Are Vinyl Floors Truly Waterproof?

Luxury vinyl plank flooring has come a long way and continues to grow in popularity with homeowners who want something durable as well as beautiful. These luxury vinyl plank floors boast tons of features, but one gets more attention than the rest: they are marketed as a waterproof flooring option. If true, this makes vinyl flooring ideal for kitchens and full bathrooms where water is prevalent.

Are vinyl floors waterproof or is it a marketing gimmick?

We’ll break it down for you here so that you can decide if vinyl plank flooring is going to be the right fit for your home.

Are Luxury Vinyl Floors Waterproof?

Waterproof luxury vinyl can easily withstand more than other flooring categories. Unlike laminate flooring that tends to swell, bubble, and peel when exposed to water, luxury vinyl does none of those things. Most of the options in our showroom have a stone polymer composite, better known as SPC. This core is made from crushed limestone and PVC which makes the flooring resistant to water damage.

If you’ve ever tried to pick up one of our samples in our extensive showroom, you know how heavy luxury vinyl plank and luxury vinyl tile can be. This stone core is a part of it, but it is also the reason why LVP flooring stands up to water.

Your new vinyl floor can be exposed to routine spills and splashes of water without swelling, warping, or discoloration. However, you should wipe spills up as they occur. This is more than can be said for traditional laminate flooring which tends to be extremely sensitive to water.

What About Floods?

Every homeowner worries about the dreaded day that they wake up and their house has flooded from a burst pipe or an overflowing toilet. While vinyl flooring can withstand everyday wear and tear when it comes to water, how does it hold up in the face of massive water damage and disaster?

The good news is that luxury vinyl plank may be salvageable.

One of the main benefits of LVP and LVT flooring is that it can usually withstand standing water for up to 72 hours. Unlike sheet vinyl, water can migrate between the cracks of your floor or around the edges of the room. A luxury vinyl floor is made of individual planks rather than being one smooth surface.

This is part of the beauty of the floor, but it has important implications in the event of a flood.

The water may indeed seep beneath the floor and require drying. However, a careful contractor might be able to pull the click-lock floor up, dry out your subfloor, and then reinstall most of the LVP back down over a new and drier subfloor.

Not all pieces will be saved, as the click-lock mechanism could be broken when pulling it up. This is why it can be beneficial to order a few boxes of extra flooring in the event of a future emergency. This allows you to keep the floor you love that you spent serious time considering, shopping for, and picking out.

Is Luxury Vinyl Plank the Only Waterproof Flooring? 

Waterproof flooring comes in many shapes and sizes these days – and luxury vinyl plank isn’t the only option. At Woodboys, we also have a great selection of waterproof wood floors. A vinyl floor features a print of a wood floor over the SPC core, which means you are likely to spot some repeating patterns eventually. Instead, you may consider a newer category of waterproof wood floors.

Many of these floors are constructed with the same waterproof stone polymer composite core as waterproof vinyl flooring. However, they have one major difference: the visual surface of the flooring is actual wood. This means you won’t have any repeating patterns, and each board is going to be completely unique.

Like luxury vinyl flooring, this is also easy to install for DIYers, who will enjoy the click-lock function of both flooring types. If you’re in the market for a waterproof floor, you can’t go wrong with either waterproof vinyl plank or waterproof hardwood flooring.

Just remember, you should still clean up spills and splashes as they happen to prevent damage to the floor. While durable, no floor will be completely bulletproof.

Shop Our Extensive Selection

At Woodboys, we have an extensive selection of both SPC vinyl flooring and hardwood flooring that is perfectly suited to your home and lifestyle. A waterproof vinyl floor is an ideal option for homeowners who want something beautiful that mimics the look of real wood without worrying about slight water damage.

Come browse our showroom to learn more about the perfect flooring option for you or have our mobile showroom come to your home stacked high with samples to find the perfect water-resistant flooring for your home!