Floor Installation
Luxury Vinyl Plank (LVP) Installation in Oxford Circle, Philadelphia
Waterproof, quiet, and it does not care about a wet basement. Where it is the right call and where it is not. In Oxford Circle, Philadelphia the median home dates to 1954 and 10.9% of the housing predates 1940, which changes what Deco Hardwood Floor expects to find before the work starts.
Vinyl plank for kitchens and basements
In Oxford Circle vinyl plank mostly goes where the postwar oak never went: the kitchen, the bathrooms and the finished basement.
These houses usually have good oak in the living areas and layers of older flooring in the kitchen. Vinyl plank replaces those layers with one surface that handles water, and it can be chosen to sit quietly beside the wood without pretending to be it.
Height is the detail to plan. Several old layers may come out and one thin one goes in, which changes how the floor meets the dishwasher, the door casings and the hardwood at the threshold.
Before you get a quote
Sheet flooring and tile from before the 1980s, and the adhesive under them, can contain asbestos. We leave it undisturbed under the new floor or have it tested before anything is removed.
How the housing in Oxford Circle compares
Of the 17,969 housing units in Oxford Circle, roughly 2,000 were built before 1940 and approximately 16,900 before 1978.
That makes the housing here older than the 132 Philadelphia neighborhoods in our data taken together, where approximately 82.8% of 733,961 units predate 1978, and above the 60.5% figure for our whole service area. By the share built before 1940, Oxford Circle ranks 109th of those 132. The full table is published as open housing data.
Within Philadelphia, the oldest housing in our data is in Cedar Park, with a median year of 1925, and the newest is in Kensington, Old, at 1997.
| Place | Median year built | Built before 1940 |
|---|---|---|
| Oxford Circle | 1954 | 10.9% |
| Crescentville | 1951 | 15.3% |
| Burholme | 1971 | 12.7% |
| Mayfair | 1953 | 13.3% |
| Northwood | 1945 | 34.3% |
| Rhawnhurst | 1959 | 6.7% |
| Lawndale | 1952 | 28.6% |
For vinyl plank, both ends of the range matter. Older housing means uneven subfloors and old layers to deal with, and newer housing means slabs that have to be tested for moisture first.
What is usually under the floor here
Two and a quarter inch red oak nailed over a wood subfloor, which is the case that refinishes best.
Postwar housing in this region was built with a plywood or board subfloor and solid red oak strip on top, most commonly two and a quarter inches wide. It is the standard floor of the American postwar house and it is the easiest thing we work on: predictable thickness, predictable fastening, predictable result.
The question in this stock is more often the subfloor than the wood on top of it. Squeaks, deflection and movement come from below, and sanding a floor that moves gives you a smooth floor that still moves.
Worth knowing here
Red oak has a pink undertone that shows through most stain colors. If you are aiming for the cooler tones that are fashionable now, that gets tested on a sample board before anything is committed.
The federal lead rule applies to most of the housing here
Approximately 94.0% of the homes here were built before 1978, which is the line the EPA rule draws.
Paid work that disturbs painted surfaces in pre-1978 housing falls under 40 CFR Part 745, and floor sanding reaches painted surfaces more often than people expect: the edger runs to the baseboard, the shoe molding and the door casing, and in older housing those carry many layers.
The part that matters for the equipment is 745.85(a)(3), which prohibits high speed machines that strip a coating on painted surfaces unless they carry containment and a HEPA vacuum collecting dust at the point of generation. That is a description of how the sander has to be assembled, not a suggestion about tidiness.
How luxury vinyl plank (LVP) installation runs
We look at the room and the moisture
Below grade, slab, and any history of water all change the specification.Material chosen with the wear layer in mils
Samples brought to the house, specification written down.Substrate flattened
Straightedge check, then correction where needed.Underlayment where the product calls for it
Some rigid core planks come with pad attached and must not be doubled.Planks installed with expansion left
Perimeter gap respected, because these floors move with temperature.Trim and transitions
Thresholds set so height changes are deliberate.
What a luxury vinyl plank installation includes
The quote covers a look at the room and its moisture history, the planks, the flattening of the substrate, the installation and the trim. Flattening is written into the quote because it is the part that decides whether the joints hold.
Included
- A visit from the owner to see the room, the substrate and any history of water
- Vinyl plank supplied by us at the distributor's store price, with the wear layer stated in mils
- Samples brought to the house, so the plank is chosen in the room it is going into
- A straightedge check of the substrate, and correction of the highs and lows it finds
- Underlayment where the product calls for it, and none where the pad is already attached
- Planks installed with the perimeter gap, then trim and thresholds
Not included, or quoted separately
- Stopping water at its source. Sump pumps, drainage and foundation sealing belong to other trades
- A sealed room. The planks are waterproof, but standing water can reach the subfloor through the seams
- Any future refinishing. A worn vinyl plank is replaced, it cannot be sanded or recoated
- Stair treads and railings, which are a separate service with their own quote
What changes the price of luxury vinyl plank installation
The price is set after the owner has seen the room. What moves it most is how much flattening the substrate needs, which plank you choose, and what has to come up before the new floor goes down.
| What changes it | How it moves the price | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Substrate flattening | This is where the labor goes. The more grinding and filling the floor needs to meet the plank maker's flatness tolerance, the more the job costs. | A basement slab with a ridge along an old crack needs grinding. A flat one needs cleaning and a straightedge check. |
| Wear layer in mils | A thicker clear wear layer costs more as material and survives traffic longer. | A plank at the 20 mil end of the residential range costs more than one at the 6 mil end, and outlasts it under dogs and chair casters. |
| Core and attached pad | SPC and WPC planks are priced differently, and a separate underlayment adds a layer to the material list. | A plank with pad attached needs no underlayment. One without it adds a layer to buy and to install. |
| What is there now | Removing carpet, old vinyl or a floating floor adds labor. Sometimes the existing floor is sound enough to stay as the substrate. | Carpet and tack strip come up quickly. Sheet vinyl glued to a rough slab takes longer to deal with. |
| Layout and transitions | Doorways, posts, landings and neighboring floors of a different height all mean cuts and transition pieces. | A basement with support columns and three doorways has more cutting than an open rectangle of the same area. |
The full method, the equipment and what we will and will not promise are on the service page: Luxury Vinyl Plank (LVP) Installation.
Also in Oxford Circle
Hardwood Floor Refinishing
Sand the old finish off, repair what needs repairing, and put a new finish down
Dustless Floor Sanding
Vacuum-extraction sanding
Solid Hardwood Floor Installation
Solid wood, nailed down over a wood subfloor
Engineered Hardwood Installation
Real wood over a stable core
Custom Stair Installation
Treads, risers, stringers and skirt board, built to a drawing instead of a catalog page
Stair Refinishing
Stairs take more wear per square foot than any floor in the house, and they are sanded almost entirely by hand
Hardwood Floor Repair
Board replacement, weaving in new wood, squeaks, gaps and cupping
Why homeowners hire Deco Hardwood Floor
Deco Hardwood Floor is owner operated: the person who quotes luxury vinyl plank (lvp) installation in Oxford Circle is the person responsible for it, and the material comes with the labor in one number.
Material and labor in one number
We buy the flooring direct from the distributor and pass the store price through, so you are not sourcing wood on your own between quotes.
Samples come to your house
Samples and larger offcuts come to you, so the color gets chosen in your own light instead of under a showroom lamp.
Stairs and railings built in house
Treads, risers, handrails and newel posts are drawn and built by our own crew. Most flooring crews subcontract stair work or decline it.
The owner quotes the job
The person who measures your floor is the person responsible for the work. There is no salesperson in between.
Measured before it is promised
Remaining thickness is measured at the edge of a board before we say a floor can be sanded, and no price is firm before we have seen the room.
Told straight, including the limits
Vacuum extraction catches most of the sanding dust and not all of it. We tell you that before the job instead of after.
More about who we are and what we will not claim on the About Deco Hardwood Floor page.
Questions about lvp installation in Oxford Circle
Can luxury vinyl plank go over my existing floor?
Often yes, if the existing floor is flat, firmly attached and dry. Luxury vinyl plank installation over sound tile or sheet vinyl is common, though deep grout lines may need filling first so the planks are supported across them. Carpet always comes up. A floor that moves underfoot or holds moisture comes up too, because the new planks would inherit the problem.
What can go wrong with a vinyl plank floor?
Most failures come from the substrate, not from the plank. In a luxury vinyl plank installation over an uneven floor, the click joints flex until they separate. Planks laid tight to the walls can buckle when they warm up. Doubling the underlayment under a plank with pad attached is another common mistake. Deco Hardwood Floor checks flatness with a straightedge before anything goes down.
Is vinyl plank a good floor with pets and children?
Yes, it is one of the easier floors to live on with both. Luxury vinyl plank installation leaves a surface that takes spilled water and wipes clean, and a thicker wear layer in mils stands up longer to claws and grit. It can still scratch under dragged furniture, and a scratch cannot be sanded out. The damaged plank gets replaced.
Is luxury vinyl plank really waterproof?
The plank itself is, through its full thickness. The assembly is not a swimming pool: water that stands long enough will find the seams and reach the subfloor. What it does is survive events that would destroy a wood floor.
Can you tell me what my floor needs over the phone?
We can tell you what is likely, and this page is most of that answer. What we cannot do is quote a floor we have not seen, because remaining thickness and what is under the covering both decide the job and neither is visible in a description.
Do you bring the material?
Yes. We buy direct from the distributor and the material lands in the same number as the labor. Samples and larger offcuts come to the house so you choose in your own light.
My floor squeaks. Will refinishing fix it?
No. Squeaks come from movement between the floor and the subfloor, and sanding the surface does not change what is happening underneath. Those get addressed before the floor is finished, not after.
LVP Installation near Oxford Circle
Send a photo and we will tell you what you are looking at
Luxury Vinyl Plank (LVP) Installation in Oxford Circle starts with someone reading the house. We quote every job ourselves, with no salesperson in between, and a photo of the floor gets you a straight answer faster than a form does.
