The three floors we get asked about most. Each has a place where it is the right choice and a place where it is a mistake. Here is how to decide.
For materials only, before installation, starting prices:
These are entry prices. The top of each category can cost two to three times more. Add the underlay, the mouldings and the installation. Hardwood costs more to install because it is nailed and sometimes sanded and varnished on site.
This is the criterion that eliminates options before you even talk about style.
Solid hardwood has no place in a basement or a bathroom. It moves with humidity, it swells, it lifts. In a basement, it is rigid-core vinyl, or engineered wood laid on a membrane, never solid.
Floating floors tolerate standing water poorly. One dishwasher leak and the joints swell. In a kitchen, it can be done, with a quality product and tight joints. In a bathroom, avoid it.
Vinyl is the only one of the three that does not mind water. It is the default choice for a bathroom, an entrance, a laundry room.
A floating floor is, by definition, laid without being fastened. It resonates. In an upstairs room, above a living room, you hear every step. A good underlay solves part of the problem, not all of it. Nailed hardwood and glued vinyl are quieter. If you have children upstairs, this matters more than the price.
Hardwood is the only one of the three that adds perceived value to a house. A buyer sees hardwood and notes a plus. They see laminate and note "to replace some day". Quality vinyl, cleanly installed, is neutral: neither more nor less. If you are selling in five years, hardwood in the main rooms is justified. If you are staying twenty years, choose what you like.
On a floating or click vinyl floor, installation is often a third of the bill. On hardwood, it can be half, especially if sanding and varnishing are needed. What drives up the installation is not the material: it is what is underneath. Removing an old glued floor, levelling a slab, replacing a soft subfloor. A quote that says nothing about preparation will probably come back with an extra.
Basement and bathroom: vinyl. Main rooms, if the budget allows: hardwood. Upstairs bedrooms, tight budget: quality laminate with a good underlay. And in every case, ask for the subfloor preparation to be quoted separately.
September 16, 2026
September 16, 2026
