Vinyl plank and laminate
The planks are the easy part. The subfloor is not
Vinyl plank is waterproof, it takes a dog and a stroller without complaint, and a good one is hard to tell from wood at standing height. Laminate costs less again and wears just as hard, though it does not like standing water.
What decides whether either one looks right in two years is the subfloor. A dip you can barely see becomes a hollow spot you can hear, and a click joint over an uneven floor works itself loose. So we level it, sort out any soft boards and only then start laying.
Getting quotes on new floors? Call Best Choice Flooring and Mike will look at what is under yours.
How flat does the floor underneath need to be?
Flatter than most people expect, and manufacturers publish the number in their own installation instructions because a failed floor is nearly always an uneven one. We check it with a long straightedge rather than by eye, then fill the low spots with a leveling compound and grind the high ones off. On an older Lewes house that usually also means replacing a soft board or two near a bathroom or an exterior door, which is straightforward floor repair while the room is open anyway.
Leveling first is the rule across our Lewes flooring services.
Vinyl plank, laminate, or real wood?
Vinyl plank wins anywhere water is a risk: kitchens, laundries, bathrooms, basements and back doors. Laminate is the value pick for bedrooms and living rooms that stay dry. Real hardwood is still the one that adds to a house and the only one you can sand and refinish decades later, so it earns its place in the rooms people see. Plenty of jobs end up mixed, and there is nothing wrong with that as long as the transitions are cut properly. If you are weighing it up, look at what hardwood installation involves before you decide.
Moisture matters underneath too, because the Delaware Geological Survey maps a shallow water table right across this part of the state.
New floors, laid on a floor that is actually flat
Mike measures it himself, checks what is underneath and puts the whole job in writing before anything is ordered.
Call (302) 232-7524What about tile and carpet?
We fit those too. Ceramic and porcelain tile for bathrooms, entries and mud rooms, natural stone where somebody wants it, and carpet in bedrooms and on stairs. The planning matters more than the product: heights have to line up at every doorway so there is no lip to catch a toe, and the order of work has to suit the trades still to come. Tell Mike what you are picturing for each room and he will price the lot together rather than one floor at a time.
Where the existing floor is worth keeping, putting the old one right costs far less.
What about the transitions?
They are where a job looks professional or does not. Every doorway between two different floors needs the heights worked out before anything is laid, or you end up with a lip that catches a toe and a threshold strip covering a mistake. Stairs are the same: nosings have to be right or the stair looks wrong from the bottom of it. We plan those first and cut them properly, and if the room next door is wood we can refinish it to match at the same time.
Ask the man doing the work
Straight answers about your flooring questions
Can vinyl plank go over my existing floor?
Sometimes. Over a sound, flat, well stuck down floor it can. Over cushioned vinyl, loose tiles or anything uneven it cannot, because the new floor copies whatever is under it. We check before we quote.
Is vinyl plank really waterproof?
The plank itself is. A spill or a leak will not swell it the way laminate swells. Water can still get through the joints and sit on the subfloor, so a burst pipe is still a problem, just a much smaller one.
How long does a room take?
Most rooms are a day once the subfloor is sorted. Leveling compound needs time to cure, so if a floor needs a lot of it that adds a day before laying starts.
Will it be noisy underfoot?
Not if it is laid right. Hollow, clicky floors come from an uneven subfloor or a missing underlay, both of which are install problems rather than product problems.
Do you move furniture and take up the old floor?
Yes, that is part of the job. Tear out, disposal and getting the room ready all get priced in, so tell Mike what is there now.
Where do you fit vinyl plank?
Across Lewes, Rehoboth Beach, Dewey Beach, Milton, Bethany Beach, Georgetown, Millsboro and Ocean City, MD. Call (302) 232-7524 and tell Mike which rooms.