REFINISH THEM,  LET YOUR TENANT TRY AND HURT THOSE HARD FLOORS !!!!

@Gary L Wallman @James Hamling What kind of vinyl plank do you two recommend?  I've used the lifeproof stuff from Home Depot but find that it scratches pretty easy and really only goes together once...if you have to take it apart for damage or water, it doesn't reassemble very well.  Thanks

Originally posted by @Aaron Taylor :

@Gary L Wallman @James Hamling What kind of vinyl plank do you two recommend?  I've used the lifeproof stuff from Home Depot but find that it scratches pretty easy and really only goes together once...if you have to take it apart for damage or water, it doesn't reassemble very well.  Thanks

I have been testing and utilizing LVP since it first came on market (yeah I know, I'm old) and for a million bucks i couldn't possibly recall all the brands, types and styles over the years, and with that I am not brand specific as LVP is still a rapidly developing product constantly coming out with something better and better. I have learned a few material rules that I stick with; 

- Must be waterproof. It used to be special but not anymore, eliminate water potential and eliminate need to take it back up. 

- ONLY solid vinyl product, no overlay on wood or paper pulp or other BS. 

- Must have a glue down and floating option in the line. This is an observation i found that when it's a decent mil material built well, there is always a glue down or floating option and most of the junk types are just 1. No science behind this, just an observation I noticed. 

- Must have wear guarantee. You mentioned it scuffing, that should not be possible, ever. When I check out a new material I havn't worked with before I open a box, right there in the store, pull out a plank, and drag the butt end of my knife across it, I go for it, I shouldn't be able to do a thing to the panel. (should be noted I spend a ridiculous amount at the HD every year and am known by 1st name basis so I may have some extra liberties, beware results may vary). 

I have also learned to never listen to what my flooring contractors say, there is way to much pushing of one brand vs another. I do listen to my contacts at pro desk but I have known and been working with them 10 odd years or so. I suggest finding some good contact at the lumber yard that you can trust, won't bs and has depth of experience, they can share what's worked and hasn't with others. 

That said I am confused by your experience with the lifeproof brand, I was urged to try some out a while ago and I gave it a thorough testing which it came out excellent, I had none of the experiences your saying. The line I used had a diamond coating that had 0% chance of scuffing, and came with lifetime warranty for any failure at all, including it was waterproof. Maybe you were doing some discounted type? See, that's the risk of being cheap, it ends up costing a whole lot more in the long run, not worth it for the $1 or $2 sqft "saved". There is a reason it's not called Real Estate CHEAPING, and is called INVESTING. Thats how I approach material selection, best smartest INVESTMENT. 

I use Smartcore at Lowe's almost exclusively at this point. Completely waterproof (100% plastic), decent wear layer (12mil and up), pre-attached pad, good selection of designs, reasonably sturdy tongues. This is the stuff in the green boxes, not the cheaper Lowe's brand. That stuff the wear layer sucks and the tongues suck. 

The Smartcore tends to be around $3-4/sf for material, so it's not going to be the cheapest thing you can buy, but I've been using it maybe 4-5 years now and it has held up very well in my properties. 

PS: Original poster - refinish the floor. Old growth hardwood floors hold up amazingly well. As long as they haven't been sanded into oblivion you'd be surprised how much abuse they can take. I have original floors in some of my houses from the 1930's that are still serviceable, and these are decent places. Wood has a tendency to petrify over time, and the wood they were using for hardwood floors back then was older growth with tight, slow-growth grain which is what you want in a piece of wood - a minimum of soft-cell material between the growth rings. Hardwood floors today are no match for anything from back then, unless you pay a significant amount for reclaimed, exotic, or some of the last old-stuff still growing. 

Originally posted by @Clayton Boyle :

This point has been made earlier in the thread but I want to reiterate it. If this is a rental and you plan on holding onto it for a while, I'd put LVP over the entire floor and save refinishing it for when you sell down the line. LVP in a residential setting will last forever when properly installed, looks nice, and will save you from refinishing the original wood as tenants damage the floor. You are limited in how many times you can refinish wood flooring, so you'd want to keep those numbers down. 

A common misconception with LVP is that you can just pull up one piece and replace it when damaged. Due to the interlocking joints, you cannot do this (assuming a floating floor). You have to remove pieces from the closest wall back to the problem area to replace one piece, but that just isn't going to be a common scenario with a good LVP product.

 I just wanted to comment on this as that's not the case. If you have a damaged plank in the middle of the floor you can take out just that plank. You do it almost the same way as you replace a damaged hardwood plank in the middle of a floor. You cut the damaged plank straight in half long ways and pull the two pieces out. Now you get the new plank and you cut the bottom tongue off on the short side and long side, and leave the top tongue in place. Then you get some wood glue, put it on the remaining tongues on the replacement piece and drop it into place. Clean up the glue and you're finished. The floor is still floating because that plank is floating - it's just glued to the planks next to it instead of attached with the tongue. 

In this case I think the move would definitely be to re-finish the existing hardwood.

Originally posted by @James Hamling :

Originally posted by @Aaron Taylor:

@Gary L Wallman @James Hamling What kind of vinyl plank do you two recommend?  I've used the lifeproof stuff from Home Depot but find that it scratches pretty easy and really only goes together once...if you have to take it apart for damage or water, it doesn't reassemble very well.  Thanks

I have been testing and utilizing LVP since it first came on market (yeah I know, I'm old) and for a million bucks i couldn't possibly recall all the brands, types and styles over the years, and with that I am not brand specific as LVP is still a rapidly developing product constantly coming out with something better and better. I have learned a few material rules that I stick with; 

- Must be waterproof. It used to be special but not anymore, eliminate water potential and eliminate need to take it back up. 

- ONLY solid vinyl product, no overlay on wood or paper pulp or other BS. 

- Must have a glue down and floating option in the line. This is an observation i found that when it's a decent mil material built well, there is always a glue down or floating option and most of the junk types are just 1. No science behind this, just an observation I noticed. 

- Must have wear guarantee. You mentioned it scuffing, that should not be possible, ever. When I check out a new material I havn't worked with before I open a box, right there in the store, pull out a plank, and drag the butt end of my knife across it, I go for it, I shouldn't be able to do a thing to the panel. (should be noted I spend a ridiculous amount at the HD every year and am known by 1st name basis so I may have some extra liberties, beware results may vary). 

I have also learned to never listen to what my flooring contractors say, there is way to much pushing of one brand vs another. I do listen to my contacts at pro desk but I have known and been working with them 10 odd years or so. I suggest finding some good contact at the lumber yard that you can trust, won't bs and has depth of experience, they can share what's worked and hasn't with others. 

That said I am confused by your experience with the lifeproof brand, I was urged to try some out a while ago and I gave it a thorough testing which it came out excellent, I had none of the experiences your saying. The line I used had a diamond coating that had 0% chance of scuffing, and came with lifetime warranty for any failure at all, including it was waterproof. Maybe you were doing some discounted type? See, that's the risk of being cheap, it ends up costing a whole lot more in the long run, not worth it for the $1 or $2 sqft "saved". There is a reason it's not called Real Estate CHEAPING, and is called INVESTING. Thats how I approach material selection, best smartest INVESTMENT. 

 I was using the most expensive lifeproof stuff HD has, the waterproof and lifetime warranty and all that jazz.  If you read the reviews on HD's own website, you'll see experiences similar to mine.  Laying it once is great.  Moving anything like appliances across it is dangerous as it will scratch.  And when you take it apart and reassemble, all the little tabs fall apart.  That's why I was asking about other brands, I like the product but wasn't a fan of the durability with moving objects or reassembly...I've reassembled engineered wood floors and they were much more sturdy in that aspect, and normally I don't have problems with scratching wood floors when moving appliances.

Now if you never had to reassemble it or move anything heavy over it, a normal person's review would be a 10.  I'd give it like a 7 due to the cost and durability.

@JD Martin that's a really good trick, thanks for the heads up there. I stand corrected!