I have a couple vacancies in Albuquerque and need to make some decisions on flooring. They are 3/2 homes. Carpet is destroyed after a few years and frankly, I'm getting tired of replacing it every 2 tenants. I'm thinking of just doing the entire house in that fake wood vinyl flooring. Kitchen, baths, bedrooms, everything. Same color throughout. Do I do the 16' wide or whatever rolls with minimal seams, or the large planks? Any negatives to this stuff, other than being damaged easily by sharp furniture, refrigerator feet, etc?
I just put a roll of the stuff from Lowe's down in our little open style kitchen. It's super cheap, $1.09 a sq ft I think. Feels like it too...Looks great but it's extremely soft. Gonna have to be careful on it. 12ft wide roll and kitchen is 12ft so extremely easy to roll out since room was bare. Other work is going on and not sure on future plans so wanted something easy and inexpensive to roll out. Will see how it holds up.
Vinyl sheet is garbage, will need to re-do every few years. Vinyl laminate plank is good stuff. Don't have to go all the way to luxury vinyl plank, you can get a mid grade that will still hold up if you don't want to go full coin. But don't do vinyl sheet.
https://www.flooranddecor.com/rigid-core-luxury-vinyl-plank-and-tile IMO anything decent will be $2/foot, and it's insanely easy to install- you literally need a square, measuring tape and a utility knife. I have this exact floor https://www.flooranddecor.com/rigid...inyl-plank---foam-back-100487156.html#start=2 and while it looks great, I'd say it is BARELY thick enough. If you with 2 or 3mm stuff you'll be hating it.
Sheet is cheap and 100% waterproof, correct? Also easier to install. Maybe a thick sheet product that resists damage? I just know if I spend the coin on plank, they're going to destroy it anyway.
I put the waterproof plank stuff in my upstairs bathrooms and it’s nice but slippery as hell in your socks!
Vinyl plank is the way to go. I just did a spare room at my house with the planks and it was super easy to install.
A good plank will be roughly 2X cost of sheet. But will easily last more than twice as long, is plenty easy to install and won't be a PITA to replace with something else when replacement is necessary like sheet will be.
My wife is a interior designer and has been putting Provenza brand LVP in quite a few houses. We have it in our house as well and it holds up to my herd including our 85lb golden retrievers claws. The nice thing about it is it doesn't need a liner or pad and it's relatively dimensionally stable with regard to temperature. With a lot of the other products you have to put expansion joints in every 15 feet or so.
I agree that for personal home use, LVP is the way to go and the investment is totally worthwhile. I'm just concerned that even if I spend $6 a foot, the tenants will destroy it. I never get that money back, either.
We are using thousands of SF of the LVT and LVP on commercial and most of the newer apartment complexes we visited when my daughter was looking have gone to that as well. It is more expensive, but so far it is durable and a kitchen accident that will result in full replacement of sheet, can be repaired more easily with plank.