What's the Difference Between Laminate and WPC Vinyl Flooring?

Source:   DateTime:2016-08-07

All two flooring are made of layers laminated together. The difference is in what those layers are made of and what that implies for performance. There's no point to asking "What's best?", as always it's really a matter of fitness for purpose.

Traditional laminated flooring is made of a transparent wear layer, a printed paper decor layer, high density fiberboard (HDF) and a thin backing layer for stability. Laminate comes in various thicknesses from 6 mm to 15mm.

WPC vinyl flooring is made of wear layer, a printed paper layer and a WPC body. In some cases the WPC is in fact a mineral-plastic composite of calcium carbonate.

The big difference between the two types is WPC Vinyl flooring is waterproof while Laminate is only water resistant; so laminate cannot be installed in bathrooms and other wet areas.

Laminate is cheaper than wpc vinyl flooring, but it does require more surface preparation as it has a tendency to reflect any imperfections in the underfloor.