Menu
Water Resistant Flooring refers to the flooring that can substrate from water infiltration. It can withstand topical spills, pet mishaps or moisture tracked in on a rainy day. As long as you wipe up the spill quickly, the floor will be fine. But since it is only water resistant, you don’t expect the vinyl flooring to hold up to long time spills or an over flowing bath. It can only hold up to small spills that are dealt with quickly.
Waterproof Flooring refers to the flooring that can substrate from water infiltration. This is a permanent effect which means the water will not penetrate the flooring. No matter how much time goes by. And more importantly, it can not only take on topical spills, but can with be with bigger accidents, like overflowing bath.
Flooring is one of the most important things when doing interior decoration. A beautiful and quality flooring will surely help to increase satisfaction. So it is very important to make a correct decision on flooring buying.
But still people are confused about what is water resistant and waterproof flooring. Actually the debate surrounding water resistant and waterproof is long lived, but few people truly understand the difference.
In this article we will talk about water resistant and waterproof in details, and we will also analyze one by one whether it is water resistant or waterproof of Carpet, Hardwood, Laminate, Bamboo, Ceramic tile, porcelain tile, vinyl flooring and rubber flooring.
It’s an in-depth article that takes 30 minutes to read.
Navigation, click to jump to the section you want to read
Water resistant is the lower level of water protection. It means it is able to resist the penetration of water to some degree but not entirely. It will make it more difficult for water to get inside of it, but after a period of exposure, or a certain amount of pressure, water will either soak it or seep through.
Waterproof means it is impervious to water. It will keep water from entering into it, even lots of water and after a long time period, the item with waterproof should be totally sealed or protected from the effects of water. Once you clean the water, the item will look fine without any damage.
Now that you already know the definitions of both water resistant and waterproof, it will be very easy to define water resistant vinyl flooring and water resistant vinyl flooring.
Both terms refer to vinyl flooring that can prevent water, which is great for bathrooms or kitchens.
Water Resistant Vinyl Flooring refers to the vinyl flooring that can substrate from water infiltration. It can withstand topical spills, pet mishaps or moisture tracked in on a rainy day. As long as you wipe up the spill quickly, the floor will be fine. But since it is only water resistant, you don’t expect the vinyl flooring to hold up to long time spills or an over flowing bath. It can only hold up to small spills that are dealt with quickly.
Waterproof Vinyl Flooring also refers to the vinyl flooring that can substrate from water infiltration. This is a permanent effect which means the water will not penetrate the flooring. No matter how much time goes by. And more importantly, it can not only take on topical spills, but can with be with bigger accidents, like overflowing bath.
In a word, water resistant is for small spill of water with quickly cleaning. While waterproof can deal with more water and stand with the water for a long time.
For the flooring itself, some of the vinyl floorings are water resistant, while some are waterproof.
Normally all the vinyl flooring is water resistant cause it is made by PVC powder and it is a kind of plastic flooring, or many people also call it PVC flooring. So it is not difficult to make it water resistant. But not all the vinyl floorings are waterproof; it will need better material, better production machine, and better production process to make waterproof floorings. Which means it will need higher cost to make the vinyl flooring from water resistant to waterproof.
Tips: Normlally when people talking about waterproof flooring, they only mean the flooring material itself. While we still need waterproof installation to reach Installed Waterproof Flooring. (Which we will talk about below. ..)
Actually this is the key difference when we define an installed vinyl flooring is water resistant or waterproof. Actually if you need a vinyl flooring to against water, it will be very easy for you to find a flooring itself waterproof, but they fail to make it truly waterproof during installation.
This means we will have to make the installation process waterproof. Below are some requirements to achieve waterproof installation:
Sealing joint: you will have to hot welding and seal all the joints during installation. In this case we will make sure the joint area will have the same flooring effect as the flooring itself. There will be no gap at all, even the invisible gap. As long as it is not sealing joint, the water will go down eventually after a period of time. So if it is no sealing joint, it is water resistant, if it is sealing joint, it is waterproof standard.
Protection of joints to the wall: In order to get waterproof effect, you will also have to make protection on the flooring joints to the wall. Actually this is the same problem of the joints between flooring, but sometimes people will do welding joints between floorings, but they will not do protection on the joints between flooring and wall. Normally we will fold a piece of vinyl flooring up, and weld the flooring joint if any. In this case even there is water on the flooring, it will not come down underneath. As long as somebody clean it, the flooring will still be in perfect condition.
This is not essential, but it will help to increase the water resistant quality. That’s why many underlayments will mention waterproof function. I mean a good subfloor condition will not make it waterproof, but it will make the water resistant in a very high level and close to waterproof. This is extremely helpful when the flooring is waterproof, but there is not sealing joints on the floor. The waterproof subfloor will largely increase the water resistant function and keep the flooring from damage of water.
Here we will define water resistant and waterproof flooring as below 4 levels:
Note: When the seller declaims their floorings are waterproof flooring, please check with them is their flooring material waterproof or the installed flooring waterproof.
Regular carpet instantly absorbs fluids and stains, which can leave permanent marks on the flooring. So basically if the carpet is made of wool fibers; which are the regular daily carpet, then it is not water resistant.
But there are waterproof carpets in the market which is made of nylon fiber. Such carpet provides a revolutionary flooring solution that offers a cozy and easy to clean flooring solution. Stains don’t sink in and can easily and quickly be removed. Since spills are automatically repelled from waterproof carpet, stains don’t even get a chance to take hold. Because waterproof carpet resists all moisture and spills, waterproof carpet maintains its beauty even in difficult conditions. Waterproof carpet is resistant to wet environments and can even withstand flood conditions.
Regarding the installation, even though the waterproof carpet can come in roll, but it is seldom to be with sealing joints. If you install waterproof underlayment for this carpet, then the installed carpet will be very close to waterproof.
Conclusion:
Regular fiber carpet is not water resistant.
But there is waterproof carpet flooring in the market.
It cannot reach installed waterproof flooring level, but can be in high level of water resistant and close to waterproof installed flooring.
Solid hardwood is a completely organic material that is sensitive to moisture changes. Solid Hardwood flooring requires more maintenance due to its sensitivity to water. You can’t leave standing water on hardwood because it can cause a visual change or structural shift to your floor.
Conclusion:
Hardwood is non water resistant.
Laminate Flooring combines the look and feel of real hardwood with water-resistant technology to protect your floor from everyday spills and splashes. Which means the laminate wood flooring itself can be water resistant.
But it can only stand a small spill, so the flooring itself is not waterproof.
Conclusion:
Laminate wood flooring can be water resistant, but cannot be waterproof flooring.
Bamboo flooring will be very similar to hardwood flooring. It is fully organic material that is sensitive to water, the water will damage the bamboo flooring.
Conclusion:
Bamboo flooring is non water resistant
The basic ceramic tile is not water resistant, but today most of the producer will choose to make special treatment on the surface of ceramic tile and make it water resistant, even some can reach waterproof.
If you splash water onto tiles, you will find that the water lands on the surface and stays there in a puddle until you wipe it up. This means you don’t need to worry about large amounts of water being absorbed, and you also don’t need to worry about stains or other issues in the kitchen. For the most part, you can treat ceramic tiles as though they were waterproof.
The problem is the installation, it is impossible to fill the gap with fully waterproof method. So it cannot reach the level of installed waterproof flooring.
Conclusion:
Ceramic tile can be water resistant.
Some of the ceramic tile can be waterproof.
But it cannot be installed waterproof flooring.
Porcelain tile is better than ceramic tile, or we can call porcelain tile is the upgrade version of ceramic tile. We typically refer to all porcelain tiles as “waterproof” because water will not have a significant impact on the top of the tile or on the body of the tile.
The problem is the installation, it is impossible to fill the gap with fully waterproof method. So it cannot reach the level of installed waterproof flooring.
Conclusion:
Porcelain tile is water resistant
Porcelain tile is waterproof
But porcelain tile cannot be installed waterproof flooring.
CVT(composite vinyl tile), LVT(luxury vinyl tile), LVP( luxury vinyl plank), SPC, WPC and vinyl sheet are all vinyl floorings.
Vinyl flooring is one of the most popular floorings nowadays for it is durable and affordable price.
All vinyl floorings are water resistant.
For CVT, LVT, LVP, SPC and WPC, with special treatment on the surface, it can be waterproof flooring, and this is the main trend now.
But since it is very difficult to do all sealing joints, so it is still cannot be installed waterproof flooring.
Vinyl sheet (included both homogeneous sheet vinyl flooring and heterogeneous sheet vinyl flooring) is the only vinyl flooring that can reach installed waterproof flooring. Normally the vinyl sheet flooring itself is waterproof, with sealing joints and waterproof treatment against the wall, it can reach 100% installed waterproof flooring.
Conclusion:
CVT, LVT, LVP, SPC and WPC are waterproof flooring. But not installed waterproof flooring.
Vinyl sheet flooring is waterproof flooring, and installed waterproof flooring.
Actually rubber flooring is having the same situation as vinyl flooring.
Rubber tile is waterproof flooring, but normally it will not seal the joints, so it is not installed waterproof flooring.
While the sealing joint rubber sheet flooring is installed waterproof flooring.
Conclusion:
Rubber tile is waterproof flooring, but not installed waterproof flooring.
Rubber sheet is waterproof flooring, and can be installed waterproof flooring.
Vinyl sheet = Rubber sheet > vinyl tile = rubber tile > porcelain tile > ceramic tile > waterproof carpet > laminate wood flooring > hardwood = bamboo > fiber carpet.
Normally when the seller declaims that his flooring is waterproof, it only means the flooring material itself is waterproof, and this is what we call Waterproof flooring. But if you need true waterproof flooring, please make sure you choose installed waterproof flooring that both flooring material and installation process are waterproof.
This article is written by Longda Flooring (www.longdaflooring.com), the largest vinyl sheet flooring manufacturer from China.
Please contact Longda flooring for a free quote on your vinyl flooring needs. We have quick response, efficient communication, quality products, on time delivery, and competitive price.
Copy right by Longda China