Choosing The Right Flooring Option

Choosing the right flooring option for your new home or renovation can seem a daunting task. Water resistant laminate flooring and new vinyl flooring options have given more choice than ever before. Three of the most popular options that offer a wide range of styles and a durable finish are Laminate Flooring, LVT Vinyl and Tiles.

So which option will best suit the requirements of your home? First of all, what are the differences between all three?

Laminate Flooring

Laminate flooring is a multilayer product made up of a top protective wearing layer, the decorative layer, a high-density wood fiberboard core layer and backer paper to seal the board. It comes in planks that are between 6 and 14 millimetres thick, and in a wide variety of timber colours and styles.

Laminate flooring is affordable, warm under foot and a great bedroom choice. Its surface is hardwearing and resistant to scratches, stains and can withstand high foot traffic areas. There are now a range of products offering water resistance from anything between 24 and 72 hours, depending on rating. This allows laminates to be cleaned and lets you deal with spills without fear. Some ranges come with matching coloured skirting and profiles to complete the look.

Laminate flooring is installed as a floating floor whose planks click together and rest on the subfloor, without being stuck down with adhesives. The floating nature of the product makes it a great DIY option and it can be an inexpensive installation. But as a floating product, it needs to be able to expand and contract and is therefore not suitable to have large heavy objects like kitchen islands sitting directly on top of it, preventing movement in the floor.

LVT Vinyl 

LVT Vinyl is a 100% synthetic flooring material made of layers such as an underlayment, PVC vinyl, a printed decorative layer and a top protective wearing layer. It comes in planks and tiles that have the look and feel of ceramic, stone, or wood. 

LVT has many of the positive attributes of laminate flooring, like a durable surface and warm under foot. This comfortable warmth under bare feet means it offers a real alternative to ceramic and porcelain tiles, while mimicking their appearance. It can be more expensive to buy and install, but as it is fully synthetic, it is naturally more water resistant than laminate flooring. 

It can be clicked together as a floating floor similar to laminate flooring, or stuck directly to the floor using adhesive. When installed as a floating floor it has the same restrictions to carry heavy weight which would prevent its natural expansion and contraction. 

Tiles

Ceramic and porcelain tiles come in a variety of shapes, styles and configurations, offering plenty of versatility. When properly maintained, tiles have an extremely long life span. They are resistant to moisture and environmental elements, like heat, cold and humidity, which means they can be used outdoors, in swimming pools and will endure heat indoors better than either of the other two options. 

As a hard wearing product stuck to the floor with adhesive, tiles are suitable to take weight on top, like kitchen cabinets. In addition, tiles can tolerate a higher heat output from underfloor heating systems than laminate or vinyl. 

But all these advantages also mean tiles are usually more expensive than laminate flooring to buy and the most expensive flooring of the three to install. They are best left to professionals to install, or the most experienced DIY’er. Without underfloor heating, tiles can be cold under bare feet.

Considerations

Subfloor Preparation

Regardless of which flooring option you choose, it is important that the floor beneath it is flat and level. However the tolerance to imperfections in this subfloor will vary from product to product. 

For LVT, it is essential to ensure the subfloor is completely level as this product is not suitable for uneven surfaces. The floor should be cleaned of any dried plaster etc, bumps or irregularities should be removed and high points graded down. Cement joints more than 1mm must be levelled out and any differences in height more than 2mm over a length of 1 metre will also need to be levelled out. Levelling compound should be applied as necessary. 

Laminate flooring also requires a subfloor to be as smooth and level as you can make it. But because of its rigid construction and its use of a thicker underlay, it’s better equipped to bridge the slight bumps and undulations in the floor without transferring them to the surface like LVT does. This advantage is especially true with thicker laminate.

Work to prepare the subfloor for laminate and LVT can be a little slow or costly to get right, but it is an investment that often won’t need to be redone again, even if you change the flooring in the future. If your subfloor is not properly prepared in advance, then there can be movement in the finished flooring after installation. This can cause joints to open or become damaged. So it’s worth taking the time to get this step right and ensure many years of carefree service from your flooring.

Tiles are fixed directly to the subfloor with adhesive, which can compensate for some unevenness in the floor, depending on the format of the tile. Though some subfloor levelling may still be required. In order to prevent the finished tiled floor from cracking in future as a result of natural movement and settlement of the subfloor, it may be necessary to use a decoupling membrane and expansion joints during installation.

A newly built house is not a guarantee that floors will be suitably level and many new homes require preparation work to the subfloor before installation. In some extreme cases, it may not be possible to bring a subfloor to the required level necessary for use of LVT or Laminate and an alternate flooring option will need to be used instead.

Water Resistance

The ability of laminate flooring to handle water often tends to depend on the price of the product. The cheapest laminates will have no water resistance and are best used only in bedrooms and hallways. Better laminate flooring will have water resistance up to 72 hours, though prolonged exposure, or large amounts of water can cause swelling and delamination. Heat and humidity can also cause the planks to shrink and expand, creating gaps between them, so it's best to mop up spills as quickly as possible. 

LVT, with its fully synthetic structure, is a naturally more water resistant option for use in kitchens where it will experience everyday spills. Certain brands offer solutions to give a fully watertight surface to allow LVT’s use in bathrooms, preventing water from penetrating the floor and leaving it resting on the surface where it can be easily wiped away.

Tiles have exceptional water resistance and their water proof characteristic is one of the reasons they are used the world over in swimming pools, outdoor patios, bathrooms and kitchens.

Of the three options, laminate flooring, with its wood fibre core, is the least water tolerant.

Underfloor Heating

All three flooring options will work with underfloor heating systems, but their ability to tolerate heat differs.

Tiles have the best thermal conductivity, meaning that the heat can better transmit from underfloor heating systems to the tiled floor surface. Tiles can be heated to 29+°C to provide a higher heat output. Softer floor materials such as laminate and vinyl have a comparatively poorer conductivity and should be heated to less than 27°C. They are a great option for well-insulated homes with lower heat requirements.

If you’re installing underfloor heating in a small room with a relatively little heated floor area, it is best to choose highly conductive floor finishes, such as tiles. Alternatively a secondary form of heating to increase the heat output can be used, such as heated towel rails or wall heaters.

Care should be taken when laminate or LVT are used in rooms that experience very high temperature changes, like conservatories. Excessive expansion and contraction or UV exposure can cause damage to laminate and LVT flooring.

Conclusion

Laminate flooring and LVT are good options for a warmer feel and can be used with matching colour skirting, profiles and stair covers to add the perfect finishing touch. They are also great for DIY enthusiasts who want to save money on installation costs. Just ensure the floor prep work is done correctly! When changing a floor in future years, taking up a floating laminate of LVT floor creates much less dust and rubble than tiles and takes far less work.

The higher water resistance of LVT makes it more suitable than Laminate for kitchens and bathrooms, though some laminates can be made to work in these rooms.

But if your house is more rough and tumble, then the long life, enhanced cleanability, durability and water resistance of tiles might be better. Its wider range of sizes, patterns and colours mean you are sure to find your matching style. If you have underfloor heating then tiles have the best thermal conductivity of the three options, allowing better energy efficiency and letting you run your heating at higher temperatures.

Ultimately, the ideal flooring solution is the one that best suits your taste, budget and the needs of your home.