Anonymous wrote:The DC housing market has broken most of you. $650 may be a starter home in this area, but it is not so cheap that they can’t afford hardwood. It’s still a relatively small portion of the overall cost of the house. In huge swaths of the US, starter homes are in the $250 range, and those may have LVT, but many will have tile or engineered wood. In those areas, any house over $350k would have engineered hardwood, and over $400k would have real wood.

I do wonder if covid lumber shortages may change this for everyone, though. It may be a question of availability, rather than cost.

There's no hardwood shortage or hardwood tariffs as far as I know. That's all softwood issues with the shortages.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You want actual hardwood floors there's nothing stopping you from paying for them?

LVP costs $4 per square foot. Hardwood is $10 per square foot.

And LVP is awful for the environment. If people rip it out, it’s even more wasteful. It’s so gross.

Oh please. That's such an annoying classist thing to say. Are you saying the same to the wealthy folks who are tearing out perfectly serviceable kitchens in order to put in fancier stuff?

Or even worse, tearing down perfectly good 50 year old homes to build their monstrosities.

Yes, I also have concerns about people ripping out functional kitchens solely for cosmetic purposes or tearing down liveable homes just to put up something bigger.

Disliking vinyl is not classist. There are other greener, affordable options like cork, linoleum, and some types of carpet. I think a lot of people aren’t aware that it’s not good for the environment, so ultimately I blame flippers and the large rental buildings who seem to churn this stuff out more than the average consumer who is probably not as knowledgeable about flooring materials. This thread is about a flip, which is why I made this comment..

Also, I live in a smaller, older home and am repairing/replacing things as they break. No need to tear down and build a behemoth house. I find a lot of housing choices in our country to be wasteful and bad for the environment.

The DC housing market has broken most of you. $650 may be a starter home in this area, but it is not so cheap that they can’t afford hardwood. It’s still a relatively small portion of the overall cost of the house. In huge swaths of the US, starter homes are in the $250 range, and those may have LVT, but many will have tile or engineered wood. In those areas, any house over $350k would have engineered hardwood, and over $400k would have real wood.

I do wonder if covid lumber shortages may change this for everyone, though. It may be a question of availability, rather than cost.

Anonymous wrote:The house probably had fugly wood parquet floors. Nothing to help that. The upstairs hardwoods are probably the thin light oak planks that aren't trendy either. Why go to all the expense to install and match outdated looking real hardwood floors that will like anyway.

Under no circumstance would I rather have the ugly crap they installed than thin oak planks. This is a middle century split top to bottom, not that there's anything wrong with that. Installing these ugly trendy boards doesn't change what this house is. Design should work with the existing, not clash with it. Sorry.

Anonymous wrote:The house probably had fugly wood parquet floors. Nothing to help that. The upstairs hardwoods are probably the thin light oak planks that aren't trendy either. Why go to all the expense to install and match outdated looking real hardwood floors that will like anyway.

Would rather have thin light oak planks any day.

Anonymous wrote:The house probably had fugly wood parquet floors. Nothing to help that. The upstairs hardwoods are probably the thin light oak planks that aren't trendy either. Why go to all the expense to install and match outdated looking real hardwood floors that will like anyway.

You can see old pictures in the listing. They kept the upstairs hardwood so it was probably in bad condition. They would have replaced all of it.

The house probably had fugly wood parquet floors. Nothing to help that. The upstairs hardwoods are probably the thin light oak planks that aren't trendy either. Why go to all the expense to install and match outdated looking real hardwood floors that will like anyway.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:LVP is appropriate at that price point.

+1. That is a cheap starter home. The original hardwoods must have been a mess, though maybe it was all carpet originally.

It says a lot about the people on this board that you would consider a $650k house a "cheap starter home."

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree with the PP who said it reeks. I just moved into a rental with LVP and was steam mopping everything (We had hardwood and tile in the last house so didn’t even think twice about the mop) when I just got a massive headache. Realized I’m basically heating up plastic. Ugh. Now I’m stuck just mopping with soap, but don’t feel like I can get the floors super clean.

I have it in my basement and it doesn't smell at all - however, there is a wide variety in quality of LVP.

PP here. I don’t smell it normally, but it was terrible when I steam mopped. Obviously I don’t do that anymore, but it makes me nervous about having that flooring all over the house including kid bedrooms.

You aren't supposed to steam clean it or hardwood.

I was like "What?!" when I read steam mopping hardwood. I'm not sure if that was what was meant, although steam mopping vinyl is also kind of nuts.

Some people do do it but they're destroying the wood over time, not sure if they care.

We have that flooring in our apartment and i loathe it. It feels terrible.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree with the PP who said it reeks. I just moved into a rental with LVP and was steam mopping everything (We had hardwood and tile in the last house so didn’t even think twice about the mop) when I just got a massive headache. Realized I’m basically heating up plastic. Ugh. Now I’m stuck just mopping with soap, but don’t feel like I can get the floors super clean.

I have it in my basement and it doesn't smell at all - however, there is a wide variety in quality of LVP.

PP here. I don’t smell it normally, but it was terrible when I steam mopped. Obviously I don’t do that anymore, but it makes me nervous about having that flooring all over the house including kid bedrooms.

You aren't supposed to steam clean it or hardwood.

I much prefer it in the basement and vinyl in the kitchen. I hate tile. Its cold and hard to clean.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You want actual hardwood floors there's nothing stopping you from paying for them?

LVP costs $4 per square foot. Hardwood is $10 per square foot.

And LVP is awful for the environment. If people rip it out, it’s even more wasteful. It’s so gross.

Oh please. That's such an annoying classist thing to say. Are you saying the same to the wealthy folks who are tearing out perfectly serviceable kitchens in order to put in fancier stuff?

Or even worse, tearing down perfectly good 50 year old homes to build their monstrosities.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You want actual hardwood floors there's nothing stopping you from paying for them?

LVP costs $4 per square foot. Hardwood is $10 per square foot.

And LVP is awful for the environment. If people rip it out, it’s even more wasteful. It’s so gross.

Oh please. That's such an annoying classist thing to say. Are you saying the same to the wealthy folks who are tearing out perfectly serviceable kitchens in order to put in fancier stuff?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree with the PP who said it reeks. I just moved into a rental with LVP and was steam mopping everything (We had hardwood and tile in the last house so didn’t even think twice about the mop) when I just got a massive headache. Realized I’m basically heating up plastic. Ugh. Now I’m stuck just mopping with soap, but don’t feel like I can get the floors super clean.

I have it in my basement and it doesn't smell at all - however, there is a wide variety in quality of LVP.

PP here. I don’t smell it normally, but it was terrible when I steam mopped. Obviously I don’t do that anymore, but it makes me nervous about having that flooring all over the house including kid bedrooms.