Vinyl plank flooring review (LVP)

The full story

Coretec

In July 2019, after much deliberation, we bought Coretec Berlin Pine Luxury Vinyl Planks and installed about 2,000 square feet of it in our new house. 

The reason why we picked that style was because we were having a hard time finding neutral/warmer tones with a high-quality print, and the Berlin Pine was the most beautiful floor we could find. At the time it had an unusually matte finish. I didn’t like the feel of it, but it was so gorgeous, so I figured I could put up with the weird raw-wood feel (like the back of a smoothly-sanded wooden spoon). 

Immediately after installation, we had the problem that others have complained about with some LVP (we specifically saw a lot of complaints online about Coretec floors) related to not being able to ever get it clean-looking. It was dull and hazy and there were still wipe marks and footprints left over from installation that we could not get up. The installers commented after the fact that they “see this problem often with these types of floors.” (Wish they would have told us before installing it!) 

About a month after, we noticed that the bevel paint was coming off on about half the planks. (You could just chip it with your fingernail.) And some corners were peeling up where the paint was gone. We were diligent about using only approved cleaning methods.

The installation company (USA Flooring in Durham, NC) that we had purchased the flooring from were very on top of it (the manager at the time, David, was basically a hero to us). USA Flooring sent the installers out several times to pull up the planks that they even remotely thought could be blamed on an installation problem before we filed an official complaint just about the bevel paint. So we got to see many rounds of boxes of this flooring coming through our house. 

An inspector came and sent the official paperwork deeming the floor defective (specifically because of the bevel paint) within a few hours after inspection, so it was a very open-and-shut case. Coretec did ultimately refund us the money. So we were on the search for new flooring just months after getting the Coretec installed. For those several months, we noticed our socks and pants were getting holes in them at a ridiculous rate, but we didn’t figure out it was the floors until a little while after. We did notice we would always have white knees on our pants when getting off the floors, but at that time we thought it must be some weird residue coming off onto our clothes.

Cali Bamboo

We obviously didn’t trust Coretec at all at that point, so we searched for other LVP that had warmer tones. We could only find one that had a color/print we liked the look of, which was Cali Vinyl (from Cali Bamboo) in North Shore Oak. We ordered a box and noticed there were only a few patterns, and many were chipped. We were assured by the Cali Bamboo sales rep that they have 10 unique patterns and that the samples were not fully representative. 

Then came installation day … USA Flooring sent installers over to rip up all the Coretec floors. They had gotten through ripping up the bottom floor and started laying planks in the playroom when the installer called us over. He alerted us that there were only 3-4 unique boards and he was having a hard time making it look good. (So grateful for his honesty and letting us know!) 

We didn’t agree to install the Cali Bamboo floors until we got confirmation they would reimburse us after installation because the only people we could get in touch with at Cali Bamboo on install day kept insisting that by installing them, we were accepting them as-is. So we had to wait and live on (dirty, nail-ridden) subfloors with a toddler running around until we got confirmation from a manager that they did understand why we had to install at that point, that the mistake was theirs, and they would reimburse us.

He assured us that they did indeed plan on having 10 unique patterns and that there was a printing issue on the order we received, which was a relief for us to hear at the time. So we said we would wait the estimated 6 months or so for them to fix the pattern repeat issue. (We were so tired of searching at that point and felt like we had looked at all available options. At that time, they were the only quality LVP that wasn’t Coretec that had the warm tones we wanted.) 

The installers hadn’t gotten to the upstairs yet when they ripped up the floors, so Coretec is still installed upstairs. Cali Bamboo just recently let us know they “fixed” the pattern-repeat issue, but it turns out they just flipped their original 4 patterns 180 degrees so now they are counting that as 8 unique patterns (but it is really just 4 actual unique patterns plus the 4 reversed). 

We aren’t happy with that solution because the pattern repeats are super stupidly obvious on our floors now (thanks to distinctive large knots, for example), and we aren’t confident that just having some reversals will make it look much better. 

So that’s how we arrived at having two different LVP brands in our house … and why we are still searching for a replacement (as of February 2021).  

Comparing the two

Because we had two different LVP brands in our house, we had the opportunity to notice the difference in the effect of each floor on our clothes. 

We have a 3-year-old and are home all day with him playing on the floor. And we had gone through so many socks and pants that we knew something had to be wrong. We started doing tests to see what the difference was and finally figured out that the Coretec planks — that were leaving white patches that quickly turned into holes — were ruining our clothes! And the Cali Bamboo floors weren’t. 

One thing that clued me in to start investigating further was when a friend had her daughter over and in a very short time of her playing on the Coretec floor upstairs, she had a hole in her leggings that wasn’t there when she started. Needless to say, we just try to avoid being upstairs as much as possible (though our bedroom is up there). 

We also noticed that we had none of the cleaning issues with the Cali North Shore Oak that we had with Coretec Berlin Pine (permanent footprints/haziness). We are pretty sure there is a connection with the matte finish and the cleaning issues, too.

What we think is the problem

The Coretec Berlin Pine floor has a much more noticeably matte finish than the Cali Bamboo North Shore Oak. As I said, when we were first looking for floors in Summer 2019, that matte finish was very unusual. The North Shore Oak planks are actually embossed more than the Berlin Pine, so the embossing feels more rough, but the finish itself in between the embossing is noticeably slicker on the Cali North Shore Oak planks compared to the Coretec Berlin Pine. (However, the Cali North Shore Oak is not at all slick or slippery to walk on.) 

We found out that both floors have UV acrylic as their top coating (according to the manufacturers) so we were confused as to how one has the matte finish and one doesn’t. Once we figured out the finish was most likely to blame, I posted on Facebook, Houzz and other flooring forums. Some others said they noticed the same thing was happening to them, too! Some were with different brands with different topcoats.

One woman actually posted a separate post (see "Provenza MaxCore textured LVP tearing pants and causing cuts" on the FloorPro community) reporting she had just installed Provenza and said that her floors seemed to be making her daughter’s feet bleed in addition to tearing up her clothes!

We did also experience some skin rubbing raw on our floors as well (my mom even got a sore on her knuckle from it rubbing on the floor, my husband got something similar on his elbow), but avoiding upstairs as much as possible for now is helping. One manufacturer of SuperCore responded on Houzz, saying the matte finish on flooring is created by the nap of the roller that is used just before the finish is finally cured. The greater the number and height of the peaks created in the finish, the more matte the finish is. This has to be the explanation. 

Unfortunately, we’ve found on our third round of searching for LVP that this matte finish is all over the place now. It has apparently become widely popular and it’s now very difficult to find LVP that doesn’t have it. We’ve gotten 17 samples from 5 different companies so far and almost all have a similar matte feel as our Coretec Berlin Pine planks and they are all failing the knee-test to some degree as you can see in the video. The more matte the finish, the more it feels like smoothly-sanded raw wood, the more it tears apart clothes. (Some seem to have less matte finishes, but do have extremely hard, rough, raised embossing so they are still doing some damage.)

What we know is not the problem

(This is to try to preemptively address alternative explanations that people have been offering online that we know doesn’t explain what’s going on.)

• Embossing is definitely not the main culprit here. As I said before, our Cali Bamboo North Shore Oak planks have way more embossing than the Coretec Berlin Pine and they aren’t tearing our clothes (at least not to the super obvious degree that the Coretec Berlin Pine floors are). They also both have the same UV acrylic topcoat. The very obvious difference between them is the matte level of their finish. Another note about embossing is that if it is VERY rough (as it is in some of the newer samples we got from Mannington Adura and Pergo Extreme), it will do some damage to clothes in the knee test, but it isn’t to the same degree as the floors with the matte finish which are the worst, even when their embossing is relatively smooth. (Though, c’mon manufacturers, why make your floors so crazy roughly embossed that it is literally uncomfortable to sit and move around on??)
• It is not the aluminium oxide or ceramic bead additives in the top coat. Coretec doesn’t report having aluminum oxide or ceramic beads in their coating for Berlin Pine. Also, this problem is coming up for others across brands that don’t have the same coating as our floors so it can’t just be a matter of top-layer composition. My money is on them also having the newer matte finish. I haven’t heard anyone say they are having this problem with their older LVP floors. ‍
• It is not an issue of planks not being level or raised or corners peeling up. We can demonstrate the clothes-shredding effect right in the middle of absolutely any Berlin Pine plank and in the middle of any of the new samples we have recently gotten. We’re not even close to the corners or edges of the planks when doing the knee-test.
  

Why do all of this? (Who we want to reach and why.)

• We don’t think that LVP manufacturers set out to knowingly make floors that will tear up clothes and skin. We hope that once they are made aware that this is a problem they are potentially perpetuating, they test the abrasiveness themselves on the floors they are producing. (Really it just comes down to the knee-test which is very easy to do!) 
• We don’t think LVP dealers are purposefully selling floors that are going to tear up your clothes. We hope that if they are made aware of the issue that they will let potential consumers know to consider whether this is an issue they want to look into further and also hope they will let manufacturers know if this is a concern for their customers. 
• We actually do think some installers might be starting to figure out these floors are abrasive. One installer commented on one of the posts that he knew about this happening because installing these types of floors leaves him with raw fingers if he doesn’t wear protection. As I mentioned, our first installers knew that there was a hazy/cleaning problem with the kind of floors they installed (which they told us after install). We really really hope that installers that are aware (and are becoming aware) of these issues will pass this info along to the companies they work for. (And preferably the customers too, but I get that installers may sometimes not be getting the most respect from the flooring dealers they work for; I understand that it could cause trouble for them if they are telling the customers as they are installing, ”You know these floors might be hard to clean and they might tear up your clothes ...”)‍
• Most importantly, we want consumers like us to be aware of these issues, especially if you have kids (or grandkids or other friends and family with kids) that will be playing on your floor. We don’t think this was actually a problem for most when we first bought our Coretec flooring over a year ago, but since it appears the matte finish has taken over the industry, we suspect this will be coming up more for people. We so wish that we would have been alerted to be aware that we should test any flooring we were considering for these issues before purchasing!
  

Who I'd like to hear from

• People who have had a similar experience and/or are aware of the problem
• People who have new (less than 6 months old) LVP and do NOT have the same problem, but only once you have done the same tests we did. Use darker pants and make sure they are pants you don’t mind ruining! And only if the intention is to help us and others find flooring that won't shred our clothes.
• People who have more insight into the manufacturing process that makes these floors so matte and what the parameters are that they think are contributing to the problem (but only after reading what we know is NOT causing the issue)‍
• People who have any insight into newer types of floors that really can meet the scratch/dent/waterproof performance of LVP (we’ve done a lot of other tests and so far LVP really is unmatched for all of those three attributes) AND that don't shred clothes!
  

... and who I won’t respond to

(Sorry for the tone here; this section comes from frustrations with sharing our experience online.)

• Anyone who for some reason is taking it personally that we want to try to warn others of what to look out for if this is an issue they would care about in their flooring
• Anyone who wants to say unhelpful snarky comments (such as blame it on your washer instead) and that clearly has not read my points and has faulty logic 
• Anyone who wants to argue about what is causing the issue who hasn’t read all of the “what we know it is not the problem” section on this site. 
• Anyone who wants to argue about why we should have wood or ceramic or laminate floors. We need very durable, dent-resistant, scratch-resistant, waterproof floors and don’t feel the need to justify to anyone why that is our need.
• Anyone who wants to argue why the matte finish (to the degree that it is creating destructive tendencies) is necessary for the durability of the floor. It is not as evidenced by the state of our Cali Bamboo North Shore Oak that does not have the same finish and has been installed a year and is fine. Also, as I mentioned, while not super matte, our Cali North Shore Oak is not glossy or slick at all. Even with socks on, we don’t have any issues with slipping and sliding on those floors. So nope, it’s not necessary to have that horrid matte finish for that reason either. 
• Anyone who wants to for some reason argue that because they haven’t heard of these issues yet that this is somehow just us getting a “bad batch” (Really? On our own floors, apparently other floors, and almost all of the new samples we’ve tried?)‍
• Anyone who wants to argue about data, generalizations, statistics, etc. (Though I am open to ideas for other tests if you see I could test something in a different way.)
  

We're looking for LVP that:

1. doesn't tear up our clothes, 
2. handles pattern repeats better than Cali Bamboo Vinyl, 
3. doesn't have overly rough, hard, or uncomfortable embossing, 
4. is a warm, neutral or golden-toned color (not the trendy grays, blacks, whites, overly distressed or greenish undertone looks), and
5. is a rigid core SPC product with a thickness of at least 6mm and wear layer of at least 20 mil. 
   

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