Floors. What to choose?

Our baby boy is now 7 months old! I know you've heard it before, but it's so damn fast and I'm so not ready!

Having a child makes you notice your floors.
When we moved in we knew the tile in the kitchen wasn't great - it was already cracking. This happens when you put tile directly over wood, seriously people, why can't you understand this?! It's simple science!!! Wood expands and contracts with the weather change, this happens in all homes, but we specifically have a vented crawl space - whoever thought tile was the way to go with this kind of home was smoking some good stuff...
Anyway so we knew we wanted to redo the floors... It just looks like that time is now. You know, the time when I'm on maternity leave and we don't have money because child. This winter has been especially hard on our floors and grout is coming up in pieces and tiles are cracking more than before.
I'm done.

Cue the floor search!

I knew I wanted to do luxury vinyl tile (LVT) since it first came out in a click and lock system (like laminate) back when I worked at a flooring store. If you read my old posts "pick yourself up and coat yourself in sawdust" is about me installing a new bathroom floor with Freefit (and LVT product).
It was always my plan to do this type of floor so that I can have the wood look throughout my home... and lucky me, it has finally caught on! This means SALES.
Currently we're looking at a Stainmaster floor from Lowes, the colour is burnished oak and it's on sale for $2.50 / sq ft down from $3.50 / sq ft.
STAINMASTER 6.74-in x 47.74-in Burnished Oak Luxury Vinyl Plank

STAINMASTER 6.74-in x 47.74-in Burnished Oak Luxury Vinyl Plank

We brought home a sample and it's looking good so far. I'm just not 100% sure I'm ready to commit here. It's always a good idea to check with your local flooring stores for stock items. Sometimes you can really get a steal! I'd like to be closer to $2 a square foot if possible, so I'll be doing some research today since this sale at Lowe's ends today.


So what's the big deal about LVT? It's waterproof.
That means at the front and back door I don't have to worry about wet shoes. In the laundry room I can have piece of mind knowing that if the washer decides to crap out, my new floor won't be ruined. It means in the living room I have an easy clean up after my geriatric dogs have an accident. In my kitchen I don't have to worry about dripping or dropping water on the floor.
And best of all, it means I will have one floor from the front to the back of my house mimicking the way the sunlight streams in. Ahhhh now that's a lovely thought.

It's not like I need more reasons, but also we have a vented crawlspace as I mentioned. Having LVT will be #1 warmer, and #2 can have a thermal underlay installed beneath it to warm everything up. After the polar vortex tore through here, I am screaming for warm feet!


Stay tuned for final floor selection, what deals I found, how to choose an underlay and the actual install!

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