Vinyl Plank vs Tile Flooring — Which Is Better?

This is one of the most common questions we get from homeowners across Norfolk County: should I go with vinyl plank or tile? These days there is a third choice in the mix, because vinyl now comes as tile too. We install tile and vinyl every week, and we sell the vinyl in our own shop, so we’ll tell you plainly where each one belongs and where it doesn’t.

Here’s the honest answer: no one floor is right for every room. The right choice depends on how wet the room gets, what’s under the floor now, how you live in it, and what you want to spend. This guide walks through it, and tells you when it’s quicker to just have us come and measure.

The Short Answer

Ceramic or porcelain tile for anything that gets properly wet: showers, tub surrounds, full bathroom floors, and entries that take boots and grit.

Vinyl plank for basements, living rooms, bedrooms and hallways, where warmth, comfort and a faster install matter most.

Vinyl tile when you want the look of marble or stone with the warmth and price of vinyl: kitchens, laundry rooms and powder rooms.

Vinyl Plank, Vinyl Tile and Ceramic Tile: What’s the Difference?

Luxury vinyl plank (LVP) comes in long boards made to look like wood. It is not the thin sheet vinyl or peel-and-stick of twenty years ago. It is a rigid, layered board: a waterproof core, a printed wood-grain layer, and a clear wear layer on top that takes the traffic. The boards click together and float over the subfloor.

Luxury vinyl tile (LVT) is the same product in a different shape. Instead of a wood-look board you get a larger rectangle, 12 by 24 inches in our case, made to look like marble or stone. Same kind of core, same wear layer, same click-together install. You’ll also see “LVT” used loosely for all luxury vinyl, planks included, which is where most of the confusion comes from.

Ceramic and porcelain tile is fired clay, set in mortar and grouted. It is harder, heavier and more permanent than any vinyl, and it is the only one of the three that belongs in a shower.

The key point: vinyl tile is still vinyl. A marble-look vinyl tile has the strengths and weaknesses of vinyl plank, not of porcelain. So the real decision is vinyl or tile first, and plank or tile shape second.

One more label you’ll meet when shopping: SPC and WPC. That is the core of the board. SPC (stone plastic composite) is denser and more rigid, so it resists dents well. WPC (wood plastic composite) is thicker and has a little more give, so it feels softer and quieter underfoot. Both are waterproof, and we carry both.

Side-by-Side Comparison

Water

All three shrug off a spill. They differ when water sits.

Vinyl plank and vinyl tile are waterproof through the board itself. The floor as a whole is a different matter: it is a floating floor with seams and edges, and standing water can work down through them to the subfloor, where you can’t see it.

Tile doesn’t mind water, though cement grout absorbs it unless it has been sealed. In a shower there is no debate: tile, with the waterproofing behind it. Here is how we build a tiled shower.

Durability

Tile wins for hardness and for the long term. Porcelain is one of the hardest floors you can put in a house. The grit, chair legs and dog claws that will eventually mark a vinyl wear layer leave it untouched, and a well-installed tile floor can last for decades, often as long as the house.

Vinyl wins for forgiveness. It has a little give, so it copes with slight movement in the floor better than tile, which can crack if the floor under it flexes. The number to look at is the wear layer: ours run from 12 mil to 20 mil, and thicker stands up to more traffic. The vinyl planks in our shop carry a 25-year residential warranty.

The catch with each: a cracked tile can be replaced, but an older tile may have been discontinued, so keep a few spares. Vinyl can’t be refinished: a floor that is worn through gets replaced.

Comfort & Warmth

Vinyl wins clearly. It doesn’t pull the heat out of your feet the way tile does, and it has some give. Stand at the kitchen counter for an hour and you’ll feel the difference.

Tile is hard and cold, with one good answer: heat under it. We install electric in-floor heat under tile. It adds cost, and it has to be planned before the floor goes down, not added afterwards.

Installation

Vinyl is faster and less disruptive. Planks and vinyl tiles click together and float on the subfloor, with no mortar or grout to cure. A typical vinyl plank installation takes us 1 to 4 days, depending on the size of the floor.

Tile goes in stages: getting the floor ready, then the tile, then the grout, and each stage needs time to set before the next one starts. On average a tile floor installation takes 3 to 5 days.

Either way, the floor is only as good as the prep underneath it. Both need a flat, solid floor. When the old floor has to come up or the subfloor needs levelling, we do that as part of the job.

Handy? A click-together vinyl floor is a realistic do-it-yourself project, and we’re glad to sell you the flooring on its own. Tile is much harder to get right.

Cost

Vinyl usually costs less, mostly because it goes down faster.

For the flooring itself, the vinyl plank in our shop runs from $3.99 per square foot for a 6.5 mm plank like Canadiana to $6.49 for a 9 mm plank like Turkey Point. Our vinyl tile is $4.89. For a 200 square foot room, that puts the flooring at roughly $800 to $1,300 before tax, plus a little extra for cuts. Installation is quoted separately and typically adds $2 to $4 per square foot.

Ceramic and porcelain tile ranges much wider: from about $2 per square foot for a basic tile to $15 or more for large-format or designer tile. You pick out and buy the tile, and we supply everything else the job needs. Tile installation typically runs $6 to $15 per square foot, depending on the tile, the pattern and the floor underneath.

The price per square foot is only part of it: stairs, an old floor to take up, a subfloor that needs levelling and new baseboards all change the number. That is what the free measurement is for.

Our Recommendation by Room

Basements

Usually vinyl plank. On a concrete slab, vinyl is warmer and more comfortable than tile, it isn’t damaged by damp the way hardwood and laminate are, and it goes in fast. Vinyl tile works just as well if you’d rather have a stone look in a rec room or laundry area. Tile is a fine choice on a sound slab too.

One honest rule first: if your basement has had water in it, fix that before you choose any floor. No flooring fixes a wet basement.

Bathrooms

Ceramic or porcelain tile for a full bathroom. Water lands on that floor every day, around the tub, the shower and the toilet, and that is exactly where a floating floor is weakest. Tile, carried right up to the shower, is the safe choice.

A powder room is different. With only a toilet and a sink there is very little water, so vinyl is a reasonable pick there, and a marble-look vinyl tile like Frozen Bay gives you the look for less money and a faster install. Shower walls and shower floors are always tile.

Kitchens

Either one. It comes down to how you use the room. Choose tile for the hardest, longest-lasting floor. Choose vinyl if you’re on your feet cooking a lot and want something warmer and more forgiving.

This is the room where vinyl tile makes the most sense: a marble or stone look that suits a kitchen, without the cold floor or the grout lines to scrub. One thing to plan for: a floating vinyl floor is laid around fixed cabinets and islands, not under them, so settle the kitchen layout before the floor goes in.

At a Glance

When to Just Call for a Measurement

Reading only gets you so far. Some things can’t be judged from a guide, and it’s quicker to have us look. Call if:

• You don’t know the square footage, or the room isn’t a simple rectangle.
• There are stairs, or the new floor has to meet tile, hardwood or carpet at a doorway.
• The floor bounces or slopes, or there is an old floor you’re not sure can stay.
• It’s a bathroom or a basement and you can’t decide between vinyl and tile.
• You want heat under a tile floor.

We come to you, measure the space and give you an exact quote. It’s free, with no obligation. We look at what’s on the floor now and tell you honestly what we’d put there. Ask about samples too, so you can see the colours in your own home’s light before you choose.

Rather start from your phone? Send us photos of the room and rough measurements, and tell us what’s on the floor now. That is usually enough for us to tell you what the job involves.

The Bottom Line

Tile is the right choice when water, hard wear and the long term are the priority. Vinyl is the right choice when comfort, warmth, a faster install and budget are the priority. Plank or tile shape is then simply the look you like: wood, or stone.

For most Norfolk County homes, the answer is actually both: tile in the bathrooms and at the back door, vinyl through the living areas, bedrooms and basement. We install both, including the transitions where the two floors meet.

If you’re trying to decide what’s right for your project, give us a call or text at 519-909-6658 or email info@stylesoftiles.com. We’re happy to talk through your room and give you an honest recommendation.

Vinyl the winner for you? Every vinyl plank and vinyl tile floor we sell is in our vinyl flooring shop, with its price per square foot.

BROWSE VINYL FLOORING

Styles of Tiles supplies vinyl plank and vinyl tile flooring, and installs tile and vinyl floors across Port Dover, Simcoe, Delhi, Waterford, and surrounding Norfolk, Haldimand, and Brant County communities.