Laminate flooring is extremely popular nowadays, but many people consider vinyl flooring to have similar advantages. However, there are many differences between the laminate flooring and the vinyl flooring. The laminate flooring and the vinyl flooring have many differences, but they have many similar advantages.

Laminates are installed in rafts throughout the home. They lock together using a locking system on the joins and are installed with perimeter raft breaks to allow the product to move where required. Vinyl Planks are laid as individual planks directly glued to the prepared subfloor.

What is a raft in flooring? A ‘raft’ of flooring is an area of a single kind of interconnected floorcovering, usually a hard floor type. It is mostly used with floating floors that require expansion breaks. If you had a floor that had an area of timber that transitioned to an area of laminate, you would have 2 separate ‘rafts’. If one of these floors had an expansion break running through the middle of it, it would then break that single raft into 2 rafts.

What is a raft break? A perimeter raft break is usually referred to as a perimeter expansion break. The difference is that an expansion break is always a raft break, but the reverse is not always true. A raft break can be used for expansion, to transition to another floor covering, or for whatever purpose that causes the raft to cease.

How are Vinyl Flooring and Hydro/Classic Laminate Flooring Different?

Vinyl flooring utilises a water-resistant core. The surface consists of a Vinyl Picture Film and Polyurethane PVC Wear Layer. Vinyl flooring is a very moisture resistant & resilient product, with a timber look, but a plastic type feel which can be scratched with medium to heavy force.

Hydro & Classic Laminate flooring uses a High-Density fiberboard core, with a resin impregnated paper backing. The picture on a laminate is also resin impregnated and the Wear layer is melamine. This is the reason that Fibreboard is required for laminate flooring, as both the picture film and Wear layer while very hard, are brittle when they are bent. The advantage of the Melamine surface is that it takes extremely heavy force to scratch it, and has a timber look & feel.

High Density Fibreboard is manufactured perfectly smooth so there is no show-through from the core into the picture film. It also remains rigid over the entire floor, hiding any subfloor undulations. The Subfloor for the vinyl planks needs more preparation to ensure it is perfectly smooth as the planks follow the level of the subfloor, and any imperfections are noticeable when the light shines on the floor. The New Hydro core technology, has water resistant properties, which reduces the moisture absorption and swell rate, making it more stable in the environment.

Vinyl Vs Hydro & Classic Laminate Flooring: Which One Comes Out on Top?

Are you deciding between Vinyl vs laminate flooring? Our handy comparison table will help you choose the best option for your individual needs.

	Vinyl	Hydro (water-resistant laminate)	Classic Laminate
Water Resistant	✓ ✓✓ ✓	✓ ✓ ✓	✓ ✓
Sun Resistant	✓ ✓	✓ ✓ ✓	✓ ✓ ✓
Scratch Resistant	✓ ✓	✓ ✓✓ ✓	✓ ✓ ✓
Burn Resistant	✓ ✓	✓ ✓ ✓	✓ ✓ ✓
Stain Resistant	✓ ✓ ✓	✓ ✓✓ ✓	✓ ✓✓ ✓
Underfoot comfort	✓ ✓	✓ ✓	✓ ✓
Thermal Resistance	✓ ✓	✓ ✓ ✓	✓ ✓ ✓
Realistic Timber Characteristics	✓ ✓	✓ ✓ ✓	✓ ✓ ✓
Expansion Breaks and trims	✓ ✓✓ ✓	✓ ✓ ✓	✓ ✓
Climate Control	✓ ✓	✓ ✓✓ ✓	✓ ✓ ✓
Pet Friendly	✓ ✓✓ ✓	✓ ✓✓ ✓	✓ ✓ ✓
Child Friendly	✓ ✓✓ ✓	✓ ✓✓ ✓	✓ ✓ ✓

For more details about the benefits of each, read on below.

Wear Layers in Vinyl

Vinyl flooring is finished with a Polyurethane PVC Wear layer. This wear layer is tough, waterproof, but most importantly flexible, which allows it to be used on products that are not completely rigid. Vinyl is far more flexible than a laminate floor.

This wear layer while being scratch-resistant is still vulnerable to damage when heavy or sharp items are dragged across it. It is also fairly stained resistant, but as it is open-pored on a micro level, means that things like beetroot juice and red wine can leave a residue if they are not dealt with within a short amount of time. Lastly, hot items like cigarette butts will burn the wear layer on this product.

Hydro & Classic Laminate Wear Layers

Laminate on the other hand uses a Melamine wear layer. This wear layer is very hard, but has little lateral strength, meaning that if it is bent it will snap. However, once bonded to a fibreboard core, it provides the hardest, most scratch and stain resistant wear layer of any flooring type.

Stains that would penetrate a Vinyl wear layer are easily removed from a laminate wear layer. Red Wine left on your floor for 16 hours can be removed fully with a little elbow grease. The laminate is also many times less likely to be scratched if it has furniture dragged across it. This is rarely if ever an issue. Lastly, a cigarette can be put out on a laminate floor, and any marks are simply wiped off without the wear layer being damaged.

Picture Films

The Vinyl film is completely waterproof and is flexible. The film is UV Stabilised and should have minimal fade with age. The flexibility of this film makes it perfect to use with both Vinyl Plank and hybrid flooring. The quality of the print onto the vinyl is also very good today meaning that many of these films are very lifelike.

Laminate flooring uses a paper picture film that is then impregnated with resin. This makes the film very hard, but with little lateral strength, which is again the reason for the fibreboard core. Once this film is bonded to the core, this lateral strength issue is dealt with. The paper film allows for a more realistic print than what is possible on vinyl film. Whilst modern vinyl films are good, the films on laminate are still more lifelike. Additionally, once the paper is bonded with resin it becomes water resistant.

The Core

The Vinyl core is made from mostly PVC as the bonding agent and a UV stabiliser added. This core is completely water resistant, grows little if at all with temperature change, however, can shrink if constant heat is applied. Vinyl isn’t affected by ambient moisture ingress in the way that traditional laminate and timber flooring are. For Installation, Vinyl Planks can be scored and snapped using a sharp knife, so the installation time is greatly reduced over laminate which must mostly be cut with power tools or a guillotine.

Classic Laminate uses a High-Density Fibreboard Core. As with everything in this world, it is true with the laminate core, you truly get what you pay for. Cores on laminate flooring are prone to water damage from the excessive water used on the floor or from excessive moisture released from the slab under the floor if the slab is not dry, as well as being affected by ambient moisture ingress. Clever Laminates have well-constructed high-density cores, which are less affected by these issues if controlled.

Hydro Laminate has the advanced Hydro Core technology improving its water-resistant properties. This means that for daily use, they are one of the most stable flooring options. There is no need to worry when mopping or from kids coming in from the pool. The 12mm thick core makes it one of the strongest on the market, for a longer life.

The Difference in Laying

Both the Classic & Hydro Laminate are installed on a separate underlay which is rolled out onto the floor. The product is then installed on top of it with trims and scotia installed around the perimeter. The installation is quick and easy, and generally cheaper.

The Vinyl Planks on the other hand are glued directly to the prepared subfloor. This process is far more complicated, requiring either the slab to be skim or flood coated or 5.5mm ply or masonite to be installed over yellow tongue or timber strip flooring and then the planks glued down. No need for trims and scotia around the perimeter. Vinyl planks are generally more expensive.

Dimensional Stability

Vinyl Planks rarely grow from moisture ingress but are sensitive to extreme temperature changes. This has caused Vinyl floors to fail in isolated areas, with boards sometimes gapping or lifting. The great advantage with Vinyl planks is that no internal expansion gaps are required throughout the entire floor.

Classic laminate will grow with the seasons as its core equalises to the moisture conditions of the environment. It does not grow as much as timber flooring, but this still must be accounted for during installation.

Hydro Water resistant laminate grows far less because its core repels even the ambient environmental moisture. These allow a raft size of 12m x 20m before the floor must be broken into separate rafts. For most homes, this means that no transitions are required, except in doorways.

Durability

Vinyl is completely water resistant and has good stain-resistant properties. It is a little weak on the scratch resistance side, so care should be taken when moving heavy objects around. Laminate has great stain and scratch resistance properties, but traditional laminate has poorer water resistance properties.

Hydro water-resistant laminate though has solved this problem to a great degree. Over time though, all 3 are a great option for your home flooring solution and offer a 25 year residential wear warranty.

The Maintenance and effort

It is important to know that it’s best to clean using the dry method with laminate and vinyl. This includes vacuums, brushes, or brooms or even a dust mop. Using this method helps pick up embedded dirt, and you could do a little damp mopping with recommended PH neutral cleaners if required. Very easy to clean and maintain both types of flooring options.

Spoilt for Choice

No matter whether you choose to use laminate flooring or vinyl you will have plenty of options to choose from. At Clever Choice, there is a huge range of flooring to cover any style taste that you might have. Whether it be natural colours or something a little more modern and stylish the team at Clever Choice will have the right solution for you.

If you decide on either type of flooring, make sure to check out the range at Clever Choice, a flooring specialist devoted to excellence in product development and customer service. Click on our, where to buy tab, and get a quote today.

Conclusion

There is quite a lot of difference between laminate flooring and vinyl flooring. However, laminate flooring tends to be more physically attractive, and harder wearing. A little higher in cost than the vinyl planks, however the vinyl installation costs are generally more expensive, the Clever Choice is laminates by a nose.