Laminate vs Vinyl Flooring: Which Is Better for You?

Reviewed by Kevin Sill, Co-owner, Harmony Flooring

Vinyl plank is the better choice for most homes because the planks are waterproof. It wins in kitchens, bathrooms, basements and entries, and in any house where a dog bowl sits on the floor. Laminate wins in dry rooms. In a bedroom, living room or upstairs office, it feels more like real wood and holds up better to scratches.

The difference starts in the core. Laminate is built on compressed wood fiber, and wood fiber swells when water gets into it. Vinyl plank is vinyl or a stone and plastic blend all the way through. A spill can sit on top without soaking in. Almost every other difference between the two, from how they sound to how they ride out a Wisconsin winter, traces back to that core.

Stand on a sample of each before you decide. The laminate flooring we carry in Madison comes from Mohawk RevWood, Mannington and Shaw, and it feels firm and solid underfoot. Our vinyl plank flooring in Madison runs from rigid-core planks that click together and float to thin glue-down planks that sit close to the subfloor.

What’s the Difference Between Laminate and Vinyl

They’re not the same floor, even when the wood look on top is identical. According to NALFA’s breakdown of laminate layers, laminate has a clear wear layer, a printed decorative layer, a core of wood fibers pressed under heat and pressure, and a backing layer that adds stability and moisture resistance.

Luxury vinyl plank swaps that wood-fiber core for vinyl. Rigid-core planks use a dense stone and plastic core (SPC) or a foamed core (WPC). Glue-down planks are thinner and flexible, and they’re glued straight to the subfloor. Our guide to how a rigid vinyl plank is built goes layer by layer.

So the photo layer can match. What sits under it decides how the floor handles water and winter. That’s why a showroom sample tells you less than the room you’re putting it in.

Laminate vs Vinyl Plank Compared

Eight things separate these floors once they’re down. Rigid-core and glue-down vinyl behave differently enough to get their own columns.

	Laminate	Rigid-core vinyl plank	Glue-down vinyl plank
Core	Compressed wood fiber	Stone and plastic (SPC) or foamed vinyl (WPC)	Thin, flexible vinyl
Water	Water-resistant; water in the seams can swell the core	Waterproof planks; water can still reach the subfloor at seams and edges	Waterproof planks; the subfloor under them still has to stay dry
Scratches	Usually the toughest top layer of the three	Depends on wear layer thickness	Depends on wear layer thickness
Feel	Firm and solid, closest to wood	Firm; WPC feels a bit softer and warmer	Thin and close to the subfloor
Sound	Needs a good underlayment to keep steps quiet	Many planks have a pad attached that cuts noise	Quiet, because it’s glued down
Dry winter air	Wood-fiber core moves with indoor humidity	Little effect from humidity; heat and strong sun matter more	Little effect from humidity
Unheated rooms	Needs a heated, climate-controlled room	Some floating lines are rated for seasonal rooms	Not covered by those seasonal ratings
Subfloor	Flat and dry, with underlayment	Hides small dips better than thin vinyl	Must be very flat and smooth

For most houses around Madison, we’d put rigid-core vinyl plank in the basement, kitchen, mudroom and baths. Laminate goes in the bedrooms and living spaces where water rarely reaches the floor. If a room stays dry all year and you care most about a wood feel and scratch resistance, laminate is the better floor there. Glue-down vinyl earns its spot on a very flat subfloor where the new floor has to stay thin.

Curious how each would look in your house? Snap a photo of the room and try a laminate look and a vinyl look on it in our room visualizer.

Which Is More Waterproof

Vinyl plank, by a wide margin. There’s nothing in a vinyl plank to absorb water, so a spill on top won’t swell it. Laminate’s top layer and backing slow water down. If water reaches the wood-fiber core through a seam or an edge, the core can swell and lift the plank edges.

NALFA’s guidance on where laminate belongs rules out bathrooms and other areas with excessive moisture unless the manufacturer specifies the product as waterproof. It also says to avoid below-grade floors with drains. Some newer laminate lines carry a surface rating that holds standing water off for a set number of hours. That covers a tipped glass or a wet boot. It doesn’t cover a leak.

Waterproof vinyl has a limit too. Water that gets through the seams or around the edges reaches the subfloor, and that subfloor still has to dry out. Our guide to what waterproof means for vinyl plank covers where that line sits.

Scratch Resistance and Pets

In a dry room, laminate’s top layer is the harder of the two against scratches. Laminate is graded by AC rating. AC3 is made for everyday family life, and AC4 steps up to busy homes, big dogs and light commercial spaces. Vinyl’s scratch resistance comes from its wear layer, the clear top coat. A thicker wear layer holds up better to claws and busy hallways.

Which one lasts longer depends on the room. Put laminate in a dry bedroom and vinyl in a wet mudroom, and both can give you many years. Swap them and the laminate is the one that fails first, because water is its weak point.

Dogs tip that balance toward vinyl. Accidents and wet paws after a walk put water on the floor. Laminate can still work with a dog if you pick AC4 and wipe up accidents fast. Our guide to flooring for pet owners adds tile and engineered wood to the mix. Either floor can scuff under a dragged chair, so felt pads under furniture legs help both.

Which Feels More Like Wood and Which Is Quieter

Laminate feels more like wood. The wood-fiber core makes each plank firm and solid, and on many lines the grain you feel lines up with the grain you see. Rigid-core vinyl has closed a lot of that gap, and WPC planks feel a bit softer and warmer than SPC.

Sound is closer than most people expect. The layer under a floating floor matters as much as the plank. NALFA calls underlayment crucial for laminate and says it adds soundproofing, and thicker laminate planks cut sound further. Many rigid-core vinyl planks come with a pad attached that softens each step. Glue-down vinyl is quiet because nothing under it moves.

For an upstairs bedroom over a living room, ask about the underlayment before you pick the plank. If you’re also weighing real wood against vinyl, our guide to hardwood versus vinyl plank covers that choice.

Laminate or Vinyl, Room by Room

A finished basement on a concrete slab is where the call is easiest. The other rooms take a little more thought.

Kitchen

Vinyl plank for most kitchens. A slow dishwasher leak or a drip under the sink puts water on the floor where you won’t see it for days. Laminate can work with a water-resistant product, a mat at the sink and spills wiped right away. If your kitchen has had water damage before, start with vinyl. Our kitchen flooring guide for Madison homes compares tile and hardwood too.

Bathrooms and laundry rooms

Vinyl plank or tile, and skip laminate. A full bath or a laundry room puts standing water on the floor, and that’s the one thing laminate’s core can’t take. In wet areas like bathrooms, COREtec’s instructions call for flexible silicone caulk around the perimeter. If tile is on your list, our tile versus vinyl guide has a verdict for each room.

Basements

Vinyl plank. A Wisconsin basement slab sits below grade, pulls moisture up from the soil and can take on water in the spring thaw. Rigid-core vinyl floats over a vapor barrier and rides out a damp spell. Laminate needs the room dry all year, and Pergo’s guide rules it out wherever there’s a built-in floor drain. Moisture testing a slab isn’t part of what the installers we coordinate do. If you’re unsure about yours, have a testing firm or your general contractor check it first. Our guide to laminate in Wisconsin basements covers the few cases where it works below grade, and our basement flooring guide covers the rest.

Entries and mudrooms

Vinyl plank or tile. Salt season runs November into April, and every trip through the back door brings in meltwater and salt. That slush sits in the seams, right where laminate is weakest. Put a good mat on both sides of the door and wipe salty puddles the same day. For mats and how to clean off salt, see our salt and ice melt guide for entry floors.

Bedrooms, living rooms and offices

These are laminate’s best rooms. They see foot traffic, not water. Plan for the dry heating season, October into April. Pergo’s laminate installation guide warns that open joints can appear during the heating season or with large, fast humidity swings. A humidifier keeps that swing smaller. Put a chair mat under a rolling desk chair.

Three-season porches and cabins

Vinyl, and only a line rated for it. Pergo lists its laminate for heated indoor rooms and not for non-heated rooms. COREtec’s installation guide for its Scratchless line allows a seasonal room to range from minus 25°F to 155°F after install, for floating floors only. Not every vinyl line carries that rating, so check the product before it goes on an unheated porch. Strong sun matters too: COREtec recommends blinds or drapes during peak sun to limit fading.

Installation and the Subfloor

Laminate and rigid-core vinyl go in the same way. The planks click together and float over an underlayment or an attached pad, with an expansion gap at the walls. The difference shows up underneath. Laminate and thin glue-down vinyl both need a flat subfloor, and rigid-core vinyl hides small dips better.

The installers we coordinate handle subfloor leveling, tear-out and haul-away of the old floor, and moving furniture on install day. Every Harmony Flooring project runs on Design · Measure · Install, and the measure is where we check whether the subfloor is flat enough for the plank you’ve picked. If you’re comparing hard floors with carpet too, our guide to carpet versus hard flooring costs walks through what drives the total.

For more on choosing a laminate line, see our laminate buyer’s guide for Madison homes. For vinyl, our guide to what to know before buying vinyl plank covers wear layers and cores.

Sources: NALFA: Laminate Flooring FAQs, NALFA: What Is Laminate, Pergo Laminate Installation Guide and COREtec Installation Guide (Shaw).

Laminate vs Vinyl Questions

See Both Floors Before You Choose

Stand on laminate and vinyl side by side at our showroom on South Stoughton Road, or have us bring samples to your house anywhere in Madison and Dane County. Set up a free visit or call or text us at 608-221-5500. We’ll measure the rooms and tell you which floor we’d put in each one. From the first sample to the last transition strip, we’re Covering Every Detail.