What do you do about the floors? Is Luxury Vinyl Planks a No go?

Question

Hello,

I have a 2 story home with

1) Hardwood floors in the kitchen that have been neglected and scratched up badly.

2) Carpet through the entire house including stairs.

3) Vinyl sheet in the bathrooms.

I own and currently live in the home, but I may sell it this year so I am looking to replace the flooring so that it won't hurt resale value.

Unfortunately budget is very limited, so I rather educate myself well prior to screwing it up buying awfully cheap floors, but still need the most inexpensive option that looks the best for the price.

What would you do if you were flipping a home on a budget, but you were still living in it and maybe even live there for a while before selling?

I have seen that LVP (LVT) is popular online, but I am not so sure it is the best choice if you consider that it may have a stigma for being just plastic flooring after all. In my area, when you look at homes for sale you see laminate and hardwood for sale (especially on flips).

Unless there are homes being sold with luxury Vinyl and I have not noticed that in the "description"? I have looked for search terms like LVT, LVP, Vinyl, luxury Vinyl, etc.. All I have seen is maybe they list with just "new floors" and then you have to try and figure out if it is laminate or LVP and quite frankly LVP looks really good and it is hard to tell the difference in pictures.

Advise is appreciated!! Thanks a lot!

Edit: I did a new search with LVP and Luxury Vinyl on zillow and found some properties, however not many, but there are out there for sure. Just wanted to correct myself.

Jason D. · Answer

@Steve Stanley when I sold my primary home earlier this year ($275k) we used laminate flooring. It was no more expensive than LVP. Although it has more substance to it, it's less durable and not waterproof. In my own home, I would do a good laminate (they do make water resistant laminate) over LVP.

Lauren B. · Answer

@Steve Stanley in my area laminate is less expensive than LVP. Checkout Costco for cheap laminate flooring. If you have sheet vinyl in bathroom you can put LVP over top if the sheet vinyl isn’t cracked.

Victor S. · Answer

there is a water-based poly, but not sure how durable it is. have you tried contacting some refinishers around you? it shouldn't cost an arm and a leg to do. if you decide not to go that route, then rip it off and sell the hardwood to somebody, or use in a different room if there's enough of it for that.

Jason D. · Answer

I dont like hardwood in the kitchen, so I would do tile. It's more expensive but it lasts forever and is very resilient

Steve Stanley · Answer

thanks for the suggestion, I will check out water proof laminate since I have pets and I have seen what standing water can do to laminate. What would you do with the kitchen hardwood? Just suck it up and refinish them or remove and put the laminate to have same floor type everywhere? Is there a non toxic way to finish hardwood?

Steve Stanley · Answer

I noticed this too. My home is right now at around $230 for even smaller similar homes that sold on my street last year. I see a condos with LVP and homes under 200k with LVP. Rest is hardwood, carpet and laminate (engineered hardwood). I am not looking forward to sanding and poly for the hardwood in the kitchen since it is toxic and takes several days and it's a mess and was hoping maybe just covering the floor with LVP if that was a sane choice. Also because hardwoods in the kitchen is just silly in my opinion how they take a beating and LVP being waterproof, I thought it would be the easiest way to tackle the kitchen. I guess not.

Jason D. · Answer

@Steve Stanley definitely depends on the price point of the house. In my area, anything over $175k I probably would not do LVP for a flip. If it's a rental, LVP all the way.

Rick Albert · Answer

Where is the house located? It really depends on the market. In Los Angeles, I'm not sure if it would do well. I had one client put them in and could instantly tell. I've put in laminate and no one saw the difference because I specifically picked out ones that had texture (like real hardwood). Carpet is not a hit anymore in Los Angeles either unless for a screening room.

Shawn Mcenteer · Answer

@Steve Stanley luxury vinyl is probably your most cost efficient option. Resanding floors is expensive and will require shutting down unit for a few days. Carpet is not a bad option, I just do not prefer it because it stains and is not ideal for rental long term. Vinyl you can click together yourself and learn to install fairly easily. With vinyls it is a matter of purchasing the correct one, many options, most are garbage. You can find high end products for $3-5/ sq foot that look great.