Last Updated on March 17, 2024 by Saira Farman
Numerous factors must be addressed while selecting home flooring. There is no solution that works for everyone. It all depends on your needs, priorities, and preferences.
Let’s compare hybrid and vinyl planks to help you pick the best flooring for your home.
What exactly is hybrid flooring?
Hybrid flooring is a modern idea that develops as designers learn more about materials and how they react in various environments. Engineers incorporated asbestos to vinyl flooring in the mid-twentieth century to make it more heat and fire resistant.
Asbestos was eventually replaced by safer, more effective materials. But the objective remained the same: to create a long-lasting and appealing flooring solution.
A core of stone, wood, or plastic polymer is overlaid with a decorative layer that mimics stone or genuine wood and a high impact-resistant protective layer in today’s hybrid flooring.
Why should you choose hybrid flooring?
Hybrid flooring is long-lasting. Hybrid flooring is heat resistant since the planks are made of synthetic or composite polymers. Direct heat will not expand or damage the planks as much as other flooring options. Furthermore, fade-resistant colours keep hybrid floors from dulling or fading.
Despite providing excellent UV protection, extended exposure to direct sunlight may result in minor discoloration. Though not as noticeable as with natural woods, curtains or blinds may help decrease colour loss.
Water does not penetrate hybrid flooring. Wet cleaning, spills, leaks, and pet accidents will not cause hybrid flooring to swell.
Hybrid flooring are more quiet. Hybrid flooring are quieter than most due to their underlay and core density. Hybrid flooring, when combined with acoustic backings, reduces sound penetration while absorbing ambient noise and footfalls. As a result, hybrid flooring meets the majority of high-rise body corp sound transmission criteria.
Hybrid flooring need less upkeep. Because the planks are made of synthetic or composite materials, they may be brushed clean without causing water damage.
In contrast to other flooring solutions, where colour loss necessitates replacing or repairing the whole floor, if a plank is substantially damaged or scuffed, it may be replaced.
Replacing a plank is not always easy, and if the floor is exposed to direct sunlight, the new plank may get discoloured and stand out from the others.
The installation of a hybrid floor is simple. Because the underlay is built into the planks, hybrid flooring is simple to instal assuming the existing floor is level and secure.
What are the drawbacks of hybrid flooring?
Instead of being bonded or attached, the planks of hybrid flooring interlock and rest on the subfloor. As a consequence, the subfloor must be level and smooth.
Expansion gaps and joints may be required depending on the size of your floor. These spaces need skirting, covers, or scotias.
When stepping on floating flooring, joint movement may create clicking sounds.
What rooms benefit most from hybrid flooring?
Hybrid flooring is popular in kitchens, bathrooms, and laundries because to its water resistance. They are perfect for play areas because to their low maintenance, ease of cleaning, and thermal benefits.
Hybrid flooring is not suitable for rooms with heavy furniture such as grand pianos or billiard tables, which may ‘anchor’ the planks and cause problems later. Find Out More.
What exactly are vinyl planks?
Vinyl is a man-made material. They are a multi-ply flooring solution with four layers: an aluminium oxide top layer, a translucent film for further protection, a decorative layer designed to mimic real wood, stone, or ceramic tiles, and a vinyl backing layer.
Vinyl planks may be installed using either the loose lay method, in which they are laid on the floor without the use of glue or adhesives, or the glue down method. Underlay is bonded or attached for added stability in glue down installation.
Why should you use vinyl planks?
Vinyl is more pliable and flexible than composite boards. When trodden on, the planks ‘give’ slightly, making them softer than hardwood or composite flooring.
Vinyl planks, like hybrid planks, are heat and water resistant, simple to instal, and maintain.
Because vinyl planks are 100% synthetic, they are resistant to mould, germs, and insects, giving hygienic benefits.
What are the drawbacks of vinyl planks?
The disadvantages of vinyl planks are usually subjective. Synthetic items have a synthetic appearance and feel, which may be good or bad depending on your tastes.
Glued vinyl planks are difficult and time-consuming to remove.
Lower-quality vinyl planks and the adhesives used to attach them may emit VOCs, causing respiratory problems and other long-term health issues.
When vinyl planks come into contact with rubber, such as throw rug or mat backings, they may discolour.
100% synthetic vinyl planks are not easily recyclable and are thus not an environmentally friendly flooring option.
Vinyl flooring’s longevity is determined by the quality of the planks, the installation, and how well it is maintained. Vinyl flooring is less durable than engineered hardwood or hybrid floors.
Vinyl planks are a low-cost flooring option, but they do not increase the value of a property.
Vinyl planks work best in which rooms?
Vinyl planks, like hybrid planks, are excellent for damp situations such as kitchens, baths, and laundries. They are both comfortable and scratch-resistant, making them ideal for playrooms.
Vinyl planks are comfortable and absorb sound, making them ideal for bedrooms and living spaces.