• Semi-Hemi-Lemmygod@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Good ol’ vinyl wood-lookalike planks. Cheap to buy, cheap to install, easy to repair without tearing up the whole floor, glues right down to the beautiful hardwood underneath.

    No wonder landlords love them

    • datelmd5sum@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Here these are usually wood composite boards with a layer of veneer on top. Technically wooden floors, but not actually. Still a major step up from plastic floors.

      • bitchkat@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        You’re talking engineered wood floors and the other guy is talking about luxury vinyl plank (LVP).

      • PriorityMotif@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        Not a good option, especially for a rental. They bubble up when it gets wet. It’s better to install vinyl plank so it doesn’t get destroyed in a year.

          • datelmd5sum@lemmy.world
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            2 months ago

            Why was this downvoted? I’m genuinely asking. If you manage to damage your rental apartment’s floor with moisture here you’re basically criminally negligent and fucked financially.

            • hobowillie@lemmy.world
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              2 months ago

              You’ve never come in to a house with wet shoes or clothes? Or spilled a drink? There’s a ton of ways for the floor to get wet that isn’t “criminally negligent or fucked”.

              • datelmd5sum@lemmy.world
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                2 months ago

                You leave wet shoes in the vestibule and dry the spilled drink with a towel or something. Even student houses use wooden laminate these days here, because no one is paying decent rent for an apartment with crack den floors.

    • lone_faerie@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      2 months ago

      The true landlord way is to not even bother gluing them down so you can keep your tenant’s security deposit for “damaging the floors”

      • Thorny_Insight@lemm.ee
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        2 months ago

        You’re not supposed to glue them. It’s a “floating” floor meaning it needs to be allowed to expand and contract according to temperature and humidity. If you glue it down it’ll start bulging and joints will open up. I install these for a living and the manufacturer instructions specifically forbid the use of glue.

    • Thorny_Insight@lemm.ee
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      2 months ago

      Relatively cheap to install especially when it can be laid over the old flooring but it’s not exactly cheap to buy though. Personally I vastly prefer the feel of LVP to laminate or parquet. It feels warmer and softer and is also much less slippery and waterproof. As a general contractor I also prefer installing it over the others.

      • Semi-Hemi-Lemmygod@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        The last time I installed them was a few years ago so “cheap” might have changed since then. But I did a 20’x15’ kitchen all by myself with a pair of scissors for like $300 and about a day’s work. (Though I didn’t put it down over hardwood because I’m not a monster.)