re: Vinyl Vs. Hardwood

Cali Bamboo is partnered with Petco. This stuff is indestructible. Has a 20mil layer.

We have lifeproof in our basement, and real wood on the main level. The dogs and kids have demolished the real wood in 5 years. Already needs to be refinished.

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This may sound crazy but look at the new luxury vinyl. I have been shopping for floors and every shop is telling me they are doing a ton of the stuff in all price range houses. It is very heavy duty and not what you would think when you here the word vynil.

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I absolutely LOVE the looks of finished in place hardwood but if practicality is the focus of your home improvement, I would also recommend high end vinyl plank flooring. The install is much faster, easier and no mess. Not to mention you get a fully water proof product when you are done. You can get it to look like any wood floor finish you want.

I have a walnut stained traditional hardwood floor and while it looks nice it scratches, dents, chips, etc. really easy. And once the clear coat was cracked because of settling, a little bit of water creeps in there from ice falling to the floor or something and now you get small amounts of swelling/bowing in hardwood that will never go away. It gets annoying.

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dogs and kids have demolished the real wood in 5 years

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That's what I'm trying to avoid. Kids are in the 3-4 year plan and I know for a fact that we'll always have dogs so I don't want a wrecked floor.

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I agree, traditional solid hardwood adds most value. Depends on how long you are staying in the home. Also have to look at cost. I did high quality LVP for half the cost of mid range solid hardwood. Would solid wood's value make that money back for me? Maybe, maybe not. As a 5-7 year home and expecting my first kid in 2 months and dogs, LVP made sense.

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I definitely think LVP has it's place. It's great in bathrooms, sun rooms, etc. I just wouldn't want 2500sq ft of it throughout my house.


I told my wife after kid #2 I'll make sure she gets nice wood floors in our retirement village because there's no way I'd drop that kind of money on flooring with 2 small kids and 2 big dogs.

we debated this heavily, went with LVP, been in house about 7 months multiple places separating at the butt end. id never recommend this flooring. wish we had done traditional hardwood and tile in the bathrooms.

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dogs and kids have demolished the real wood in 5 years


That's what I'm trying to avoid. Kids are in the 3-4 year plan and I know for a fact that we'll always have dogs so I don't want a wrecked floor.

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I have 3 kids and a 75lb inside lab princess. Our oak wood floors are over 70 years old. We had them refinished over 6 years ago and they still look great. If you plan on selling in 5 years the wood will be more appealing for potential buyers.

i have no idea tbh, I'm gonna say no there is no filler under the baseboards

this is the stone cast brand, supposed to be one of the highest quality holmes sells. idk.

I have sheet vinyl flooring already on the floor. I’m thinking about installing the vinyl plank flooring over the sheet vinyl flooring in lieu of ripping up the existing flooring and using a pad. In other words, the sheet flooring will act as the pad.

Does that sound OK?

Gumbeaux,

The vinyl is the top layer, but the underneath is pvc type material and has very little give or flexibility. If the floor is level you can lay it over the existing floor with no problem. If the floor has humps or dips you will have a problem. Its going to depend on that more than the sheetvinyl you are going over.
If the floor humps and dips a water resistant laminate would work better. It is the opposite of LVP, where it has a harder outer layer and softer underneath. Laminate is much more forgiving in those situations.