So, What Exactly Are the Differences Between Luxury Vinyl Tile and Luxury Vinyl Plank?

Luxury vinyl plank (LVP) and luxury vinyl tile (LVT) flooring are two high-end subsets of the larger vinyl flooring category. Both are light years beyond the flimsy vinyl floors of yesteryear, with significant advancements in durability, versatility, and style. And they both offer notable improvements over even modern sheet vinyl.  Though they are quite similar in construction and tend to offer nearly identical feature sets, there are a few key distinctions that might affect your decision when choosing between LVP and LVT.

The most evident differences between these two products are the shape of each flooring piece and the surface visuals.

As the name suggests, luxury vinyl plank is built to mimic the look of a wood plank. That means it will be manufactured in a rectangular form factor, with one dimension significantly longer than the other—just like a plank of real hardwood flooring. Additionally, the photorealistic image that graces the surface of the luxury vinyl plank will be that of wood. Thanks to its man-made nature, just about any wood species, grain pattern, and “stain” color can be recreated in a piece of vinyl plank.

Luxury vinyl tile, as you can probably guess, is a vinyl floor product that replicates the appearance of traditional tile or stone flooring. LVT’s surface image will often feature the artisan aesthetics of ceramic tile or the colors and veining of fine stone materials like marble or travertine. When it comes to dimensions, vinyl tile will often be crafted in a square format, though there are also some LVT products offered in rectangular formats that may be closer in dimensions to a vinyl plank but still feature the look of tile or stone.

How is Each Type of Luxury Vinyl Installed?

Though not always visually evident, there is often a difference in how LVT and LVP are installed. Luxury vinyl tile is installed with an industrial adhesive. Each individual vinyl tile gets glued directly to the subfloor in a method similar to traditional tile installation. If a customer chooses, LVT can also be installed with gaps between each tile to allow for grouting, again, just like a ceramic or porcelain tile floor. This option is almost entirely an aesthetic choice.

In contrast, luxury vinyl plank flooring typically uses a click-and-lock construction that interlocks each plank to its neighboring planks and does not require adhesive, nailing, or any type of securing to the subfloor. This installation method tends to be more efficient and cost-effective and allows for easy installation on nearly any type of subfloor material, including existing tile or hardwood floors.

Though the installation methods may differ, the range of applications does not. Anywhere one can go, so can the other. Both LVT and LVP are suitable for all areas of the home, including below-grade floors and directly onto a concrete slab. That means you can choose either for your bathroom, mudroom, or even the basement.

LVT vs LVP: Under the Surface is What Matters

When it comes to practical aspects like materials, durability, and flooring features, most luxury vinyl plank and luxury vinyl tile products from Empire Today® are practically interchangeable. If a vinyl tile product has particular features you are interested in, there will almost certainly be a vinyl plank model that offers the same set of features.

Beyond the superficial differences, luxury vinyl plank and luxury vinyl tile are essentially the same product by all other metrics. Both are constructed around a highly stable vinyl core, which gives them excellent overall durability, and they are both finished with a specialized wear layer that resists scratches, scuffs, and staining. And both vinyl plank and vinyl tile will usually be embossed with a texture that matches the wood grain or stone patterns on the surface.

All LVT and LVP flooring products from Empire® are built with Aqua Defense technology, which makes them a fully waterproof flooring choice. They will all also typically be resistant to mold and mildew formation. Their robust construction makes them equally easy to take care of, with neither requiring any routine maintenance beyond regular sweeping and mopping up of any larger messes.

Overall, the similarities between luxury vinyl plank and luxury vinyl tile tend to outweigh the differences. In the end, if you’ve heard about LVP and LVT but weren’t sure which would be better suited for your needs, the answer will usually be simple: pick which one you like the look of! Nearly any functional flooring need you have can be solved equally well by each product type. In the end, the main decision you’ll really need to make is what kind of look you want in your home. Schedule an in-home estimate with Empire and a flooring professional will bring a full catalog of LVT and LVP samples directly to you, to make the shopping process even easier.

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After coming to this conclusion, many shoppers will automatically opt for porcelain or ceramic tile. These flooring stalwarts have been the go-to choice for bathrooms and kitchens for ages due mostly to their durability and high level of water resistance. And they are a great fit for these rooms, with a large variety of styles and features to choose from. However, though tile is an incredibly popular choice for moisture-prone areas of the home, it can come with its own set of disadvantages.

The properties that make ceramic or porcelain tile such a durable waterproof flooring option are also the source of its main downsides, and those downsides are especially evident in the rooms where you most want waterproof floors: the bathroom and the kitchen. If you’ve ever stepped barefoot onto a cold tile floor during a middle-of-the-night trip to the bathroom, you know that they can get uncomfortably cold. And while ceramic and porcelain’s incredible material hardness is a huge advantage when it comes to durability, that same asset can become a source of discomfort if you spend a lot of time walking or standing on a tile floor. Many home chefs (or dishwashers!) can relate to that point. Lastly, tile can make a room sound echoey and harshly loud.

Luxury Vinyl Tile and Plank Are Stylish, Durable Waterproof Flooring Options

Thankfully, there is a type of flooring that solves each of those nits without sacrificing water resistance or style—and it may even fit your budget better. That miracle material? Luxury vinyl flooring. While not a new product, luxury vinyl flooring options have continued to fly under the radar because of their association with the flimsy products many remember from decades past. But today’s luxury vinyl plank and tile are a far cry from the rolled linoleum that graced the floor of Grandpa’s basement.

Thanks to Aqua Defense technology, both luxury vinyl tile (LVT) and luxury vinyl plank (LVP) are fully waterproof flooring products. They offer incredible durability—on par with or better than ceramic or porcelain tiles—with many luxury vinyl products from Empire Today® covered by limited lifetime warranties against wear. But aesthetes need not worry that LVT and LVP are some kind of homely utilitarian flooring materials that prioritize function over form. In fact, the truth is the exact opposite.

Advanced construction methods lend luxury vinyl floors a high-end look and feel that, in many cases, can be nearly indistinguishable from real tile or hardwood floors. The photorealistic surface image accurately recreates the appearance of tile, stone, or hardwood, while the embossed textures convincingly mimic the feel of those materials. Many people don’t realize that LVT and LVP are man-made materials, even when they’re standing right on the floor. And as the product category has continued to grow in popularity, the selection of LVT and LVP available from Empire® has come to offer significantly more style options that traditional tile.

Best of all, as waterproof flooring products, they match tile’s best qualities while avoiding the aforementioned downsides. Though it is a hard surface flooring, there is a small amount of flexibility inherent to the vinyl material, which goes a long way when it comes to underfoot feel. Luxury vinyl flooring will be noticeably more comfortable to walk barefoot or stand on for long periods of time. The synthetic surface will also feel warmer than a tile floor when the temperatures dip. That flexibility also tends to make rooms with vinyl floors a bit quieter than if the same surfaces were covered in porcelain or ceramic tile. Additionally, a variety of underlayment choices can further augment each of these benefits—an option not possible with traditional tile, which needs to be installed on a totally rigid surface to prevent the risk of cracking.

Overall, vinyl products offer perhaps the most comprehensive solution when having waterproof floors is your main goal, but also strongly value style and comfort. If you’ve been debating new floors for your kitchen, bathroom, or anywhere else where water damage is a risk, but aren’t thrilled by the idea of ceramic tile, then luxury vinyl flooring might be exactly what you need.

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