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Laminate and vinyl plank end up in a lot of Canadian basements, because both cope with a cold slab better than solid wood. Laminate is a photo layer over a fibreboard core, tough underfoot but ruined by water that sits in a seam. Vinyl plank is plastic through and through, so melted snow off a boot won't bother it.
The price is mostly prep. A floating floor copies every dip beneath it, so the high spots get ground and the low ones filled. Over concrete, a vapour barrier goes under the underlay. In winter, planks carried in from a cold truck or garage need time to warm up in the room before anyone clicks them together.
When quotes arrive, compare the wear layer, that clear top film, rather than plank thickness. Then ask who lifts the old floor and who supplies the strips at doorways. In an older house, also ask what the old floor is made of before anyone starts scraping.
Our listings show what each flooring company states on its own website about the laminate and vinyl work it does. Select your province, then your city, to see installers who lay floors in your area.
Vinyl, for a basement, a mudroom or anywhere boots come in wet from the snow. Laminate's fibreboard core swells at the seams when water sits on it, and it never shrinks back. Laminate wins on scratch resistance and price, which makes it a fair pick for upstairs bedrooms and halls. Vinyl can dent under heavy furniture and fade near a sunny window.
Floating, for most basements. Planks click together over an underlay, so if the basement ever floods they can come up, dry out or be replaced. Glue-down bonds to the slab, feels solid and handles big open rooms and strong sun better. It also wants a flat, clean and dry slab, so a moisture test on the concrete comes first and the prep bill grows.
Find out what's in them first. Health Canada lists floor tiles among older materials that may contain asbestos. It says there's no significant risk while they're left undisturbed, and the danger comes from scraping, sanding or breaking them. It recommends having a professional test before you renovate, and a qualified removal specialist if asbestos turns up. Floating new planks over intact tiles is often the simpler route.
Usually because it had no room to move. A floating floor shrinks as the furnace dries the house and grows again in humid summer weather. The installer leaves a gap at every wall, pipe and door frame and hides it under trim. Glue that edge down, trap the floor under a kitchen island, or run one unbroken floor through several rooms, and the planks push until a joint rises.
No. Waterproof describes the plank itself. Water still gets through the joints and around the edges. Vinyl shrugs off a puddle of snowmelt at the door, but a burst pipe or a leaking washer hose sends water underneath, where it sits against the slab or subfloor and turns musty. Stop the leak, lift the floor, dry everything below, and only then put the planks back.
