We purchased a new to us home. The downstairs living areas / kitchen all have wood look porcelain tile. I love the look of it and that it will essentially last forever.

The bedrooms all have carpet, which will be ripped out. The master downstairs will have matching tile installed.

But for the upstairs, should I go tile or LVP?

Tile - Will require cement backer board be laid everywhere before the tile. This will add significant material and labor costs.

LVP - Get to skip the extra materials and labor. But then it doesn't perfectly match the rest of the house.

On a second floor, is there any noise difference between tile or LVP? My installer thought the difference would be so negligible as to be nearly the same.

What are your pros and cons on tile vs. LVP for a 2nd floor?

Edited to add - We had real wood in our last house. Loved it. But man did it show wear. I like that tile will not really ever wear out. The coldness of tile is also not a bad thing living in FL. We have actually found it quite nice so far and it's only April. It'll be really nice in July.

As for walking on tile all the time, not a biggie. Old house was all real wood and tile in the wet areas, wife and I both have house Oofos we wear around the house all the time.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: holdem,

As nice as LVP is, I still wouldn't want it in my bedroom. Of course, I wouldn't want ceramic or porcelain tile either.

Pro of LVP is cost and don't have to worry about the deflection of the wood subfloor.

But I'd choose wood or carpet over either.

LVP is less expensive, and easier to install/more forgiving of substructure irregularities, but that's about the only positives.

Tile is more expensive and harder to install, but can also be used in wet areas like bathrooms, and is easier to clean and tougher/more scratch-resistant than LVP. Plus, it looks better, IMO.


When I was house hunting a couple years ago I wanted one with the wood-look tile. But I found a house that checked all my other boxes, despite having LVP. Once the LVP needs replacement in a decade or so, it's going to be replaced with wood-look tile.

Properly installed tile will last as long as the house.

I have seen tiles last over 100 years.

LVP will be looking shabby in not that many years.

Tried it once in a kitchen, but the kitchen flooded twice due to backups of the plumbing.

The flooring warped.

I have seen dogs scratch other people's VLP.

I would not use it again.

Tile lasts a long time, however it's also heavy, and requires a good solid flooring base, LVP isn't going to add the weight to the flooring or require lots of additional work to make sure the floor can hold the weight. Also tile is harder on your feet, it will be colder in the winter, might help hold down temps a bit.

A good LVP will last quite a while, and give a great look. Also since you are in the land of rain, humidity and sand, it will hold up well.

We ended up going with a wood product over tile and LVP, don't want to walk on tile all the time, carpet is out, didn't care for the LVP as much.

Engineered wood is a good option, if you like the wood look, get wood a good quality product will last, and since it's upstairs, its not going to get the heavy traffic.

I was faced with a similar dilemma, but mine was real oak in the downstairs except the Master, and carpet upstairs and in the downstairs Master.

We ended up replacing the Master with real matching wood, then refinished the rest of the downstairs real wood. Refinishing was a damned mess, with the so called dustless sanding system failing to perform advertised.

Sorry for that drift above.

We finally decided on pre-finished real wood with a lifetime finish guarantee. It perfectly matched the downstairs other than the micro-beveled edge. It was cheaper than tile, and quieter, and not as cold on the bare feet, plus that nasty carpet was gone. We love our choice.

Perhaps there is a real wood pre-finish that matches the downstairs at least in color??