Laminate vs LVT

Laminate and Luxury Vinyl Tiles (LVT) are both great floorings with a lot of benefits. They are both very durable and easy to install. The laminate is a click together plank, while the LVT can be in click together or glue down planks. The laminate is a print over a wood composite, and the LVT is a print over a stone and vinyl composite, or also come in thinner flexible planks.

The laminate is more affordable than LVT. Laminate is a bit more scratch-resistant than LVT and scratches are less visible on laminate than LVT. Since laminate has a wood composite core the seams can swell if subjected to a lot of water over time. New technology has made the seams water-resistant and less apt to get damaged. LVT is fully waterproof but not fully watertight. If you have flooding in a bathroom you can take up the floors and replace the subfloor and reuse the LVT.

Laminate is hard to repair. If you need to repair a damaged plank you will have to disconnect the flooring up to the damaged plank. This is also true for a click together LVT, but you will just need to remove the row of the damaged plank. A glue down LVT is very easy to repair when pressure-sensitive glue is used; just heat up the plank and glue with a blowdryer and replace the plank.

Laminate is a thicker and sturdier product for older homes with weak subfloors. The wood composite boards are thicker and heavier than most LVT planks to help fortify a weak or thin subflooring. LVT rigid core planks are also thicker and sturdier, and can be used as such also, but will cost more.