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Anachron

Golden Knight of the Realm
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LVP wouldn't be my first choice for flooring - except maybe for something like basement rec room?

Or investment properties.

100% agreed with the posters who recommended 100% waterproof in any case.

I would try and increase the budget to go with actual wood - I don't know if I am being crazy, but LVP looks like wood but still feels like plastic...

Also, if going with a floating floor, don't even bother with hiring someone to do it, it's very easy, just grab a case of beer and make a day out of it.
 
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moonarchia

moonarchia

The Scientific Shitlord
23,412
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Control said:
As dream purchases go, a gravel pit with some big rocks seems pretty attainable. You probably don't even need a real lottery. A good scratcher oughta do it.
Click to expand...
Well the dream wouldn't be just the sand, but the building around it. I would want to build a Japanese sort of house around it. 8x shipping containers in a square formation. Custom built stone towers at each corner. The internal walls would be mostly windows and glass doors to the zen garden courtyard.
 
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Daidraco

Daidraco

Avatar of War Slayer
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Araysar Araysar - In the hardness and scratch test, the Lowes brand isnt that great. Home Depot's "Life Proof" scores a LOT better in that regard. If you have children and dogs, I highly suggest you reevaluate your choice. Hardness, is one thing.. cause you're not really dropping fucking bowling balls on it. But a dogs nails, after a 1000 trips across the floor - as soon as the Sun hits that floor, you're going to see every single one and its going to look like garbage. But say you do drop a hammer or something, it'll leave a smash mark, too. Just a forewarning.

Also, several brands, including Life Proof, say they have a built in underlay. Thats true to an extent, but I highly suggest you still put a stand alone underlay down. As for the subfloor, make sure whoever you have working for you goes through with a box of screws and tightens up the subfloor so it doesnt squeak, for one. And two, any movement is gone and wont damage the LVP. Then seal it, the cracks and all, and then pour several bags of leveling compound. I personally think you should do the entire floor and let that shit sit for a few days. But to each their own.

As for install, I agree with everyone else that the contractors Lowes work with are complete garbage.
 
Araysar

Loser Araysar

Chief Russia Reporter. Stock Pals CEO. Head of AI.
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Daidraco said:
Araysar Araysar - In the hardness and scratch test, the Lowes brand isnt that great. Home Depot's "Life Proof" scores a LOT better in that regard. If you have children and dogs, I highly suggest you reevaluate your choice. Hardness, is one thing.. cause you're not really dropping fucking bowling balls on it. But a dogs nails, after a 1000 trips across the floor - as soon as the Sun hits that floor, you're going to see every single one and its going to look like garbage. But say you do drop a hammer or something, it'll leave a smash mark, too. Just a forewarning.

Also, several brands, including Life Proof, say they have a built in underlay. Thats true to an extent, but I highly suggest you still put a stand alone underlay down. As for the subfloor, make sure whoever you have working for you goes through with a box of screws and tightens up the subfloor so it doesnt squeak, for one. And two, any movement is gone and wont damage the LVP. Then seal it, the cracks and all, and then pour several bags of leveling compound. I personally think you should do the entire floor and let that shit sit for a few days. But to each their own.

As for install, I agree with everyone else that the contractors Lowes work with are complete garbage.
Click to expand...

Awesome, sounds like I'm going to get fucked fantastically here.

The only thing I can say is that it's Smartcore brand sold by Lowes, not Lowes brand.

 
Siliconemelons

Siliconemelons

Naxxramas 1.0 Raider
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I have had various types of LVPF, laminate etc. 6 different types over 2 various floor locations

Just save and get real wood, because nothing is 100% impervious to damage, and real wood takes damage with character, while all the other "fake" options the damage looks horrible.

Exocet water... that is imo the only down to wood, water, and even them laminate will swell - still taking the damage imo worse than wood. LVPF however water does not do anything unless its some really junky kind or something, because of what it is, its basically immune to water...kinda.

at the end of the day, regardless of $$ - Real wood, tile or carpet. But having used many options and often because of $, there are some nice laminates, laminates seem to have better fake wood styles that can emulate hand scraped and grain texture better than high end LVPF I have seen... but I am a year or two out from having done any flooring.

Also... if doing yourself or paying - it is worth the extra time and or time / money to REMOVE baseboards - and install the flooring then have the baseboards cover the 1/2 or 1/4 gap between flooring and wall for expansion - vs putting on an extra gap cover. Also if you are re-doing the baseboards and cannot or do not want to re-use, paying a little more per LF you can get a taller, wider basebaord that will give your room a more $$ feel over the standard baseboards 90% of houses have.

Baseboards are my next real project if I ever want to make my house just finally feel finished and done- is just replacing ALL of them with a nice tall thick baseboard.
 
BrutulTM

BrutulTM

Good, bad, I'm the guy with the gun.
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LVP in a decent brand is superior to real wood in every way. Don't listen to these old farts that just want to rationalize how much they spent on their floor. Tile is just a cold, hard surface to walk around on not to mention that if you drop a plate it's almost guaranteed to break and maybe the tile will break too.
 
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Koushirou

Koushirou

Log Wizard
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Don’t know what brand it is, but the LVP we got in our house feels like some adamantite shit. Scrambling cat claws, piss, vomit, melting ice; this stuff takes it all like a champion. May not last forever, but it’s taken 2 years of a beating so far and I haven’t seen a single thing wrong with it yet.
 
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Siliconemelons

Siliconemelons

Naxxramas 1.0 Raider
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At the end of the day… do you like how it looks and feels and it meets your needs for durability in he location its in? Then victory!
 
fris

fris

Vyemm Raider
2,158
2,474
lots of reviews you'll hear are from LVP that's years old. shit that's out now is very durable and fully water proof. you can do every room and around the toilet and never think about it again. i've been debating pulling out my carpet for that for a few years and just can't pull the trigger cause I'm not sure I want that on stairs.

downstairs I have slate tile, beautiful when clean, beyond measure how hard it is to keep clean, impossible to damage. when i bought my home, the plan was to due stained concrete downstairs and after a week, i was still 'prepping' the concrete. i said fuck it and picked out a tile in about 15 minutes and did the whole downstairs.
 
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Araysar

Loser Araysar

Chief Russia Reporter. Stock Pals CEO. Head of AI.
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Koushirou said:
Don’t know what brand it is, but the LVP we got in our house feels like some adamantite shit. Scrambling cat claws, piss, vomit, melting ice; this stuff takes it all like a champion. May not last forever, but it’s taken 2 years of a beating so far and I haven’t seen a single thing wrong with it yet.
Click to expand...

Do you remember what kind you got?
 
Araysar

Loser Araysar

Chief Russia Reporter. Stock Pals CEO. Head of AI.
<Gold Donor>
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BrutulTM said:
LVP in a decent brand is superior to real wood in every way. Don't listen to these old farts that just want to rationalize how much they spent on their floor. Tile is just a cold, hard surface to walk around on not to mention that if you drop a plate it's almost guaranteed to break and maybe the tile will break too.
Click to expand...

I am happy to hear that
 
Palum

Palum

what Suineg set it to
26,510
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BrutulTM said:
LVP in a decent brand is superior to real wood in every way. Don't listen to these old farts that just want to rationalize how much they spent on their floor. Tile is just a cold, hard surface to walk around on not to mention that if you drop a plate it's almost guaranteed to break and maybe the tile will break too.
Click to expand...

Except resale value
 
mkopec

mkopec

<Gold Donor>
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When I did my Kitchen some years back I found wide plank 3/4" on special at home cheapo. I think it was some finished "swamp oak" or some shit. Nice stuff and I installed myself. Cost me maybe $1000 for roughly 12x20 kitchen and dining area? And I overbought since I got 2 boxes left in the garage. Pretty easy to install as well. I it took me a weekend.

Rest of the house except for the family room had oak floors that I refinished over the years room by room. Rented the sander and did it myself as well. I think the pictures are here in this thread somewhere. Used some floor waterborne urethane and kept it unstained, maybe like 5-7 coats. Pretty big job but I was younger and had the willpower for that shit. The sander was pretty intimidating, but once you got the shit going it was a piece of cake. YOu jusut have to keep the shit moving at all times when the sander head is down.

IMG_0225.jpeg
And here is the swamp oak…
IMG_0226.jpeg
 
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Palum

Palum

what Suineg set it to
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LVP is the best non-wood non-tile non-carpet option. Way better than laminate or sheet vinyl or VCT or whatever else. But prices have been kind of nuts because it's in vogue I guess.
 
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Koushirou

Koushirou

Log Wizard
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Araysar said:
Do you remember what kind you got?
Click to expand...

It was whatever the builder got for our house and I only have the name for the local-ish supplier. I can probably call and ask. We did get the “nicer” stuff, since husband wanted white kitchen cabinets and that only came with the pricier package.

I might have a leftover box of planks in the basement, I’ll check next time I go downstairs and see if it’s got branding on it.
 
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