You’ve got oak floors that look tired, and somebody told you vinyl plank over the top is the quick fix. It’s a fair thing to ask about. My answer, most of the time, is don’t. If the oak is solid and there’s still wood left to sand, refinishing costs less, lasts decades longer, and gives you back the floor these older Durham houses were built with.
That’s a funny thing for us to say, since we install LVP too and the vinyl job is usually the bigger invoice. I’d still rather sand your floor than bury it.
Covering it is the right move in a few cases. Most people who ask, though, just hate the color or the wear. Sanding fixes both.
The numbers side by side
Here’s how it pencils out on a typical 1,000 square foot main floor in Durham at our 2026 prices.
| Refinish the oak | LVP over the oak | |
|---|---|---|
| Installed cost | $3 to $5 a sq ft, so about $3,000 to $5,000 | $4 to $8 a sq ft, so about $4,000 to $8,000 |
| How long it lasts | 50+ years if you refinish about once a decade | 10 to 20 years, then it’s in a dumpster |
| Damage | Scratches and dents sand right out | Hard to scratch, but a gouge is forever |
| Water | Wipe up spills. Standing water will ruin it. | The plank is waterproof. The oak under it isn’t. |
| Floor height | Stays where it is | Goes up 5 to 8mm, more with underlayment |
| When it wears out | Sand it again | Rip it out, haul it off, and you’re looking at the same oak |
Look at that last row for a second, because nobody thinks about it while they’re picking out vinyl samples. The oak is still under there when the vinyl wears out. In 10 or 20 years you’re back where you started, same floor, same decision, and you’ve paid for a floor in between.
If you want the details, our refinishing costs in Durham, broken down by house size go through the left column. If there’s no oak to save and you’re buying a new floor from scratch, our full hardwood versus vinyl plank comparison is the one to read.
What covering hardwood involves
Can it be done? Sure. Floating click LVP will go over solid oak as long as the oak is flat, tight and nailed down. Whether your floor qualifies is another story.
The product has to allow it
Before you fall for a particular plank, pull up the manufacturer’s installation guide and read the subfloor section. Some vinyl lines won’t accept hardwood underneath at all. Most want the floor flat within about 3/16 of an inch over 10 feet, and old oak with crowned or cupped boards misses that more often than you’d think. Flattening it first is money nobody put in the budget.
And please don’t let anyone glue vinyl to your hardwood. The oak never comes back from that adhesive.
Loose boards come first
A floating floor copies whatever’s under it. If the oak squeaks or gives when you step on it, the vinyl will click and shift in the same spots, so those boards get nailed down or swapped out before anything goes on top.
Soft spots are a different conversation. Something is causing them, and termite damage or a rotted subfloor doesn’t stop because you can’t see it anymore. Neither does a slow leak.
The floor gets taller
Every millimeter you add sits on top of what’s already there, and the house notices. Doors start dragging. The transition into the tiled bathroom needs a new piece. The oak stairs don’t meet the floor at the right height anymore. My least favorite is the dishwasher: if it went in before the new floor, it can end up trapped under the counter with nowhere to go. We wrote up height changes at stairs and thresholds because these are the costs people find out about halfway through a job.
Check the crawlspace
This is the one that worries me most. Most pre-1970 houses in Durham sit on crawlspaces, and Piedmont clay holds water. A wood floor over a damp crawlspace takes moisture in from below and lets it out into the room. Put vinyl on top and the moisture has nowhere to go, so it stays in the oak. That’s how you get cupping or mold nobody sees until the vinyl comes up.
Get the crawlspace looked at before anything else, and read our notes on vinyl plank over a crawlspace first. Laminate is the same story, by the way, and our checklist for floating laminate over old floors covers it.
Why refinishing usually wins
Price and lifespan settle most of these. The rest comes down to why you wanted to cover the floor in the first place.
If it’s the color you hate, sanding gets you back to bare wood, and from there it’s your call. That orange 1990s oak can go natural or a soft mid-tone. Espresso from a 2010s flip can come back too; you can lighten a dark floor instead of covering it.
Wear is easier. A full sand takes the scratches and dents with it, and three coats of a tough finish in a low sheen keep them from coming back as fast.
A floor that’s only dull might not need a full sand at all. The NWFA’s guide to refreshing wood floors describes a maintenance coat, where the old finish gets cleaned, scuffed lightly and recoated. It’s the cheapest way I know to bring an oak floor back.
Then there’s the house. Walk into a place in Hope Valley or Duke Park or Lakewood and you expect original oak. Refinished, it shows beautifully. Covered in vinyl, it gets a buyer wondering what’s under there and why somebody hid it.
When covering it with LVP makes sense
I’m not against vinyl. It’s a good floor, and sometimes it’s the right one even with oak underneath. These are the times I’ll tell you to go ahead:
- The oak’s been sanded down to nothing. Once the tongues or nail heads show, there’s no floor left to sand, and you’re into when a hardwood floor is too far gone to save.
- The room keeps getting wet. Laundry rooms, the mudroom off the back door, a kitchen that’s had a couple of leaks.
- It’s a rental with pet stains across most of the floor, and fixing it board by board would cost more than covering it.
- There are big dogs with accidents in the house, or someone who needs the most water-resistant floor they can get.
Even then, float it, don’t glue it, and leave the oak for whoever owns the house after you. We do a lot of LVP installation in Durham, and I’m happy to put it where it belongs. That usually isn’t on top of a floor that only needed sanding.
If you just found oak under the carpet
This whole question usually starts with somebody tugging up a corner of carpet in a closet and finding wood. Before you decide anything, figure out what you’ve got. Is it solid or engineered? Does it run through the whole floor or stop at the hallway? What shape is it in? Here’s how to check for hardwood under carpet, along with what we tend to find. Don’t worry about the tack strip holes along the walls, either. Those get filled in a normal refinish.
Frequently asked questions
Can you put LVP over hardwood floors?
Yes, if it’s floating click LVP and the oak underneath is flat and nailed down tight. Check the vinyl’s installation guide first, since some lines don’t allow hardwood underneath. Don’t glue vinyl to hardwood; pulling it up later ruins the oak.
Is it cheaper to refinish hardwood or install LVP over it?
Refinishing, in most cases. Around Durham, refinishing runs about $3 to $5 a square foot and LVP about $4 to $8 installed, and the refinished oak will outlast the vinyl by decades.
Does LVP over hardwood cause moisture problems?
It can if the house sits over a damp crawlspace. Vinyl keeps moisture from escaping, so it stays in the oak and can cause cupping or mold. Get the crawlspace checked before you cover anything.
Can LVP be removed later without damaging the hardwood?
Floating LVP usually comes up clean, though you’ll still want to refinish the oak once it’s exposed. Glued-down vinyl is another story, and the wood rarely survives it.
When does covering hardwood with LVP make sense?
When the oak has been sanded too thin to sand again, in rooms that keep getting wet like laundry rooms and mudrooms, or when the damage is everywhere and the budget isn’t. Float it, don’t glue it.
Refinish or cover: getting a straight answer in Durham
I won’t tell you over the phone whether your oak can be saved, because the phone can’t see it. We’ll come out and look. We work all over Durham, from Hope Valley and Duke Park to Lakewood and Woodcroft, and out in Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Raleigh, Cary and Wake Forest. Read about sanding and refinishing oak floors in Durham first if you like, or just schedule a free estimate and we’ll look at the oak before anybody starts talking about covering it.
Vilchis Hardwood Floors 237 Obie Dr, Durham, NC 27713 (919) 794-1116 · [email protected] Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Written by Mario Vilchis. Vilchis Hardwood Floors is a Durham flooring company that installs both hardwood and LVP, and has been installing and refinishing floors across the Triangle since 2009.
