What are the BEST Brands of Vinyl Plank and How to Test their QUALITY

hey everyone joe latender here i want to go over with you what i think is a high quality vinyl plank now i'm going to go through several of these and then later on i'm going to tell you what i think is the best one but i want to go through and have also later on talk to you about things that you can do to test your plank just to see if it's a high quality or something that you think is going to stand up in your house i mean we all have kids we all have pets grandkids we all have dads and husbands and whoever else that might not uh be too careful so we want to make sure we're buying a high quality product right so i want to talk to you about a few that are very popular right now just off the bat lifeproof okay that's a home depot product exclusive to home depot do i feel like it's a good product i do i've installed a lot of lifeproof and i have a daughter that has it in her house and she has a couple of dogs we go over there with the whole family and when we all get together there's like 30 of us there's probably 12 dogs that will run across this okay and i mean i'm talking big dogs golden retrievers labs things like that okay not to mention the grandkids and everyone else who goes over there but this stuff has taken a beating over the last two years and honestly it still looks brand new so i think the wear layer on it is an absolutely superior product i don't think you can go wrong with lifeproof flooring now i'm not exactly a fan of all of lifeproof i do think it's a good product but that's my take on it i would never turn somebody away from going with lifeproof okay so my bottom line is that i would i would go with lifeproof it's not my top choice though okay but it's close smart core low cell smart core okay is that a good product now i'm going to tell you personally i have not installed smart core but i have a membership site and the youtube here where lots of people come and ask me questions and they're installing smart core okay i've taken surveys on my website and on my facebook page where i've asked people questions about their products and smart core is always one that everybody says installed pretty decently and they're very satisfied with the product so i believe that both big box stores have hit not the jackpot but they've done really well with making sure that these big these big major planks that uh that they sell or the majority plank that they sell of the two smart core and lifeproof are high quality and that's smart of them because they want you to come back and buy more right they want other people to come and get it but i want to talk to you about a couple other products now now this is mohawk now i showed this plank in a video that i did not too long ago this was bought from costco now i like mohawk i've installed a lot of mohawk not just from costco the thing with the costco thing is they just don't have a big selection okay they're not going to have 20 different colors there for you to choose from or different kinds they just have a select view they buy it they put their name on it and they sell it and this stuff you know it's really heavy i loved the way it went to the floor solid sound excellent durability i want to talk to you about this a little bit the durability now one of the things that you can do is the butter knife test on plank okay just take the butter knife now if that just by rubbing that on there made a bunch of scratches in your floor you don't want that okay that's junk all right now i'm not gouging as hard as i can but you can gouge pretty hard on this and other planks but that's just one test that you can do to a plank okay but i want to talk to you a little bit about durability on what i look for in a plank not just from the surface it's this locking system that every plank has this is important if it's durable or not because your entire plank installation is hinged on this locking system whether it's good or bad if you look at it will fall apart or do you have to take something pretty brutal some pretty brutal action to get it to get damaged now yes you can t take a scrap piece of plank and attach it to the plank that you're installing to protect the locking system and i highly recommend that you do that okay but i'm also talking about the strain that you put on this locking system just by it being in your house now what if your floor isn't perfect now granted your floor is supposed to be flat but what if there's some spots where it's not if you're using a cheap locking system that falls apart super easy you're gonna have problems plus these cheaper locking systems don't ever seem to go together perfectly where you have small gaps things like that now what do i mean by checking a locking system well if you can break this really easily with your fingers which this mohawk you can't because it's thick then it's junk guys if if it if if it's super easy and let me show you easy this is a plank that i just did in an installation good surface locking system absolutely junk super brittle look at how easy this breaks okay super simple now i'm just telling you that because this is something that could cause problems in the future for you so people don't talk about this but it's the locking system everybody's getting pretty good at the face okay it's the locking system that's important in my opinion that and the face of it is this product right here it's a little softer i can even tell with my fingernails that it's a little softer so i think it would gouge easy but this one look at how easy that breaks isn't that crazy that's what's holding this plank together now do i think that every plank that is brittle that brittle is going to be junk no but i really have concerns about it i mean don't you now now this i really don't want to make enemies here okay guys i'm just being brutally honest not one of these places are sponsoring me no one's paying me i'm just doing this from me to you okay so this is honest brutal criticism this is a shaw product okay i absolutely usually like shaw i think they have great laminates this is the first drop and lock that i did with them off of a job we did a huge cabin with this stuff absolutely beautiful floor when you looked across it certain ways the problem is is that the main joint would go together nicely okay but the drop and lock system that they had you could look across it and the butt joints would all stand out they'd look way different than the main long joint and i just absolutely thought that cheapened the way it looked i'm sorry but that's just just the way it is anyway this product right here i did this in the installation you guys seen this this is kind of an off-brand very very nice solid product as far as durability goes and we'll talk more about testing durability later on like i said but very cheap locking system every time i hit it with a tapping block if i didn't use a scrap piece it shattered i don't like that it shouldn't shatter okay it just shouldn't the other thing with this product and this goes to as okay so when you buy plank it comes either like with one plank do you see what i'm saying this is designed to look like one plank where this one has three one two three so we call this a three strip now on this batch that came with it there was two strip three strip and four strip in there is that bad well i'm going to tell you that when you put a plank down that's a one solid plank and you look across the floor you're meant to see every board right where this your meant what they want you to see is the three strip but then when you look across in certain lighting you're gonna see the joints here and they stand out okay just like they should like this one does too but it looks awkward in certain lighting because you have you can tell it's fake then do you know what i'm saying does that make sense it's just it stands out because it's the three strap i'm not saying don't buy two or three strip because i absolutely do think that this is a beautiful floor i'm just telling you things to look for when you are thinking about buying plank all right so talk to you about several different brands now now i'm going to show you my top choice and this has been my top choice for a long time this is mannington adoramax high quality product guys superior product to most okay when it's down on the floor it's a nice heavy product just like the mohawk one fantastic sound when you walk on it and feel the locking system is super durable you really have to pull hard to break it okay but it's breakable but all of them are breakable guys it's just how hard so that tells me it's a durable product now i can beat on this one with my tapping block hardly ever damages it goes together so nicely i think this is the easiest vinyl plank i've ever installed and it's got the tongue and groove on both sides it's not a drop and lock it's got the tongue and groove on the top and the bottom now i think that you get more high quality when you do the tongue and groove on both sides okay versus the drop and lock but the drop and lock is coming it's coming it's getting better okay it is i'm not going to deny that and sooner or later they're probably going to make it all drop and lock both joints who knows we'll see on when they can come up with the locking system that's going to be able to hold but excellent durability now they sell this also in another brand or not another brand but another line called uh mannington edura rigid okay it's the same product as the max it's just a little thinner but it's meant for like any kind of type of conditions as far as hot and cold goes install it in a cabin that is up in northern minnesota here where it gets 30 below and 90 in the summer and it doesn't move it's warrantied for that a great product i highly recommend it and again i'm not being paid by anybody here i'm just telling you what my thoughts are here i'm just trying to point out some things to you that you can try now i already showed you the butter knife test okay so what i would recommend to you before you buy your floor just to see hey is this a good quality floor on the top on the surface and check that locking system like i just showed you bring it home grab a couple pieces most of the time from anywhere you can get a couple of pieces you don't have to buy a full cart and you can order a couple pieces the store that you're going to can order a couple pieces for you bring it home put it together on the floor check it out does it all go together tight is there gaps is when you put the plank together the long way and then you put two bud joints together do they go together nice and tight are they square is one end touching the other end of the joint is opened up that's what happens with a lot of these cheaper planks is they're not square they don't do a good job of manufacturing them because there's a hundred different places that are making vinyl plank that are trying to push it out the doors fast as they can because everyone wants to be in the game everybody's competing with lows and home depot and like i said both those places are carrying good products now the other thing i would tell you is do some other tests dump some water on the locking system when the plank is together right on the joints i'm talking let it sit there overnight see if it leaked through take it apart and see if it leaked through find out if it's truly waterproof now waterproof doesn't mean that it wouldn't seep through but you do want a plank that it's not going to seep through right so it gets under your floor waterproof is more like if you submerge the plank it's not going to absorb any water if you submerge the entire plank into water it's not going to absorb it um grab some sand from outside a little gravel step on it with your shoes swirl your shoes around a little bit like you would if you were really walking on it see how easy it scratches let the dogs run across it toss a ball to them while they're skidding across it see how badly their nails dig in okay there's those things right there throw some stuff on there and let it dry overnight and see how hard it is to clean off like some ketchup or some mustard or something okay see how easy it is to clean off i guarantee you this this mohawk right here this stuff i don't know what they're putting on it but this is the easiest stuff i've ever seen to clean stuff off i mean with just water even it's just amazing a lot of planks are like that though but test that okay and then i want to talk to you about since we already talked about the locking system on the two three and four strip how you for sure going to be able to see them so i get asked what about the groove there's a lot of a lot of planks out there that have a bevel is that really a terrible thing is that thing going to be a dirt collector is it just going to be absolutely miserable the answer is no it's not i was always worried about it but i had a beveled plank in my house with eight kids on it and honestly we never had a problem with anything getting stuck in there cleaning out very easily so those are some things that you want to take into consideration when you're buying your plank on if it's a good one or not and then also you want to know was it easy to install so what i'm asking is that you guys out there really help here everybody let's join together as a community and help each other out i'd really appreciate it down in the comments if you've installed the plank the brand that you have could you just put in there if it was good or not if it installed easy if it's a good quality are you happy with it did the gaps did all the gaps come together tight or was it was it junk and you had gaps everywhere um just just put some info down in there for others to be able to go off of i'd really appreciate it it really will help everybody hey i'm going to do other videos just like this if you need any help with installing i have every video on my channel that you would need to get through an entire installation whether it's a one-room install or an entire house so go check out my channel hey i just want to again thank you for watching and i i i'm asking that you would hit the like button if this video has helped you out at all hit that subscribe button if you want to see more of my videos and notif if you want to be notified just hit that bell guys then you'll be notified when i put a new video out i really appreciate you thanks for watching god bless you have a great day

Channel: So That's How You Do That!

Views: 763,830

Keywords: luxury vinyl plank flooring, installing vinyl plank flooring, how to install vinyl plank flooring, how to install vinyl flooring, how to cut vinyl plank flooring, home renovation, do it yourself, how to, vinyl plank flooring installation, vinyl plank flooring over concrete, how to install laminate flooring, vinyl plank flooring, home improvement, installing vinyl flooring, how to install vinyl flooring in bathroom, laminate floor, diy, best vinyl plank flooring, lvp

Id: ag1jtYUKVdU

Length: 15min 59sec (959 seconds)

Published: Fri May 21 2021