Flooring FAQ

LVP stands for luxury vinyl plank. It is a multi-layer flooring plank with no wood in its core: a rigid vinyl-based body, a printed layer that carries the wood look, and a clear protective wear layer on top. Most of it clicks together without glue or nails and floats over your existing floor. It became the default flooring choice in Florida for one reason above all others. It does not care about water.

The wear layer is the clear protective coat on top of the plank, and it is the single spec that determines how long the floor keeps looking new. A mil is one thousandth of an inch, so a 20 mil wear layer is twice as thick as a 12 mil one. 12 mil is a solid residential choice for bedrooms, living rooms and ordinary family traffic. 20 mil is the step up for homes with dogs, kids, sand from the beach, or rental turnover. 28 mil is rated for light commercial use, vacation rentals, offices, salons. Wear layer is not the same as overall thickness: a 5 mm plank with a 20 mil wear layer will outlast an 8 mm plank with a 6 mil wear layer.

The plank itself is, and we will be precise about what that means. A vinyl plank has no wood fiber in its core, so it will not swell, warp or delaminate from water the way laminate or engineered wood does. You can leave a puddle on it. What is *not* waterproof is the assembly: water can still travel down the seams and sit on the subfloor underneath, so a burst pipe or a slow leak is still a problem for your slab, your baseboards and your drywall even though the flooring itself survives. Waterproof means the floor will not be ruined by water. It does not mean the room is a swimming pool liner.

SPC stands for stone plastic composite. It is a type of rigid-core vinyl plank whose core is a blend of limestone powder and PVC, which makes it dense, dimensionally stable and very resistant to dents. Because it barely expands or contracts with temperature, SPC handles Florida sun rooms, lanais and rooms that get hot when the AC is off better than softer cores do. WPC (wood plastic composite) is the other common rigid core. It has a foaming agent that makes it slightly softer and warmer underfoot, but a bit easier to dent.

The core. Laminate is built on high-density fiberboard, which is a wood product, so standing water sitting on a seam can swell the edges. LVP has no wood in it at all and is genuinely waterproof. Laminate's advantages are that it is often the cheapest per square foot and modern 12 mm laminate feels very solid underfoot. Our practical rule: use waterproof LVP in bathrooms, laundry rooms, kitchens and anywhere water pools, and consider 12 mm laminate for bedrooms, hallways and dry areas where you want the most floor for the money.

Most of our LVP does. An attached pad, usually IXPE or EVA foam bonded to the underside of the plank at the factory, quiets footsteps, softens the floor underfoot and forgives minor imperfections in the subfloor. It also saves you a step and a separate purchase. IXPE is the better of the two: it is a closed-cell rubber-type foam that is denser and recovers better under furniture. Check the individual product page, since not everything we carry is padded, laminate typically is not.

If the plank has an attached pad, no, and in fact you generally should not add more. Stacking a second pad under a floating floor makes it too soft, which puts flexing stress on the locking joints and can cause them to separate over time. If you are buying a product without an attached pad (most laminate), you do need underlayment, and over a concrete slab you also want a moisture barrier. Ask us when you come in and we will tell you which one goes with what you are buying.

Yes, and in Florida that is the normal case. Floating click-lock LVP is well suited to slab-on-grade construction. It is not fastened down, so it tolerates the slab's small movements. The slab needs to be clean, dry and reasonably flat, most manufacturers specify no more than about 3/16 inch of variation over 10 feet. High spots get ground down, low spots get filled with leveling compound. If you have had moisture coming up through the slab in the past, mention it to us; that changes what you should buy.

Usually, and it is one of the biggest reasons people choose it. You skip tile demolition entirely, which is the dirtiest and most expensive part of a flooring job. The tile has to be sound (no loose or hollow pieces, no rocking), and the grout lines have to be shallow or filled, because deep wide grout lines can eventually telegraph through as visible lines in the new floor. Also do the arithmetic on height: adding a floor on top of tile raises it, which affects door clearance, appliance heights and thresholds.

Yes. Those are exactly the rooms waterproof LVP was made for, and it is a far better choice there than laminate or engineered wood. Two practical notes. In a full bathroom, seal the perimeter gap with silicone rather than leaving it open, so water cannot run under the floor at the tub or toilet. And in a kitchen, do not trap a floating floor under the weight of an island or a heavy built-in installed on top of it, the floor needs to be able to move.

Plan on 10% over your measured square footage for a straightforward rectangular room laid parallel to the walls. Go to 15% if the space is cut up with closets, angles, islands and hallways, or if you are laying the planks diagonally, which generates considerably more offcut. Then round up to whole cases, since flooring is sold by the case and not by the foot. Our flooring calculator does all of this for you, including cases and cost. Buying one case too many is a minor annoyance; running one case short after your lot has sold out is a real problem.

Most of our customers do. Click-lock flooring needs no glue or nails, and no specialty machinery. A tapping block, a pull bar, spacers, a utility knife and a saw for door casings will get most rooms done. The two mistakes that cause nearly every failure are skipping acclimation (let the boxes sit in the room for the period the manufacturer specifies) and not leaving the expansion gap at the walls. Leave the gap. The baseboard covers it, and the floor needs somewhere to go when it moves. See our installation page for more.

Because we run a warehouse rather than a showroom. A traditional flooring retailer's price per square foot has to cover a retail lease, a sales floor, design staff, and several layers of distribution between the mill and you. We buy quality flooring in volume, hold it on pallets in Tampa, and sell it directly. Same waterproof cores, same wear layers, without the markup, generally 30-60% below traditional retail. That is the entire business model.

Yes. Anyone can buy from us. Homeowners doing a single bedroom are just as welcome as contractors buying pallets, and you do not need a license, a business account or a minimum order. There is no separate 'retail' price here. Everyone pays the warehouse price.

Yes, and a large share of our business is contractors, landlords, property managers, real-estate investors and house flippers. If you are buying in pallet quantities or flooring multiple properties, call us before you come, that is where we can do the most for you on price and on holding enough of a single lot to finish all your units in matching color.

Yes, and you should. Photographs, ours included, never quite tell the truth about color and texture, and you are about to cover your whole house with this stuff. Come look at the actual plank in person. That is the main advantage of buying from a local warehouse instead of ordering flooring online and hoping.

Usually. We hold a large local inventory and most customers buy and load the same visit. Our stock genuinely does change day to day, especially on special buys and closeout lots. Text 727-421-7726 with the color and how many square feet you need and we will confirm what is on the floor before you drive over. Texting is the fastest way to get an answer.

Call or text 727-421-7726 and ask. Our delivery terms and radius are being finalized and we would rather tell you the real answer on the phone than post something here that is out of date. Most customers pick up at the warehouse. Bring a truck, a trailer or an SUV with the seats down; flooring is considerably heavier than people expect, at roughly 40-60 pounds per case.

Call or text 727-421-7726 and ask. We will give you a straight answer about installation and about local installers. See the installation page for what is involved if you are considering doing it yourself.

Call or text 727-421-7726 to ask about holds. Our hold and deposit terms are being finalized, so we would rather you asked us directly than read a policy here that might not match what we actually do. It takes one text.

Call or text 727-421-7726 before you come and we will confirm exactly what we take. Payment methods are listed on our policies page as soon as they are final.