Engineered wood flooring or LVT??

[Primrose76]

For porch and living room (connected)
Wet part of the UK
Single, no kids. One cat. Will likely get a dog when cat goes. Unsure if partner or children will come in the future. What would be the better option? I thought LVT but engineered wood does look lovely! Budget allows for either.

Hopeful bump

I always think wood looks warmer in living rooms than so I'd go for that. We put solid wood in our dining room and it's lovely. I really want up replace the living room carpet with it as well but having a job persuading DH!

Engineered wood is lovely but does need a bit of looking after so it doesn't get scratched or stained. We've got in the hallway and living room. In high traffic areas like a porch / hall it's a good idea to have something like a coir mat to avoid wet and muddy shoes on the wood.
From what I understand decent LVT is moisture resistant and easier to clean. We're considering it for when we re-do the kitchen.

Thank you. What would I need to do to look after it/maintain it and how often? Is it a pain? It looks so much nicer than LVT. Is it not fully waterproof?

Finances allowing, I’d always opt for wood over LVT - it just looks nicer.

Wood is much nicer! LVT is basically plastic.

I have engineered wood in the porch, hall, living dinning room and the conservatory. I haven't done any maintenance on it beside normal cleaning in the 10 years we've been living here. It looks fine.

Both are good choices. We have LVT in kitchen and bathroom. It appears to be amazing in terms of how well it keeps. The kitchen floor must be ancient and still looks good.

We have engineered wood flooring in the hall. Looks lovely and survived a massive leak from a fish tank. More easily scratched but can more easily be fixed and I think is seen as more desirable.

I think if it was just your porch I'd go with LVT but as it's your living room too I'd pick engineered wood.

Ooh okay, thats really helpful. The guy in the flooring shop made it sound like a massive faff having to re-oil it and all sorts. Also confused about the difference between brushed/laquered/oiled.

I have kids and cats and similar layout …. I have engineered wood and wish LVT had been around more 15 years ago ….it needs sanding and refinishing which is going to be a faff plus gets water marks on it if you don’t mop it up quick enough

We’ve used both. Although I would say parquet type flooring would always be my first choice above these two, if the budget allows it, because it lasts forever. The easiest flooring to look after, my second choice, would be Amtico.
Whichever of the two options you choose, buy the best you can afford. It does make a difference.
In my personal experience with engineered wood flooring this is what I found:
it looks absolutely beautiful
it dents too easily for my liking
it needs special care: wash with specialist soap and it also needs oiling. Not very often but it is a time consuming job, especially if the area is large.
If it ever needs sanding, be aware there is a limit to how many times this can be done before the top layer wears off.

I would get very high quality laminate that looks like engineered wood, having had all 3.

I have engineered oak, wide planks with a slight distressed look and a matte finish. I absolutely love it! It gets a quick mop weekly with diluted surface cleaner, vacuums up really easily, is warm underfoot. As it’s distressed, any scratches don’t actually show up. I can honestly say it look as good as it did when first fitted 5 years ago.
We have it in the porch with a thin door mat behind the front door.

Thank you. I thought parquet was a pattern not a material?

Are you having underfloor heating? I’d worry lvt would become cold to the touch. We have solid planks (not engineered) and it feels warm and pleasant. When you have a whole room done in lino it generally feels cold and echoes so again I’d look into that.

We have lvt in our downstairs hall and kitchen, it's warmer than the tiles we had previously and is ridiculously easy to maintain. No evidence of damage. We chose it over the engineered wood fearful of it getting damaged and reluctant to keep up higher level of maintenance.

@Primrose76what I meant was a floor made of real wood so parquet style with smaller blocks of wood or wood floor with long planks. As opposed to a layer of real wood which is laminated on top of a different base like plywood. For some reason, the engineered one is not as hard wearing in my experience. It dents easier and I found the maintenance could be a chore. They both look beautiful though. Whichever finish you choose, get the highest spec you can afford.
We also had some really hard wearing laminate flooring over the years which didn’t chip or scratch at all and it was very easy to clean. With this finish I think the colour might make a difference but, again, the top range will always be much better quality than say B&Q own brand. Which is essential for high traffic areas.

We have lvt throughout the house. Its hardwearing, no maintenance and looks amazing. We have it laid in a herringbone design. Its been down for 10 years

My friend has engineered word and is terrified of water spills.