Advice for LVP (Vinyl Planks) in 100 Year Old Home?

Question

We pulled up everything down to the orignal baseboards in our 110 year old SFH home and want to install something "nice" (Class B Property) across the entire first floor of our BRRRR; 3 living areas, about 500 sq ft. The home has definitely settled over the years, and the floor is not completely level throughout. Looking for something $2-$3 per sqft that will last a while and not feel "bubbly" when walking over it.

Is glue-down LVP our best bet? (Trafficmaster from Home Depot?) For wear and tear showing ... would you recommend light or darker planks? And finally - is a 4 mil wear layer sufficient? Or search for something more? (recommendations?)

Is glue-down LVP our best bet? (Trafficmaster from Home Depot?) For wear and tear showing ... would you recommend light or darker planks? And finally - is a 4 mil wear layer sufficient? Or search for something more? (recommendations?)

Kristin Feerst · Answer

I did LVP in my 110 yr old BRRRR. Floors looked similar to yours with holes in some areas.  We ended up having to do plywood sub floor on the whole downstairs to even it out.  We used self leveling compound in the upstairs hallway where it was really uneven i.e. sagging.  LVP is thin, even the higher grade stuff, so you need a level sub floor or it will be bubbly and not durable.

Next time around we are going to compare cost of LVP vs. site finished hardwood.  Everyone is gaga over LVP but for older homes with rough sub floor site finished HW may win because you don't need as much prep and it will be more durable.

Jury is still out on how long our LVP will last.  It looks nice but I question the robustness.  We used a hickory color which has good hide.  Went with Duralux brand from Floor & Decor at $1.39/sq. ft. I've heard good things about lifeproof but at the $3-4/sq. ft price point I don't see the value over HW.

Fernan Nava · Answer

Most floating floors have some tolerance for uneven surfaces is about 1/16 of an inch. It depends a lot on how high between your peaks and valleys if is more than say 1/2", most leveling materials are not design to fill in that much. In that case go with a direct installation vinyl planks or sheet or engineered wood.

Colleen F. · Answer

What color is the dirt in your area?  because I have found dark floors show everything and  I go with a medium wood tone, the dark floor in Phoenix always looks dirty.  Light oak and medium was good in AZ, RI, and MA. I don't know about the modern greys. Leveler is good to use for uneven floors in smaller areas or sometimes you need to use a .25 inch subfloor. What are you covering?

Colleen F. · Answer

@Drew Petro  Looks great!   You won't be sorry you laid that subfloor, not everyone has to but for your floor it will make the difference in longevity.

Skyler Southern · Answer

@Drew Petro Lowes Procore at $1.68/ sq ft is the only flooring we use now. Great stuff at a price most liquidators can't even beat.

Drew Petro · Answer

Wanted to follow up on this thread after installing the floor and explain what we did, if it may help someone in the future. First, we took a belt sander with a heavy grit paper to the few raised spots. Spent some time working these down, which wasnt really bad with a heavy grit.

We then laid down 7/16" OSB as a subfloor. On top of that we put Home Depot's Life Proof brand LVP. It was 7 mm thick, with the built-in pad on the bottom. We laid this directly on top of the OSB subfloor, with no other underlayment in between.

I could not be more happy with the end result. My biggest concern was that it would feel "bubbly" or "squishy" under your feet, and the entire floor is completely solid. It legitimately feels like hardwood under your feet. Even some of the "soft spots" that we noticed in the floor were solid. I would assume from the "thicker" 7/16" subfloor giving it a little more meat...?

Not the cheapest option, but should last us a decade +. About $0.75 sq ft for OSB, $2.99 for the LifeProof, $3.00 to install per sq ft. including subfloor (about 500 sq ft total).  All in, a little under $7 per sq ft. Going in to a BRRR property, so the value and finish was also important.

PS for those that said to refinish the existing original floors ... as much as we would have loved too, they were actually the original tongue and groove baseboards (albeit "hardwood"), not top-layer old finished hard woods.

Colleen F. · Answer

A couple of comments  relating to those who said sand the floors.  They look like they might be old fir floors and if there are areas with paint the professionals usually will not sand them because of the age and lead paint. In a single bedroom It might be okay to redo and leave them, I did this in a couple of dormer rooms but once you are walking a lot on them if they are overhead they get noisy. For the main living area I think the OP is looking for something more modern

@Drew Petro the 1/4 subfloor should be fine but ask the floor guy. Now in the end you could still have slope if that is an issue but they won't be uneven. is it wide plank pine?  If so you have to do the subfloor and cants do leveler because you have bigger gaps.

Drew Sygit · Answer

We also recommend sanding the old floors as they add character you can't buy!

Because those are REAL hardwood floors you can sand down 1/4 inch to help level out.

Ton of stain choices and if done right, they'll 95% look new.

Jered B. · Answer

I’ve been following this guy on YouTube for the past few years.  He has lots of experience with this “stuffage”.  He does a realllly good job explaining different Vinyl products from the big box stores.  Type into YouTube “..Which vinyl flooring is best by HomeRenoVision.”  Good Luck!