We have two brands of Luxury Vinyl Plank (LVP) that we need to replace and are on the hunt for new LVP flooring (for the third time). You can see the shorter summary below or read the full story here: vinyl-plank-fl...
We’re hoping to avoid repeating the bad experiences we’ve had so far and can help prevent other consumers from having the same issues by learning from our experience.
The first LVP we had installed was Coretec Berlin Pine. It’s a gorgeous floor with beautiful prints and the company handles pattern repeats well, but we have had the haze, footprints, and hard-to-clean issue that others complain about on various online flooring forums - despite using only approved products - AND (worst of all) it tears up our clothes and skin!
The second LVP we had installed to replace the Coretec on the bottom floor of our house is Cali Bamboo North Shore Oak. We’ve had none of the same cleaning or clothes shredding issues with this floor as with the Berlin Pine, but their pattern repeats are really obvious.
See our video above to demonstrate the clothes shredding issue we are having with our Coretec Berlin Pine flooring and with other LVP flooring samples that have the same kind of matte finish (other brands we tested were Flooret, Pergo Extreme, Armstrong Empower, Karndean, and Mannington Adura). When we were first looking for LVP over a year ago, the matte finish on the Berlin Pine was very unique, so I doubt this is an issue for people with LVP that is a year or more old. But now, sadly it seems almost all companies are using this finish, which is why we are having such a hard time finding a replacement LVP now!
Both of our LVP brands have the same UV acrylic top coat (neither report having aluminum oxide or ceramic bead coatings). And despite having more pronounced embossing, the Cali Bamboo floors aren’t the ones tearing up our clothes (at least not as obviously as the Coretec floors). The Coretec Berlin Pine has noticeably more of a matte finish that feels like a smoothly-sanded wooden spoon; on the other hand, the Cali Bamboo North Shore Oak has a slicker feeling finish (in between the embossing), though the floors aren’t slippery at all. We’ve determined after a lot of testing on other samples that any LVP flooring with this same kind of matte finish tears fabric (and sometimes skin!).
One employee of a different LVP manufacturer did give us a clue as to why the matte finish might be doing this. According to him, the nap of the roller used before curing the floors determines how matte the finish is, no matter what the top coat is made of. The greater and higher the peaks left in the finish from the roller, the more matte the finish is. We think those peaks are to blame!
In the video, we show our knee tests on our floors and on many samples that we have recently gotten so that you know how to test your own floors or test samples of flooring you are considering purchasing. We recommend using a darker pair of pants that you don’t mind ruining for the knee test.
We’re also hoping that if manufacturers see this, they will stop using this kind of finish! It really isn’t necessary for scratch resistance, durability, or to prevent slipping as evidenced by our Cali Bamboo floors. It’s terrible to live on floors that tear up clothes and sometimes even skin if you have kids and they (and you) are on the floors all day.
We are hoping this video: 1) alerts manufacturers, installers, and dealers that this new matte finish is destructive, 2) prevents other consumers from purchasing LVP that tears their clothes and skin (if they think they will be on the floors enough for that issue to matter to them), and 3) helps us find new LVP flooring that doesn’t tear up our clothes and skin!
25 окт 2024
