PVC or laminate: which floor should you choose for your whole home?

What is the difference between PVC and laminate?

Laminate is a board of pressed wood fibre with a photographic layer and a hard top layer. PVC is a synthetic floor with a wear layer on top, either as a click floor or glued to the subfloor. They look alike, but they behave very differently in a home.

Prices are indications of common market prices in Belgium in 2026, taken from public price overviews, and exclude VAT. For the renovation of a home over 10 years old you will usually pay 6% VAT, otherwise 21%. You will hear your exact price after a visit or in your quote, following the free consultation.

With laminate, look at the wear class. AC4 is suitable for a living room, AC5 for spaces with a lot of foot traffic. With PVC, look at the thickness of the wear layer: the thicker it is, the longer the floor keeps its appearance.

Can you use PVC or laminate with underfloor heating?

Both, as long as the floor conducts heat well. Flooring suppliers use a total thermal resistance of 0.15 m²K/W as the limit, for the floor and underlay together. If you also want the underfloor heating to cool in summer, the limit is 0.10 m²K/W.

At 0.01 to 0.03 m²K/W, glued PVC is well below that limit, which is why it passes on heat fastest. A PVC click floor comes in at 0.04 to 0.08 m²K/W. With 9 mm laminate the floor itself is already around 0.06 m²K/W, so you choose a thin underlay that is suitable for underfloor heating.

If underfloor heating is installed in the floor and you want to use it as your main heating, glued PVC is therefore the safest choice. For any floor, ask for the thermal resistance of the floor and underlay combined; the value of the plank alone tells you too little.

What do PVC or laminate cost for a whole home?

The price per m² depends on the type of floor and on the subfloor. This is what it looks like for a home with 90 m² of floor, not including covering the staircase:

Indications of common market prices in 2026, including materials and fitting, excluding VAT; usually 6% VAT for homes over 10 years old. You will hear your exact price after the free consultation.

Glued PVC lies tight on the subfloor, so every unevenness shows through. That is why a levelling layer, with drying time, is often part of the job. A click floor floats on an underlay and is less demanding.

Remember to include the skirting boards too. Next to a new floor, old, yellowed skirting boards stand out immediately. Sanding and painting skirting boards costs €9.99 per metre with us: for 70 metres of skirting that is €699.30, excluding VAT.

If you lay one floor throughout the whole ground floor, it runs on without thresholds. That looks calmer and saves on transition profiles. Next to a new kitchen or bathroom, the floor is a modest item if you are renovating a terraced house.

Isn’t PVC simply weaker than laminate?

Not if you choose the right quality. PVC is softer, and a heavy cabinet on narrow legs can press a dent into it. Felt pads or wide caps prevent that. For walking, chairs and playing children, a PVC floor with a sturdy wear layer is strong enough.

The weak spot is rarely the floor itself, but the preparation. A floor on a bumpy or damp subfloor will creak, crack or come loose, whether it is PVC or laminate.

The same goes for the work on the walls. Plastering brings moisture into the house: according to Knauf, gypsum plaster is dry after about four weeks under good conditions. So you lay a new floor only once the walls are finished. That also keeps it free of plaster residue and paint splashes.

If you live in an apartment, first look up the sound requirements of the owners’ association (VME) in the basic deed or the co-ownership regulations. They apply to both PVC and laminate, and you meet them with the right underlay. Pass them on during the consultation.

How do you have the flooring and finishing done by us?

In a renovation or a new-build home, the floor is the last big step. First comes everything that goes inside the walls, then the walls and ceilings, the woodwork, and then the floor and fitting the skirting boards. We follow the same order when finishing a new-build home.

Request a quote or call us on weekdays between 9:00 and 17:00. In the free consultation we discuss which floor you want and what is happening to the walls. We price the finishing at fixed prices from our price list, such as renovation fleece with a coat of paint from €14.99 per m², excluding VAT.

If you agree, we measure up and check the walls, and we start on the day we agree together. Our four in-house contractor teams lay the floor, and our 97 in-house tradespeople do the finishing. That way you can have your whole home renovated or your new-build home finished with a single point of contact, across Belgium.