New Flooring FAQs: Installation, Maintenance and Warranty

We’re working on a longer post about our finished renovation, but I wanted to answer the many questions we’ve been getting about the new flooring we installed throughout the first floor (bathrooms are tiled). The floors were one of the most-asked details during the reno updates we shared on Instagram, so here’s a clear rundown of what we chose, why we chose it, and how it’s performing after a few months.

We’re long-time fans of saving and refinishing original hardwoods — we’ve refinished floors in several houses and usually love the results. Back in 2020 we refinished the downstairs pine here hoping it would hold up similarly. Over six years of living on those floors it became clear they weren’t up to the job. Between the material itself and how the previous refinish was done, the floors wore poorly and created a real obstacle when we reconfigured rooms and added square footage.

Short version: the original yellow pine downstairs was much softer and less durable than heart pine or new hardwoods. Many boards had been replaced or patched before we moved in, and those repairs began separating and splintering over time. Add frequent beach-house traffic — sand, wet towels, pets, and high heels — and the soft pine showed dents, scratches, and gaps. Because the renovation involved moving walls and creating a new room, patching and matching that old floor for a seamless look would have been difficult and probably temporary.

View Of Opened Wall To French Doors During Renovation

New Floor FAQs

The main questions we’ll answer:

Why did we replace the floors?
What flooring did we use?
How did we choose it?
Do we like it?

Why Did You Replace Your Floors?

There were three main reasons: the material, the installation quality, and the renovation scope. The downstairs was standard yellow pine from the 1990s, which is softer and dents more easily than denser heart pine or oak. Second, the 2020 refinish didn’t hold up — some areas were poorly sanded, filled, and sealed, and patched boards later separated. Third, reconfiguring rooms and adding an entire new room created many gaps and transition challenges; patching would have been difficult and likely short-lived given how the existing flooring had already behaved.

View From Existing Bathroom To New Living Area

We don’t regret trying to save the floors in 2020 — it bought us six years while we figured out our ideal layout. But when we finally did the big renovation, fully replacing the downstairs flooring made the most sense for a long-term, cohesive result.

View From Bathroom After The Renovation With New LVP Floors

What Flooring Did You Use?

We installed luxury vinyl plank (LVP) across the entire first floor. We know that might surprise some hardwood purists — it surprised us too — but modern LVP has improved dramatically in look and performance. For our climate and our house by the beach, it offered important advantages.

Overhead Photo of New Floors With Cat On Carpet

The specific product we used is V-Evo XL by Durato in the color “Biscotti.” We selected it after seeing it installed in a nearby new build our contractor was working on. Seeing and walking on the material in a completed home convinced us more than samples or photos could.

Why Did You Choose LVP?

Three practical reasons led us to LVP: installation speed, durability for a beach environment, and cost. LVP installs far faster than traditional unfinished hardwood nailed and finished in place. Our new floors were demoed and installed in about three days, and we could walk on them immediately. There was no dust, no long curing time, and minimal disruption to daily life — the installer worked in sections so we only had to move furniture as he progressed.

Most importantly for our location, LVP is waterproof and stands up to sand, water, and frequent traffic better than soft pine. It looks convincingly like wood but performs more like tile in terms of resilience, which is why many modern beach homes use high-quality LVP.

How’d You Pick This Color and Size?

We chose the Biscotti color and the wide-plank size after seeing them installed in the contractor’s model home. Seeing and standing on the finished floor was invaluable — it showed us scale, texture, and how the color reads in natural light. Because we liked the installed look so much, we didn’t overcomplicate the choice with dozens of comparisons.

Do We Like Our LVP Floors?

Yes. The floors feel even, quiet, and solid underfoot. They brought a level of polish to the renovation we couldn’t have achieved by patching the old pine. The wide plank and the Biscotti tone make rooms feel larger and fresher, and the texture and grain read very naturally. For our 1991-built beach house the look fits perfectly.

New LVP Floors Running Through Kitchen In Downstairs Renovation

A couple of adjustments: barefoot the material doesn’t feel exactly like real hardwood — it’s denser and slightly different in slickness — and in the first week the texture felt a little coarse underfoot until normal use softened the sensation. Also, LVP can be dented; unlike hardwood it can’t be sanded out, so we keep extra boxes for potential spot replacements and try to be careful when moving heavy appliances.

What About Your Upstairs Floors?

We left the upstairs floors alone. They’re original heart pine that we refinished in 2020 and have held up much better than the downstairs yellow pine ever did. The two floors don’t meet directly because the painted stairs with a sisal runner separate them, and for now we like that the upstairs retains its original wood character.

Upstairs family room with plants and Serena & Lily capiz pendant light

That covers our floors: why we replaced them, what we installed, how we chose it, and how it’s living up to expectations. We’ll follow up with the full renovation post soon, including details on the new bathroom and the layout changes that made this flooring upgrade possible.