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New Floors! Shaw Floors Resilient Vinyl

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Disclosure: My friends at Shaw Floors provided us with this flooring so we could share our experience with all of you. All thoughts and opinions shared here are my own.

Shaw Luxury Vinyl Plank

As some of you may know from social media we had some water damage due to a leaking water heater a few months back. It ruined some of the flooring in the front room of the house and required several days drying time as well as pulling up some carpet and tile. While the insurance covers replacing that we decided to instead replace the majority of the flooring.

Here’s what it looked like before:

Floors BeforeI believe the tile was there since it was built (there was a crack all the way through the kitchen from the house settling) and the carpet was just basic carpet. I’ve never been in love with carpet so I’ve wanted some sort of hard flooring in every house we’ve been in.

Here’s what it looks like after:

Shaw Luxury Vinyl PlankWith the help from our friends at Shaw we decided on Shaw Floors Luxury Vinyl Plank Northampton with the Shelton Pecan color. I. am. in. love. I am NOT an easy person to please color wise – just ask my husband about choosing paint colors haha! This floor is so gorgeous.

Shaw Luxury Vinyl PlankSo why did we choose to go with Shaw’s Resilient Vinyl Flooring and what is it? Since I’m not an expert you can learn more about the product we chose in their brochure. For me the look was definitely huge on my list but with 2 boys and 2 dogs durability and longevity is also way up on our list of needs.

Shaw Luxury Vinyl PlankI started looking at this particular material after seeing it in a model home. I noticed that it didn’t have that laminate sound but looked SO realistic. When I started researching I learned that This Shaw Resilient Vinyl is warranted not to stain or wear through, will not fade as a result of direct sunlight or artificial light and will resist water damage under normal use conditions for 25 years. Ok, so I was definitely interested.

We did lots of research and ended up bringing a few samples home to “test out”. I don’t really know how to describe the feel other than it’s softer than laminate or tile and feels warmer than tile as well. The dogs slip and slide a bit more since there is no more carpet but they did that on the tile as well.

Shaw Luxury Vinyl Plank

Shaw Luxury Vinyl Plank

Shaw Luxury Vinyl PlankWe’ve been testing it out for a few weeks and have been extremely happy with our decision. Between the dogs nails, boys running in and out, toys, babies and BBQ’s we’ve definitely been putting it to use and we couldn’t be more satisfied. It’s super easy to clean (and keep clean) we haven’t managed to scratch it up yet and it looks amazing. Everyone that has come over has asked about it wanting to know what it is.

Shaw Luxury Vinyl PlankSo what about installation? We did a lot – about 1500 square feet. Because of the huge project and the “unknowns” of a project this big we were more than happy to let the professionals from Floor Source here in Phoenix, AZ do all the work and boy am I SO glad we did lol! Tom at Floor Source came over to scope out the project for us and together we decided that we’d replace all the floor moldings with gorgeous new 4.5″ moldings (that in itself made such  huge difference and if you’ve ever done that yourself you know how happy I was to let someone else do even that job). He helped confirm my choice of flooring as well saying that he loved working with it and it would be a great choice for us with the boys and the dogs.

The preparation of the floor is so important to how the floor wears over time. This was the biggest issue with our home. Our floors were un-level up to 1/2″ in some places and whoever laid the tile used A LOT of thinset so that alone was well worth the cost of having someone else do it. They knew exactly what to do to remove and prep all 1500 square feet of the floors so that the installation of the Shaw Luxury Vinyl Plank would be perfect.

Shaw Luxury Vinyl Plank Shaw Luxury Vinyl PlankThe guys that came to our house for a week were awesome and worked so hard to get our house back together as quickly as possible (I’m going to pull together a little post with tips if you’re doing as much renovation at once as we did). This product doesn’t need any adhesive and just clicks together. One thing that’s awesome is that in 25 years (or whenever) should we decide to replace the flooring all we need to do is pull out the baseboards and the flooring will come right up. I don’t know about you but I’d MUCH rather do that then remove 1500 square feet of ceramic tile and thinset!

Shaw Luxury Vinyl PlankI know I didn’t answer all the questions I’m sure you have so please feel free to ask and I’ll have our friends at Shaw answer any questions you might have! Here’s some more info on why the Shaw Resilient flooring is so awesome. I’ll also be sharing some more photos over at All for the Memories and talking about my color choice/design inspiration and where I plan on renovating next.

If you hurry you can enter their Celebrate Your Home Instagram contest (enter through Sunday) You can also ask questions or stay in touch through their site / Facebook /  Instagram / Twitter. If you’re in the Phoenix area we definitely recommend you calling/emailing Floor Source. They are awesome to work with their prices were great (I had done some research before on removal/installation pricing) and they did an awesome job making sure our floors were installed perfectly so they can last a LONG time. You can find them and their info on their site and Facebook.

I wish I could have you all over to see this in person!

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Allison Waken is a wife, mom of boys and Phoenix, AZ native. She has been creating inspiring content for All for the Boys since 2011. Allison loves travel, movies and spending as much time as possible with her family while she can!

33 Comments

  1. So, three months later are you still happy with this flooring? We are looking at needing about 1,000 sq feet. My question is, in the big picture does it look like wood or does it look like vinyl?

    Thank you…

    • We are still VERY happy with it! I think for me the look seals the deal. I am super picky about color and I absolutely love the color of this flooring. As far as the look, the first thing people do when they see it is comment on how they love the look and then bend down to touch it while asking what it is. It’s obviously not wood, but it doesn’t look like vinyl either because of the depth of the pattern. It doesn’t sound like laminate either which is why I think everyone is so curious about it. Have you been in any model homes lately? A lot of them are using this material. That’s where we first saw it and were intrigued by it.

  2. Still having luck with the floors? I keep seeing reviews how their flooring buckles with sunlight, or it’s easy to scratch. Are you having problems with either of those? I too have 2 boys (your ages) and a dog, so I’m leery at dropping a few thousand on something that will need to be replaced after a year.

    Thanks!

    • Hi Katy! I need to do an update post I think. As for the scratching I’ve read that too, but I can honestly say we have a handful of scratches through the entire house and all were from heavy furniture being dragged across the ground. There are none from the dogs or normal use. I’m not sure if that has to do with the color or if there are different grades but comparing to my mother in laws brand new wood floors ours have fared SO much better with our 2 dogs vs. her 1. I can’t speak too much to the sunlight because in Phoenix most of our houses are built to not have much, if any, direct sunlight coming in. We also have screens on all doors/windows. That said I checked the areas where the most sun comes in and cannot notice any buckling whatsoever. I’ve made a note to take some new photos and do an update for those interested. Feel free to ask any more questions you might have!

    • We installed our Shaw “resilient” vinyl plank this summer and it’s already showing dog nail marks. In my experience, it scratches easily and I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone with a dog. It’s not true to it’s “resilient” name.

      • Just curious which color/type did you get? We’ve had ours now for 2 years and have absolutely NO scratching from my 80 and 65lb dogs who get crazy and run around the house at least once a day. I did do a lot of testing on samples of different types to see first because I too was worried this might be an issue. The only thing that has scratched so far it is a piece of heavy furniture and dropping (and breaking) a large ceramic dish.

  3. Oh, another question!

    What color are your walls and where did you get your dining room table? I absolutely love your house!

    • We did them in the master bedroom and bathroom, but left carpet in the other 3 rooms. I’ve recently been thinking about adding it to those rooms as well!

  4. Hi! We are heavily considering doing this floor and I was curious on how it is still holding up. We have kids and a dog and just don’t want any separation. I have read that this product sometimes does this so I am just curious how yours is holding up. Thank you!!

    • Hi Sarah! I am still very happy with our floors. We do actually have one spot where there is some separation (about a 1/2″ lengths worth in between two planks). It’s not in an area of high traffic but near a wall and the floor moulding is “off” as well, so in this case the small amount of separation is definitely because the floor is not level there. Whether it’s always been like that, or it’s more of the house settling I’m not sure, but my advice would just be to check and double check that your floor is level. We needed some cement put down where the floor was pretty uneven in our main living area so just keep in mind that you may need to do that.

      Besides that small area (that happens to be under a chest anyway and I only saw when putting away the Christmas tree) the high traffic/high moisture areas are doing really great. The boys bathroom, the kitchen, the 2 main living areas and our master bedroom/bath have no other issues that we’ve found and it all looks and cleans up great. Let me know if you have any other questions!

  5. How is the sound insulation? When somone walks, in tighter quarters, is there an echo? can you hear foot steps from each room or is it pretty insulated?

    • It sits right on the foundation so there’s no echo like a laminate does. Barefoot makes no sound, tennis shoes don’t really make a noise but I can hear the dog’s nails on it when they are long. It’s hard to describe but there is no echo. It would be more like a linoleum sound wise. Does that make sense?

    • We installed the vinyl planks because it does not have the echo like laminate.. Love ours!

  6. Scott Townley Reply

    Still happy with the floors after 2+ years? We were about to purchase laminate and the salesman at Menards showed us this option and we are strongly considering it but just don’t know what to think. Seems to be pros and cons for all flooring and want someone to just tell me what to do 🙂

    Thanks so much for sharing!!

    • Well I’m not going to tell you what to do, but I know the feeling!! Definitely still happy with the floors. The one thing I would recommend is having someone level the foundation for you before installation (professional or DIY) I think that’s the key to these floors lasting and doing well. The cleanup is easy, the scratches are extremely minimal compared to what happens to these floors on a daily basis and there is no water damage of any kind in the bathrooms or kitchen. They are holding up very well! I mentioned above where there was an issue with separating where our floor is definitely uneven so this is where I could see issues if you did not have this done before installing. I would definitely go with this flooring choice again though in the future! I hope that helps!

  7. Did they put padding under the floor or just direct application?

    • This particular type is floating directly on the foundation, no padding needed. There is no glue or stick-on application for this either (for some types there is, just not the one we chose).

  8. Hi Allison, the flooring looks great, and this is an informative post. I would like to know how it holds up to water, such as in bathrooms, or for dog accidents. Is there a time-limit, so to say, to clean up the standing water/liquid?

    • You’d have to check the mfg. specifications on that one since each flooring type has different waterproof claims. For us, the flooring area that gets the most standing water without immediate clean up would be around the dog water bowl. We have it in the hall next to the wall directly on the floor so there is often water/drool left there sometimes all day (or longer if it seeps underneath the bowl) Obviously, that’s not ideal but it’s life in this house. There is absolutely no sign of water damage to the flooring there (nor in the kitchen or 2 bathrooms we have it in). Again, it probably depends on how well it’s installed and which flooring type and installation you go with but that’s my experience for what it’s worth!

  9. Our house just flooded and we have to replace flooring. I am definitely sold on the Shaw resilient flooring. Looking at sheet or vinyl plank. The representative said the planks I am looking at would be glued in. So I guess they have different kinds of the plank? Since you said yours just “floats” on the concrete. We have a concrete slab also.

    • Yes! There are different types, some being glued in and others floating. Ours, like you said, is floating and did not require glue so I can’t comment on that type, but we are still definitely VERY happy with ours! Good luck, no fun dealing with flooding!

  10. We just installed the same flooring only in a different color in our entire house. I love it already and we aren’t even living there yet! How do you clean yours? Mop, soap, wet swifter? I know it says to use the shaw hard surface cleaner and does not recommend white vinegar but we have 2100 sq ft of this down and that would get very pricey if that is the only thing we can use. Thank you!

    • I cannot recommend the O-Cedar microfiber flip mop enough! The installers use this at every job (the blue part dry like a broom) and we try to use it once a day to pick up the loose stuff. It helps keep the dog hair and dust up even if we can’t see it. For “mopping” we use the Bona Hardwood floor mop and cleaner. This combo has worked perfectly for us (I also have a robotic vacuum so I’ve used the flip mop less).

  11. Hi,

    We have had a water heater burst into our basement ruining the carpet in the affected area and I want to switch to a vinyl plank. Our issue is with door casings and trim. Baseboards can be moved, but the door casings and trim around the door cannot. Did you have any issues with a gap due to the new flooring height? Was your solution the taller baseboards I see you switched to? That wouldn’t have solved the door casing gaps though. If you had any, do you notice them? Thanks!

    • In most cases we needed to trim the door casings to fit. The carpet usually goes over them so they’re longer than they’d need to be for something to go underneath them. You could always get a sample from the store and see how it slides under yours. The taller baseboards we chose were just because I wanted an upgrade!

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