In this video we talk about luxury vinyl plank flooring, what it is and its benefits,
that's starting right now.
Welcome to Homebuyer's School
brought to you by Brookfield Residential.
Hi everyone I'm Karl Yeh, welcome to another edition of Homebuyer's School,
a channel where you get the latest strategies tactics and tips from home
buying experts, and remember if this is your first time on this channel and you
want to to get the latest strategies from the experts, make sure to hit the
subscription button below, hit the little notification bell so you don't miss anything.
So today I'm joined by Deborah Armstrong, a senior interior designer
from Brookfield Residential. And today we're talking about
luxury vinyl plank flooring. So Deborah, I have absolutely no clue what this is,
what is luxury vinyl plank flooring?
Luxury vinyl plank flooring is a flooring that can either look like hardwood in this
case, now we're seeing some that look like tiles or stone, but it is a solid vinyl
piece of material.
So what are the benefits of this?
People would use these in their home if they have a very busy household, they
maybe have have big dogs that do some scratching, maybe have accidents on the
floor, they want to use it in a mud room or in a bathroom where there's a tub,
whereas unlike hardwood which will not be installed because of the moisture,
and you know, hardwood would get damaged, whereas this
it's 100% waterproof.
And remember, we created a video on the best flooring if you want to have a look at
that above-- So Deborah, you were talking about-- is it completely waterproof?
This is 100% waterproof, it's solid vinyl all the way through, and it also just clicks in
like a hardwood, so it can be floated, easy to remove if you do want to change
it out in the future. Yeah so it goes together just like a hardwood but unlike--
you don't have to nail it, so you can actually float this, great in basements.
So you could actually install this yourself?
Absolutely.
So rip out your own flooring, and is just pretty much click--
Yeah.
Okay. Is there different types of this type flooring?
No it's all 100% solid vinyl. However, the look that you can get, yes the many
different colours, many different looking species of hardwood, different widths.
Sometimes you can get a floor with random width, you have wider and
narrower boards, you can like I said, get ones that look like tile, stone, yeah.
Many different options.
So it's not like when we talked about the solid vs. engineered hardwood, it's
nothing to--
Nothing like that, nope.
So wouldn't most people want to have this flooring in throughout their entire
house or it's not something that's really recommended?
Well I wouldn't say that it's not recommended, people still today percieve
real hardwood as having that luxury appeal, so for resale and things like that
if you say, "I have real hardwood in my home", there's an appeal to that.
This is a less expensive product, but it is very durable, and I have had you know,
people build 2-3 million dollar homes and put this throughout because of their
lifestyle. They might've had 3 or 4 really big dogs and have lived through real
hardwood, and the challenges, the scratching, etc.
And what's the lifespan of vinyl?
This would probably live as for long as you're in the house and passed.
It's very, very durable.
And is it scratch resistant too?
Very scratch resistant, much more than a real hardwood, a solid hardwood
or engineered.
Okay. And where would be the most typical places you'd want to install this?
Bathrooms? You mentioned bathrooms--
Yes. You'd want to-- however you don't want to have real hardwood in one room
and then switch to luxury vinyl plank, you're going to get a transition, and the
wood are going to look different, and not gonna create that beautiful flow that you
want in your house. People maybe put this in their entire basement,
wear and tear with kids and animals down there and leave upstairs because it's
separated by maybe a carpeted staircase, use the real hardwood up there.
Oh okay. And even though you can make it look like real hardwood, it's still-- like if
you put them next together, it still-- it wouldn't make any sense?
You're not gonna get the exact match, the thicknesses aren't the same so you're
gonna get transition strips and you're going to lose that luxury.
Okay. Now what's the difference between --I just did a quick research on my own,
what's the difference between luxury vinyl plank flooring and
engineered vinyl plank?
Okay, engineered vinyl plank is a vinyl that's been adhered to a high density
fiber board. They do claim that it's waterproof-- I don't know if I would really
trust it myself, I've never really suggested it because it's still a fiber board, and
you're not-- the reason why you would want to go to a luxury vinyl plank is
because of its 100% waterproof.
I don't know if I would trust engineered that has a fiber board underneath.
That's my personal thing, I would rather just stick with a solid vinyl.
Awesome. Anything else to comment on luxury vinyl plank flooring?
No, other than that the newer versions of this hardwood, when it's installed it is very
hard to tell between a real hardwood and a luxury vinyl plank.
They've come a long way and they're beautiful.
Would you be able to tell if you walked through a house?
Sometimes I have to look twice, yes absolutely.
In fact I'm actually thinking for my next home, I might go this route --so durable.
So the question I have for you is, do you use luxury vinyl plank flooring?
And what is your experience with it-- let us know in the comment section below.
Thank you very much for joining us and we'll catch you next time.
That's another edition of
Homebuyer's School. Tune in next time
for more expert tips and tricks, and visit
homebuyersschool.ca to bring you one
step closer to finding your dream home.
As with everything, it would be great if you
like and share our videos, also please let
us know if you have any home buying
questions you want us to answer.