Best Flooring for a Beach House at the Jax Beaches and Ponte Vedra

For a beach house, start with the floor whose manufacturer's conditions match the way you run the house. Rigid luxury vinyl, engineered hardwood and laminate can all go into a home at Jacksonville Beach or Ponte Vedra Beach, but each of Mohawk's lines for them comes with its own humidity limits, warranty terms and care steps. Four things are worth weighing: coastal humidity, whether the house sits closed up part of the year, grit tracked in from outside, and the difference between water on top of the floor and moisture coming up from below.

Mr. Wright Flooring is a family-owned flooring company that has served Northeast Florida since 2012, and we are an authorized Mohawk retailer. We work at the Beaches and in Ponte Vedra Beach. This post is part of our complete guide to choosing flooring for a Florida home.

Coastal air carries more moisture

In a 2014 explainer, the Florida Climate Center at Florida State University called Florida the most humid state in the U.S. It added that in summer, coastal areas run a little more humid than inland central Florida and the Panhandle, because of the warm water and the afternoon sea breeze.

NOAA's records for its Jacksonville station, covering 1948 to 2018, show average morning relative humidity between 85% and 92% in every month. Afternoons average 48% to 63%. Relative humidity compares the water vapor in the air with the most the air can hold at that temperature, so a 90% morning means the air is close to its limit.

Wood floors respond to that air. The USDA Forest Products Laboratory describes wood as hygroscopic, meaning it takes on moisture from the air around it, and says the swelling and shrinking that follow can lead to gaps in flooring. For more on this, see our post on flooring that holds up to Florida humidity.

Key takeaway: At the beach, Mohawk's TecWood Enhanced instructions call for an air conditioner or dehumidifier to keep humidity in range; check the range your floor's maker sets.

What happens when a beach house sits closed up

If your beach house sits empty for weeks or months, a Florida study shows what can happen to indoor humidity when the air conditioning is set high or turned off.

In a 2005 study of three vacant homes in Brevard County, the Florida Solar Energy Center set targets including indoor relative humidity below 70% essentially all of the time, and below 65% most of the time. The researchers noted that mold and mildew grow when humidity stays above about 70% for long periods. Setting the thermostat at 85°F gave generally poor results, because the air conditioner ran too little to remove enough moisture. Leaving the house with no cooling or heating at all could not reliably keep humidity below 65% most of the time.

The researchers rated three approaches effective: running the air conditioner at 74°F during early-morning hours on a programmable thermostat (the AC approach gave mixed results across the three houses, and the researchers said leaky homes may need longer run times), running a dehumidifier with a floor fan, and heating the house with the central system to 88°F to 90°F. It was a small study and it was not about flooring, so treat it as a starting point for a conversation with your HVAC contractor.

Mohawk's warranties set their own condition, and not every approach in the study fits it: the heating approach held the houses at 88°F to 90°F, above the temperature ranges in Mohawk's RevWood and TecWood Enhanced instructions. Its RevWood and TecWood warranties require an indoor, continuously climate-controlled home, and its SolidTech warranties apply in continuous climate-controlled interior environments. UF/IFAS Extension suggests keeping indoor relative humidity around 55% or lower and checking it with an inexpensive hygrometer or a thermostat with a humidity sensor.

Key takeaway: If the house will sit empty, settle how humidity gets controlled while you are away before you choose the floor, because Mohawk's RevWood, TecWood and SolidTech warranties assume continuous climate control.

Water from above vs. moisture from below

A wet towel or a spilled drink is water from above. Moisture rising through a concrete slab is water from below. Mohawk's warranties treat the two very differently.

Mohawk warrants its SolidTech luxury vinyl as 100% waterproof, but the SolidTech warranty says that coverage refers to topical water. It does not cover moisture coming from below the floor, hydrostatic pressure, or flooding. Mohawk's RevWood laminate and TecWood engineered hardwood are not designed to withstand moisture under the floor, flooding or leaking appliances. On RevWood Essentials and TecWood Essentials, Select and Plus, Mohawk says spills left longer than 30 minutes may damage the floor and void the Wet Resistance warranty.

If the house sits on a concrete slab, Mohawk sets a slab moisture limit for each line, and the limits differ by product. Mohawk's SolidTech instructions call for 8 pounds or less per 1,000 square feet per 24 hours by calcium chloride test (ASTM F1869), or under 90% relative humidity by in-situ probe (ASTM F2170). Mohawk's TecWood Enhanced instructions set 5 pounds or less, or under 80%, unless the installer uses Mohawk's moisture-control adhesive method. For SolidTech, Mohawk places the final call on whether the concrete is dry enough with the flooring installer, so the installer has to confirm it before the floor goes down.

Key takeaway: Mohawk's waterproof warranty on SolidTech covers water on top of the floor, not moisture from the slab, so the slab still has to meet Mohawk's moisture limit.

Keeping tracked-in grit off the floor

Mohawk's care guides talk about dirt, grit and particles that could scratch the floor, and much of their advice is about mats at the door.

For RevWood and TecWood, Mohawk suggests dual-fiber exterior mats, with soft fibers to absorb moisture and coarse fibers to remove dirt from shoes. It recommends two sets, so one is always down while the other is being cleaned. Mohawk also suggests an absorbent interior mat inside each exterior door, cleaned underneath so grit does not get trapped and dull the finish. It says not to use rubber mats, which may stain the floor or trap moisture.

For SolidTech, walk-off mats at all exterior entrances are a condition of Mohawk's warranty, and they should have both soft and firm fibers. Sweep regularly with a soft-bristle broom, as Mohawk's SolidTech care steps call for. On wood, Mohawk says to dust mop, sweep or vacuum regularly, but never with a vacuum that has a beater bar.

Key takeaway: Two sets of outside mats and an inside mat at each door (Mohawk's RevWood and TecWood steps), plus regular sweeping, are Mohawk's own steps against tracked-in grit.

Which floor fits your beach house?

Here is how three floor types we carry compare under Mohawk's terms. These are Mohawk's numbers for Mohawk lines; other brands' terms may differ.

Rigid luxury vinyl plank

Mohawk's SolidTech carries a Waterproof Warranty for topical water, which matters in a house where wet feet and spills are common. Its instructions still call for humidity below 65% for 48 hours before, during and after installation, and its warranties apply only to dry, climate-controlled indoor installs. More on our luxury vinyl plank flooring page.

Engineered hardwood

Mohawk's TecWood Enhanced instructions call for 35% to 55% relative humidity for the life of the floor, kept with an air conditioner or dehumidifier in coastal areas. Mohawk also says seasonal gapping from natural expansion and contraction is not a manufacturing defect. Compare the two in engineered hardwood vs. LVP for a Florida home, or see our engineered hardwood flooring page.

Laminate

Mohawk's RevWood laminate is for climate-controlled indoor installs at 35% to 65% relative humidity, kept for the life of the floor, and not for a room with a floor drain. Spill coverage is not the same across every RevWood line, so ask which warranty applies to the one you like. More on our laminate flooring page, or browse the lines on our Mohawk flooring page.

Talk through your beach house floor

Every project we take on is supervised by an experienced team leader who keeps the install inside the manufacturer's warranty guidelines. You can buy the floor from us and have us install it, have us install flooring you bought elsewhere, or buy it from us and install it yourself or with your own crew. To talk it through, request a free in-home estimate or call (904) 443-9473 to book a time to browse the selections at our showroom, which is open by appointment.