Hybrid vs vinyl flooring

The main difference between hybrid flooring and vinyl planks is the body of the plank. Many vinyl planks are thin and flexible, and are glued to the subfloor. A hybrid plank is rigid, and usually thicker. Rigid means hard and stiff. It has a core of plastic composite, the planks click together, and the floor is a floating floor: it rests on the subfloor and is not fixed down. The subfloor is the floor under your new floor. Both have a printed design layer under a wear layer, so the two can look alike from above. The differences show in the subfloor each one needs, in the way it is laid and in the way it is repaired.

Hybrid and vinyl planks side by side

What each plank is made of

A vinyl plank is made of layers of flexible vinyl. On top are a printed design layer and a wear layer. Its trade names are luxury vinyl plank, or LVP, and luxury vinyl tile, or LVT. A hybrid plank has the same two top layers on a rigid core of plastic composite. The core that suppliers name most often is SPC, a mix of limestone powder and plastic. Many hybrid planks also have an underlay attached to the back.

One trade body for these floors lists rigid core flooring as a newer class of luxury vinyl. So a hybrid plank is, in part, a vinyl plank: it has a vinyl surface over a rigid core. Some suppliers call it hybrid vinyl or rigid core vinyl. Suppliers do not always use these names in the same way. When two shops use two names, check the product sheet. A rigid core of plastic composite and a click joint mean a hybrid floor.

How each floor is laid

A hybrid floor is a floating floor. The planks click into each other and rest on the subfloor. A gap is left at the walls and is covered by trims or skirting boards.

A glue-down vinyl plank is fixed to the subfloor with adhesive. One supplier calls this direct stick. One maker states that its glue-down planks can be laid without expansion gaps and without transition strips. A transition strip covers the join between two floors.

One maker's loose lay vinyl planks have a grip backing. The maker states that this backing does away with the need for adhesive over the whole floor. Its instructions still ask for adhesive in every case. For light foot traffic in a home, they ask for strips of adhesive along the walls, at doorways and every 4 metres across the floor. For more foot traffic, and for rooms such as a sunroom, they ask for adhesive over the whole floor.

The subfloor

Both floors need a subfloor that is flat, dry and solid. They differ in how smooth it must be.

• Vinyl planks. A thin, flexible plank follows the surface under it. One maker's instructions for its glue-down planks ask for a subfloor that is firm, hard, flat, level, smooth, dry and clean. Over old tiles, the same instructions give two ways: take the tiles up, or prepare them and spread a levelling compound, so that all grout lines are filled and do not show through. Grout lines are the filled joints between tiles. A levelling compound is a mix that is spread over a floor to make it flat and smooth.
• Hybrid flooring. A hybrid plank is rigid. 10 of the 12 hybrid suppliers we read name tiles as a floor that the planks can go over, or as a kind of subfloor. They give rules for the grout lines. All 12 state how flat the subfloor must be.

Our guide to hybrid flooring over tiles, concrete and floorboards shows these rules.

Water

Both floors have a vinyl surface. What a floor is made for is stated by its supplier, range by range. Suppliers use different words for how their floors cope with water, and those words matter. Bathrooms and laundries are wet areas under the National Construction Code. Before you choose either floor for a bathroom or a laundry, ask two questions. What does the supplier of this range state about wet areas? And what do the building rules require for this room in your home? Our guide Is hybrid flooring waterproof? shows what suppliers of hybrid floors state, word for word.

Wear and scratches

In both floors a wear layer takes the wear. Where the supplier states it, its thickness is given in millimetres, so you can compare a hybrid range and a vinyl plank range on the same line of the product sheet. On 85 of the 111 hybrid ranges we read, the supplier stated the wear layer. It was 0.5 mm on 52 ranges and 0.55 mm on 20 ranges. One maker of vinyl planks states 0.3 mm, 0.55 mm or 0.7 mm, by range. Ask what traffic the supplier states each range is made for.

Noise

A floating floor is not fixed down, so it can sound different from a glued floor. Two things you can check are the subfloor and the underlay. On 88 of the 111 hybrid ranges we read, the supplier stated an attached underlay. A glue-down vinyl plank is fixed straight to the subfloor. If you live in an apartment, ask your owners corporation or building manager what your building requires, before you order. Our guide to hybrid flooring underlay explains acoustic ratings.

Repairs

A damaged plank can be replaced in both floors, in different ways. One maker of vinyl planks states that single planks of its glue-down and loose lay floors can be lifted and replaced. In a hybrid floor the planks are locked to each other. So the floor is taken apart back to the damaged plank, or the plank is cut out and a new one is glued in. For deep damage, 3 of the 12 hybrid suppliers we read name a new plank. Our guide to hybrid flooring problems and repairs shows both ways.

Sun and heat

The instructions we read for both floors give rules about strong sun and heat. One maker of vinyl planks names a different adhesive for sunrooms and for rooms with very large windows. Hybrid suppliers give rules about direct sunlight, room temperature and heated floors. Our guide to hybrid flooring pros and cons shows them.

Which one fits which home

• Your old floor is tiles: 10 of the 12 hybrid suppliers we read name tiles as a floor that the planks can go over, or as a kind of subfloor. They give rules for the grout lines. For thin vinyl planks, the one maker's instructions we read ask for the grout lines to be filled, or for the tiles to be taken up.
• You want one floor through several rooms with no strips at the doorways: ask a supplier of glue-down vinyl planks, and ask about the subfloor work. A large hybrid floor needs expansion joints: 11 of the 12 suppliers we read state how large a floor may be before it needs one.
• The height of the floor matters, for example at a door: a thin vinyl plank adds less height than a hybrid plank.
• You live in an apartment: for either floor, start with the building's noise rules.

We sell hybrid flooring only.