Swapped out the laminate for LVP halfway through my basement job

I was dead set on laminate for my basement in Kansas City. Picked out the color and everything. Then my buddy came over and showed me how a little water pooled on his laminate floor from a leaky pipe and it was already swelling up after one day. That scared me straight. I returned the laminate panels and grabbed LVP from the same store for about $200 more. Have any of you dealt with moisture issues in a basement floor and regretted your choice?

3 comments

3 Comments

wendy_jackson27d ago

My sister had that exact same problem with laminate in her basement in Omaha. She went with some fancy waterproof laminate and it still buckled near the sump pump after a heavy storm. LVP is way more forgiving, I helped her tear it all out and install LVP last summer. You made the right call, that extra $200 is basically insurance against a bigger headache later.

jennys7227d ago

@wendy_jackson yeah you're spot on, that $200 is cheap peace of mind lol. I swapped my kitchen laminate for LVP two years ago after a leaky dishwasher wrecked the floor, and it's held up way better even with my kids spilling everything on it.

lindab4926d ago

My brother put LVP in his basement and it still warped near the floor drain after a good rain, so it's not some magic bullet. A lot of times the issue isn't the material itself but how well the subfloor is prepped and sealed, which is where people cheap out. That $200 could go toward a quality moisture barrier and proper underlayment, which would fix the root problem instead of just swapping one product for another.