Floor Installation
Luxury Vinyl Plank (LVP) Installation in Sharswood, Philadelphia
Waterproof, quiet, and it does not care about a wet basement. Where it is the right call and where it is not. In Sharswood, Philadelphia the median home dates to 1974 and 31.4% of the housing predates 1940, which changes what Deco Hardwood Floor expects to find before the work starts.
Vinyl plank over whatever the room has now
In Sharswood each room can have a different floor under it, and the preparation for vinyl plank changes with every one.
Over a sound wood subfloor the job is fastening, flattening and laying. Over old sheet flooring it is deciding whether the existing layer stays as the base. Over a basement slab it is a moisture question first, since vinyl is waterproof and the floor under it is not.
That is why we look under the room before quoting. The plank itself is the predictable part. What it sits on is what decides how long the joints stay tight.
Before you get a quote
Vinyl plank is waterproof from above. Water that gets underneath it, from a slab or a leak, stays there, so a damp basement gets dealt with before the floor goes down.
How the housing in Sharswood compares
Of the 1,565 housing units in Sharswood, roughly 490 were built before 1940 and approximately 820 before 1978.
That makes the housing here newer than the 132 Philadelphia neighborhoods in our data taken together, where approximately 82.8% of 733,961 units predate 1978, and below the 60.5% figure for our whole service area. By the share built before 1940, Sharswood ranks 90th 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Sharswood | 1974 | 31.4% |
| Francisville | 1937 | 52.9% |
| North Central | 1976 | 21.0% |
| Spring Garden | 1962 | 38.8% |
| Fairmount | 1928 | 69.5% |
| Brewerytown | 1943 | 46.6% |
| West Poplar | 1989 | 21.2% |
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
Prewar and postwar housing sit side by side, so the right answer changes house to house and sometimes street to street.
Places with this mix were built across a long stretch, and the floors follow. One block holds original strip oak over joists with a thin wear layer left, and the next holds postwar red oak over a plywood subfloor with most of its thickness intact.
That is why we do not quote this kind of address over the phone. The same service can be a straightforward refinish on one side of a street and a restoration decision on the other, and the only way to know is to look at the edge of a board.
Worth knowing here
Additions are the common surprise. A kitchen bumped out in the 1970s often carries a different floor from the rest of the house, and matching the two is its own conversation.
Whether the federal lead rule applies depends on the house
Approximately 52.7% of the homes here predate 1978, so it comes down to the specific address.
This is a place where the housing stock straddles the 1978 line the EPA rule draws. Roughly half the addresses are covered and roughly half are not, which means the answer is per house rather than per town.
Where it does apply, the rule governs how the sander is set up: containment and a HEPA vacuum collecting dust where it is generated. We check the age of the house before deciding how the work is staged.
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 Sharswood
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 Sharswood 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 Sharswood
Luxury vinyl plank or laminate: which should I choose?
It depends on water. Vinyl plank is waterproof through the board, and laminate has a wood based core that swells if water sits on a seam. For a basement, a laundry room or a bathroom, luxury vinyl plank installation is the safer answer. In a dry bedroom or hallway either one works, and laminate is the less expensive of the two.
How long does luxury vinyl plank installation take?
It depends mostly on the substrate, not on the planks. Clicking the floor together is the quick part of a luxury vinyl plank installation. Removing what is there, grinding the high spots and filling the low ones is the part that varies from one room to the next. We give a schedule after seeing the floor, because the flattening cannot be judged from a photo.
Is luxury vinyl plank worth it compared with hardwood?
It is worth it in the rooms where wood fails, and not as a substitute for wood elsewhere. Luxury vinyl plank installation suits basements, laundry rooms and mudrooms because the plank survives water. In a living room over a dry wood subfloor, hardwood can be sanded and kept for decades, while vinyl is replaced when its wear layer goes. Deco Hardwood Floor installs both and says which room is which.
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.
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.
LVP Installation near Sharswood
Send a photo and we will tell you what you are looking at
Luxury Vinyl Plank (LVP) Installation in Sharswood 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.
