Put LVP in the kitchen, the laundry, the bathroom and at whatever door the dog uses, because water sitting on top won't hurt it. Laminate is firmer underfoot and takes claws well, so it's a fair pick for dry bedrooms and living rooms. Neither one fixes a wet subfloor. Labour to lay roughly a thousand square feet of either sits between $2,000 and $8,000, going by Portland-area market figures for November 2026 . Here's how we lay both floors.
Slava writing. My 7 years of hands-on work have put a lot of both floors under my knees, and this page is my answer when someone holds up two sample planks and asks which one.
What is the difference between laminate and LVP?
Laminate is a board made of pressed wood fibre (HDF) with a photo of wood grain printed on it and a hard clear layer over the top. LVP, luxury vinyl plank, is plastic from top to bottom: either a flexible vinyl plank or a rigid core made of stone-plastic (SPC) or wood-plastic (WPC), again with a printed image and a clear wear layer on top.
Wood fibre drinks water and swells. Vinyl doesn't. Nearly everything below follows from that.
| Laminate | LVP | |
|---|---|---|
| Spill on the surface | fine if wiped up soon | fine |
| Water left in the seams | edges swell and stay raised | plank unharmed; water can pass to the subfloor |
| Feel and sound | hard, firm, a bit louder | softer and quieter; rigid core sits between |
| Claws and grit | hard top resists scratching well | depends on the wear layer; thin ones mark |
| Heavy furniture | holds up | cheap thin planks can dent |
| One bad plank | can be swapped | can be swapped |
| What it needs below | a flat, dry subfloor | a flat, dry subfloor |
Which one handles water and a damp house better?
From above, LVP wins without much argument. Wet boots, a tipped water bowl, a kid climbing out of the bath: the plank doesn't care. Laminate sold as "water-resistant" gives you time to grab a towel, but if water stands in a seam long enough to soak into the core, those edges puff up and don't dry back flat.
From below is where people get caught. A lot of older west-side houses sit on a wood subfloor over a vented crawl space; think of the 1960s and 70s places around Cedar Mill, or Cedar Hills, where many homes go back to the 1950s. A damp crawl space, a dishwasher or toilet that weeps for months, or moisture trapped under a floating floor reaches that plywood no matter which plank is on top. "Waterproof" describes the plank, not the floor. Water that gets through the seams or in at the walls sits on the wood under your LVP, hidden, and nobody knows until the floor goes soft.
So before choosing, look for soft spots underfoot, dark stains near appliances, and a musty smell when you lift the crawl space access cover. Sort those out first; vents, access doors and water getting in are covered under crawl space repairs. For what goes between plank and plywood over a crawl space, we follow the floor maker's installation guide for that product.
Is laminate or LVP easier to live with when you have dogs and kids?
Claws are where laminate earns its place. Its hard top usually shrugs off scratches better than a budget LVP with a thin wear layer. A heavier wear layer narrows that gap, so read the spec sheet on any vinyl you're considering for a big dog.
Accidents change the picture. Pee or a water bowl left overnight on laminate gets into the seams and swells them. LVP wipes clean, though urine that sits in the joints can still find its way to the subfloor and leave a smell you can't mop out. Laminate is also louder, so you'll hear every click of nails down the hall; vinyl is quieter and a little kinder to knees when kids are playing on it. Both handle ordinary family wear. Neither likes a dresser dragged across it.
Here in the rain season the back door takes the beating: wet paws, muddy boots, fir needles tracked in. That entry is where I'd lean hardest toward vinyl.
How far apart is the labour for the two floors?
Not far. The figures below are market numbers for the Portland area as of November 2026, and every one is labour only: planks and underlayment are a separate bill. The first two rows are market data; the prep rows are hour-based estimates at local rates.
| Job | Usually | Range | Size | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Laying LVP | $4,000 | $2,000 to $8,000 | a 1,000 sq ft job | labour only |
| Laying laminate | $3,500 | $2,000 to $7,000 | a 1,000 sq ft job | labour only |
| Fixing soft or wet plywood under the floor | $1,200 | $500 to $3,000 | per job | labour only |
| Leveling low spots, small areas | $700 | $300 to $1,500 | per job | labour only |
| Transition strips and thresholds | $200 | $100 to $400 | per job | labour only |
Doing the arithmetic on the usual figures, laying 1,000 sq ft of LVP comes to about $500 more in labour than laminate ($4,000 against $3,500). That's often less than fixing one soft section of subfloor before either floor goes down, which is why the prep deserves as much attention as the plank choice. The square-foot and per-room numbers for vinyl are worked out in what LVP installation costs.
Why do some people avoid vinyl plank?
Cheap planks feel hollow and can dent under a fridge, a piano or a heavy bed frame. A thin wear layer shows scratches sooner than you'd expect. It's plastic, and some people simply don't want plastic underfoot. Strong sun through a big south window can fade some planks or make them move, so check what the maker says about that. And a rigid core still needs a flat floor under it: it bridges small dips, not real humps.
Where does laminate fall short?
Water at the edges and seams swells the core, and that damage is permanent. That rules it out for a full bathroom, a laundry room or anything below grade. A badly chipped plank can't really be patched, only replaced. In its favour, it feels more solid than most vinyl, looks close to wood for the money, and stands up well to scratching.
Can you fix one damaged plank later?
Usually, yes, with both floors. A click-together plank near a wall can be unclicked row by row and swapped. One mid-room gets cut free, and a replacement is glued into the gap. The tricky part is finding the same colour after the line has been discontinued, so keep a box of leftover planks from the job somewhere dry, not in the garage. If a whole run of laminate has swollen, that's rarely one plank; expect to open up more and check the wood underneath. Swapping a single plank usually costs around $400 in labour, within a $200 to $800 spread, based on hours at Portland rates (November 2026).
Which should you pick, room by room?
- Kitchen, laundry, entry, mudroom: LVP.
- Full bathroom: LVP at minimum; with a tub or shower, it may be a tile job instead.
- Bedrooms, living room, office, upstairs hall: either one. Laminate if a firm feel and claw resistance matter more to you.
- Whole floor in one go: pick one product for the run and put transitions where it meets tile or old hardwood.
Most flooring regrets trace back to three choices: buying on price alone, laying over a soft or uneven subfloor, and putting laminate where water lives. In Bethany, a lot of 1990s-2000s houses have reached the age where original carpet and sheet vinyl are coming up, and LVP is what owners there ask about.
If old sheet vinyl or 9-inch tiles turn up under carpet, we don't disturb them; have them tested first, since older vinyl products can contain asbestos.