Should I choose LVP or hardwood flooring for a renovation in New Brunswick?

For most rooms in an NB renovation, luxury vinyl plank (LVP) is the more practical, climate-appropriate choice — but hardwood remains the premium option for main living areas where the authentic material matters to you. This is genuinely a question where both answers are defensible, and the right choice depends on the room, your budget, and how long you plan to stay in the home.

Let's start with NB's climate reality. New Brunswick's humidity swings 30-50% annually — from 20-30% in winter heating season to 60-70% in Maritime summer. This movement is hardwood flooring's enemy. Solid hardwood expands in summer humidity and contracts in winter dryness, creating seasonal gaps between boards in winter and potential cupping in humid summers. Wide-plank solid hardwood (5"+) amplifies this movement and performs poorly in NB homes without active year-round humidity management through an HRV system. LVP is dimensionally stable across the entire NB humidity range — it does not gap, cup, or warp from seasonal humidity changes. This single factor makes LVP the lower-risk, lower-maintenance choice for NB conditions.

Where LVP clearly wins: Below-grade spaces (basement recreation rooms, finished basement bedrooms), bathrooms and laundry rooms (LVP is fully waterproof, hardwood is not), rental units and investment properties where durability and easy replacement matter, and any NB home without whole-home humidity control. LVP also wins on price — quality LVP runs $3-$7 per sq ft installed, compared to hardwood's $8-$16 per sq ft installed. For a 1,000 sq ft open-concept main floor, LVP might cost $4,000-$6,000 versus hardwood's $10,000-$15,000 — a difference that funds other renovation priorities.

Where hardwood wins: Main living areas (living room, dining room) in homes where you value authenticity and plan to stay long term. Real hardwood can be refinished 2-4 times over its life — a 50-year-old oak floor in a Fredericton or Saint John Victorian home can be sanded back to beauty, while LVP needs full replacement when its surface wears (typically 15-25 years for quality products). Hardwood adds demonstrably more resale value than LVP in the $400,000+ NB home market, particularly for older character homes where buyers expect authentic materials. Engineered hardwood — a real wood veneer over a dimensionally stable plywood core — offers most of hardwood's aesthetic advantage with significantly better humidity performance than solid hardwood, making it an excellent compromise for NB conditions.

Quality matters enormously within each category. The best LVP products for NB use at least a 12-mil wear layer (20-mil for commercial or high-traffic residential), a rigid core (SPC — stone plastic composite — rather than WPC for NB's temperature swings), and a minimum 6mm total thickness. Thin, budget LVP at $1.50-$2.00/sq ft will telegraph every subfloor imperfection and dent under furniture feet — the savings evaporate quickly. On the hardwood side, narrower boards (2 1/4" to 3 1/4") handle NB humidity better than wide planks, and quartersawn or rift-sawn oak is more stable than flat-sawn.

A practical NB approach many renovators use: LVP throughout bedrooms, hallways, kitchen, bathrooms, and basement — and engineered hardwood in the main living and dining areas where the material quality is most noticed. This hybrid approach captures the moisture resilience of LVP where it's needed most while preserving authentic wood character in the rooms where guests spend time. Budget the difference accordingly and discuss subfloor transitions with your contractor early — height matching between products at doorways requires planning.

For detailed NB flooring guidance across all product types, New Brunswick Flooring at newbrunswickflooring.com covers hardwood, engineered hardwood, LVP, and tile options in depth.

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Looking for experienced contractors? The New Brunswick Construction Network connects homeowners with qualified professionals:

• Gionetterenovations
• Thirty Four Renovations