Vinyl Plank Flooring vs Laminate: What’s the difference?
Laminate used to be a popular flooring option, but more and more frequently now, people are opting to choose Luxury Vinyl Flooring instead. Here are a few reasons why!
1. Ease of installation
One of the main benefits of Luxury Vinyl Plank Flooring / Luxury Vinyl Tiles is that it’s incredibly easy to install. It’s a floating floor, which means no adhesive is needed (which means no drying time) and because it’s only 4mm thick, it means you can cut it with a utility knife!
The same cannot be said for laminate flooring, however; which is thicker, and requires cutting with a saw or jigsaw. This means you’ll probably need to take the pieces outdoors for the cuts, unless you fancy a house full of sawdust. And these trips outdoors means you have to wait for a clear day – which limits you, when installing in the UK.
2. Is laminate or vinyl more durable?
Luxury vinyl tiles are made from 70% limestone. Not only does this make them rigid, but it also makes them durable, long-lasting and scratch resistant. Laminate, however, does tend to scratch fairly easily, and can quickly become quite unsightly.
3. Waterproof
Another main benefit of luxury vinyl flooring is that it’s 100% waterproof. This makes it ideal for installation in areas that are prone to have the odd splash – such as the kitchen or the bathroom. If you’ve got clumsy toddlers who tend to spill their drinks a lot, or pets who run through the house soaking wet from their latest swim, then the waterproof benefit comes in handy in the hallway, lounge and bedroom, too!
Because of their distant relation to wood, laminate flooring options are not waterproof. In fact, if water seeps into the joints, the planks will often blister and bulge, and will be ruined.
4. No acclimation
Acclimation is where boxes of flooring sit in a room for a few days before installation, to allow them to expand or contract to the temperature and conditions in the room. Because wood is well known for expanding and contracting, laminate flooring does require acclimation – it needs to sit in the room for about 2 days before you can go ahead and install it. Luxury vinyl flooring, however, does not. The second you get it into the room, you can rip open those boxes and begin laying your new flooring!
Now that you know all the drastic differences between laminate flooring and vinyl flooring planks / luxury vinyl tiles, you might want to take a closer look at the latter. Here’s a link to our selection: Luxury Vinyl Tiles.
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