Deciding Between Laminate & Vinyl Flooring
If you’re in the process of selecting new flooring for your home, there’s no shame in feeling a bit overwhelmed! There are all sorts of choices available these days and it’s easy to find yourself confused about which option is truly the best fit for your family. Since you’ve chosen to read this guide, it’s safe to assume you’ve narrowed it down to laminate flooring or vinyl flooring. These are both great choices, especially if you’re in the market for something durable that won’t cost an arm and a leg.
Pros of Laminate & Vinyl Flooring
One of the main benefits of vinyl flooring is that thanks to its 100% plastic construction, it is completely water resistant. There’s no amount of water that could seep into vinyl that would cause it to warp or crack. Another benefit of today’s vinyl flooring is that it often looks like real wood or real ceramic tile; it’s a great way to mimic the look of costly flooring options while sticking to a budget.
One of the key benefits of laminate flooring is that it is almost indistinguishable from real wood. In fact, many laminate floors are made of upwards of 90% hardwood, but with significantly more durability than solid wood planks can offer. It’s an especially great choice for families that have young children or pets who will inevitably scratch and scuff the floors all over the house.
Pricing
Vinyl and laminate flooring are both on the affordable end of the spectrum, particularly when compared to some hardwoods and stones, such as marble. Both tend to range from about $0.50 per square foot for basic, generic options to about $3.00 per square foot for higher-quality choices. It does bear noting that there are some laminate flooring styles that run higher in price, costing around $10.00 per square foot. These include those that are designed to mimic exotic woods, like ebony. As long as you do your research and know exactly how many square feet you need to cover in your space, you shouldn’t have any surprises, however.
Durability
Vinyl and laminate are both durable flooring options for today’s busy families. In the long run, laminate generally holds up slightly better, in large part because it never begins to peel away from the subfloor, even in high traffic areas. That said, modern vinyl flooring is high-quality and nothing like the vinyl floors of the past. You can expect either flooring style to last at least a couple of decades.
Where to Use Each Floor
Often, after researching vinyl flooring and laminate flooring for residential spaces, homeowners decide to use both styles in different areas of their houses. Overall, laminate flooring is thicker and more comfortable to stand on for long periods of time, which makes it an especially popular choice for kitchens. It is also a great option for open-concept homes where the kitchen floor needs to match the rest of the space. Because of its incredible moisture resistance, vinyl flooring, on the other hand, is the best choice for bathrooms and laundry rooms. Even serious leaks aren’t likely to destroy this type of floor and it doesn’t get as slick as ceramic tile, which is a definite perk in full baths that include showers or tubs. The decision between vinyl and laminate flooring really comes down to personal preference in the end.