Hard flooring options

[Mtneer]

The thing to remember with refinishing hardwood, is that you don't just refinish a small area, you refinish ALL uninterrupted floors. So the difference between replacing a cracked tile and refinishing your entire ground floor is likely substantial. If the sanders don't do a good job, you'll be painting base trim as well.

Truth! We were evaced for 6 days due to wildfire. Power was out so the icemaker in the fridge melted, ruining a 6 square foot section of oak flooring. Since it's all connected, and covered by insurance, they refinished about 900 sq ft. We had to evac for another couple days during the sanding and varnishing. Looks and feels great, likely will last another 25 years or more. But I'd consider a modern option if we ever have to rebuild.

[CS1983]

Right now we are leaning toward some LVT/EVP stuff.

We like this one:
https://www.lumberliquidators.com/ll...VPBK7/10043228

Have a sample of that and a sample of the Brazilian cherry that we got today. Plan to do some scratch and dent tests. They are both 28mil wear layer.

[Wulf202]

I've installed a truck load or two of Armstrong lvp. It's fairly tolerant of scratches even in a rental use

[CS1983]

at the cost of an entirely new non-hardwood floor, though?

[William]

at the cost of an entirely new non-hardwood floor, though?

Site finished floors you have to refinished every X years as that is just part of the process. A quality pre-finished floor will have 12 coats of poly or 4 coats of oil. The oil floor will have periodic no sanding re-oiling, but the poly should last a lifetime. If you buy a hardwood floor from me I would help you install it for free (sub floor ready) )

[brutal]

Site finished floors you have to refinished every X years as that is just part of the process. A quality pre-finished floor will have 12 coats of poly or 4 coats of oil. The oil floor will have periodic no sanding re-oiling, but the poly should last a lifetime. If you buy a hardwood floor from me I would help you install it for free (sub floor ready) )

I'm hopeful our new floor with Bona Traffic HD finish will outlast me.

[FoxtArt]

On a related note, something I find dismaying is the replacement of natural stone with "printed" ceramic tiles to mimic it, that cost about 85% of the real thing. (and about 95% of the cost of natural stone after installation). Like... WHY is that necessary?

My main source used to be southerlands - was awesome for granite, marble, etc. Now, even they don't have a single natural tile. None. Problem with ceramic vs natural stone is the surface of ceramic isn't "lifetime", it is possible to wear through it in super-high-traffic places - like commercial.

Now there's commercial tile places that can still get it on order at like 300% rates.

And I have a hard time imagining natural stone going out of style, ever. Granite/marble tile still improves values and people think it costs more than it actually does. I did a full wall-to-wall bathroom in black marble (with white streaks) once, which I LOVE, now it seems like I won't be able to ever again :/ there's also a depth to the crystals that printed ceramic can't mimic. /// sigh // end rant.