Ten years ago a kitchen floor was tile or sheet vinyl. Now most of the kitchens and bathrooms we quote go out as luxury vinyl plank, and the reason is simple: the core does not care about water.
What it is
LVP is a vinyl board printed with a timber or stone pattern and topped with a clear wear layer. The core is either flexible or rigid. Rigid cores — SPC and WPC — are the ones that dominate now, because they sit flatter over an imperfect subfloor and dent less under point loads.
The number that matters
Wear layer thickness, measured in mils. It is the clear layer over the print, and it is what actually wears away.
- 6 to 8 mil: light residential. A guest room, not a hallway.
- 12 mil: a reasonable default for a family home.
- 20 mil and up: commercial traffic, or a house with big dogs.
Two planks that look identical in the rack can be 6 mil and 20 mil. The price difference is real and so is the difference in how long the floor looks new.
Where it is not the answer
Vinyl is soft. Dragging a heavy appliance across it will mark it in a way it will not mark porcelain. Direct sun on a large expanse can cause expansion problems with some products, so check the manufacturer’s guidance for rooms with a lot of glass.
And it never refinishes. When a vinyl floor is worn, it gets replaced. That is fine at the price, but it is a different proposition to a hardwood floor you sand back.
Ask before you buy
Tell us the room, the traffic and whether there is underfloor heating, and we will point you at the right range rather than the nearest one.