[houseshopper]

I'm buying a house and intend to install a new floor throughout (I like one unified floor). I like porcelain tile. A friend told me to install vinyl plank because it is warmer on bare feet. I would like to hear other people's opinions, especially about which floor is best for resale (I'm not a house flipper, but I want to make a good financial decision). Thank you in advance for any comments.

[Carla B]

I'm also interested in the opinions of those who have lived several years with a particular type of flooring, not just LVP or tile. We opted for ceramic tile in kitchen, baths, and LR/DR. After 16 years, I am beyond tired of the grout and the problems with its upkeep. It is square-shaped, 18 inch;, the grout in the plank-style tile might be thinner.

We got rid of the carpet in the bedrooms a couple years ago. Not wanting to spend a lot on flooring, we put laminate there, cheaper than LVP. We have friends who moved to Sarasota and bought a house with wood floors. She's says, although it's the most expensive, it's also the easiest floor to maintain she's ever had (and it is truly beautiful). She too was sick of grout.

[villagetinker]

We have both, removed the carper after several years. We installed Mohawk Luxury Vinyl Plank flooring; this is 100% vinyl and completely waterproof. Yes, there is a definite temperature difference to bare feet. This product is installed DIRECTLY over the concrete, NO glue, NO cushion, result a very low-cost installation. Repair is very easy, and if you happen to get a leak THERE WILL BE NO DAMAGE to the flooring. We have had this down for over 3 years with no sign of wear, Also, the material is quiet, tile and many of the engineered wood floors tend to be noisy and you hear a lot of echos, this floor is almost as quiet as carpet. This was purchased at Lowe's and installed by myself.

[vintageogauge]

TV has changed the type of flooring they use many times over the years. Square tile in 12, 16, 18, 20, and 24 inch, rectangular tile, engineered hardwood, LVP, and now Vinyl roll flooring, all along with carpet in various rooms. The engineered hardwood didn't last long, LVP is now fading away, the wood look rectangular tile is also fading away. Over the years we have had hardwood, tile, and also LVP. I prefer the hardwood but they just don't use it here, second I would choose the large 24" square tile put down diagonally, the LVP blisters, it is easily cut if you drop something sharp on it, and leaves marks from heavy furniture. This is just my opinion, it's pretty hard to hurt porcelain tile and it's easy to clean if you have sealed grout.

[bmcgowan13]

We had mostly tile (carpet in the bedrooms, hallways and family room) completely removed in 2019 and had Shaw's LVP installed in all the carpeted areas to include the stairs.

Love it. No more carpet matting or wear patterns through the common areas. Easier to clean up and dirt, grass, pine needles, or burrs that happen to hitchhike in on the dogs.

Also--as somebody else mentioned the size of the tiles 8" through 24" do not seem to "age" well. They seem to date the home back to when those sized tiles were the vogue. (Like avocado appliances)

One big advantage to the LVP is that when you decide to replace the flooring a decade from now it is MUCH easier to remove LVP than ceramic tile. The machines, buffers, chippers, dust vacuums, etc., required to remove the ceramic tile is a huge inconvenience and mess--not to mention the cost to remove it.

The downside to LVP is that our dogs tend to slip a bit on the vinyl (but no nail marks at all) and we are required to wear house slippers or crocs everywhere now to head off foot pain and planters fasciitis. Walking on hard surfaces for a few days definitely made our feet sore.

[JMintzer]

Originally Posted by bmcgowan13

We had mostly tile (carpet in the bedrooms, hallways and family room) completely removed in 2019 and had Shaw's LVP installed in all the carpeted areas to include the stairs.

Love it. No more carpet matting or wear patterns through the common areas. Easier to clean up and dirt, grass, pine needles, or burrs that happen to hitchhike in on the dogs.

Also--as somebody else mentioned the size of the tiles 8" through 24" do not seem to "age" well. They seem to date the home back to when those sized tiles were the vogue. (Like avocado appliances)

One big advantage to the LVP is that when you decide to replace the flooring a decade from now it is MUCH easier to remove LVP than ceramic tile. The machines, buffers, chippers, dust vacuums, etc., required to remove the ceramic tile is a huge inconvenience and mess--not to mention the cost to remove it.

The downside to LVP is that our dogs tend to slip a bit on the vinyl (but no nail marks at all) and we are required to wear house slippers or crocs everywhere now to head off foot pain and planters fasciitis. Walking on hard surfaces for a few days definitely made our feet sore.

The previous owners removed all of the flooring ( I Know there was carpet in the BRs, but no idea what was in the rest of the house), and replaced it all with matching LVP. We're very happy with it.

We have ceramic in several rooms on our house in MD (kitchen and sunroom and marble in the foyer, and yes ceramic/marble is harder on the feet.

Our dog has the same problem with slipping, especially when she's trying to jump on the couch or the bed. So we bought a little foot stool as a first step to the bench at the foot of our bed. Once there she has no problems (and no scratching of the floor, as well...)

And as a Podiatrist, you should NOT be walking around the house barefoot! The Crocs are a great choice! I also have a pair of Oofos sandals which are super comfortable...

[guacamolita@hotmail.com]

Porcelain looks nice but is very hard on aging joints and bones. You don’t want to slip and fall on a hard floor, or drop anything valuable. The vinyl flooring is more senior “friendly”!!!!

[MandoMan]

Originally Posted by houseshopper

I'm buying a house and intend to install a new floor throughout (I like one unified floor). I like porcelain tile. A friend told me to install vinyl plank because it is warmer on bare feet. I would like to hear other people's opinions, especially about which floor is best for resale (I'm not a house flipper, but I want to make a good financial decision). Thank you in advance for any comments.

I like the porcelain tile that looks like pickled wood planks. However, installing a houseful of porcelain tile takes a lot of time. Yes, it feels cold to the feet. (Or cool on a hot day.) You’ll feel it more if you fall. It echos like a train station. The solution to that is area rugs, but they are more of a tripping hazard than wall-to-wall carpet. Carpet soaks up the noise. I have LUXURY vinyl planking—anything less than the top of the line of the best brands will disappoint you. It’s cooler under foot than carpet but warmer than tile. It echos, but less than tile. If I were to fall, it would hurt a bit less. It looks good and feels good. But I still needed cheap (Wayfair) area rugs to soak up the echo and to look nicer. My house is 1200 sq ft. I used Roberto’s, in Colony Shopping Center. $14,000 for the entire house, including replacing all the molding at the edge. Not cheap, but I like it a lot, and installation took two days.

[Rwirish]

Have had most of them, porcelain tile hands down.

[bowlingal]

LVP in every room except the bedrooms! Bathrooms are tile.

[La lamy]

I replaced my sunroom's tile with LVP. The grout was cracking and some tiles breaking also. LVP is the best flooring I have ever put down. I will never put down any type of tile with grout again. Insane pain in the butt to take out and to put down. Like you, I can't stand the grout getting dirty or failing. Get a really good quality thick one and there should be no issues with heavy furniture. I got the tile size type and it was easy to install and looks like tile. Much nicer on feet and easy to clean. My only issue is that mine is more matte than I would have liked. Maybe they make shinier ones. I'd look for that if I have another install in the future.

[Cobullymom]

LVP is much easier to care for, looks good and less stress on feet and back than tile.

[skippy05]

LVP will be so much more easy to replace once you get tired of the style as long as you do click together floating installation. Demolition on real tile is an absolute mess. Also keeping your grout clean and looking new is near impossible with real tile.

[phousel]

Decent LVP can be hit with a hammer and show no damage. Try that with tile.

[Sandy and Ed]

Originally Posted by phousel

Decent LVP can be hit with a hammer and show no damage. Try that with tile.

True but……as pointed out by another responder, LVT does “blister”. We had Mohawk LVT installed throughout the house. There is only very small but annoying blister in the dining room. Small and barely noticeable but I know it’s there and will need to have repaired…….someday