Renovating or building a property can be an exciting time. One of the best changes, especially for older homes, is putting in new flooring. A lot of our customers ask if rigid vinyl flooring and laminate flooring were in a fight, who would win? The fight between vinyl plank flooring vs laminate flooring is a technical one. They can both can look fantastic in your home. This can significantly change the appearance of your home and make a room truly become a vibrant and comforting space. It isn’t always as expensive as you believe! Especially when you shop at ReallyCheapFloors.com of course!
Choosing the right flooring for your home is incredibly important and can be a difficult decision. A couple of the best options you can choose from are rigid vinyl plank or laminate flooring. While many people might confuse these, they are both different and not created equally. So let’s get into what rigid vinyl flooring and laminate flooring are and why they are different.
What is Luxury Vinyl Plank?
As the fastest-growing flooring type, rigid luxury vinyl plank is one of the hottest items in construction today. These are interlocking, plank-shaped flooring boards that mimic the look of hardwood flooring without being hardwood flooring. Most LVP is manufactured in China, and vinyl can be incredibly cheap to produce.
For the record, all of the vinyl flooring sold at ReallyCheapFloors.com is proudly made in the USA.
Luxury vinyl plank will change with the trends of the flooring industry. In the past, vinyl flooring was made with only plastic vinyl resulting in a floppy material and slippery floor. There have also been layered floor planks with foam cores. There have even been LVP products made with a stone-composition core.
Despite the fact that most people buy their planks from China, there is a cheaper way to make it in the United States. Some warehouses are as big as 50 football fields and factories can now make more than 250,000 square feet of vinyl plank every day. It might take time to build, but it runs smoothly and it is made within our country.
Main Features of an LVP Floor
Rigid vinyl flooring is not wood, but it is incredibly realistic. Despite looking like hardwood flooring, it does many things better than hardwood.
- Not affected by heat
- Not affected by humidity
- Alternative to use in bathrooms
- Moisture-resistant and waterproof
- Ultra-durable
LVP vs. Hardwood
Many people might confuse these both because of their similar appearance, but they are very different. Vinyl flooring is preferred because it can be cheaper. It is also more durable and waterproof, unlike that of the beautiful hardwood floors people have.
Engineered hardwood flooring has a lot of value if you are able to find true quality. However, you have to make sure that you have proper hardwood with veneers and the potential to refinish your flooring in the future. Hardwood lasts a long time, just like LVP. However, it will also be much more costly to fix if you want to repair it due to issues with water or cosmetic or structural damage.
With all these features, many people love the vinyl flooring so much that they put this throughout their entire house. For the adventurous DIY individual, here are some steps to install these on your own and how these differ from other flooring installations.
Installing LVP Products
When you choose to install rigid vinyl flooring in your home, there are two ways that you can do this. First, you can choose a glue-down approach or you can have click installation. Both work just as effectively and it depends on your preference, although the click vinyl flooring is better suited to a diy installation, and requires little-to-no floor prep. In addition, using dry back vinyl flooring will require the use of adhesives, which can be messy and expensive. Click vinyl is a better option.
Glue-down vinyl or peel and stick vinyl flooring are generally used for family homes and also commercial. The smaller properties and the small retail shops are more likely to choose click installation more often than the glue-down vinyl flooring approach.
The differences in these installation methods are mainly due to prices. People often want to opt for click installation because they can be easier to install, but might cost more. The glue-down is the most cost effective but has fewer upgrades available for those who choose this flooring option.
The Structure of LVP Flooring
Rigid vinyl flooring is multi-layered for the purpose of being more durable than other flooring options. LVPs were originally created as a thick and solid vinyl product. From the start, they were always created with a strong core to accommodate any flooring installation in any building.
Wood Composite Core Vinyl Flooring
This type of core is one of the more notable ones because it feels soft underfoot similar to laminate flooring. WPC cores contain wood-like materials and a foaming agent to soften the floor. WPC vinyl cores are commonly known for being less durable, but being more pleasant to walk over.
Stone Polymer Core Vinyl Flooring
Unlike the WPC core, a stone polymer core is made with stone-derived materials like limestone and plasticizers. This makes it a much harder and more dent resistant floor, and definitely more durable than that of the wood composite core. We highly recommend you select a SPC core product when shopping for rigid vinyl flooring. You’ll have to ask twice at most retailers because most resellers don’t show off the LVP cores.
What is Laminate?
Laminate flooring is much different from that of LVP. Laminate is a hybrid wood floor. It is made of layers, with the core being out of particleboard and an image layer on top of the core. There is a transparent wear layer on top of the image layer. You can choose image layers that mimic hardwood or any other surface of your choosing.
This type of flooring was first proposed and designed with the goal of providing an economic option for flooring. It was low-budget but no longer considered to be only an economical choice.
Modern laminate flooring is made to feel comfortable for your feet to walk over. They are not known to be very durable or water resistant. Most people don’t see a big difference between laminate and real wood flooring.
Main Features of Laminate
Laminate flooring is well known for its comfortable feel underfoot and its hybrid nature. Here are the main features of this popular flooring:
- Wear and scratch resistant
- Clear decor
- Impact resistance
- Moisture resistant core
- Back stabilizer
- Immune to small spills, stains, and scuffs
These features are usually a good tradeoff for the low price per square foot. These laminate floors typically won’t last for 15 or 20 years, but if they last 5-10 you most likely be happy with your purchase. Just watch out for standing water from accidents. Here are some tips for installing laminate flooring in your home.
Installing A Laminate Floor
Before you begin, it is important to know where these will fit best in your home. Laminate flooring is best for:
- Dining areas
- Living rooms
- Bedrooms
- Hallways
- Foyers
Once you have your flooring ready, here are the steps you need to install your new laminate flooring:
- Remove baseboards and trim around the perimeter of the room
- Sweep and vacuum the entire floor
- Prepare subfloor–must be smooth, clean, and flat
- Test the flooring layout by arranging each plank side by side across the room
- Arrange a length of planks from end-to-end as well to test the layout
- Install underlayment or vapor barrier
- Begin with the first rows of your flooring
- Install row by row until you have finished installing your flooring
- Ensure you don’t have cuts less than 16 inches long
If you have to cut your laminate flooring, there are some tips to help make the process smoother. We recommend using a table saw. These produce the best cuts. Feel free to cut as needed to install your laminate floorboards correctly. Try to cut longer planks for a popular visual installation.
The Structure of Laminate Flooring
Laminate flooring is structured a lot like LVP–it has several layers. This is because both laminate and rigid vinyl flooring have an artificial image layer on top of their core layers. There is the backing layer, substrate layer, image layer, and wear layer.
As mentioned, the substrate or core is meant to be tough and durable to withstand most wear and tear, as well as water or moisture. Manufacturers are able to create the flooring layer by layer, purposefully working for diligence and durability.
How to Choose the Right Laminate Flooring
When you are looking to choose the right laminate flooring, it might not be as hard as you might think. With more LVP decided upon by the core and the appearance, laminate flooring depends more on the thickness, AC rating, and other factors.
Thickness
Choosing the right thickness is important because there are several options. Most of this is between 7 mm to 12 mm. The thicker the laminate, the longer lasting your flooring might be. This is important for sturdiness and longevity.
AC Rating
The Abrasion Criteria rating (AC rating) measures the resistance of a floor to the wear and tear of everyday use. It can be ranked from 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest resistance. The best laminates tend to be AC3 or AC4, as they are most commonly used in individual residences.
Generally, the lower the AC score, the less time you plan to spend on this floor in your home. You want to prepare your home with adequate flooring. You wouldn’t want an AC1 in a place with high traffic, so plan accordingly!
Texture
As mentioned, laminate flooring is generally printed with an image that can reflect any flooring you want in your home. For this reason, you might want to choose from different textures. You can have high-gloss, embossed in register, or even handscraped. This depends on your preference, so be sure to check out the options on our website at ReallyCheapFloors.com to prepare for your next flooring project.
Comparing LVP and Laminate
If you are stuck between these two flooring types, you are not alone. They are typically compared in the market today and it is important that you do your research. Let’s compare the flooring types and see which one truly is the best.
Protection from Spills and Damage
LVP is known for being more protective of the floor by being waterproof, stain resistant, spill resistant, and also scratch resistant. On the other hand, laminate has the potential to stain or bubble from liquid spills, which is a big downside for people who are looking to have a more durable floor in their home. Water will cause laminate flooring to expand and warp.
Installation Simplicity
The good news is that both of these floors are incredibly easy to install. With a simple clean up and installation, you can have new floors in no time, whether they are LVP or laminate in your home.
Waterproofing
Unfortunately, they do not share the same waterproofing quality. Vinyl is the only product that can truly be waterproof, while both of them are simply created with proper defenses from moisture. As long as you clean up right away, there is no concern for this to become a significant problem.
Layering and Durability
In this category, they are both just as durable as one another. They are made with impressive layers and they have the capacity to withstand a lot of foot traffic. Truly, the decision on which one you want based on this factor is a coin toss due to their similar strengths.
Appearance
For those who want the look of hardwood without the hassle, laminate is your best choice. There are so many images to present and ways that you can bring out your personality in your floor choices. Vinyl flooring looks great, but does not feel or imitate hardwood floors like laminate does. Neither flooring choice can match the myriad of colors and designs available in a sheet vinyl floor.
Luxury Vinyl Plank vs. Laminate – Who Wins?
In the results of the title fight between vinyl plank vs laminate flooring is one you get to choose. The truth is, it is not a matter of what flooring wins, but it depends on your needs. For those who want to have stylish and more durable flooring, the best option would be to seek vinyl plank flooring because of its durability and appearance choices.
Alternatively, if you want something that feels soft underfoot and looks more like hardwood, laminate flooring is your pick. Laminate flooring was created to offer a cheap hardwood alternative.
We hope we helped you figure out which flooring would be beneficial for your home. Check out our website to learn more about flooring, how to install your flooring, and find out more about the current prices and trends in home flooring!
