Cj- That resilient vinyl looks very nice and the dark wood (teak) is beautiful! Thank you for the link :)

Our little girl should be better (we hope)...we'll know more tomorrow.

Here's several threads on the subject of wood-look vinyl although there are lots more. Generally people like it, and it certainly looks good in the pics! Allure from HD and Novalis from Lowe's seem to be the big contenders. Some of the older posts on Allure weren't very happy with it, but the newer ones look like they've fixed whatever the problem was.

http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/oldhouse/msg0320154718930.html

http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/flooring/msg0911023312366.html

http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/decor/msg0318033614833.html

P.S. Don't you drop your boots at the door when you come in from the barn?! Let us know how the horse is doing - definitely worth mud and such on the floor.

Here is a link that might be useful: Novalis peel & stick

pesky1 has wood vinyl I think...

I put HD's Allure Trafficmaster in the Pine planks in our 1/2 bath to cover the lavender floor tile. I like it a lot and wouldn't hesitate to use it elsewhere if needed. Sorry, no pics, I didn't finish my mini-update yet and it's still a mess.

Well I have real wood in my kitchen and presently it drives me nuts. I will be having it refinished again.

As far as vinyl that looks like wood, I have the HD Allure Traffic Master plank in my daughters bedroom (her choice) and in a mud room/kid room that 4 dogs tromp through on a daily basis. It has been in about 1 1/2 years and looks like new, despite two large boxers on it.

In a rental house I put down the Mannington Adura Vinyl Plank flooring in the master bedroom. It held up gorgeous.
The Mannington is more expensive, but I'm not convinced it is much better quality. The looks of both were similar and both have held up well. I would not hesitate to use it in a kitchen. It really looks nice too!

This thread makes me feel so much better. I have a stack of packages of wood-look vinyl ready to install, and have been having major second thoughts ... you all have reminded me why I picked it, so thanks.

I'm so glad to see all the positive responses! I love the look of wood, but it's just not practical in our situation. Thanks for all the links and suggestions :)

Our horse is feeling better, but we'll know more if she eats today! Keeping our fingers crossed.

We installed the Home Depot Allure Trafficmaster in our basement last year and have been happy with it.

Hi lavendar..

I have Pergo Select Red Praire Pine for 7 years. It's througout my entire home and has withstood a major pet accident that went unnoticed. We loved it so much we continued it into our new kitchen. I would not hesitate to install it again. I do feel that the quality of Pergo may be better than other manufacturers, as my friend has laminate wood and hers looks terrible. I can tell you mine looks brand new. The very first day, I dropped my heavy steam iron on it. Not a dent or scratch to be found!

My neighbor just had some installed in her home and it's gorgeous...much nicer than mine. The newer colors and finishes are worth checking out!

KA:)

Wow...i thought I had decided on hardwood for the kitchen, but now I'm having 2nd thoughts!!

This may be a little OT, but we have red oak hardwood w/natural finish in the hallway and dining room that open to the kitchen - what are thoughts on having real hardwood in those areas, but vinyl in the kitchen/family area?

Lavender--no comment on the floors (we will have real wood), but wanted to check in and see how your little girl is doing today. I hope she eats for you! Crossing my fingers! :)

Here's my two cents. Way back when, I had a doorway made between my kitchen and dining room when I was out of town. When I returned home the contractor had put a piece of vinyl flooring down until I could make a decision of what to pick for flooring.

The vinyl was a wood grain and I loved it. I wanted to put it in the kitchen but the store had trouble re-ordering it. Eventually I decided to put in a wood laminate. I hate it. I find it noisy, hard to keep clean (shows everything and streaked until I switched to a steam mop) and my dogs hate it too!

I keep wrestling with the thought of ripping out the laminate and replacing it with the vinyl plank stuff. Quiet,tough,easily cleaned, and very nice looking... The crazy part is I do have original 1850 fir floors under there somewhere, but I'll save that project for another day; the kitchen alone is enough and DH sees nothing wrong with the laminate =( ...whispering now...but I know I could get that laminate up and the vinyl laid back down before he gets home on his late day!!! =)

Yes! I have the following product in my master bathroom and kids bathroom. It's beautiful and I love it so much I would select it again.

http://www.mannington.com/Residential/Resilient/PremiumNaturals/Carolina%20Oak/17302

Thank you, everyone, for the excellent suggestions and pictures.

I've heard laminate can be quite durable, but in our case, I think vinyl will be our best choice.

Breezy- She's eating! Not a lot, but she's eating, so we'll see how she feels, tomorrow! :)

mom2SF - is it sheet? plank? do you have dog traffic on it?

never ending - what is that woodlooking vinyl? can you post a pic of it?

kitchenaddict - is your Pergo vinyl or laminate? I'm not finding much in stores with pergo vinyl in my area...

LL - so glad to read that your horse is eating today! a little is good!
I also think you'll be happier with vinyl also... as I will. tracking in - I'm not on a farm but am in the desert and have 2 dogs.

Steph, I should have said Congoleum! =D It goes down in one sheet, installed by a floor installer. Laminates came into popularity with their die hard wearability and realistic look but vinyls have really worked hard to improve their products and believability.

Here is a link that might be useful: vinyl flooring

Have you got a colic going on there? Better today?

I have sheet vinyl in the kitchen which was already 5 years old when I did the remodel. I put down a different sheet vinyl in the bathroom last summer and can't get over how warm that floor is. Both wood look. I wouldn't mess with anything else. You all know by now my kitchen is the Budget Remodel example so I planned to keep my old floor. Even if I had more money to spend on it, I would stick with what I have. Easy to keep clean, the critters have not destroyed it -except Sophie Too who did chew a hole in it once. My perfect carpenter man repaired it. I'm not into "housekeepping" and barn stuff does get tracked in. No problem. Sweep it or shop vac or swiffer. Damp mop with that Congoleum floor cleaner stuff. Ta Da! All done. I have dropped knives on it and that does create a small hole but they don't really show.

We put Traffic Master Allure Apple Blonde in a bathroom. I wanted wood look without the water worry.

I have to admit that I love it. It is warm, quite, has texture and is perfect for an area that gets wet.

It was so easy to install, no glue just "sticky tabs" and it is durable.

I also have Congoleum, which was installed from a roll. It predated the renovation by several years and had the reno workmen tramping over it with dirty boots for months. I applied some Congoleum refinisher and it appears brand new again. Mine looks like tile and is frequently mistaken for the real thing, but it is vastly easier to maintain here with snow and mud season. This stuff is "not your mother's vinyl."

I have Amtico vinyl planks in my kitchen, laundry room, and eating area. I had vinyl before, both tiles and sheet and hated it because it was hard to clean and got nicks or scrapes.

I've had Amtico since 2002 and there is not a single nick or tear and it cleans like a dream. I've been very happy with it.

I second the Allure wood look products from Home Depot. We are quite satisfied with ours.
+ -It looks very nice. Ours has fooled people into thinking it was really wood.
-It's hard wearing. Had a friend who makes soap spill lye on her oak dining room table and Allure floor, where it sat unknowned to them all night. Table finish-ruined. Floor-unscathed. Also, we have 6 kiddos, a small dog, and a hubby in boots of questionable nature on it regularly. It still looks good.
-It's water proof.
-It's easy to install yourself, if you are so inclined (not dusty like cutting laminate on the chop saw-ick!) You do need to be careful with tight seams though.
-It won't move around like laminate is prone to doing.
-It's reasonably priced, and has a pretty good warranty.

One caveat- if you are prone to moving furniture as much as I am, invest in good felt pads for everything. A piece of grit can scratch it, if it's dragged across it hard enough. 1st hand experience, speaking.

Hi desertsteph...

My Pergo is laminate. Clicks together... Great product!

KA:)

Hi again desertsteph...

I just looked on the Pergo website and they have vinyl as well...I can't speak about that particular product, though.

KA:)

Here is a link that might be useful: Pergo website

We LIVED (it's in cap for a reason) with an Alloc vinyl floor for about 10 years in our other house. We lived on 5 acres surrounded with wheat fields, so the house was constantly dirty. We had several boys, dogs and lots of family and friends over. (many of the events were 50 - 125) The kitchen was the center of all activity. When we left that house, the floor looked like it did the day we installed it. Except for mopping up spills and the daily "sweep" it was maintenance free. We loved it and would put it in the kitchen we're redoing, but no one in our area is offering the flooring. By the way, the pattern was Italian olive wood.

never ending - did you ever find out why they couldn't reorder the vinyl for you?

pinch me and warmfridge - can you post pics of your vinyl floors? or if already on the forum somewhere, post links to them?
pinch me - I'm assuming yours was Congoleum also since you used their cleaner on it...

I don't think I want the wood look in the kitchen, hall and laundry, baths but do in the other rooms. I'm looking for something very plain beigy for the kit,hall, baths etc.

thx!

Here's something you might look at. This division is new but the parent company, Metro Floor has been around for a long time. They also make the Allure flooring for HD.

We put down the Aspen Metallic in early November and so far I love it. Very easy to clean and I think it's going to wear like iron. There is a lifetime warranty, can't beat that.

Nancy

Here is a link that might be useful: Starloc

Steph- we have a lumber yard here that is a family run business. They have the best prices in the area, will open in the middle of the night for an emergency, let you run a TAB during a new build for $$$$, but are totally unorganized and dysfunctional. The place looks like a bomb went off in the showroom. It's a cross between the "Hoarders" and "American Pickers"!!! These people actually forgot to bill my friend $5000.00 for roof trusses 6 years ago!

All that being said, I did order my floor, was given a date for pick up, and went to get it and they said it was back ordered. Fine, I understood that. They said it would be on the next truck. I called, nope, not yet. Called again, nothing yet. After three weeks I called again and they said they would call me. 4 years later I'm still waiting! LOL! I drove an hour to the closest Lowes and picked up laminate and put it in myself with a girlfriend who had done hers.

We try to stay local but sometimes you can't! I did however look at the vinyl Novalis flooring Lowes has today and brought home a piece. I do like the look and am turning the wheels on this. I have an original fir floor but my kitchen is high traffic and I don't know if I'm up for a re-do. FWIW I put in tile like vinyl in my laundry room in a stony beige and everyone loves them. They've held up beautifully with 2 dogs, 2 kids, sand, snow and a gravel drive.

Here it is. Not swept today. I laid cardbord stuff over it during the remodel but lots of plaster dust and antique dirt sifted through it.

{{!gwi}}

{{!gwi}}

Bathroom

Here is a link that might be useful: kitchen album

wizardnm - is it shiny? it won't let me save a pic so I can enlarge it to see it better (eye problems here).

do you have a pic of yours you can post? where did you buy yours? HD have it?

as I looked at it I thought it looked like the allure type install. did you have any problems with it sticking? I have a wood type subfloor... it'd probably need sanded first. something like this would work in my craft room - if dbf wants to give it a try... the room (a number of my rooms) are only about 12x10 so it shouldn't take much to put down - at least i don't think it would. famous last words...
is yours in strips also or shorter sections?

never ending - yikes... what an ordeal to go thru!

pinch me - is it as light in real as in pic here? do you like it light? I think I might like it in my 'storage/craft' room and maybe even the laundry/mud room...

I need to find someone with Congoleum for sale in my area!

thx so much for your pics - I remembered the kitchen when I saw the pics - I love(d) your lights! I like old stuff...lol! and it reminded me to check the salvage store for lights for my entry and over the kitchen sink. i'm not seeing lights I like at HD or Lowe's - and I'm not up to going around to a lot of lighting stores. I don't have much money to spend and don't really like the modern things I'm seeing even at HD/Lowes. or other online lighting places.

desertsteph, here's a picture of mine.

Yes, it goes down just like the Allure. It feels a little thicker than the Allure. No problems with it sticking, my GC rented a 100# roller at the local hardware for the day ($12.00). He put down over 700 sq ft in a day...no mess with glue or anything, 16x32 strips. The price of Allure at HD is about $3.00 less per sq ft so I'd go for that if they have a pattern you like.

The company sent me a sample. It's not shiny. I found numerous web site that sell the wood looks but had no luck finding the pattern I wanted, then I got lucky and found a local company that had the display sitting in their backroom, they had just gotten it in.

It really feels good under foot, better than cork which we looked at. We put it over a hardwood floor.

This past Wednesday my GC was cutting some trim pieces out on the deck and walking in with sawdust and snow on his shoes, he knows how durable the floor is and didn't worry at all. When he left for the day, all I had to do was dust mop and it looked like new again.

Nancy

That looks great Nancy!

Steph- for lighting check out outdoor lighting. I have found some cool vintage type lights for around $30 on various sites by going that route. I've also cruised through ebay checking out finishes and types to make better comparisons. I love "old" too!

Yes, I think it's that light.....I took those pics at night but I also have LOTS of artificial light. There are other vinyls that are lighter, I've seen them. Mine is just wood color. Lighter than my hickory cabinets; I'm not coming up with anything to compare them to. The top picture is truer to the color. If you go look in the store you'll be able to pick it out.

Silly me. I moved those kitchen pics to the kitchen album. Duh! So now they will come back again with this corrected link.

The patched spot is in this one. There used to be a peninsula in front of the refrigerator. That would be at the bottom of the bottom picture. You have to know where to look. About 2/3 to the right, one board up, you can see a small "board" about 5 inches long that's a different color from the boards on either side of it. That is part of my 4x6 patch. Considering my carpenter only had the original peninsula cut out to use, I think he did a superb job matching!

Sorry to hijack this thread, but can you tell me where you are located?
I wonder if certain regions have certain flooring.

Because I don't know anyone in my neighborhood and friends's neighborhoods, etc, who have vinyl wood flooring. I'd love to see them in person.
I really want to get them (for the low maintenance) for my kitchen/mudroom, but everyone (kitchen designers, contractors, friends, etc) tells me NOT to get them.
They said you can't spend a fortune for the kitchen reno and have crappy floors.

I'm in Mass (~35minutes West of Boston). I currently have extra wide pine wood floors and the gaps between the planks are awful! Everything lands in there and cleaning is a pain. And we have to baby the wood because it's soft pine. I have to clean (damp wash and immediately dry) the floor by hand (and knees). Ugh, what a pain.

Thank you.
Amanda

Amanda- Go to Lowe's and Home Depot. I know Lowe's had some beautiful vinyl floors that look like wood.

If you don't like your wood floors and want to get vinyl...get what you want and what works for your situation. I live on a farm (with horses) and wood floors are too high maintenance for my situation.

Unless you're planning to sell your home in the next year or so, I wouldn't worry about what your friends and neighbors have...maybe they'll see your vinyl 'wood' floors, love them, and decide to follow your lead! :)

We put down Novalis (Lowe's) vinyl plank early last month in our Family Room, mudroom, laundry and powder room. Best decision we could have made! We love it so much we're thinking of taking out the carpet in the ajoining Den. Pics of my floor are the last set of pics in the last thread that suzannesl posted above.
I would highly recommend this product. So much easier to clean than my hardwood floors. Everyone that has seen the floor does not realize it's vinyl until we point it out to them.

After reading the various threads and looking at the pics, I'm sold for the basement but we're also considering it throughout the first floor.

I'm concerned about resale (though it's would be decades away). The homes in our neighborhood are selling for $700,000+, and the expectation of course is high end everything.

I'm considering putting this in the main living area too due to the ease of care and who knows what I'll like in 10 years? Our last home we had extensive use of hardwood. I loved the look but the constant worry, and no shoe policy was unpleasant. I want a house that we can live in. For as cheap as this stuff is, we couldn't even have the floors refinished, for what this stuff costs new.

We currently have hardwood in the front foyer, front bath, dinette, kitchen, and laundry room (I wouldn't say the previous owner made a wise move on that decision). With all the remodeling though, much of the wood will be trashed anyway, so it's like we'd be starting from scratch.

Are we crazy to even consider vinyl (even for a decade) when we can afford the real thing (installation and all), when the expectation is high end? It's only my husband, myself, and a little dog on a daily basis.

Aloha- If you're not planning to sell right away, do what you like. After 10 years, you might want something else...new products appear all the time.

If the hardwood was too much worry, in your last home, I'd go with the vinyl :)

Aloha, lavender is correct. If you don't plan to sell for 10+ years do what YOU want.
We installed the Novalis vinyl planks in our Family Room, mudroom, laundry and powder room and have real hardwood floors in our Living Room, Dining Room and kitchen. I can't begin to tell you how much easier it is to care for the vinyl.
We'll probably have to replace the vinyl when we sell in 10 years or so but we wanted, for now, what made sense to US, not some future, unknown buyer.
And who knows what will be the new "in thing" 10 or 20 years from now so base your decision on what your current requirements are. Chances are, anything you install will need to be refurbished or replaced when it's time to sell anyway.

I put laminate in my house 7 years ago and it has drove me crazy. Always looked streaky and lost it's shine very quickly. Recently we discovered under the couch the laminate was bucking up. I was actually glad this happened as I finally had to reason to rip it out. Condensation from the AC vent was causing the laminate to buckle.
I put Novalis peel and stick in the 2 small bedrooms in the past 2 and 3 years ago and it still looks great to this day and real easy to mop and keep clean. So I am ripping out my laminate and redoing the rest of the house in the Novalis peel and stick.
I have used carmel and golden oak and love both.
I will never never have laminate again!

cj 47-

can you say specifically what style/color you used that looks like slate? I am looking for vinyl that looks like slate perhaps for a secondary bathroom in our house.

As to the original topic, we just toured a house that had fabulous wood look vinyl in the laundry and playroom. I don't know yet what brand it was but I'm going to find out to use it for our playroom. Carpet would be a disaster there for our situation, but I also don't want something as hard and cold as tile there either. The vinyl seems like a perfect choice for some situations. Good luck, I'll let you know when I find out the specifics. I do have a picture of it I will load up soon.

links to wood look vinyl flooring

Here is a link that might be useful: floors

another shot

Here is a link that might be useful: floors 2

ilinigirl...If you find out what that is, I want to know.
I'm struggling with flooring right now, but I think I may have just decided to go with the vinyl sheet. I keep looking at plank, but can't really find what I want, that I can afford.

I went to a horse show yesterday, and they had trailers set up to walk thru. LOVED the flooring in several of them. If they're putting it in horse trailers, it might actually withstand what we throw at it.
My house is like a barn all the time lol :)

Hi Lavender Lass: You already have quite a few recommendations, but I'll toss in another. I have real wood throughout most of my house, and I do love it. But we put Armstrong Luxury Vinyl tiles in our back powder room, mud room area, and laundry. I couldn't recommend this highly enough. Not cheap, but this is fabulous stuff. We had the floor guy lay it without grout, looks just great. The color we chose is quite dark, and it looks just like slate. People actually reach down to touch it because it looks so real. As for the dark color...I like that is shows not dirt whatsoever, but it is dark. If I had to do it again, I might go for just a bit lighter. At the time we purchased the tile, they didn't have it in wood look. I would definitely have used that if it had been an option.

Here is a link that might be useful: Armstrong luxury vinyl tile