Digital Floors in a Digital Era
I’ve read forum after forum where customers ask the same question: "What floor should I go with? I don’t want to use LVP, but I have two dogs and kids and it just makes the most practical sense."
There is still a stigma out there. People feel like they need to justify putting a vinyl plank in a million-dollar home. But let’s be real—whether it is a $1.5 million estate or a $300k starter home, LVP is stretching its boards across every market. And why not?
It’s the most practical choice for a home with traffic, big or small. Usually, the reason people have money in the bank is because they are smart with it. And there is no bigger waste of money than refinishing your hardwood floors every spring or replacing your "engineered hardwood" because a salesman convinced you it was durable (spoiler: you can only sand that stuff down maybe once, if you're lucky).
The Titans of Vinyl
So when it comes to LVP, who is the King? Is it Karndean’s designer floors? Is it Coretec’s Grande with that thick cork backing? Is it Mohawk or Shaw?
I’ve been on ground zero. I’ve felt every single board from every major manufacturer. I’ve met the high-end brand reps and sat through every product knowledge demo they have to offer. I’ve seen it all, and I’ve heard it all.
I have to give credit where credit is due: Karndean makes an amazing product. Coretec, you will always be the OG of the game. And I have to shout out Evoke—personally, that is still a favorite of mine, largely because their rep, Erskine, was one of the best in the business back in the day.
The Game Changer: Digital Direct Print
However, putting biases aside, if we are talking about pure ethics, practicality, and the future of flooring, the answer is Engineered Floors.
Specifically, their Digitally Direct Printed High-Def DLVT. I first saw this on the show floor at ProSource, and it changed my perspective immediately. This floor is as close as anyone is going to come to the real look of wood.
Why Digital Wins
Most LVP uses a film layer—basically a picture glued to a board. Engineered Floors prints the grain digitally directly onto the core. Here is why that matters to you:
- No More Dye Lot Issues: With traditional floors, if you buy a box a year later, the color might not match. With digital print, they keep the color in a digital file. Need a new board in 5 years? They reprint it perfectly. That is efficiency.
- No Pattern Repeats: You can basically kiss those repetitive patterns goodbye. It looks like natural wood, not a rubber stamp.
- Extreme Realism: It tricks the eye better than anything else on the market.
The Verdict
With the masses of LVP hitting the market every single day, customers have to weed through a lot of garbage to find the good stuff. Sticking to the manufacturers I mentioned (Coretec, Shaw, Mannington) is always a safe bet.
But if you want the real experience—the closest look to a real wood floor so your friends don’t know you put in LVP instead of exotic Brazilian Cherry—go with a digitally printed floor by Engineered Floors (PureGrain).
That is the only floor I would put in my own home if I wanted to keep up with the Joneses without the hardwood headache.