Luxury vinyl plank and laminate compared for Northwest homes: water resistance, durability, feel underfoot, cost, and where each one belongs.
Both products look like wood, both click together, and both are sold at similar price points. They are not the same floor, and choosing wrong is expensive.
Luxury vinyl plank is plastic all the way through. Standing water does not damage it. That makes it suitable for kitchens, bathrooms, laundry rooms, entryways, and basements.
Laminate has a wood-fiber core. Spilled water that sits on it — especially at seams — swells that core permanently. Laminate in a bathroom or laundry room is a mistake, no matter what the box says.
Laminate is denser and feels firmer, more like real hardwood. LVP is slightly softer and can sound hollow without a good underlayment.
If you want the closest thing to hardwood feel at a laminate price, laminate wins. If you want a floor that shrugs off wet boots, LVP wins.
Laminate has a harder wear layer and generally resists scratching better than mid-range LVP. Large dogs and heavy furniture move more easily over laminate.
Higher-end LVP with a thick wear layer closes that gap, but you pay for it.
Our climate is wet, and houses here often have both crawl spaces and concrete slabs. LVP handles slab moisture and humid rooms far better. It is also more forgiving in older homes where floors are not perfectly flat, because most LVP is slightly more flexible.
Laminate requires a flatter substrate. On an uneven subfloor it will develop hollow spots and clicking seams.
Installed, both typically run $5 to $9 per square foot at mid-range quality. The difference in total cost is usually small — but the cost of replacing a swollen laminate floor is not.
LVP for kitchens, bathrooms, laundry, entries, basements, and rentals. Laminate for living rooms, bedrooms, and dry areas where you want the firmest feel and best scratch resistance.
In a house where you want one floor throughout, LVP is almost always the safer choice for this climate.
Yes, the plank itself is waterproof. Water can still get underneath at the edges, so proper installation with sealed edges matters in wet rooms.
We do not recommend it. Water at the seams swells the core permanently.
Laminate resists scratches better at similar price points. Heavy dogs can scratch mid-grade LVP.
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