vinyl plank brands, which is best?

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mrtimo
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Joined: Tue Feb 07, 2017 7:07 pm

vinyl plank brands, which is best?

Post by mrtimo »

We decided to do a mix of vinyl plank (also known as vinyl tile, or LVP) and carpet.
Any experts, or others who have studied the field who have recommendations on the best brands of vinyl plank?

Costco sells some, but it is 4 mm thick (pretty thin). We have some Adura max samples, and those are thicker and seem more "quality"... but it is hard to know for sure. Any thoughts?

Is it worth paying someone to install this? We want it on stairs, and that seems like it could be worth paying someone to install it there.
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fishandgolf
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Re: vinyl plank brands, which is best?

Post by fishandgolf »

Home Depot has an excellent selection of several top brands; at the moment I don't recall the specific names but they are top quality.

I installed vinyl planking in our mudroom and kitchen a year ago. Very inexpensive and easy to install. However, in order to do a quality job you will need a vinyl tile cutter (~$120.00) for cross cutting. I used a table saw with a rip fence for cut-to-length pieces. They tell ya you can use a utility knife with a straight edge but that's like trying to cut a wood board with a butter knife.........works in a pinch but not recommended for a large installation.

Vinyl planking is designed to be installed in larger areas and without any adhesive....except in certain conditions. If you would decide to have this installed on steps, I am almost certain you'd have to use an adhesive....but that should not be an issue.

Good luck!
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mrtimo
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Re: vinyl plank brands, which is best?

Post by mrtimo »

Thanks.
Some planks are 4mm, others are 7mm... in general are thicker planks high quality?
GW208
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Re: vinyl plank brands, which is best?

Post by GW208 »

I don't know about best but we had Karndean Art Select installed several years ago and it still looks like new. It's a glue down product that we had professionally installed. Karndean is considered one of the higher quality manufacturers. They have a new line out called Korlock that doesn't require glue that we are looking at for use in another room.
mortfree
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Re: vinyl plank brands, which is best?

Post by mortfree »

+1 to check out Karndean.

I had that installed in our old family room. Held up to our Great Dane as that was his room.

Wood looking vinyl.
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Mrxyz
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Re: vinyl plank brands, which is best?

Post by Mrxyz »

Hi,
I am about to install these in my basement as they are ideal - waterproof and look like wood planks. I am using Lowe's Smartcore brand which runs from 5 mm to around 7 mm thickness. The thicker ones are much better and they also come with a padded back and you do not need to use an underlayment with them. I am also using Tyroc subfloor which is all synthetic, floating (versus Dricore which has wood for example).

https://www.tyrocsubfloor.com/

https://www.lowes.com/search?searchTerm=smartcore

They charge quite a bit for install and so I plan to do it myself.......
engineer1969
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Re: vinyl plank brands, which is best?

Post by engineer1969 »

We installed this company's LVT flooring:

https://www.armstrongflooring.com/resid ... -tile.html

It cost more than the HD/Lowes versions, but the quality seems quite a bit higher. We were able to request samples for about the cost of shipping.
emoore
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Re: vinyl plank brands, which is best?

Post by emoore »

We installed COREtec in our living and dining room. We like it a lot. Works well with 2 kids and 2 dogs. Waterproof and doesn't scratch easily. It is a bit more expensive though. Ours came in 7" wide and 72" long pieces. Had someone install it in 700 sq feet in less than a day.
maggabelle
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Re: vinyl plank brands, which is best?

Post by maggabelle »

We've installed several different brands of LVP over the years. We really like LifeProof from Home Depot. It has been the easiest to install by far and the fastest for us. It comes with an attached underlayment too and has a thick wear layer.

We used the Lumber Liquidators brand and can't really recommend that one now that we've used something higher quality.
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mrtimo
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Re: vinyl plank brands, which is best?

Post by mrtimo »

Thanks for the perspectives.
Any experience installing LVT on stairs? We have some stairs that are open on one side (split-level house). Currently the carpet wraps around the railing which is spaced every 6 inches... wondering if we should wrap the vinyl plank around as well.
Also, does click and lock work well on stairs even if I glue it down?
hoops777
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Re: vinyl plank brands, which is best?

Post by hoops777 »

It can be installed on stairs but you need stair nosing.I would not attempt the stairs yourself.The mm is the wearlayer thickness,not the plank.More wearlayer is better.Everyone thinks installing lvt or laminate is easy,but it is not.The middle of the room is easy,but doorways,halls,corners,angles or anywhere it needs to be trimmed requires skill.I wish I had a dollar for every do it yourself installation I have seen that was lacking,to be polite :D
K.I.S.S........so easy to say so difficult to do.
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fishandgolf
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Re: vinyl plank brands, which is best?

Post by fishandgolf »

hoops777 wrote: Fri May 25, 2018 5:57 pm It can be installed on stairs but you need stair nosing.I would not attempt the stairs yourself.The mm is the wearlayer thickness,not the plank.More wearlayer is better.Everyone thinks installing lvt or laminate is easy,but it is not.The middle of the room is easy,but doorways,halls,corners,angles or anywhere it needs to be trimmed requires skill.I wish I had a dollar for every do it yourself installation I have seen that was lacking,to be polite :D
hoops777 raises valid points. In my post I said it was "easy to install". For me it was because I have installed hard wood floors, porcelain tile, etc. I also have the correct tools to complete the job. However, as noted in hoops post, angles, corners, doorways can be tricky. Might be best off to hire a professional to get it done right..........the first time.

Good luck!
Medlabscientist
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Re: vinyl plank brands, which is best?

Post by Medlabscientist »

Hey,

I just had this installed in my house and used Southwind Authentic Plank. It has extra wide plank and you can actually feel the nooks and grooves in the material,it looks like real wood.

https://longscarpet.com/authentic-plank.html

I called him up and asked for a discount if I bought 900 square feet and he lowered the price to like 2.98square foot.

If your going To go home depot route you want that fireproof brand that's like 2.89 square foot. Both have click and lock installs and have a commercial grade wear layer.

I recommend the authentic plank though.

Here's 2 youtube videos.I found on it.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ych0WYZ3qHA


https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8vSmW_LwKV4
Sasquatch
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Re: vinyl plank brands, which is best?

Post by Sasquatch »

Did the whole house in Coretec XL 9” plank recently. Working out great. We have a small dog and the flooring seems very durable so far to the dog nails.
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PinotGris
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Re: vinyl plank brands, which is best?

Post by PinotGris »

Bumping up this thread.
We are replacing the carpet in out FR and considering LVP.
Are you worried about toxicity from the product? I realize carpets and paint quite possible emanate some amount of toxic. And so would engineered wood, our other alternative.
Should I worry?
pshonore
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Re: vinyl plank brands, which is best?

Post by pshonore »

hoops777 wrote: Fri May 25, 2018 5:57 pm It can be installed on stairs but you need stair nosing.I would not attempt the stairs yourself.The mm is the wearlayer thickness,not the plank.More wearlayer is better.Everyone thinks installing lvt or laminate is easy,but it is not.The middle of the room is easy,but doorways,halls,corners,angles or anywhere it needs to be trimmed requires skill.I wish I had a dollar for every do it yourself installation I have seen that was lacking,to be polite :D
LVP wear layer is measured in mils, not mm (millimeters). Think about it - 4 mm is about 1/16 of an inch, 12mm is about 3/16 of an inch. Does anyone think the wear layer is 3/16 of an inch? Agree installation is easy in the middle, but the edges, etc can be tedious and removing and reinstalling molding/toilets, working in closets is not one of my favorite jobs

Costco had a deal with Shaw flooring - Go through them for any Shaw product and the local flooring dealers who do the install and get a Costco cash card for 10% of the job cost plus another 5.25% credit for BOA credit card (assuming you have funds at Merrill Edge). We used them and the installer was here here for about two days installing about 250 sq. ft. A flat floor is critical to a good install.
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