Laminate vs SPC vs vinyl: which floor fits which room

Laminate, SPC and vinyl all come as click planks, all imitate wood or stone, and all go down without glue. Underneath, they are made very differently, and that decides where each one works best.

What each floor is made of

• Laminate has a high-density fibreboard (HDF) core, a printed decor paper and a hard melamine wear layer reinforced with aluminium oxide.
• SPC (stone plastic composite) has a rigid core of limestone powder and PVC, with a printed vinyl film and a PVC wear layer on top.
• Vinyl (LVT or PVC) is a flexible floor made of PVC layers. It comes as click planks, as glue-down planks (dryback) or on a roll.

Side-by-side comparison

	Laminate	SPC	Vinyl (LVT)
Water	Water-resistant at best	Waterproof	Waterproof
Scratches	Very scratch-resistant	Good	Moderate
Dents	Good	Very good	Can dent under heavy furniture
Feel underfoot	Warm, firm	Firm, slightly cooler	Soft, warm
Sound	Can sound hollow without a good underlay	Quieter	Quietest
Subfloor	Tolerates small unevenness	Tolerates small unevenness	Needs a very flat subfloor
Look	Very realistic wood	Realistic wood and stone	Realistic wood and stone

Where laminate wins

Laminate has the hardest surface of the three. In living rooms, bedrooms, offices and anywhere chair legs, toys and pets cause wear, a good AC4 laminate keeps its look longer than most vinyl. The wood decors and textures are very convincing, and the price per square metre for a given quality is usually lower.

Where SPC wins

SPC does not react to water. That makes it the safer choice for bathrooms, utility rooms, entrance areas that get wet shoes and rooms with large temperature changes, such as a conservatory. Its rigid core also handles slightly uneven subfloors.

Where vinyl wins

Flexible vinyl is the quietest and softest floor, which suits upstairs rooms and apartments. Glue-down vinyl is also the standard for commercial projects with heavy rolling loads, but it needs a perfectly prepared subfloor.

Room by room

• Living room, bedroom, home office: laminate
• Kitchen and hallway: water-resistant laminate or SPC
• Bathroom and utility room: SPC
• Apartment upstairs, sound-sensitive: vinyl or laminate with an acoustic underlay
• Shop or office: AC5 laminate or glue-down vinyl

Many homes combine two of these, for example laminate in the living areas and SPC in the bathroom, with matching profiles where they meet. EasyFloors stocks all three, so you can order them in one go.