TBL from MA, thanks for the pics, Maple isn't my jam b/c it's too yellow. leaning towards oak- blonde and grey.

HU-180224990, unfortunately, it has been my experience (and others, from above) that ppl are slow to advertise lvp flooring and thus, we're stuck with store samples and marketing pics-- both of which suck.

HU-180224990, I read online that bevel edges are trendy b/c they're not very Scandinavian and Europeans have already rejected these trend (which means this treat will likely die soon in the US). There's also dust collection concerns re: dust. As such, I planned to remove some of my faves from my list, like Coretec pro hd ravenwood-- w/ the bevel edges-- plus it was too red for my home.

I hate Casabella Firmfit Contract Sugar Ridge, b/c it's tigery. I love Springfield oak although its too brown for my home b/c it has low variability and looks expensive. Along those lines, I also like Core Elements, CZ 138.

Looking at your options, make me realize how much (my option) nordiac oak adura apex chalet is also a winner-- but it has beveling so buyer beware!

We have been using LV flooring for decades ( used to be a very expensive European import) and by far the best looking floors that fool the eye and look like wood are the beveled planks. This is true in laminates also. When the floor is totally flush and flat it looks less like a wood floor. Think of the cheap wood-look laminates you see: always flat, no bevels.

Here are two That I pulled from photos. I am currently not there.

They are mindless. No worries about scratches. Not hard on your joints like tile.

Bonus, cheaper than hardwood, which we did consider, but our moisture levels were too high.

Since this home is in Florida, I wanted a beach look.

Coretec has so many different looks. I am considering one for my basement in the north.

Eld6161 please give flooring info. I’m doing a home in Florida as well want to do gray white cream color. Need floor Thought of gray or the beach look

@mlejfer they said above that it is Hayes oak.

@HU-180224990, thanks for sharing! You’re the MVP, lol!

I’m super afraid to make a 2nd bad choice! I’d love to talk more with you since we share a problem. Which floors are you leaning towards? Coretec Palo Alto walnut, coretec elements albina chlk, shaw endura plus oceanfront have caught my eyes. Would you mind taking a single picture with all 3 of these in it?

I was having a hard time finding real install pictures online of the LVP. Using Instagram hastags have proved useful to eliminate some colors for me.

rfharmon and mlejier, we were lucky to see the Hayes Oak in person. Our installer was actually just showing the quality of his work and he brought us to the client's home. I was considering a whole other direction before seeing the Hayes Oak. I looked at my husband and said, "How about this?" I had to get my mindset away from what I liked in the north.

Seeing it in an actual home, cinched the deal.

So yes, I agree, hard to tell from photos. People have also discussed the repeats in the pattern of some of the choices. Personally, I didn't care. The planks are installed randomly and really I am not that critical. Added to the fact that I will be putting an area rug in the living room. The other rooms have furniture and beds etc.

I would research patterns on the choices you pick, if this concerns you.

I also look at this for what it is. It's a lovely carefree product that is the ultimate answer in certain homes.

Some do look more like wood than others. So, research that. Again, I am looking at it from the perspective that it looks nice, not that is trying to copy wood.

A member a few years ago shared her Coretec floor and that is how I learned about it.

@salonva, what are your top choices right now for floors? I’m tempted to just buy Costco sight unseen.

@rfharmon

I tried to photograph all three together and the camera really changes them. But putting them side by side, I realize Core Elements Abalina Clck Light Oak and Endura Oceanfront (both by Shaw) look almost exactly the same—in both color and pattern and with a very light bevel. The grain is not as prominent as in these pics and they are lightly golden. They are both very uniform in color. The Coretec Palo Alto definitely has the addition of reddish tones on some planks--this pic is accurate for that sample. I haven't found any install pics of this product.

Here are the details I have gathered on these. I need a lot, so price is an issue. I am waffling about 12 vs 20 mil, but the Coretec Pro Springfield at $3.20 or so is rising to the top of my list due to cost and toughness even though it’s browner than I wanted. I think the Palo Alto may be my fav since I want a little variability. But I worry since the label says high variation of shade-- I can’t find install pics and it’s $1 more per sq foot. Of course, I may change my mind tonight:)

Coretec Plus 7 vv783 or vv483 depending on source/label

palo alto walnut WPC 20 mil 4.22/ 4.66

Coretec Coretec Pro Plus 7 vv017 SPC 20mil wear layer color: springfield 3.12

Shaw Core Elements Abalina Click CZ 138 12mil wear layer 2.83 Light Oak

Shaw Floorte Endura Plus 0736V SPC 12mil wear layer 3.00 Oceanfront, white sands ( maybe also look at silver dollar?)

left Abalina Click light oak, middle Coretec Palo Alto Walnut, right Shaw Endura Oceanfront (the two end samples look almost exactly the same in real life--closer to right image in color but with less grain)

left Abalina Click light oak, right Shaw Endura Oceanfront. These two are lighter and less grainy/brown than they photograph--they have slight golden tinge. Very small bevel.

@ulisdone, are you advocating for the bevel edge?

The bevel or microbevel is there for a purpose. It helps the edges of each plank 'look' like it's meeting with the planks around it. Without the bevel you have a square edge. A factory finished floor (laminate, LVP, etc) has a hard time sitting 'nicely' together.

Even a small or minor subfloor imperfection can cause a square edged floor to sit too high (sit proud). This little ledge in the floor can happen every few feet. For many people this is a HORRIBLE event for them. It becomes extremely stressful for them to see a brand new floor with sharp little edges all over the place.

The industry invented the bevelled edge for artificial floors or factory finished floor. This revolutionized the industry. People STOPPED complaining about their floors sitting proud. The installation went much faster and the price to install these types of floors decreased.

To find a square edge vinyl floor it will take even more time. The vast majority are bevelled edged (or microbevelled). The idea they are 'dust traps' has been proven false for decades.

Anyone who was worried about the bevel soon found out the floor to be quite forgiving (during installation and after). Their fears lifted after living with them.

Going to try this once more. I tried replying but it vanished.

First of all, I wanted to mention that SJ McCarthy is truly a an expert in this arena so lucky you.

As far as my top choices, I really don't have because I have not really looked much in person.

I have been to several big box stores as well as few independent flooring stores, more getting an education than anything else. Honestly at Floor and Decor I saw a few that had potential. One in particular, Spalted Maple with 22 mil Nucore. I have a photo of it ( not a great photo)

But as you know this was taken verically so who knows. I like the light and the warmth of it.

I really like that Mohawk one from Costco and may see about getting samples. Someone on houzz had used Cali Bamboo Blonde Ale and that looked really nice as well. I just am so hesitant because the colors vary so so so much in one's home and look different in each photo.

I like the light tones as above, but I could possibly get behind a medium brown. I do not want any gray.

We are not gentle people- and we have a dog.

I am very concerned

about denting. ( and scratching) and of course, chiefly , how it looks.

We did timeless design laurel oak in our basement and I really like the look. Similar to your first photo. It was a pretty good value and my husband installed himself. It has a 20mil wear layer and so far our 47lb goldendoodle has not been able to hurt it at all!

I used the Shaw website to put my final pictures into my home to see how they look. Unfortunately, thy don’t have palo alto walnut or Hayes valley. I also can’t find sample boards anywhere for bedford oak, Palo Alto walnut, or Bedford oak. Ugh! Anyways, back to the positive!!!

I just ordered Cortec Grande Golden Oak, I hope it works out, and I like how thick the floor is, 15mm with a 30 mil wear layer. I was looking at many of the Cortec, and Provenza options and finally just pulled the trigger. I will install in in a about a month, the best thing is that the price dropped about 35 cents a ft, some kind of special from Cortec to the retailers who passed it on to me. Call around on the online retailer’s and check prices right now, it may save you some money. I did order quite a bit, over 2000 sq ft. Good luck

I’m leaning towards Paradigm’s tower. also considering citadel and Windsor. I have minimal daylight in my home b/c I have 4‘ eaves surrounding my home.

On the left is tower. One the right is citadel. kitchen (se), 2 overhead skylights and 2 sets of French doors on both sides.

Hallway (skylight on roof in adjoining bathroom))

wetbar (at night, se)

@Scotty D, thanks for the tup. Grand lotte oak wasn’t on my radar. I’ll check it out tomorrow.

After many months of searching we went with Coretec Ravenwood Oak. I wanted something with a light oak look. This has light oak and grey tones in it in natural light. Depending on the light in your house it can give more a slight warm/red-ish tone but that's all based on the type of light bulbs. It's easy to install and if you love the large plank look its beautiful. The Cairo was way to yellow/warm in my house for my taste. The Ravenwood Oak has a soft tone to it so it's not shiny. It can scratch if you are dragging a fridge or something heavy on it. One small scratch by my fridge, however with the lighter color you can't see it unless you know it's there. We have a bulldog with longer nails and no scratches from that.

We have COREtec LVP flooring in our basement and I don't think of it as being beveled. The bevel isn't noticeable at all, but I just looked up the product online and it is described as having a "micro-beveled edge." I have also seen floors, both LVP and actual hardwood flooring, with a prominent bevel and don't like the look of that at all (just my personal preference). A neighbor had beveled hardwood floors years ago, and there was visible grunge stuck in the bevels that drove her crazy. So I can understand the aversion to beveled-edge flooring, but just wanted to point out that a micro-bevel is very different from a more obvious bevel.

I'm another who installed Hayes Oak in my main level and bedrooms upstairs. It is definitely a chameleon -- in some lighting, it has a very light oak slight gray look to it. In other lighting it looks a little warmer (think color of sand). It's really durable!

So what was the outcome? I am researching LVP and have decided i only want a micro bevel not a regular bevel. Micro is hardly noticable and hopefully not a dirt trap. The Coretec pro plus line is micro bevel, and the provenza chic line is also micro beveled.

Update, our floors had a defective pattern in every box which looks like claw marks. Not sure if this has been talked about in any of the coretec discussions. But now we have floors installed that have many planks in every room that have this claw mark pattern on them. It wasn't just one defective box this pattern was in EVERY box because its found in every single room (enough to be 5 full boxes of just this defective pattern if we were to add up the ones that I can see that are not under the couch or cabinets or beds). Didn't realize this was a problem till all the floors were installed by our flooring guys. When we contacted the flooring people who we purchased them from they acted like this pattern was shown in the floor model which I had taken a picture of so I knew it wasn't. The flooring company even knew how many marks there were in this pattern, so that says to me this is a known problem with coretec. It's just frustrating that they don't recall the option Ravenwood Oak if this is a known issue.

Hi Ashley, can you post a picture if the flaw, that would be great for everyone to see and better understand your problem. Thanks

I bought paradigm tower with microbeveling. Unfortunately, the floor is covered but here is are sneak peaks.

Is the second picture the covered floor? Or are those knots in the flooring the LVP?

@Taylor Thomas, I'm not sure what's up with those knots b/c there aren't many in the Tower floors. Here's another pic. Hopefully, it is better. Excuse how dirty my house it... It's a construction site.

I'll post more pictures in a month- after the paint has been completed and trash removed.

Thanks for sharing, looks like it’s coming along beautifully! I would love to see more pictures as it progresses!

@Scotty D Do you have photos of your Goldin Oak?

I don’t yet, we had a minor set back, someone vandalized our new home under construction. They turned on the water line to the washing machine and it flooded about 60% of the main floor. We had to take down much of the basement ceiling and wall drywall and insulation. Hopefully we will be back on schedule in a couple weeks. I will post pics of the floors once they are installed. Thanks

@Scotty D thats awful!

@Christina MacKinney and @Scotty D There is a flooring support group on Facebook that saved my project. it’s called LVP flooring options. people post real pictures of their floors and help answer related floor questions (like, paint, stairs, etc.). This would be a good option for you two.

@rfharmon Thanks I'm part of the group and have been posting. A great resource for sure but it seems Tower is the current popular floor so trying to get photos of 2 new Coretec colors has been difficult.

Coretec calypso oak is their best seller and you can get a ton of pictures of it by searching the hashtag on Instagram. #calypsooak

@Sue D Can you take a pic of the claw mark? Would love to see it. And if it's not a pattern, that's really messed up!

Scotty D, I'm so sorry about your house being vandalized, that's awful!

Aw MAN! That's sucky! Building a home is tough enough! And then people come in and do this. I wonder if they were after the COPPER taps/spouts...copper is being stolen AAAAAAAAALLLL over the place.

I received a sample of ravenswood that may be the claw marks @sue d was talking about? it doesn't look like intended or the typical saw marks to me. for those who have ravenswood, do you have these marks ? do they appear frequently? thanks

Those look to be a mechanical 'roller' pattern. They are interfering with the pattern (photo). Go ahead and use sticky notes to tag each plank that has this pattern. Then go back and analyze whether or not it is the same PATTERNED plank.

In theory it should be a random occurrence found on different planks. That would indicate it is a manufacturing issue. If it happens ONLY on one specific type of plank, then it *might be part of the pattern.

It does look like all the claw mark planks are on the same pattern plank. May be intended part of pattern as they look like 'chatter' marks.

@Scotty D do you have any pictures of the Grande Goldin Oak you could share? Thanks!

@rfharmon what was the manufacturer/color of the original product you ordered! I would hate to accidentally order the same thinking I was getting something much lighter!

Floor and decor deerfield hickory @Loren Long... it looks so pretty in-person.

Here is the ravenswood oak installed. Yes, it has those claw marks. But you don't really notice them when installed. Sometiems it looks a little too pink and sometimes too gray, but in our home, it looks neutral most of the time. We have lot of green trees all around the home. To see more pictures of it, you can see our instagram account at @housmanfixeryoopers

Beautiful! Do you remember what you paid for it?

Rfharmon can you post more photos

Is the Ravenswood oak slippery? Too slippery for stairs?

How did you do the hex tile right up next to the tower lvp? I thought you had to have a transition and the levels wouldn’t match