Luxury Vinyl Plank in Grandview Heights, OH

Luxury vinyl plank is a layered product, and the layer people ask about is rarely the one that decides how it performs. The wear layer on top governs how it holds up to grit and claws. The core in the middle — rigid SPC, softer WPC, or a flexible glue-down — governs how it feels underfoot, how much subfloor imperfection it hides, and how it behaves when the room's temperature swings.

Waterproof, as manufacturers use it, describes the plank. A waterproof plank will sit in a puddle and be fine. What happens at the seams, at the perimeter and underneath is a question about the installation, not the product, and it is the one worth asking.

Below grade is where LVP genuinely has no equal. Concrete gives off moisture for years and moves with the seasons, and solid wood over a slab is a slow-motion argument you lose. A rigid-core plank with the right underlayment handles it.

It still needs the same discipline: we check the slab for moisture, flatness and cracks before anything goes down. A slab that reads high on moisture is not a reason to abandon the plan, but it is a reason to change the underlayment, and that is a decision better made before the boxes are open.