If you follow me on Instagram then you saw that our kitchen, hallway and dining room got flooded at the beginning of the summer. 🤦🏼♀️ We had taken the kids to my parents while we went on our anniversary trip. We were gone less than 24 hours and in that time our fridge water filter busted and flooded our engineered hardwood floors.
We had come back to town to attend a funeral, then stop by the house to change our clothes and pack a few more things, then head out of town. Imagine our surprise when we came home to 2 inches of water on the floor and water spewing out of our fridge.
Less than 24 hours of water on the floor and they were ruined!
I can’t say enough about our State Farm agent who sprung into action. It was 4:30 on the Friday of Memorial Day weekend and he had Roto Rooter at our house 45 minutes later to start the clean-up process. They were able to dry out the floors while we were on our trip, which was a huge blessing!
But since our floors are continuous through most of our house, we are going to have to replace it all. (Only 3 bedrooms have carpet and the bathrooms and laundry room are tile. Everything else is the same engineered hardwood.)
Even though they got there quickly to dry out the floors, the glue was already unstuck, some of the boards buckled and the finish was messed up.
Honestly I’ve wanted to replace the floors since we moved in. 😜 They were standard reddish-brown engineered hardwood. Way too red for my taste. I’ve long-time dreamed of getting something with a wider plank, hand-scraped and a gray/brown tone instead of red.
So while this was unexpected and a pain to have to do it now, I’m excited to finally get rid of the red floors! 🎉
The Shopping Process
Narrowing down what I liked was a lot harder than I thought it would be. First, we had to decide what type of flooring to choose. I looked at engineered hardwood, laminate, luxury vinyl plank and even tile.
The flooring that rose to the top quickly was luxury vinyl plank. It’s pet and kid resistant (no scratching) and typically waterproof. The higher end products have a cork backing, which helps prevent mold and mildew and helps with that hollow sound when you’re walking on it.
We sampled a bunch of engineered hardwood, but we kept coming back to the finishes/colors of the luxury vinyl plank. They had the color ranges and the look I was going for.
All of the flooring professionals that I talked to kept assuring me that Luxury Vinyl Plank is mostly what people are putting in the new homes in our area, so it shouldn’t hurt resale value at all!
I’m a little bit nervous about how it will look and feel once it’s in, but I’ll be sure to share it all as it’s done. Follow me on Instagram for the most up-to-date happenings and behind-the-scenes process.
Which Floors Did We Pick?
Wondering which one we picked?? It’s in this small section of samples…
It’s Boardwalk Oak by COREtec, which is the sample directly under the “Avaron” sticker. It’s the one I fell in love with first and kept coming back to over and over again. We saw a larger sample in a showroom and it’s gorgeous with low color variation.
It’s a 5 inch-wide plank. We would have preferred a 7″+ plank, but we loved the color so much that we decided a 5″ plank would be fine. The Nantucket Oak is a veeeerrrry similar, but a tad more gray, less brown than Boardwalk Oak.
They should start the flooring removal process next week and have everything installed by the end of July! I’m so excited to see how it all looks!
Let me know in the comments if you have any questions about the process and I’ll be sure to answer them!
MORE POSTS YOU WILL LOVE:
Lu
Dear Laura,
I am in the thinking process about tearing out the ceramic tile floors. It is my understanding that I am looking at spending a pretty penny just to tear them up. I put in a lovely floor in my remodeled bathroom. I thought I would use the same floor for the rest of the house, except the bedrooms. They have beautiful wooden floors and I am not touching them. Is it difficult to break up ceramic floors? I thought I would try and save some money by doing it myself, but most of my friends tell me to leave it to the professionals.
My other question is this – how do you know in which direction to lay the floor in the different rooms and a long hallway? The flooring is like 4 inch by 18- something like that. Is there a formula for the way you lay down tile when all the rooms are different? YouTube is confusing! Everyone has a different opinion on laying down floors. Blessings.
Laura
Hi Lu, We just ran it vertically from the front door and kept it that direction throughout the house. We didn’t change directions at all. We had two different directions with our old floors. The living room for some reason was a different direction than the rest of the floors. I imagine it was originally carpet and they came in an added hardwood later. Anyway, we had to step over the transition between the kitchen and living room every day. I’ve LOVED not have a transition anymore and it all just flows so nicely. I don’t have to worry about food getting stuck in that transition piece either. So nice! And the reason we started with vertical pieces from the door is that it has a more welcoming effect on guests. It’s a more inviting look than having horizontal boards at the door. Hope this helps!! Laura
Julie C
We just had our own water issue and I’m in the post-insurance approved estimate gathering. I’m curious how the process of moving your furniture in and out went? I’m excited to have new floors but dread that part of it.
Laura
Hi Julie, the movement of furniture was included in our quote for new floors. We moved out all breakable items and took things off the wall, but they moved all of the heavy furniture (beds, couches, TV stand, etc.) as a part of their job. They moved everything to one side of the house and covered it in plastic, then started the flooring on the other side of the house. Once they got half way, they moved all of the furniture on to the new floors and then finished the house. I think they used our garage for some items. It was a lot more work than I anticipated getting all of the breakables out and stuff off the walls (since we had new paint, too), but it just gave me an incentive to purge. LOL
Jill
You will definitely be pleased with your new floors – this is not you grandmother’s vinyl floor! They are so realistic, tough and perfect for any active home. I installed LVP flooring throughout my new, open plan home a year and a half ago and I just love it! Mine is by FirmFit, and is a darker color (Laredo), wide plank, weathered look, with a very nice grain texture and pattern and a subtle variation of color in the planks (no patchwork quilt look). Chose this brand for the following reasons: waterproof, pet proof FirmFit planks have a rigid core that contains granite dust and click together much like laminate. They are stable in extreme temperature fluctuations. They will not buckle, shift, separate or pop up at the ends. Though they cannot be used outdoors they can be used in sun rooms and unheated, closed-in porches. They will not fade or change color in sunlight (as some LVP will) and can be installed without transition strips in areas up to 6500 square feet (which is a bonus in open floor plans). They are easy upkeep (just sweep, dust mop or vacum and damp mop when needed), feels great underfoot and everyone who sees them are amazed they aren’t real wood. Had one visitor say “I can’t believe you are using wood in your bathroom and laundry!” – this is definitely the floor of the future and I know you will enjoy yours
Laura
Thank you, Jill!! I really enjoyed reading this! 🙂 Laura
Tina Harmon
We had luxury vinyl installed OVER our beautiful cherry hardwoods in April. We felt that we were the perfect candidates…crazy doodle dog and swimming pool. We went with a TOTALLY different color pallet …looks like weathered wood, lots of white/grey. BEST decision ever! I feel like I’m at the beach everyday! Light and bright, so much easier to care for than the hardwoods. We also followed your hints about board & batten and my husband did our entire dining room. We painted it black and it turned out beautifully with the light floors…very farmhouse! Can’t wait to see pictures!
Ann
Decisions, decisions! We had a “water situation” back in January. The home repairs have been fixed BUT the flooring has yet to happen. My point being that the days of ugly flooring are over. Making the right flooring decision is not easy. You picked a great color and plank size. Looking forward to seeing the finale. Best wishes, Laura!
Kaycee Laboudiere
It is going to be beautiful! And will do nothing but add to the overall farmhouse fresh feel! I’m excited to see it when it is finished, which will be here before you know it!😊
vicky
Can’t wait to see it in your lovely home. What a pain. Sorry about the water but God works in mysterious ways.
Gail
I am very curious about the vinyl plank flooring and hope you will review it once you’ve had a chance to live with it awhile. My Dad built our home when I was a teenager many moons ago. He owned a floor covering business and was an absolute perfectionist when it came to installation. Back then they had just come out with vinyl planking and my parents thought it would be great after living with those old fashioned skinny planked hardwood floors that everyone had (1950’s) that were awful to clean and paste wax. Anyway, the vinyl planking back then was awful. You practically had to scrub it inch by inch on your hands and knees and it never looked very good after washing it. Mind you, this was in 1960 and I’m sure the new products are 1000% better. I have been thinking of replacing the laminate in my kitchen that is a nightmare. It came with the house I purchased, but it was poorly installed and has a shiny finish on a dark reddish brown floor that shows every single drop of water or smudge. This is why I’m so curious to see how you like your new floor. My parents actually carpeted over their vinyl plank floors a couple of years after they were installed. Keep us posted.
Karen
I went with luxury vinyl wide plank flooring for much the same reasons but the choices seemed endless so I went with My contractor’s suggestion, Nordic Bergen, which is very similar in look and color as your samples. I love it, dog drool and spills are so easy to deal with, so much softer on my bare feet than tile or hardwood and no one can believe it’s vinyl…love it!!
DeAnna
Love it! Can’t wait to see it in your rooms!
Clarice
We just had the lifeproof luxury viny installed last week. It looks so fantastic. It is a wonderful product. You will be very happy with the luxury vinyl