Author Topic: Home flooring is settled, now let's talk cabinets and counters  (Read 6579 times)

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Offline Trim

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Home flooring is settled, now let's talk cabinets and counters
« on: October 01, 2019, 03:11:27 PM »
I couldn't find the home maintenance/care thread and it wouldn't matter anyway b/c I've never read it to know if this is covered. 

I finally committed to one of these things this year.  Some dipshit in my stack was putting the stuff that fresh food is packed with down their drain, backed up the pipe and caused water in mine.  I didn't think it was that bad, but it's going to end up having me replacing the entire floor except for the carpeted bedroom and one tiled bathroom, plus all the cabinetry, countertops and backsplash.  Basically, with the water having touched the wood floor and the island that is cabinet material, everything of that material has to be replaced b/c they can't match it.

Anyway, the floors were engineered wood.  I can replace it with like-quality engineered wood, but I'm leaning towards getting slightly less expensive luxury vinyl for practical purposes and having more flexibility if more crap happens in the future.  I'll utilize the price difference in upgrading the other stuff.  Smart?  Dumb?

Assuming that's the move, anyone know anything about vinyl flooring?  I can't find crap online that clearly says what the "best" one is, and the guy at the store was telling me they're all pretty much the same and that the price differences are in how good the graphics are, which seemed like bullshit.  Surely there are different levels of quality in the construction of the floor material itself, right?

It seemed like there's good designs/colors in every brand and sub-type.  I want to know the best floor type/brand/model first and then select the design/color out of that field. 

What's the best flooring?  Within the LV world, I think there's no max price I'm limited by because it's all cheaper than what it would be to get engineered wood.

After the flooring is settled on, this thread will move on to cabinetry, counters and backsplash.  T-Y.


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« Last Edit: June 05, 2020, 03:14:51 PM by Trim »

Offline star seed 7

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Re: Home flooring, to start
« Reply #1 on: October 01, 2019, 03:23:24 PM »
I think you definitely want the click together over the stick down, even with someone else installing it.

I haven't ever really dealt with this stuff but the graphics being the only real price difference checks out in my brain. Maybe some brands have a thicker wear layer? That might be something to explore  :dunno:
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Offline star seed 7

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Re: Home flooring, to start
« Reply #2 on: October 01, 2019, 03:33:16 PM »
Some quick research says the floorte line from shaw is pretty great. Thicker planks and thicker wear layers, plus other stuff. Basically top of the line. Floorte pro is the commercial line and even more durable, but probably overkill.
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Offline Trim

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Re: Home flooring, to start
« Reply #3 on: October 01, 2019, 03:44:55 PM »
I think you definitely want the click together over the stick down, even with someone else installing it.

I haven't ever really dealt with this stuff but the graphics being the only real price difference checks out in my brain. Maybe some brands have a thicker wear layer? That might be something to explore  :dunno:

Yes, I've been eliminating the ones that are glue-down.

I think it's weird that there's no chart that lists the brands/models and then has a thing of what features each has, with the higher-end ones having more features whatever they are.  I can't even find that within a brand just to distinguish their models.

Offline Brock Landers

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Re: Home flooring, to start
« Reply #4 on: October 01, 2019, 03:48:12 PM »
I redid my bathroom floor last year with "luxury vinyl".  It's very water resistant so it's a good choice for bathrooms and kitchens.

Offline Trim

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Re: Home flooring, to start
« Reply #5 on: October 01, 2019, 03:52:15 PM »
Some quick research says the floorte line from shaw is pretty great. Thicker planks and thicker wear layers, plus other stuff. Basically top of the line. Floorte pro is the commercial line and even more durable, but probably overkill.

The samples I took home were Mannington's AduraMaxAPEX and COREtec's Pro Plus Enhanced.  I grabbed those b/c they were the most expensive at the shop so I assumed they were the best.  Looking online, it seems they're not necessarily the most expensive.

I don't remember seeing Shaw Floorte at the shop, but that's not a deal-breaker.  I was just hoping to get it all at this one big shop that had all the various things so I could match them up under one roof.  The shop that sells Shaw is on the way so I'll check it out when I'm returning these samples tomorrow.

Offline Trim

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Re: Home flooring, to start
« Reply #6 on: October 01, 2019, 03:53:53 PM »
I redid my bathroom floor last year with "luxury vinyl".  It's very water resistant so it's a good choice for bathrooms and kitchens.


This is for a open floor plan, so it'll be the floor for a half-bathroom with laundry, the kitchen, the dining room, the living room and my office.

Offline Brock Landers

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Re: Home flooring, to start
« Reply #7 on: October 01, 2019, 04:10:41 PM »
I redid my bathroom floor last year with "luxury vinyl".  It's very water resistant so it's a good choice for bathrooms and kitchens.


This is for a open floor plan, so it'll be the floor for a half-bathroom with laundry, the kitchen, the dining room, the living room and my office.

Ah gotcha.  Sounds like luxury vinyl is the way to go.  I installed it myself, and I'm an idiot so you know it's not that difficult.  However that was just for a bathroom and not a much larger area like you have so that might be worth hiring someone for the install.

Offline Trim

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Re: Home flooring, to start
« Reply #8 on: October 01, 2019, 04:25:32 PM »
I redid my bathroom floor last year with "luxury vinyl".  It's very water resistant so it's a good choice for bathrooms and kitchens.


This is for a open floor plan, so it'll be the floor for a half-bathroom with laundry, the kitchen, the dining room, the living room and my office.

Ah gotcha.  Sounds like luxury vinyl is the way to go.  I installed it myself, and I'm an idiot so you know it's not that difficult.  However that was just for a bathroom and not a much larger area like you have so that might be worth hiring someone for the install.

For sure, I'm not doing crap.  I'll be at a nearby extended stay hotel coming by once in a while and eyeball'n all the work and saying something that makes it seem like I'm contributing.

Offline Trim

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Re: Home flooring, to start
« Reply #9 on: October 01, 2019, 04:44:04 PM »
Of the ones I took home, these are the color/styles I liked:

https://www.mannington.com/Residential/Adura-Vinyl-Plank/AduraMaxApex/AduraMaxApex/Hampton/APX090

https://coretecfloors.com/en-us/products/coretec-pro-plus-enhanced-tiles/wexford-vv493-02075

That Coretec photo sucks.  Those 2 are much closer in color than they appear online, with the Adura one matching irl what you see on the screen.  I like the Adura color b/c there's no slight brown tint at all; it's completely on the gray/silver spectrum.

Offline XocolateThundarr

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Re: Home flooring, to start
« Reply #10 on: October 01, 2019, 06:27:27 PM »
I ripped out the carpet in our basement and plan on replacing it with tile that looks like wood flooring.  Seems like it is similar to what you are looking at.  I may need to take a look at the vinyl stuff as the pictures make it seem pretty great.
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Offline Tobias

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Re: Home flooring, to start
« Reply #11 on: October 01, 2019, 06:29:25 PM »
what this thread needs is for Trim to diy

Offline Trim

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Re: Home flooring, to start
« Reply #12 on: October 01, 2019, 07:59:54 PM »
I ripped out the carpet in our basement and plan on replacing it with tile that looks like wood flooring.  Seems like it is similar to what you are looking at.  I may need to take a look at the vinyl stuff as the pictures make it seem pretty great.

I might have room now for my couch.  Fax it on up here.

Offline Trim

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Re: Home flooring, to start
« Reply #13 on: October 01, 2019, 08:01:48 PM »
what this thread needs is for Trim to diy

Lol, I just had a conversation yesterday on an unrelated matter about paying for what others are good at. 

I've been DIY'n the crap out of the hot chicken place that's in the same 'hood as the shop I keep having to go to.

Offline Phil Titola

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Re: Home flooring, to start
« Reply #14 on: October 01, 2019, 08:17:52 PM »
I've considered the tile that looks like wood floors due to potential water issues from my neighbors.

Offline Trim

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Re: Home flooring, to start
« Reply #15 on: October 01, 2019, 09:00:58 PM »
What's this tile that looks like wood floors and what's the difference between that and the "luxury vinyl tile" I'm talking about?

Offline _33

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Re: Home flooring, to start
« Reply #16 on: October 01, 2019, 10:16:15 PM »
Just did my entire basement and one upstairs bathroom with vinyl plank flooring.  Probably not luxury though because it was pretty cheap at Home Depot.  Click lock, floating. I think it looks good.  Way better than the gross, stained carpet that had been down there for probably 200 years.

Offline Trim

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Re: Home flooring, to start
« Reply #17 on: October 01, 2019, 10:28:03 PM »
I think all vinyl is luxury vinyl. I see one on home depot right now called luxury for $1.79/sq ft.

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Re: Home flooring, to start
« Reply #18 on: October 01, 2019, 10:31:58 PM »
I took a sample of this home and like it in theory but tend to think it flies too close to the sun for my whole place. The ones that look like wood pass off as wood. This tries to pass off as marble (?), but would obviously not be. :dunno:

https://coretecfloors.com/en-us/products/coretec-plus-tile/cardinal-stone-vv032-00111

Offline chum1

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Re: Home flooring, to start
« Reply #19 on: October 01, 2019, 10:42:03 PM »
I'm not familiar with vinyl. So, my first question is how long the product has been around. If only a couple years, I'd be leery. If longer, I'd read reviews to see if there are any common issues that people are having.

Beyond that, it might make selling your house harder if lots of people think it's a cheap finish.

Offline Trim

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Re: Home flooring, to start
« Reply #20 on: October 01, 2019, 11:06:55 PM »
I'm not familiar with vinyl. So, my first question is how long the product has been around. If only a couple years, I'd be leery. If longer, I'd read reviews to see if there are any common issues that people are having.

Beyond that, it might make selling your house harder if lots of people think it's a cheap finish.

Here’s some stuff:

https://www.principiaconsulting.com/revitalizing-the-product-life-cycle-3-lessons-learned-from-luxury-vinyl-tile-flooring/

https://www.thespruce.com/how-does-luxury-vinyl-flooring-differ-from-standard-vinyl-4119903

When I first went to the shop, the people there were giving me a shitload of reasons why luxury vinyl is better than wood. I asked what the pro of wood is then and it was basically that it’s really important to some to say they have wood floors. So I guess that’s where the resell factor comes in. Not sure it’s worth it to me if the vinyl will be so much more practical, and conceivably would be replaced again if the dumbfucks keep pouring weird shot down their drain.

The place that I saw that sells the Shaw floors is a floor-only shop. Maybe they’ll have a pro there who can educate me on any reason to get wood again over vinyl and assuming there isn’t anyway, what the best vinyl (or anything else) there is.

My current thought on the resell is even if my new floor is less prestigious than the old floor, any money saved there is going towards upgrading everything else, so it should be a wash. :dunno:


Offline Trim

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Re: Home flooring, to start
« Reply #21 on: October 01, 2019, 11:10:59 PM »
What’s mumped is before all this, I didn’t care. I actually assumed the floors were luxury vinyl (that’s what my bud said after we scratched the floor and looked up a scratch remover on amazon), only to find it was wood once the workers sawed it up. Same with the cabinets, I’d never noticed that the tops and bottoms were mismatched shaker or slab or whatever. It was all fine by me.

Now that I have to pick all the stuff and live with it for a while and then sell it, it’s a major life decision.

Offline MakeItRain

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Re: Home flooring, to start
« Reply #22 on: October 02, 2019, 01:57:01 AM »
After I recover from this surgery were putting new flooring in too. We're going with clicking wood laminate. You easiest to install, durable, and most importantly with three kids and two aging pets, waterproof.

Offline Phil Titola

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Re: Home flooring, to start
« Reply #23 on: October 02, 2019, 06:54:27 AM »
Wood looking ceramic tile. Not classified as luxury though

https://www.flooranddecor.com/wood-look-plank-tile

Offline Trim

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Re: Home flooring, to start
« Reply #24 on: October 02, 2019, 09:38:48 AM »