WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE? VINYL FLOORING VS. LUXURY VINYL TILE OR PLANK
For decades, vinyl flooring has been used in homes, offices, and restaurants because of its water-resistant and stain-resistant properties. It is the best option for bathrooms, laundry rooms, kitchens, and basements. However, standard vinyl flooring has a very thin layer of vinyl that is covered with a protective coating; this layer is not resistant to environmental wear and tear.
Standard vinyl, with its thousands of benefits, still has some drawbacks, such as being hard on the feet when installed over harsh subfloors. To overcome the flaws of vinyl flooring, designers have created a new version of vinyl flooring known as luxury vinyl flooring, which is better in many aspects than standard vinyl.
We can’t say that luxury vinyl is totally better than standard vinyl, but it has some useful features that standard flooring doesn’t have. There are also some features of standard vinyl which are good for the floor but are missing in luxury vinyl. So we are providing you with a comparison guide ahead, with which you can easily select which flooring is best for your floors, either standard flooring vinyl or luxury vinyl.
Comparison Table
| Standard Vinyl Flooring | Luxury Vinyl Flooring | |
| Cost | 0.50 To $2 Per Square Foot | $2 To $7 Per Square Foot |
| Installation | Full-Glue-Down Bond | Click-Lock Edge Joints; Floating Installation |
| Thickness | Very Thin | Thicker And Rigid Construction |
| Durability | 10 To 15 Years | 20 To 30 Years |
| Real Estate Value | Bargain Flooring | Prestigious Flooring |
| Dimension | 6 To 12 Foot Rolls | 12 To 18 Inches Square Tiles |
Water And Heat Resistance Property
Both standard and luxury vinyl flooring are water and heat resistant. Both of them can be used in moisture-prone areas such as bathrooms and kitchens according to the needs of the place.
Standard Vinyl
In this property, standard vinyl flooring has a little edge because it is more efficient at stopping water from penetrating the floor.
Luxury Vinyl
Luxury vinyl flooring is a completely synthetic material and is best for moisture-prone areas, but the only flaw is the gap between the tiles and the rolls, which causes water to penetrate to the ground.
Ideal For Water And Heat Resistance: Standard Vinyl
On this property, the fight is won by the standard vinyl flooring because it can prevent the floor from water damage. As far as the heat resistance is concerned, both floors can resist heat, but not as much as you can put them under a furnace or water heater.
Appearance
Both floorings are exquisite and have a wide collection of colours and designs to choose from. But we still have to compare the appearance of standard and luxury vinyl.
Standard Vinyl Floor
Standard vinyl flooring can give different looks to the floor, even a wood appearance, but the thin wear layer of this flooring causes gaps and scratches, which can ruin the beauty of the floor.
Read More: How to fix Scratches on Luxury Vinyl Flooring
Luxury Vinyl
Luxury vinyl flooring is mainly used to give a wood look to the floor. The luxury tile flooring can also create a stone look. There are thousands of colours and designs available in luxury vinyl flooring.
Ideal For Appearance: Luxury Vinyl Flooring
Although both floorings can give the look of stone, ceramic, and wood, luxury vinyl is best because it can provide the most beautiful finishing to the floors.
Durability
It is probably the most important property that should be considered while comparing the two floors.
Standard Vinyl Flooring
Standard vinyl flooring is soft and its upper protective layer is not resistant to dents and scratches, so this flooring can be easily damaged. The repair of this flooring is almost impossible, so when it is damaged, the only solution is a replacement.
Luxury Vinyl
Luxury vinyl flooring is more resistant to damage as compared to standard vinyl flooring. The upper layer of this flooring is thicker so it can resist more scratches and dents. But when it gets damaged, then the only solution is to replace the damaged plank or tile.
Read More: Pros & Cons of Vinyl Plank Flooring | which Plank is Best
Ideal For Durability: Luxury Vinyl Flooring
Luxury flooring is more durable than standard flooring. It is also easier to repair as compared to standard vinyl.
Care And Cleaning
Floors should always be neat and clean. When selecting the flooring, you must know that either it is easy to clean or you will have to spend a lot of time on its maintenance and cleaning.
Standard Vinyl Flooring
Standard vinyl floors are easy to clean, as they are resistant to stains, so they never absorb coffee and oil stains, and you can clean them by using soapy water and a mop.
Luxury Vinyl
Luxury vinyl is also easy to clean. You just need vinegar and water solution and a neat mop to clean all the stains and dirt spots from this flooring. The vinegar solution also kills the bacteria present on the floor.
Ideal For Cleaning: Both
This competition is going to be a tie because both standard and luxury vinyl flooring can be easily cleaned and don’t require a lot of time for maintenance.
Lifespan
Flooring, of course, cannot be changed frequently, which is to say that it must be durable enough that so you can use it at least, for decades.
Standard Vinyl
The lifespan of standard vinyl flooring depends on its construction. An average quality vinyl floor can last for 10 years. But the high-quality standard vinyl can easily be used for 15 years.
Luxury Vinyl
Luxury flooring can be used more as compared to standard vinyl flooring because it is more resistant to wear and tear in the environment. An average quality luxury floor can last for 20 years, but a high-quality luxury floor can be used for 25 to 30 years.
Ideal For LifeSpan: Luxury Vinyl Flooring
Luxury vinyl flooring is tough as compared to standard flooring and is more resilient against damage, so the lifespan of luxury flooring is greater than vinyl flooring.
Installation
Installation of some floorings is more complex as compared to others. So people have to pay more for the difficult flooring installation.
Standard Vinyl
The glue-down method is used for the installation of standard flooring vinyl. The glue secures the vinyl flooring on the underlayment, and then this flooring can be installed. Many types of standard vinyl flooring can be installed by the glue-down bonding method. Both the installation methods are a bit difficult.
Read More: Best Way To Cut Vinyl Plank Flooring And What Tools To Use
Luxury Vinyl
Luxury vinyl is mostly installed by the click-clock installation method in which the interlocking of planks is used. These floors are installed over the subfloor as a floating floor system. The tongue of one plank is fixed in the groove of another plank. Even an untrained person can easily install this flooring.
Ideal For Installation: Luxury Vinyl Flooring
Luxury vinyl flooring is easy to install as compared to standard vinyl flooring. Standard flooring sheets are difficult to handle and only professionals can install this flooring.
Cost
The cost of flooring matters a lot because when people shop for flooring, they always want a budget-friendly option, so let’s discover which flooring is more pocket-friendly.
Standard Vinyl Floor
Standard vinyl is an affordable solution for floors because it is one of the cheapest flooring options on the market. This flooring price range starts from $0.5 to $2 per square foot according to the quality of the material. This flooring is best for large homes and hotels, essentially for larger-scale usage.
Luxury Vinyl
Luxury vinyl flooring has different rates at different outlets. The rates of this flooring also fluctuate when the design and style of the flooring change. The average price range of luxury vinyl starts at $2 to $4 per square foot. High-quality luxury flooring can go to $7 per square foot or even more.
Ideal For Cost: Standard Vinyl Flooring
The budget-friendly option between luxury vinyl and standard vinyl flooring is the standard vinyl flooring. It is cheap as compared to luxury flooring, but this advantage can be narrow when you pay for its installation.
Comfort And Sound
When you install flooring, it must be comfortable so you can easily walk on it. Also, it must not make any sound when you are walking or running on it.
Standard Vinyl Floor
Standard vinyl flooring has thin layers, so the sheets are very hard when walking on them. This floor also feels cold because it is mainly installed on concrete. You can also hear footsteps on the standard vinyl floor.
Luxury Vinyl
Luxury vinyl flooring is more comfortable and softer than vinyl flooring. You will not feel any discomfort when walking on it. Also, this flooring never produces sound.
The top quality of the luxury flooring is even more comfortable than laminate flooring. The underlayment of cork or foam makes this flooring even more comfortable.
Ideal For Comfort: Luxury Vinyl Flooring
Luxury flooring is more comfortable as compared to standard vinyl flooring because of its good quality underlay and thicker layers.
Resale Value
When you invest in your property, you must want the resale value of your property to increase. Good quality flooring is meant to increase the resale value of the property.
Standard Vinyl
This flooring is not considered the best flooring, and its material is considered a bargain. So this flooring will not increase the resale value of the property.
Luxury Vinyl
Luxury flooring has the edge over standard flooring regarding resale value. The latest versions of luxury vinyl provide a high-performance, similar to spc flooring.
Ideal For Resale Value: Luxury Vinyl Flooring
Luxury vinyl flooring is always better than standard vinyl regarding the resale value of the property. If anyone wants to increase the resale value of their property, then you must go for luxury flooring.
Final Words
Now you know all the differences between standard vinyl flooring and luxury vinyl flooring. So you can easily decide which type of flooring is best for you. This way, you can easily go for a suitable and long-term favourable choice.
FAQs | Frequently Asked Question
There are many advantages of luxury vinyl flooring, such as easy installation, beautiful appearance, a large variety of designs and colors, durability, resistance to stains, and many others. The only flaw with this flooring is that its quality is not consistent. If it gets damaged, there is a need to replace the plank or tile.
The cost of vinyl flooring is different from standard vinyl to luxury vinyl flooring. The cost of a standard vinyl floor ranges from 0.5 to 2 dollars per square foot. And the cost of a luxury vinyl floor ranges from $2 to $7 per square foot.
The old luxury vinyl floors were not better than laminate floors, but now most of the latest versions of luxury vinyl floors are much better than laminate flooring in many aspects, such as looks, variety, and comfort.