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10 Comments

  1. I am SO GRATEFUL that I stumbled across your blog and your posts about the vinyl plank flooring…I was getting concerned that the vinyl plank flooring that is going into our new townhome might not have been a great investment. You have talked me off the ledge today…thank you!

    1. I’m so glad to hear I could help relieve the worry! We absolutely LOVE our vinyl plank flooring!

  2. Victoria Murphy says:

    Hi There,
    I had vinyl planking professionally installed and it is puckering, cupping and lifting in several areas. Everyone is baffled and the manufacturer is coming to inspect it.

    Have you heard of this or had any similar problems?

  3. Gladys Smith says:

    Hello! We need your advice please. Our situation is as follows.
    My mom, husband, and I are getting ready to bring my precious 87-year-old dad home from the hospital after being there for 21 months and are converting my parents’ den into a bedroom/living space for my dad since because of the hospital’s negligence my dad is now confined to a wheelchair and cannot get upstairs to my parents’ bedroom. We are excited about having my dad return home where he is loved deeply and we truly want to take care of him and lead an active life with him.
    We will build a separate door entrance into the den via the garage and will change out our carpet to luxury vinyl planks. The den will have the following items in it: (1) my dad’s hospital bed; hoyer lift (to get my dad in and out of bed into his wheelchair); wheelchair; physical therapy bicycle; sofa; television; and a few other smaller items.

    Regarding the fact that you have installed both glue-down and peel & stick vinyl planks, what do you think about installing peel & stick vinyl planks AND also gluing them down?
    Some salespeople try to “sell” us this option because they do NOT carry any traditional vinyl planks (i.e., that are strictly GLUE-DOWN and that do NOT have any self-adhesive). However, from a purely logic and intuitive standpoint something tells me that IF we really want glue-down vinyl planks (which we do) we should NOT use peel & stick vinyl planks and reinforce them with glue. We will not be doing the project ourselves, but it seems to me that for any installer gluing down peel & stick vinyl planks would be MORE DIFFICULT to accomplish than simply gluing down vinyl planks that do NOT have any self-adhesive on them, i.e., the self-adhesive itself makes the glue-down process more difficult.

    Also, we would like to know your opinion regarding “loose lay” vinyl planks. We are considering Happy Feet International’s “Quick Fit” Luxury Vinyl Planks (see, for example, https://www.happyfeetinternational.com/colorway/hf757/ ), and we also want to look at KarnDean’s loose lay vinyl planks since we understand that they are the loose lay leaders However, it is difficult for me to believe that the loose lay technology is equal to or better than a simple glue-down technology, especially when a wheelchair will be used on a daily basis in the den. What do you think?

    If you have any other flooring options for our consideration, we would appreciate knowing them.
    Our den is approx. 250 SF. We have wood panels on all of the walls, and we do NOT have any baseboards. Thank you.

    1. Hi Gladys! You’re absolutely right – I definitely wouldn’t recommend adding additional adhesive to self-stick tiles, unless the manufacturer specifically states that you can in the installation instructions. You never know how the adhesive on the tile will interact with an additional adhesive, and it could actually make them less sticky in the end. All you need for self-stick tiles is a good primer (they usually sell it right next to the vinyl plank flooring, and it’s meant specifically for this purpose) and a clean, level floor.

      I don’t have any experience with loose lay vinyl, so I can’t really speak with any authority on it – however, I did a bit of research and my gut is that you’re correct in thinking it wouldn’t be as durable. It looks to me that it’s designed for more of a low-traffic space, and I’d be worried about shifting planks if there’s even a minor error in installation.

      Have you tried looking at big box stores like Home Depot for the flooring? They sell a ton of different types of vinyl plank flooring, and if you check their website you can sort by installation type so you can find exactly what you’re looking for.

      For your specific scenario, I’d recommend either glue down flooring (ours is Mohawk brand, and we purchased it through our flooring installer – so you may want to contact an installer versus a store!) or floating/interlocking flooring. You should be able to find either at Home Depot/Lowe’s, or through a flooring installer.

      Hope that’s helpful!

  4. Hi, Did you consider the laminate hardwood floors? We are going to be looking at options soon. This is one of the options. I’m not sure if there is a price difference.

    Thanks, Laurie

    1. Hi Laurie – We definitely did, but knew some people who had poor experiences with laminate flooring. My sister had a lot of swelling in a few areas from water spills, and they actually ripped up their laminate to install this stuff instead. Typically speaking, vinyl plank flooring is also much more affordable.

  5. Hi! I love your blog! I’m wondering – have you had any issues with VOC with this flooring. I read it has very high emissions and can cause asthma issues. My daughter has very delicate lungs. Thank you!

    1. Hi Isabel – I’ll admit we aren’t super sensitive to these types of things in our house, but we really didn’t notice anything at all! I think if you make sure the house is well-ventilated as you work (maybe do it on a nice day so you can open a few windows), you should be fine!