LVT/Vinyl plank flooring durability?

[John Semanchuk]

I have a couple of townhouses I'm working on and flooring will be one of the decisions. The first is for my daughter and it's on a concrete slab. She wants to do tile but the slab would need more prep due to old vinyl sheetstock glue still sticking making tile even more expensive than it inherently is.

I've used laminate in one of my other rentals and it was ok but is too susceptible to water damage. (once where a fridge leaked water in an adjacent kitchen and once when tenants left a door open during a heavy rain.)

So how durable is lvt in the floating plank variety? Anyone here with experience using it over time?

[Keith Lewis]

I've sold LVT for close to 30 years. The products nowadays run the gamut from crap to quality like anything else. Look for at least an 8 mil wearlayer and a scratch resistant finish preferably AO or  Ceramic Bead. 2.5 mm thickness is the least I'd recommend, preferring to stay with a 3mm or 4mm as they don't show irregularities in the  subfloor as easily. A fibeerglass inner core helps with dimensional stability  and the product should be annealed, a process that treats the product from shrinking. Use rhe recommended adhesive and trowel no9tch and always roll the installation with a 100# roller. If using a self stick then use a primer made for floors to handle floor dust and still use the 100# roller.