Laminate or Vinyl? The Pros and Cons at a Glance

When it comes to designing your home, there are several ways to choose the right design. Above all, the most particularly popular design (due to its’ timelessness) is the wood look.

Since real parquet is often not very easy to care for and clean, more and more people are opting for alternatives with easier maintenance. For example, vinyl and laminate in high-resolution wood looks often even have a decor-synchronous embossing, which visually and haptically matches the planks to the real material.

Depending on your needs, it may be better to either lay a vinyl flooring or opt for a laminate. In this article we have summarized for you the advantages and disadvantages of both design flooring. After this article, you can certainly better decide what is best for your circumstances.

Décor Diversity

In view of the variety of different decors, you can access a wide range of different wood looks when deciding on laminate. Laminate is available in a huge array of wood shades: both dark, light and colored designs refine each room.

On the other hand, if you opt for vinyl flooring, you have the opportunity to decorate your floor with a variety of designs. Not only wood decors are available, but also high quality mineral models, which are hardly distinguishable from the natural mineral models. Decors that imitate the appearance of marble, granite and other stylish stones are available. But you can also opt for brushed metal designs or tiles in a retro look.

So if you choose a vinyl design floor, you have a wider design spectrum than that offered from laminate floor.

Wet Room Suitability

Many people wish to have a floor in the look of wood, even in the kitchen and bathroom. Normally, however, it is not possible to lay real parquet, since wood swells in the influence of water.

However, you still have the opportunity to opt for a floor in wood look. For example, you can choose a moisture-proof laminate for your kitchen and bathroom. Please pay close attention to the labeling of the manufacturer: if this does not explicitly refer to the wet room suitability, the flooring will be permeable to water and therefore not suitable.

Vinyl floors, on the other hand, are much more suitable for wet rooms because vinyl itself is already a water-repellent material. However, it is also worthwhile to pay attention to the manufacturer's identification.

Durability and Breakdown

Vinyl is an elastic material and therefore flexible by nature. Whether it can break, depends mostly on its overall strength: vinyl click flooring often have a HDF carrier, which can be damaged in bad transport. However, once the vinyl is laid, the risk of breakage is almost impossible.

Laminate, on the other hand, can break much more easily when exposed to rough conditions due to its lack of elasticity. Therefore, check the use class of the flooring before buying: it indicates whether you can move the floor only in the residential or in the object and industrial area.

From time to time, it's not just the kind of space that's crucial to your choices, but also the question of what activities you want to pursue in them. Basically, vinyl is now as durable as laminate. Vinyl design coverings offer the advantage that damage to the surface can be easily eliminated with a repair kit.

Floor Warmth

Essentially, you can combine all floor coverings in combination with underfloor heating on warm water basis, as long as the respective product is explicitly suitable for it. So it does not really matter if you install the floorings over underfloor heating. On the other hand, if the heat does not come from below, PVC feels warmer, as a laminate. Find out more about this in our blog section on underfloor heating.

Renovation Friendly

The low construction height makes click vinyl the ideal floor for quick and easy renovation. Laminate has a comparatively high construction height whose only advantage is the equally easy installation technique. This is a problem especially with glass doors, which cannot be easily cut.

Acoustics

Are your neighbors in the flat below ringing you regularly because you are trampling on the floor? Counteract this by choosing a floor on which your steps do not echo throughout the apartment. In fact, here the vinyl design floor is clearly superior to the laminate and generally has much better values than its comparison. Do footstep acoustics play an important role for you, but you do not want to resort to products such as an extra insulation mat? Then LVT vinyl flooring is definitely the right choice!

Price

Here, the laminate can now play its full strength, technically inferior to the vinyl mostly, it can make up for its comparatively low price! If you are looking for a cheap and easy-to-lay flooring, laminate is the place to go. For higher demands, however, we clearly recommend the flooring of the future: vinyl.

Laminate & Vinyl Design Coverings on BRICOFLOR

We hope that we could help you with your decision and answer a few of your questions! Of course you will find a large selection of suitable laminate and vinyl floors on BRICOFLOR.

If you have further questions, you may find your answer in one of our numerous blog posts. If not, we are happy to assist you personally via telephone or via our contact form. Join us again next week for another exciting topic. In the meantime, have fun browsing our categories - your team from BRICOFLOR, the # 1 wall & floor!