Laminate vs Vinyl Flooring: Major Differences, Pros And Cons

Vinyl flooring and laminate flooring offer many of the same advantages: durability, good looks, economy and easy do-it-yourself installation. From a distance, both types of flooring even look similar.

Neither type of flooring is better than the other across all categories. Vinyl flooring is best in high-moisture areas and it’s easy to keep clean. Yet laminate flooring offers a wider variety of style choices and has a higher resale value.

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What Is Vinyl Flooring?

Standard vinyl flooring usually consists of four layers of materials. The first, or bottom, layer of these is the backing layer, generally made of cork or foam. It is designed to serve as the underlayment for the vinyl flooring so that you do not have to install another material prior to laying down the vinyl flooring. Additionally, it functions as a cushion to make walking on the floor more comfortable and a sound barrier to keep noise at bay.

What Is Laminate Flooring?

Unlike natural flooring options like wood, stone or cork, laminate flooring is a synthetic material. It’s made up of four different layers—wear, décor, core and backer—that are sealed together in the lamination process. It is intentionally designed to be durable as well as affordable. Because of the décor layer (a printed image), it can recreate the look of more expensive flooring types like wood, tile or stone.

Key Differences: Comparing Laminate vs Vinyl Flooring

Vinyl Flooring

Vinyl flooring may look like a solid, homogeneous material but it is actually a layered product—much like laminate flooring. A minimum of four layers composes vinyl flooring. The top is a clear wear layer, with a high-definition photographic layer just below. A thick core layer forms the majority of the flooring, and at the bottom is a soft foam layer.

Laminate Flooring

Laminate flooring is composed of four or five layers of materials. At the top is a clear wear layer that protects the lower image layer—a photographic image of wood or stone. The third layer is a thin, impact-resistant layer, followed by the bulk of the product: High-density fiberboard, or HDF. The final, and lowest layer, is soft foam or, with some laminates, a backer paper layer.

Which Flooring Is Best?

Appearance and Comfort

• Vinyl Flooring

Higher quality vinyl plank and tile flooring uses an image or photo layer under the hard, clear wear layer. This image is usually of a wood species (for example, oak, maple or hickory) or, less commonly, stone.

Not all vinyl flooring has this realistic look, though. Older and lower-priced sheet and tile vinyl flooring is printed with a rotogravure process (like a cylindrical printing press) and topped with a clear wear layer.

• Laminate Flooring

All laminate floors use a high-definition photographic layer below the transparent wear layer to create the look of real wood or stone.

Laminate flooring’s standout feature is its appearance. Nearly every color, species and variety of natural wood and stone flooring can be found in laminate flooring: Hand-scraped, rustic, reclaimed wood, multi-tonal, natural finish, whitewashed, multi-length and much more.

Maintenance and Care

With both vinyl flooring and laminate flooring, it’s best to start cleaning with dry methods such as using a vacuum, brush, broom or dust mop. To pick up embedded dirt, damp mopping with a neutral detergent is usually all that is needed.

Where the vinyl flooring and laminate flooring differ is with wet mopping. For especially dirty floors, wet mopping is sometimes the easiest way to clean a floor. Vinyl flooring can be wet-mopped, while laminate flooring cannot.

Lifespan

• Vinyl Flooring

Thick, quality vinyl flooring can last up to 25 years, with thinner vinyl flooring’s lifespan limited to less than 10 years.

• Laminate Flooring

Laminate flooring can last between 15 and 25 years, though poorly maintained laminate may last only five to 10 years.

Cost

• Vinyl Flooring

Vinyl flooring ranges from about $0.60 to $4.00 per square foot at discount stores. Sheet vinyl can be as cheap as $0.50 to $2.00 per square foot. But the low cost of sheet vinyl is often balanced out by the cost of installation. Plank and tile vinyl can be installed by do-it-yourselfers, but sheet vinyl generally requires professional installation.

• Laminate Flooring

Laminate flooring ranges in price from $0.50 to $3.00 per square foot at discount flooring stores. Name brand laminate flooring begins at around $3.00 per square foot and ranges up to about $5.00 to $8.00 per square foot for textured 12-mm-thick planks.

For name brand laminate flooring installed by professionals, expect to pay about $6 and up per square foot, on average.

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Installation

• Vinyl Flooring

Vinyl flooring is easy to install. It can be glued to the subfloor or it can be loose-laid. Glued vinyl flooring comes in the form of tiles or planks that are glued with liquid adhesive or with self-stick adhesive backing. Loose-lay vinyl flooring is also called a floating floor: Planks attach side-to-side, but not to the subfloor.

• Laminate Flooring

All laminate floors are floating floors. Like vinyl flooring, planks attach side-to-side. The weight and friction of the floor prevents it from shifting. Also like vinyl flooring, laminate flooring can easily be cut by scoring it with a utility knife and snapping it off.

Water, Heat and Environment

• Vinyl Flooring

Vinyl flooring is entirely waterproof, from the top to the bottom and all edges. Vinyl flooring soaked in water can be dried out and it will retain its dimensions and appearance.

Vinyl flooring, just like any other plastic, can be affected by heat. The heat specifications that most vinyl floorings meet, though, are usually far higher (158 Fahrenheit) than one can expect during daily use.

• Laminate Flooring

With its wood-based core, laminate flooring is especially fragile when water comes into play. Water that is allowed to pool on the surface—near open seams or the edges—can work its way below and into the core. The core will soak up the water. After drying, the core will not return to its original dimensions. Also, a vapor barrier is required for most laminate flooring installed over concrete to help keep moisture vapor from entering into the laminate floor.

Laminate flooring’s high-density fiberboard core is generally unaffected by heat. But other layers, such as the top wear layer, may melt under extreme heat. Like vinyl flooring, though, these temperatures far exceed those found in most homes.

Resale Value

• Vinyl Flooring

Traditionally poor at returning resale value, vinyl floor’s stature has increased in recent years, as thicker and more realistic products have entered the market. Even so, vinyl flooring generally will bring in a lower resale value than laminate flooring.

• Laminate Flooring

High-quality laminate floor ranks below solid hardwood and engineered wood for resale value. But laminate flooring still commands a higher resale value than most types of vinyl flooring.

Top Brands

Vinyl Flooring

• Armstrong
• CoreTEC
• Cryntel
• Karndean
• Mannington
• Metroflor

Laminate Flooring

• Armstrong
• AquaGuard
• Dream Home
• Mohawk
• Pergo
• Shaw

Bottom Line

In a broad sense, vinyl and laminate flooring are interchangeable in residential applications. Most factors that drive the decision are personal: Style options, textures and cost. The exception to vinyl and laminate’s interchangeability concerns water. Vinyl flooring clearly is a better choice in high-moisture environments than laminate flooring, making it an excellent choice in bathrooms. But for whole-house installations, laminate flooring often makes sense because it offers a wide range of choices.

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