CoreLuxe Vinyl Flooring Review (LL Flooring)

In this review of CoreLuxe rigid vinyl flooring from LL Flooring (previously Lumber Liquidators) we will take a look at the collections available, plank width, thickness and wear layers, as well as installation and pricing.

ABOUT CORELUXE FLOORING

Who makes CoreLuxe? The flooring is manufactured by LL Flooring, formerly Lumber Liquidators. It is sold exclusively in LL Flooring stores across the U.S. and Canada.

As the manufacturer and seller, LL Flooring maximizes profit while seeking to offer good flooring at a competitive cost. Our professional opinion on whether the company has succeeded is part of this CoreLuxe flooring review.

*SPC Stone polymer composite flooring is also called stone plastic composite flooring and solid polymer composite flooring.

*You will see other reviews on this flooring calling it Core Luxe flooring. But the name is one word – CoreLuxe. The longer name CoreLuxe RVP flooring is used as well – RVP = Rigid Vinyl Planks.

Three CoreLuxe lines are available totaling 72 to 85 products depending on your local store’s inventory.

The basic CoreLuxe collection is the most affordable flooring choice ranging from cheap to mid-priced, or $1.39 to $3.49. The cheapest of your options are suitable for low-traffic areas and times when you want to replace flooring prior to selling a home. The flooring priced $1.99 and up is suitable for any residential or light commercial application.

Midgrade CoreLuxe XD and premium CoreLuxe Ultra offer more choice, better durability and a longer warranty. Prices are higher with thicker cores and wear layers. The total cost range is $2.39 to $4.79.

Cost generally goes up across the lines, though there is quite a bit of overlap in price based on flooring thickness, plank width and the thickness of the wear layer.

All CoreLuxe flooring is waterproof. This means that it can be installed in any room or level of your home including bathrooms and the basement.

The construction of the flooring, from the bottom up, is:

Attached Pad (Optional) – Pad is included on all but 6 of the flooring choices (1 CoreLuxe, 3 XD and 2 Ultra). The pad underlayment is IXPE foam, a high-density, cross-linked polyethylene foam popular in the flooring industry. The pad provides a small amount of cushion, some sound dampening and more stability to the flooring.

Flooring without pad is chosen when the flooring will be glued down. Otherwise, our Home Flooring Pros installation professionals recommend laying a good-quality foam pad over the subfloor before installing this or any SPC flooring without attached pad.

Rigid Core – The core gives the flooring a firm, and quite hard, feel. It is harder under foot than most WPC and other luxury vinyl floors that we’ve tested. The rigid core is crushed stone blended with polymers that make it very resistant to denting. SPC contains no wood fibers, like WPC and some EVP options do (see also Optimax flooring). This makes it impervious to rot and swelling from water absorption. If you want a softer, less noisy floor, consider wood polymer composite WPC. For durability, toughness and a better waterproof guarantee, consider SPC.

Printed Vinyl Layer – This is the flooring layer that gives the floor its appearance. It is a layer of vinyl that is textured and color printed to give the visual impression of genuine wood flooring (or sometimes stone). As CoreLuxe says of its wood-look options, “Here is where the unique grains, textures, and shades come alive in print.” Less than 10 stone-look choices are made. Glossy and matte finishes are available.

Wear Layer – This is the layer that determines how long SPC flooring lasts before looking worn out. The wear layer is a tough, clear coating of film that resists scratches. Our professionals noted that although the quality of the CoreLuxe wear layer is good the thickness varied greatly. CoreLuxe products have wear layers at 6mm, 9mm, 12mm, 20mm and 28mm. The thicker the wear layer the more durable it is, so we recommend 12mm and above for anything other than light foot traffic.

Edges have a click-lock design for easy installation including DIY installation with basic skills. Gluing down the floor is an option for a few of the lines. Ask specifically for glue-down flooring if that is your intent. Glue-down installation is usually only considered in a high-traffic commercial setting.

That covers construction, now let’s take a look at what that all means in terms of quality across the different CoreLuxe lines and collections.

CORELUXE FLOORING

Taken together, there is a lot of overlap in the three series, CoreLuxe, CoreLuxe XD and CoreLuxe Ultra, in terms of price, material thickness, wear layer thickness and plank widths and lengths. With that in mind, we’ll share the distinguishing points of each line where possible.

Standard CoreLuxe flooring is offered in 24-30 colors in a wide range of price, flooring thickness and quality of the features.

Cost starts at $1.39 per square foot and tops out at $3.29 per square foot for this series. Most of the selection is priced at $1.79 to $2.79 per square foot.

The SPC cores of standard CoreLuxe flooring are thinner than those in the other series. Floor thickness options are 3.2mm (very few), 4mm or 5mm (most) and 6.5mm (also very few).

Wear layer is the major factor in how long the floor will last before looking worn. Most of the CoreLuxe choices are covered with a 12 mils or 20 mils wear layer. The least expensive options have a 6 mils wear layer. 1 mil is 1/1000 inch.

General Appearance: All but a few CoreLuxe flooring options have the appearance of wood. While most of them aren’t designed to replicate a given species, some are textured to simulate white oak and red oak, ash, walnut and pine.

Depending on what your local store carries, you’ll find 1-3 stone-look 12”x24” options in the standard CoreLuxe series. Stone species mimicked include quartz, granite and travertine.

Widths most commonly used in the basic series are 5.75” and 7”.

Plank lengths are 48” for most of the selection, though 60” planks are produced in a few colors.

Attached Pad is standard on most options.

Conclusion: This is the cheapest CoreLuxe collection and we found quite a difference in quality across the line. Caution is advised when shopping this line, the cheaper the product the less durable it is likely to be. This need not be a problem as long as match the flooring to the location in your home.

CORELUXE XD FLOORING

This is the largest series with 40-50 choices at most LL Flooring stores.

The general appearance, not surprisingly, is wood in colors from light maple and white oak to dark walnut and rusty red oak. There are a few stone-look options simulating quartz and travertine.

Most widths are 7” or 8”. A few are a few 5” planks, but there are no other width choices.

Lengths are 48” or 60” except for the chevron styles and the wood-look tiles which are 24” long.

Thicknesses are mostly 6mm and 7mm with a few at 5mm and several at 8mm.

Wear layers are mostly 20 mils with a good number having 28 mils wear layers.

Conclusion: This is our preferred collection and offers best value for money in our opinion.

CORELUXE ULTRA

The top of the line is Ultra. The series is characterized by thicker cores, wider and longer planks and premium wear layers. Depending on where you shop, 10-15 of your options will fall in the Ultra Series.

Like the other series, most CoreLuxe Ultra flooring replicates genuine hardwood flooring. You’ll find options with the look of white oak, acacia, pine, birch and walnut.

The Ultra Series is characterized by cores of 7mm or 8mm, the thickest options in the CoreLuxe line.

Plank widths are among the widest too with most being 7” with several styles over 8” wide.

Plank lengths are 48” or 60”, and longer, wider planks make installation go faster.

Wear layers are thick. All Ultra Series CoreLuxe flooring has a 20 or 28 mils wear layer for maximum wear and longevity.

Conclusion: We rate their top of the line collection but at $4 plus per square foot we would recommend comparing CoreLuxe Ultra with other top of the line LVP brands like Mannington, Mohawk and Pergo.

IS CORELUXE FLOORING ANY GOOD?

The quality of the material is quite good. But the edges are fragile. Most pros and DIY homeowners break a few edges learning to find the sweet spot between applying the right amount of pressure to join the planks and overdoing it and causing damage.

You’ll get the best results by paying strict attention to the Installation Instructions and anticipating breaking a few plank edges as you learn the installation ropes. Also, ensuring that the subfloor is level and in near-perfect condition will help prevent plank breakage and separation after the floor is installed.

CORELUXE, XD AND ULTRA WARRANTIES

Warranties are 30 years, 50 years and Lifetime.

While the length sounds good, the CoreLuxe warranty is designed to protect LL Flooring and not the consumer.

How is this for consumer friendliness? LL Flooring settles any warranty claim it honors by giving the consumer Store Credit to buy other LL Flooring products. No cash is offered. No installation labor is covered. If your LL Flooring fails, your only recourse on a settled claim is to buy more LL Flooring!

30 year warranty: The most affordable CoreLuxe flooring is 3.2mm and 4mm with a 6 mils wear layer. It is backed by a 30-year manufacturer’s warranty.

50 year warranty: A few options 2-4mm thick with a 12 mils wear layer has a 50-year warranty.

Lifetime: All other CoreLuxe, CoreLuxe XD and CoreLuxe Ultra come with a lifetime warranty.

The warranty covers manufacturer’s defects such as the layers of the flooring separating. It covers the wear layer wearing through, though the Warranty Exclusions make it unlikely that LL Flooring will honor a claim for this purpose.

The warranty applies to the purchaser of the flooring. It is not transferable to a new owner if you sell your home. And LL Flooring reserves the sole right to determine if the warranty exclusions have been violated, leaving the consumer with no warranty protection.

We heartily advise Home Flooring Pro readers to read the warranty – something we encourage regardless of the brand of flooring you are researching. Consider especially the long list of exclusions in Section 4, What Does This Limited Warranty Not Cover?

This is one of the most manufacturer-friendly, least consumer-friendly warranties in the flooring industry. LL Flooring has lost a series of lawsuits in the last decade, costing the company tens of $millions. And this warranty is designed to prevent future losses.

The Commercial Warranty ranges from No Commercial Warranty to 15 Years.

INSTALLATION

This flooring is manufactured like most rigid vinyl planks with a click-lock edge. Installation is quite easy and DIY-friendly.

Installation tips are:

Bring the flooring into your home 48 to 72 hours prior to installation to acclimate it to the indoor temperature and humidity.

Read the Installation Guide, and follow it carefully.

Use the tools and equipment recommended by LL Flooring for installation.

HOW MUCH DOES CORELUXE FLOORING COST?

The cost range is $1.39 to $4.79 per square foot.

CoreLuxe standard flooring cost is $1.39 to $3.49 per square foot. Most of this basic CoreLuxe flooring is $1.69 to $2.49.

CoreLuxe XD flooring starts at $2.39 and tops out at $4.79. Most are $2.99 to $4.29.

CoreLuxe Ultra flooring ranges from $3.59 to $4.79 per square foot. Average cost is $4.49.

PRICE COMPARISON TABLE

Here you can see how well CoreLuxe competes on cost compared to other leading, popular vinyl flooring brands. Thanks to its three different levels of quality (Good/Better/Best) it compare well across the board.

WHERE TO BUY

All CoreLuxe lines are sold exclusively at LL Flooring stores. We noticed that Wayfair ranks high in Google searches for CoreLux, but when you click the link, Wayfair is selling other brands.

While the exact number of stores changes consistently, there are currently 430 to 450 retail stores. Most are in the United States, though the number of stores in Canada is growing.

MOST HELPFUL CUSTOMER REVIEWS

Despite the heavy-handed warranty coverage that favors LL Flooring, CoreLuxe gets mostly good ratings from home and property owners that have installed it. The issues most cited in negative reviews are that the floor scratches easily and permanently, edge breakage during installation and plank separation after installation.

These negative experiences back up our recommendation to avoid the cheaper products, especially those with wear layers under 12mm.

Here’s a representative sampling of verified consumer reviews.

“We have installed other vinyl and laminate floors. This is our favorite by far. Installed easily. Easy to cut. The finished floor looks great. It fit in well with the wood trim and doors in our 100 year old house.”

“Moving the furniture on XD flooring caused minor scratches that are difficult to remove.”

“Pleasantly surprised. This floor looks and feels like hardwood. And it’s absolutely beautiful.”

“I was disappointed by the number of damaged boards in the boxes – inspect all the planks before installation. If you install a damaged board, it is not covered by the warranty.”

“I asked the store to sell us everything we needed for installing on concrete. They did not sell us underlayment, and the flooring does not have attached pad. The floor is hollow sounding and noisy.” [Editor’s note: If the flooring you buy does not have attached pad, you must install underlayment. In fact, on concrete, our pro installers use foam underlayment beneath all flooring even if it has attached pad.]

“The pattern of the flooring is beautiful but the flooring itself is not scratch proof.”

“The salesman said this was an easy DIY flooring. But the edges break very easily. And tiny debris prevents them from locking. They are prone to pop apart after installation. Your subfloor must be in perfect condition and perfectly level for this flooring to work – and even then it sometimes comes apart.”

About the Author:

Greca Fotopoulos

Greca is the lead style writer at Home Flooring Pros (more), with a BA in Technical Art, she’s focused on flooring trends, flooring ideas, and flooring brand reviews.

“There’s nothing more satisfying than creating a home that you love. The hardest thing about this job is trying not to covet all the great floors I get to review; if I could remodel my home every month, I would!”