By Sean Henry
Owner, Floor Concepts
If you're trying to decide between luxury vinyl plank (LVP) and hardwood flooring, you're not alone. It's one of the most common questions we hear from homeowners.
Both types of flooring are beautiful, durable, and built to last. The best choice isn’t about which is better; it’s about which one matches your lifestyle.
With over 40 years of experience helping Wilmington-area homeowners with flooring, we know there’s no single answer for everyone. Let’s look at both options so you can choose what’s best for your home.
Quick answer: For most busy Wilmington-area households, we recommend high-quality LVP because it offers excellent moisture resistance, easy maintenance, and strong everyday durability. Hardwood is still an excellent choice if you value the authentic look of real wood and want a floor you can refinish for decades.
| Feature | Luxury Vinyl Plank | Hardwood |
|---|---|---|
| Appearance | Looks like wood, tile or stone | It is real, natural wood |
| Moisture Resistance | Excellent | Good with care |
| Scratch Resistance | Excellent | Moderate |
| Can Be Refinished | No | Yes |
| Maintenance | Easy | Moderate |
| Typical Cost | $5-$12 sf (material only) | $12-$25 sf (material only) |
| Eco-Friendly | Made primarily from PVC and petroleum materials. Look for certifications like FloorScore® | Made from renewable natural material and biodegrades over time. |
| Best For | Busy households | Long-term investment |
Prefer to watch instead of read? Watch our quick video breakdown below comparing LVP and Hardwood for Delaware homes!
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The biggest difference is simple.
Luxury vinyl plank is a man-made flooring designed to look like real wood. Hardwood flooring is real wood. Solid hardwood is made from a single piece of wood, while engineered hardwood has a real wood surface over a layered core. This main difference affects things like appearance, maintenance, moisture resistance, lifespan, and repairs.
Another difference some homeowners consider is sustainability.
Hardwood is made from a naturally renewable resource, and when it's responsibly harvested, it can be a very environmentally friendly flooring choice. Wood also stores carbon throughout its life and is biodegradable at the end of its lifespan.
Luxury vinyl plank is mostly made from PVC and other petroleum-based materials, so it’s not a renewable flooring option. Still, not all LVP is the same. Many top brands have improved indoor air quality and product standards. If you care about sustainability or air quality, look for products with independent certifications like FloorScore®, which checks for low VOC emissions.
As with many flooring choices, it depends on your priorities. If reducing environmental impact is important to you, hardwood is the better option.
If your dream has always been real hardwood floors, nothing truly replaces them. Each hardwood plank is unique, with natural grain patterns, knots, and color changes that give the floor character. If you'd like to explore the different styles and options available, take a look at our hardwood flooring options.
That said, luxury vinyl plank has come a long way. Many premium luxury vinyl products now have textured surfaces, wider planks, matte finishes, and embossed grain patterns that look a lot like real hardwood. Unless you look closely, it’s often hard to tell the difference.
If having real wood matters most to you, hardwood is the way to go. If you like the look of wood but want something easier to maintain, premium LVP is a great choice. You can learn more about the benefits, styles, and options available in luxury vinyl plank flooring before deciding if it's right for your home.
Think about how your floors will be used every day. Children, pets, heavy furniture, and busy households all leave their mark.
The wear layer on LVP resists scratches and scuffs better than hardwood, so it’s a practical choice for busy families.
Hardwood offers a different kind of durability. It can scratch and dent, but many hardwood floors can be sanded and refinished several times, so they can last for generations.
So, LVP stands up better to daily wear, while hardwood can last longer over time.
This is one area where luxury vinyl plank has a clear advantage, especially here in the Mid-Atlantic.
Many LVP products have waterproof cores, which makes them popular for kitchens, entryways, laundry rooms, and other places where spills happen often. But beyond daily spills, our local climate brings challenges that many homeowners may not expect.
Here in Delaware and the surrounding Mid-Atlantic region, we experience high humidity, seasonal temperature swings, and the occasional coastal storm. Add in our many waterways, low-lying areas, and the potential for flooding, and moisture becomes a year-round concern.
Since hardwood is a natural material, it expands and contracts as humidity changes. If your home’s humidity gets too high or too low, hardwood floors can cup, separate, or warp over time. That’s why we usually don’t recommend solid hardwood planks wider than 4 inches in our area. Wider boards tend to move more as moisture levels change.
To help protect hardwood floors, we recommend keeping your home's relative humidity between 30% and 50% year-round. A whole-house humidifier or dehumidifier can go a long way toward maintaining those conditions and extending the life of your floor.
Luxury vinyl plank is much less affected by changes in humidity and temperature, which gives many homeowners peace of mind. Still, “waterproof” doesn’t mean you can ignore water completely. Standing water that gets between the planks can damage the subfloor or underlayment, and if not cleaned up, it can cause mold, mildew, or even floor failure.
In our experience, if moisture is a concern, high-quality LVP is often the safer option. If you really want hardwood, you can enjoy it for decades, but you’ll need to pay more attention to your home’s humidity and moisture.
Both types of flooring are fairly easy to care for, but LVP is easier to maintain day to day.
Both floors should be swept or vacuumed regularly. LVP can usually be damp mopped with a manufacturer-approved cleaner, while hardwood requires less water and cleaners specifically designed for wood floors.
The main difference shows up years later. As hardwood ages, many floors can be sanded and refinished by professionals, giving them a fresh look without replacing the whole floor. LVP doesn’t offer this option. If a plank is badly damaged, it usually needs to be replaced.
In our experience, homeowners who want the easiest maintenance often choose LVP. Those who value the lasting beauty of real wood are usually willing to spend a bit more time on care.
No matter which flooring you choose, the quality of the installation is just as important as the quality of the product.
A beautiful floor installed over an uneven or damaged subfloor can develop problems long before it should.
Both LVP and hardwood need a properly prepared subfloor, but the ways they’re installed are different. Luxury vinyl is often installed as a floating floor, though some types are glued down. Hardwood can be nailed, stapled, glued, or floated, depending on the flooring and subfloor.
One advantage of LVP is that individual planks can often be replaced if they're damaged and you have extra material available.
Hardwood repairs depend on the type and extent of the damage. However, when a hardwood floor is suitable for refinishing, the entire surface can often be restored instead of replaced.
The takeaway?
Don’t just focus on the flooring. Be sure to work with experienced installers who know how to prepare the subfloor and install the product the right way. If you're comparing flooring options, it's worth understanding what goes into professional flooring installation and why proper preparation matters.
In most cases, luxury vinyl plank has a lower upfront cost than hardwood flooring.
But the cost of the flooring is just one part of the total investment.
Your total project cost may also include installation, removal of existing flooring, subfloor preparation, trim, transitions, underlayment, adhesives, and moving furniture.
We’ve also seen that picking flooring just because it’s the cheapest can end up costing homeowners more over time.
The best value isn’t always the cheapest floor. It’s the one that works well in your home, fits your lifestyle, and keeps you happy for years.
Want to get a better idea of what your flooring project might cost? Try our Pricing Calculator to get started.
Luxury Vinyl Plank is a great choice if you...
Hardwood is a great choice if you...
People often ask us which flooring we would choose for our own homes.
Our answer usually surprises them: there isn't one flooring product that's right for everyone.
After more than 40 years of helping Wilmington-area homeowners with flooring, we've learned that the best recommendation starts with how you live—not with a particular product.
For many Wilmington-area families, we recommend high-quality luxury vinyl plank. It offers a combination of realistic wood looks, easy maintenance, and excellent moisture resistance that works well for busy households, pets, and everyday life.
But hardwood can be the better choice when the look and feel of real wood are your top priorities. If you love the natural character of hardwood and are willing to give it the care it needs, it's a flooring choice that can serve your home for decades.
The right floor isn't necessarily the one that's best on paper. It's the one that makes sense for your home, your lifestyle, and how long you plan to stay.
That's why we start by asking questions about your home and how you live. Once we understand what's important to you, we can help you compare your options and make a recommendation based on your needs—not simply sell you a product.
LVP and hardwood can both be excellent choices. The question is which one makes the most sense for your home.
If you're still deciding, you don't have to figure it out on your own. The right flooring depends on details that are specific to your home, including moisture, traffic, pets, maintenance, budget, and how you want your floors to look and feel for years to come.
At Floor Concepts, we'll help you compare your options, explain the pros and cons, and recommend flooring that fits the way you live.
Ready to find the right floor for your home? Visit our showroom or fill out the form below to get started.
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