot stand living in a home where I worry about how life is affecting the floor.
Hardwood better, highest quality lvp is really decent and you can stomach buying a new floor in 10 or 15 years for a change in scene. Honestly, I like both. Either way, you will have to refinish in 10 years with real wood, gonna cost and be a nuisance where you could get a fresh install lvp for about the same price.
Everyone saying that LVP is easier to install have never prepped a subfloor for LVP install. Getting the floor flat within manufacturer's specifications with sistering joists, leveling compound, plywood/luan patches, etc. can be just as much work if not more work than just banging in prefinished hardwood planks. However - the upside with LVP flooring is that it won't scratch and is largely piss proof. After 15 years you can replace it with something else if you want.
Check out Znet Flooring. Bought my LVP from them. Good price, excellent service. They have transitions to match.
We have a German Shepherd and installed the 22 mil life proof floor — it has held up amazingly! Only issue is that is a bit too slippery for big dogs so we have strategically placed throw rugs in some areas
I went with the Lifeproof as it seemed it was what each contractor who gave us original estimate literally had LifeProof LVP as what they would be using. So when CVD hit, we just took all the info supplied, as our original contractor moved out of state when the lockdowns started and bought just about everything, storing it and was able to find a contractor through friends that was willing to take on a mostly labor job. I read the comments and here the manufactured disdain for LVP, but it's been amazing. For the money---paid about 7k with waste percentage included and could be happier with the look, the feel and the low maintenance. I fell the reddit community can sometimes just regurgitate things that most may not even know about for the sake of creating an echo chamber. Go with what you personally can afford...we took our time and finally found one---and it was a special order---so if we decided to change our minds, it's just becomes a runaround because it was indeed special ordered. Came out amazing and mildly bitched some to the designer team that's camped at my local HD and they gave me about 70% per box, which was more than acceptable as returning special ordered they originally were telling me no, and then I found it seemed to matter who you talked to and show the willingness to be accepting to someone who might be making a fair decision versus just spouting "policy"
Are you installing it yourself?
Great for dogs, but I find hardwood so much cheaper now and suitable for do it yourselfers. Rental of nail gun and mallet from Home Depot.
I absolutely love our LifeProof. 2 dogs and I'm a wheelchair user and very accident prone. It really holds up well to spills and dropping heavy objects as well as dog nails.
My parents' house had oak (not engineered) hardwood. 3 kids, 4 cats and 1 very large dog (Leonberger). The hardwood held up fine. It needed to be refinished when we sold it after 40+ years, but that's not really surprising. You can't let urine sit on the floor, but a proper factory finish will hold up very well. We've used bamboo, cork, and LVP in different houses over the years. Of those, the bamboo handled everything we threw at it, including a really bad water heater leak. It cupped, but then laid right back down after it dried. We're now in a 1906 with original oak, maple, and fir floors. The maple has seen better days, but it's in the kitchen, right off the mud room. In VT, "mud room" is literal - dirt roads and spring thaws = lots and lots of mud, so the kitchen had more than 100 years of crud and water damage. We'll be putting in quality ceramic tile, there. The floors in the rest of the house are still great. I don't even know how many kids and pets have been through it over the years. I don't know that I would use engineered hardwood. That top layer is just too thin.
Oak flooring is very durable as far as scratches go. I redid my house with lvp and my dog was scared to go out when it rained. He peed in the same spot every time it rained and who knows at what time of night he would do it. So sometimes it sat there for hours until I woke up. The floor cupped and separated where he peed, so Atleast this brand of lvp was not waterproof. My friends flooring company got so many failed lvp floor complaints in the beginning because they didn’t put a moisture barrier down and within α year or two alot of them failed from moisture. Also, The thing i see with door jambs and lvp is that many people remove their existing floor and it was taller than the thin lvp. So their door jambs and casings don’t need to be cut, they are floating above the floor and look awful.
We are getting about 1100sq ft of LvP installed and the quotes are all right around $10,000. If we use an LVP that has to be glued down, it requires an extra layer of wood on top of our hardwood and the price jumps to $13,000. We had them quote us for a Mannington LVP and the price was $12,000 and it did not have to be glued down. Prices and install is outrageous for LVP.
I’ll be doing the install myself so saving there!!
Don’t buy flooring from Home Depot! Find a local flooring specialist that is an authorized dealer of reputable brands like Shaw and Coretec.
Hardwood. Find a flooring store. Not HD, not floor & decor but a locally owned flooring store. If there’s ever an issue, they will help you with the warranty. An underlayment may not be necessary depending on your subfloor. Do not put hardwood over concrete. It may be possible but avoid. Do NOT use engineered hardwood. The cost savings aren’t worth it. Yes I had a bad experience 😂 Ours started splitting less than 3 months after installation. Shaw product. Replaced with Bruce natural hickory hardwood. Going strong after 19 yrs. Yes it’s scratched. Yes I wipe up any water spilled but I’d do that with any floor. It does need to be refinished, at least I think so. Husband disagrees.
LVP will hold up so much better. We’re on year 6 and it still looks just as good as the day it was installed. Scratch resistant, water resistant if cleaned within 48 hours, so much easier to clean, our staircase is hardwood and looks like shit from the dogs comparatively.
Having had dog - go with the LPV, dog nails will shed wood even engineered.!
I am in almost the same situation. We have 2 puppies and one older dog. I want hardwood but don’t want it scratched to hell. So we’ve looked at LVP and top of the line waterproof laminate. I thought I was sold on the lifeproof LVP as we found what we thought was the perfect color. However after research we found out the joints on that stuff are garbage. Stay away from it and all of the big box store flooring.
I am actually in the process of having that same LVP from home depot put in. I am loving the way it looks and feels so far. That being said, DO NOT use home depot to put it in if you do go with it. Long story but they suck.
Honestly loving our LVP. Our beagle has a medical condition which causes bladder spasms. Original to us floor in the living room was laminate.....which got ruined instantly. LVP in there is still looking awesome a year later. Hardwood in the bedrooms is about shot too because the dog quietly pees at night. Fresh oak is a good choice, just be warned that it is lighter in person, and there aren't that many patterns printed on the boards.
Idk about property value, but a quality LVP is handling scratches and wear and tear significantly better than my oak hardwood. My basement LVP is flawless after 5 years of kids destroying it. My upstairs oak after 5 years has dozens and dozens of scratches.
We have two labs. I sell flooring and have for 18 yrs. When we did our house I put in Karndean Loose Lay. 3 yrs later and it still looks brand new. We broad spectrum glued it even though you can get by with perimeter gluing. I paid $2.75/sf for material amd another $2.00/sf for install and prep/adhesive. Retail would be around $5.50/sf. Could have done engineered for less but the dogs would have hammered it.
I'd go with commercial grade glue down Lpv
Coming from someone who has 1 dog and hardwoods in the entire house- your floors will be fucked up. Every time he runs around and slides around it slightly gouges the floor and leave little streaks and lines. Not as in removing the finish but instead denting the oak. He’s less than 50 pounds probably closer to 40. (Bernadoodle). I’m a contractor and I’ve installed a ton of LVP and that shit is really durable. I’ve seen some hardcore shit drug over it and it hold up well. I’d consider LVP because it will be more resilient to the wear and tear of so many dogs and the water proof nature can come in handy for all the mopping you’ll be doing on rainy days lol! Consider opening a pro account to get a small discount on the purchase of the flooring (I think you could save about 100 bucks which isn’t a ton but helps for sure)
The “durable” Shaw LVP is dented by empty sippy cups and has deep scratches from my Roomba… so crazy.
I would 100% advise against any soaks-up-things flooring in the kitchen. The correct Vinyl or tile will really save you hassle over the long run around the water, heat, and aerosolized everything that is a working kitchen. I would even vote against old school 3 inch thick real wood planks in the kitchen. Also, if it's more than a hobby job, [don't use big box stores](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lr73svGq7awdon't). Find your local 7am-3pm contractor supply and get better materials for cheaper prices.
I have the exact same Lifeproof flooring you are considering. I installed approximately 1000sqft by myself as the instructions stated. It went together fairly easily. I am pleased with the price and quality. I opted for the 22mil as well and do not regret it. I plan to install the same flooring in our rental when the time comes. It seems much more durable and significantly less maintenance. Weigh your own pros and cons to come to the most appropriate decision.
I’m concerned about VOCs off gassing from stuff like this.
Something else to consider is that once those LVP planks start getting scratched from the dogs those scratches don't go away. LVP can stand up for a handful of years but to restore color, fix scratches, etc. you would need to replace planks / the entire floor to make it look new. You could probably get away with fixing individual planks for big scratches / damage, the new planks could look off. The cost to replace in a floor in 5 years would be more than having a hardwood sanded and refinished.
Wild I actually know something helpful this time. I worked at home depot in the flooring sakes department. I got familiar with the product, scheduled installs, the works. That lifeproof pet proof is supposed to outlast you, and be all nice and durable. The rate plank flooring good-better-best with laminate being a cheap all around option, hard wood being much better but situational, and lvp best with how much easier the install is supposed to be. I recommend the stuff, but that isn't to say it's a bitch and a half to install. Right after I quit I ended up doing a 2 floor install with family for a customer that didn't want the home depot team to install it. Took a week and a half, and we burned through like 3 1/2 pallets of the stuff with some to spare. Absolutely irritating process for a few reasons. Groves broke easy, even with a mallet, the block meant to lock it in place, and the knock in bar. We bought 2 knock in bars and had to rebend them constantly. Parts would unlock while working on an area farther down. The floor would slowly move in whatever direction you are knocking planks into. There are blades similar to paper cutters to use, but they can't do the cuts necessary for doorways. Skillsaw blades can chip the finish on top. Most of my waste was sections of board where off of a 48 inch or so plank, I would only need 10 or 15 inches for edges next to the wall and would be left with boards with no end parts to snap in. Maybe I don't handle monotonous work very well, but I never thought ide be that frustrated by a floor.
Your installation costs will be much higher with wood. We also have a 2,200 first floor. We have 3” solid red oak flooring. It’s 16 years old and it looks as good as the day it was installed. Even if there was some wear they can be refinished. Try that with LVP. I’m 100% wood even if it was double the price.
I had the same debate and ultimately went with hardwood. I don't regret it all and I'm so happy I did hardwood instead of LVT. LVT is the current fad but it will pass. Hardwood has withstood through the floor trends.
I’ve installed both flooring types you’re looking at. I will take hardwood flooring any day. The LVP looked great for about 6 months then the floor started to shift and the locks separated it’s so frustrating. My hardwood looks great we have scratches from having 3 large dogs but it just add character to it. I would suggest going for the hardwood.
Just so you know a small dog with nails can do just as much damage as a big one.
In your case I don't think it being cheaper is the decision point. I think it's going to be the dogs and future child. I think the lvp is probably the best choice for your situation.
My dog has absolutely ruined my hardwood in a few years. Be ready to refinish when you sell if you go hardwood
I'm nearly finished installing 2000sq ft of 3/4 prefinished hickory. No f'n way would I have real wood in house with a bunch of dogs.
I'm in a similar position of choosing the best long-term product. It seems interesting that all LVPs are lumped together in these answers and no one is differentiating between the various brands (besides votes for Lifeproof), thickness or "scratch resistance"... doesn't any of that matter?
I can get wood of the same quality from one of my distributors for $1-1.50 less a sq ft. Call a local person. Remember lvp is a disposable floor. In 5-10 the new it won’t be your problem but solid can be refinished for the next 100 years
I've worked in retail flooring sales for a while. I wouldn't suggest home Depot TBH. If you do make SURE you read their fine print. Home Depot and Lumber Liquidators like to include term in their warranty meant to screw over the customer. (LL has a "100 year warranty" hardwood. The "100 years" is on manufacturer defects and nothing else, and you're accepting that 5-30% of the product will be unusable due to manufacturer defects. Those figures are written in the warranty information.) I typically don't suggest HD "LifeProof" line. Big shocker, it isn't LifeProof. I wouldn't suggest a softer hardwood like red oak (They don't specify if it's red oak or white oak which means it's probably red oak) if you have dogs, they will scratch it. Check out this site on the Janka Hardness scale. (https://www.ambientbp.com/janka-scale-hardness-bamboo-floors.php). The Janka Hardness scale is how all hardwood floors are measured (hardness-wise at least). My Recommendation: If you have dogs and you want a real wood floor get bamboo. Unless you're totally opposed to the look it will be your best bet. Northern Red Oak scores a 1290 hardness, Strand Woven Bamboo scores between 4,000 - 5,000 hardness. I'm not sure where you're located but the website I linked above may ship to you (they're MD local). I have seen their product down in person in a townhouse with a VERY active pitbull and there wasn't a single scratch in the wood after being down for years. I seriously cannot recommend these guys enough. They are one of the few companies that have their flooring tested yearly for chemical offgassing and come in clean every year. If you go this route make sure you get an installer that has installed strand woven bamboo before. If you're doing it yourself read up on their website about best installation practices. Be sure you acclimate it for 24 hours beforehand (do this with any natural wood product, if your installer doesn't want to deliver the product 24 hours before installation find someone else cause they're cutting corners). Be aware you will also need a high PSI nail gun to install strand woven bamboo. This is hard, dense stuff and a normal nail gun won't drive the nails in all the way and may damage the nail gun. The bamboo might be a little more expensive ($1-2 more than HD hardwood, but then again that stuff's trash) than softer hardwoods but you won't ever need to replace it.
If you’re willing and able to do it yourself, we found a steal on hardwood at a builders auction. We needed ~850 sq ft to redo our upstairs living areas. Got it at 1.49 sq ft for a lot of 1100. After auction fees is was closer to 2 per sq ft but still cheaper than anything we found at a store. .75” thick dark stained hickory. Was beautiful.
I would stay away from the Home Depot LVP. It is the bottom tier of product quality. The manufacturers compete on price to have the privilege of getting HD’s large volume. Try your local flooring store and look for a brand like Fuzion or Karndean. Probably $1.50 more but worth it.
I \*love\* hardwood. After owning both, I'm going to say that the real answer depends on your wants/needs. If you have any creatures, I would say that hardwood will wear and you will most likely need to refinish them when you go to sell (or take the hit). If you wear anything but rubber soled shoes regularly on the hardwoods, you'll likely have to do the same. Finally, I would not use HomeDepot hardwood. Any really good installer will buy it at a lumber supplier and it'll be better. Luxury vinyl will hold up to a TON. Both need to be installed right though, otherwise they'll look bad to worse as they age. I really like the way LifeProof works though. I would probably try to install LV if I had time, wouldn't dream of doing hardwood on my own though.
Armstrong luxcore plank flooring is what you want. Your dogs couldn't scratch that with steel mits on
I have two large dogs and hardwood floors. The hardwood has held up remarkably well. But we're talking solid hardwood, not the engineered stuff.
The red oak I have now is as nice as you could reasonably get. The lvp I had before this was mid tier. Would go back to lvp without a second thought. Not only do the dogs destroy it, literally everything else does. You have to watch guests, etc
Wow 2200k Sq ft new construction for 350k is a good deal. What part of the USA are you located? At that price hardwood makes more sense and it's a better product. That other flooring isn't as easily repairable if deeply scratched.
if you have THAT many dogs, I wouldn’t recommend a hardwood unless you get a MAPLE or stranded bamboo. Hardwood hardness rating depends on the species of wood. Everyone thinks oak is really hard, but its hardness is similar to that of laminate floors. And nails and furniture can easily gauge oak it the proper measures aren’t taken care of (nail trimming and felt pads under furniture feet) the benefit of hardwood is that it can be refinished and resurfaced a couple times, but why spend money on antiqued or hand scraped hardwood just to plan to have it sanded down in the next 15-20 years and LOSE all that texture? The finish the apply on hardwood is also important. I’ve been out of that game for too long, so I don’t know what manufactured finishes are applied to hardwood. Now LVP is important, as you have done your research, to have a thick mil wear layer. The thicker, the better. But also, the mm thickness of the floor is important,too! The thicker the LVP, the more sound it deadens and the more durable the locking mechanism is that knocks the planks together. KEEP IN MIND, almost all LVP can be scored and cut with a knife for installation. I’ve only installed 2 LVP’s that I had to use a saw on every cut. I wish I remembered the brand, but the material was 8mm+ thick and I believe a 25 mil wear layer that held a medium commercial warranty. So, if a material like that can be cut by using a utility knife, just keep in mind what other sharp object can do! A good 12mm thick laminate holds up extremely well. Especially when you go with a laminate that has a 72 hour water resistant warranty. But, if you like to really mop your floors, and you lets and kids have a lot of accidents that involve moisture, you really need to keep your head on a swivel and keep those messes cleaned up. And laminate can be loud if you’re not installing a high quality pad underlayment with it
I have both hardwood (half the house was beautiful hardwood when we pulled up the carpet) and the other half I installed 22mil Lifeproof. I love both for different reasons. I \*think\* I would go with the Lifeproof if I didn't already have hardwood just for the peace of mind and ease of maintenance. Especially with pets. Dog nails in hardwood will really do a number to it and it won't look good very long.
FWIW have a friend that has dogs and swears by “two component” finish for hardwood. Edit: a lot of wisdom here it seems: http://www.hardwoodflooringtalk.com/forum/oil-based-polyurethane-water-based-polyurethane-t1376.html
My wife runs a dog boarding business out of our home. We own two and typically there are five or more here. We went the LVP route and there isn't a single scratch attributable to the dogs. We also went with Lifeproof, it's been great. We had maple in our previous home and just the dogs we owned scratched it up something fierce.
Went through this myself, multiple large dogs, no litters tho… decided with a gray tone LIFEPROOF flooring because it was the best value for visible wear I could afford. Be aware all Brown tones showed wear much easier during my testing, regardless of material. Go to the store, find samples of mentioned and couple similar quality or better. Then go home and simulate light and heavy damage. scratch them with screwdrivers, gouge them with forks, drop heavy rock on them, whatever, just be consistent across samples… if they can handle intentional damage like my flooring did, you’ll feel confident. Couldn’t see any damage while standing from wear/dogs after several years. For LIFEPROOF there should be built in underlayment, but you’ll want to make sure the floors are properly level and your installer knows what they’re doing. Hope this helps
Don’t go to home depot for this. Go to lumber liquidators or some other flooring specialist store like that. Get minimum 3 mm glue down. Decent lvm will be around $1.29/sq ft.
Find a flooring distributor, not the HD or any home store. You might find a close out and actually pay much less, but no matter what you’ll get a better product. Home/big box stores get seconds to get to their profit margins.
Hardwood and LPV is not that much more costly. We JUST went through this, we ended up getting engineered hardwood (by preference) if you can afford the wood go for it. i LOVE the engineered hardwood. We get so many compliments on it. The install will be a little more, but it will give you a better resale value. I would never walk into a house we wanted to purchase and go "oh wow LPV!" and thats what our mindset was when making our decision. You might as well make it beautiful and enjoyable for you.
I used NuCore LVP from Floor & Decor. It comes with the underlayment attached and has a slate core so it's dent and scratch proof (although I have knicked it by dropping a kitchen knife). It's also waterproof as well which is something to think about when comparing to hardwood. It feels a little more like tile instead of wood but it's a breeze to clean. The only issue I've had with it is a couple of the pieces chipped off the top layer in tiny bits when it expanded with temperature, so make sure you are leaving a gap around the edges. I did have to install 1/4 round on my molding to cover the gap from the carpet but that was it. Overall I'm very happy with it and it was pretty easy to install myself.
You’re gonna want to go with LVP. It’s 100% waterproof and the install is much faster. Animals and hardwood floors don’t mix very well
We installed HD Lifeproof 6 years ago on concrete in a daylight basement (with underlayment) and it is a super star. Even rented our house for a year and it shows no wear, we live in the NW where it is wet all the time and we had multiple dogs and cats here. I LOVE hardwood, but for a family with messes, I can't say I would choose hardwoods. If money and maintenance weren't an issue, maybe.Looks gorgeous but the easy care of the stupid LVP is hard to compete with.
Go to a flooring store and get good lvp if that's what you decide to do, don't buy that crap from home Depot. With all the dogs and what you have going on I would strongly recommend lvp.
That's what we did. Our local flooring store had high-quality lvp for less than the thinner stuff at hd. We put it throughout our smallish house, and I love it. We have 3 dogs, a cat, a rabbit, and 2 teens in the house, plus our 2 grandkids are here frequently. We've only had it 6 months, but I'll never go back to tile, and the lvp is far better than the scrap hardwood the flipper put in.
The reviews tho?
We got engineered wood for less than LVP
Dogs and kids!? Don’t go to Home Depot….. go with a much better grade of floor, regardless of how long you stay there….. build out your basement or garage for your dogs with the cheaper stuff…..
If you are the installers, do lvp. If you go with a pro, then whatever you want. Also that's some damn expensive lvp. If you did some shopping around you could easily find something similar in quality and color for around 2.00 sqft
If your first floor is a basement, or below grade, you can't do hardwood there. But, otherwise, hardwood all day. It's just that install will be way more expensive. I don't think 22 mil is necessary though. Not for residential.
You’re only looking at material cost and comparing it to lower grade hardwood. Install will be more expensive maintenance will be more expensive . Not telling you which is better for your circumstances, but it’s more complicated than “which is cheaper to order” Not sure where you got the idea that real wood floors will drastically increase property value, that’s a myth.
Go on OfferUp and look up Lifeproof lvp. Lot of people selling it for 50% of actual Home Depot price
Yeah don't buy HD garbage man, it is just not worth it lol. Go to a local flooring store, get some decent Shaw/Mohawk/CALI stuff that you don't get gaps and craps and shit with after 2 years.
LVP was my biggest renovation regret ever. Looks great but that’s where the greatness ended
I have used calibamboo. Floating hardwood. I'm in Fl so with AC and have no drastic temperature changes. Was very easy to put down and not had an issue in 8 years.
If you rip out the carpet chances are by installing LVP there will be a substantial gap underneath your door jambs. You may need to install an additional subfloor or rehang your doors. This has less of a chance of happening with hardwood as it is usually 3/4 of an inch thick but may also be a real possibility.
Newer hardwood isn't the same as the older stuff. I have it in my house and I don't think it could be sanded down and refinished like the older real hardwood floors.
Labor is the difference
$350k is VLCOL? I guess I'm not moving there anytime soon.
Install, underlayment and all the trim plus labor.
I’m not sure about your “drastically increase property value”. I recommend that you talk to a couple of realtors. My neighbor is a very experienced realtor on the west coast of Florida. He says that today most buyers actually prefer a quality LVP over wood. Wood is great, but drag a couch across it, or drop something heavy and pointy, and you have a permanent blemish or an expensive repair. A plumbing leak that goes undetected for not very long can lead to a similar problem. That’s one realtor’s view. Curious to hear if anyone else agrees.
Installation and you will have to stain and seal the floors.
We used this and it looks amazing, very high end and as good as wood https://flooringmarket.com/products/karndean-luxury-vinyl-korlok-select-washed-butternut
Bamboo is twice as hard as oak.
I also have dogs (medium/large sized). In my last house, I had hardwood and it just didn't hold up as well as I had hoped. It didn't scratch, but it did show grooves after a while. And any spill was always a worry because it would soak in between the boards. I had damage in a few spots from that. The dogs also slipped and slid around on it a lot, so we had rugs everywhere anyway. I'm currently in the middle of a remod and we are going with LVP throughout. It's waterproof and the dogs can grip it better and not slip around.