Types of Vinyl Flooring: A Toronto Buyer’s Guide

• How vinyl is built
• Sheet vinyl
• Vinyl tile
• Luxury vinyl plank
• SPC and WPC
• Where EVP fits
• Compare the types
• Float or glue down
• Which suits your room
• Frequently asked questions

Every vinyl floor is a stack of thin layers, and the type names describe the middle of that stack.

The wear layer, not the total thickness, decides how a floor ages. Vinyl cannot be sanded and refinished the way solid wood can, so the wear layer you buy is the one you keep.

Sheet vinyl arrives as a roll, commonly 12 feet wide, and is cut to the shape of the room. In a bathroom or a laundry room that often means a floor with no seams at all, and it is the cheapest vinyl by a wide margin.

The trade-off is the subfloor. Sheet is only 1.5 to 4 mm thick and copies whatever is underneath, so every screw head and dip shows through. It is glued down and needs a smooth, well fastened base, and a bad tear is hard to patch.

Two products get called vinyl tile. VCT, vinyl composition tile, is the commercial one: 1/8 inch squares of limestone filler bound with PVC, used in schools and hospitals. It is cheap and tough but porous, and it is kept up with floor polish and buffing, which is why it has left the home market.

LVT, luxury vinyl tile, is the residential product: a flexible tile around 2 to 3 mm thick with a printed stone or ceramic look, glued down. Separate pieces can be laid with grout lines, giving close to the look of porcelain on a warmer, quieter surface. For the real thing, see our tile range.

Luxury vinyl plank, or LVP, is the same construction in a plank shape with a wood look. Dryback planks are glued down and are the thinnest option, which keeps the floor height down where you meet existing flooring. Click LVP, usually 4 to 5 mm, locks together and floats.

Flexible planks bend, so they follow the subfloor rather than bridging it: level an uneven floor first, or move up to rigid core. A single damaged plank can be swapped out, an advantage over sheet.

Most of our vinyl catalogue is now rigid core, which splits in two.

SPC, stone plastic composite, is limestone powder mixed with PVC. It is dense and thin, usually 4 to 7 mm, barely moves when the temperature swings, and hides minor subfloor imperfections. It is hard and can sound hollow, so look for an attached pad. SPC is made in wood looks as much as stone looks, and wood-grain SPC is the most common vinyl floor sold today.

WPC, wood plastic composite, uses a foamed PVC core with wood flour in it. It is thicker, roughly 5.5 to 8 mm, and warmer and quieter underfoot, but the softer core dents more easily under a fridge leg or a heavy stool.

Both click together and float, and both are highly water-resistant. Standing water will not swell the core, but it can still reach the subfloor through the seams.

EVP, engineered vinyl plank, is a marketing name, not a separate product. An EVP board is a rigid core click plank, usually SPC or WPC, normally with an attached underlay. If a supplier says EVP has a fibreboard core, they are describing laminate, not vinyl, and the two behave differently around water. Recycled content and air emissions testing vary by manufacturer, so ask for the specification sheet.

This choice sets the labour rate and how the floor behaves. Floating floors lock to each other and sit loose on the subfloor with an expansion gap at every wall. Glue-down floors are bonded to a subfloor that must be flat, clean and dry.

Glue-down costs more because the subfloor work is less forgiving and the adhesive is part of the job, but it holds up better under heavy furniture and in large open runs. Loose lay is quoted at the glue-down rate, since it is prepared the same way.

Material is priced separately. Taking up the old floor is included; subfloor levelling and stairs are quoted after a free in-home measure across Toronto and the GTA. See how we handle vinyl flooring installation in Toronto, or what a flooring renovation costs.

Choosing between the two big brands? Read COREtec vs Shaw Floorté, or compare laminate vs vinyl plank before you decide on vinyl at all.

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• Basement. SPC. A Toronto basement slab is cold, sometimes damp and swings in temperature, and the limestone core is the most stable option. Float it with the pad the manufacturer specifies.
• Kitchen. SPC, or glue-down LVT or LVP on a large open run. Glue-down does not shift under an island or a fridge, and there is no expansion gap to plan around cabinets.
• Condo. WPC or a click plank with an acoustic pad. Most Toronto condo boards set a minimum sound rating for hard flooring, so check the rules before ordering.
• Bedroom. WPC or a thicker click LVP. Warmth and quiet matter more here than dent resistance, and a 12 mil wear layer is plenty.