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Which floor

# Choosing between them, on the facts.

Two of these questions have documented answers and the rest are trade-offs. The
tables are there so you can compare them without reading a brochure. Where a figure is quoted it comes
from the national installation guidelines with the source beside it; where it is Max's judgement it is
labelled as his. Cost is deliberately not in any table here, because it moves with your subfloor and a
figure printed on a website would be wrong for your house.

### What is the best flooring for a basement over concrete in Canada?

For a basement the material has to tolerate a slab that will always carry some moisture.
Solid hardwood is out: the guidelines say solid wood should not go below grade unless the manufacturer
says otherwise.[1] Engineered wood and rigid-core vinyl plank are the two
that are built for it.

The guidelines put engineered wood flooring as installable
above, on, or below grade.[1] Vinyl plank is
the other common answer because the plank itself is unaffected by water, though what happens under it
still matters: see [what happens when vinyl gets wet
underneath](https://www.referralflooring.com/why-new-floors-squeak-cup-and-gap).

**If the basement has flooded before,** that changes the order of work rather than the
choice of floor. The slab gets tested, the reason it flooded gets dealt with, and only then does a floor
go down. A floor installed over an unresolved water problem fails, whatever it is made of.

### Engineered vs solid hardwood: which lasts in a Southern Ontario winter?

Engineered is the more stable of the two through an Ontario heating season, because its
cross-layered construction resists the shrinking and swelling that opens gaps in solid boards. Solid wood
can be sanded and refinished more times over its life. Neither is simply better; they fail and last in
different ways.

|   | Solid hardwood | Engineered |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Below grade / on a slab | Should not be installed below grade unless the manufacturer recommends it[1] | Can be installed above, on or below grade[1] |
| Construction | One piece of wood through its full thickness | A wood wear layer bonded over core layers, with a backing[1] |
| Movement with humidity | Moves more; wants 30 to 50% RH and 60 to 80°F[1] | More dimensionally stable, by construction |
| Floating installation | Never, unless the manufacturer recommends and warrants it[1] | The only wood floor that can be floated[1] |
| Refinishing | Can be sanded and refinished repeatedly | Depends on wear-layer thickness; ask for the figure before you buy |

Cost is deliberately not in that table. It moves with species, grade, width and what your subfloor
needs, and a figure printed here would be wrong for your house. The
[solid](https://www.referralflooring.com/hardwood-floor-installation) and [engineered](https://www.referralflooring.com/engineered-hardwood-installation)
pages have what each one needs from the room.

### Vinyl plank vs laminate: which one, and which for a basement?

For a basement or any room where water is a realistic risk, vinyl plank is the safer of
the two, because its core does not swell when wet the way a fibreboard-cored laminate does. Laminate's
surface is generally the harder wearing of the two. Both are floating floors and both need the same flat
base.

|   | Vinyl plank | Laminate |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Core | Plastic or mineral composite; unaffected by water | Wood-fibre board; swells if water reaches it |
| Basement or laundry | The usual choice | Only with a product specifically rated for it |
| Surface hardness | Softer; can dent under point loads | Generally harder wearing |
| Underfoot | Quieter, warmer, more give | Harder, louder without a good underlay |
| Subfloor flatness needed | The same, and tighter than most people expect: 1/8" in 6' or 3/16" in 10' is the published tolerance for comparable work[1] |  |

**The claim to be careful with** is "waterproof". It describes the plank, not the floor
assembly. See the question about water getting underneath on the
[squeaks and cupping guide](https://www.referralflooring.com/why-new-floors-squeak-cup-and-gap).

### What is the best flooring for radiant heat?

Wood can go over radiant heat, but the system has to be run within limits, and those
limits are documented. The guidelines cite ASHRAE that a floor surface temperature giving optimal comfort
for most people lies somewhere between 70 and 80°F, and require that the
wood floor surface temperature vary no more than 3°F at any
point.[1]

Two more requirements worth knowing before anybody starts. The subfloor surface temperature
should not exceed 80°F at the time of
installation.[1] And on vapour control the guidelines are specific:
**do not use asphalt- or bitumen-type vapor retarders** over radiant heat systems, while a
class II vapour retarder belongs over a wood subfloor and below the flooring in the relevant
case.[1]

The system should also be fully operational, regardless of season, for a minimum of
5 days before the flooring is delivered.[1]
Not every engineered product suits it either: hickory, beech and maple wear layers are named as not
normally best suited over radiant heat unless the manufacturer says
otherwise.[1] The guidelines also say the builder, the system's design
engineer and its installer should all be told what floor covering is going over
it.[1] In practice that conversation is the one that gets skipped, and it
is the one that prevents the failure.

### What is the best flooring for dogs, for nails and accidents?

The two things that matter for dogs are scratch resistance and how the floor handles a
puddle that is not found for an hour. That combination points at rigid vinyl plank or a laminate rated
for wet areas, rather than a soft species of solid wood with a thin site-applied finish.

**Max's take:** the finish takes the scratches, not the wood, so the finish is what to ask
about. A harder factory finish on an engineered board holds up better to claws than a soft one, whatever
the species underneath. On solid wood, expect the traffic lanes to show first.

The one thing the guidelines are firm about is not the material but the cleaning: spills get wiped
immediately to prevent damage from standing liquid.[1]

### What is the best flooring for a kitchen, and can it run into the living room?

Yes, running one floor from the kitchen through the living room is normal now and it
makes both rooms look bigger. The kitchen is the wet-risk room, so the material is chosen for the kitchen
and then carried through, rather than the other way round.

The detail that decides the job is the cabinets. Whether the floor runs under them or stops at them
changes the order of work and what happens if a cabinet ever comes out. See
[flooring before or after kitchen cabinets](https://www.referralflooring.com/flooring-order-of-work).

### What is the best flooring for a bathroom that is not tile?

Rigid-core vinyl plank or sheet vinyl are the realistic non-tile answers, because a
bathroom floor gets standing water at the tub and the toilet. Wood, solid or engineered, is the wrong
choice in a full bathroom for the same reason wood is the wrong choice in a laundry.

In a bathroom the perimeter and the fixture penetrations matter more than the plank does. Water reaches
the subfloor at the edges, not through the middle of a board.

### Wide plank vs narrow plank: is wide plank better?

Wide plank looks calmer because there are fewer seams, and it is the current preference
in most Ontario houses. It is not more stable. A wider solid board moves more across its width for the
same change in humidity, so wide plank makes the humidity range in the guidelines matter more, not less.

That is the main reason wide plank is so often engineered rather than solid. If you want wide boards in
a house that swings from 20% humidity in February to humid in July, engineered construction is doing real
work for you.

### Do dark floors make a room look smaller, and do they show more dirt?

Dark floors show dust, pet hair and footprints more than mid-tone floors, and they show
fine scratches more because a scratch exposes lighter wood underneath. On room size, a dark floor makes a
bright room feel more contained; in a room with little natural light it will read as smaller.

**Max's take:** mid-tone floors are the ones people stay happy with. The extremes, very dark
and very pale, both show everything, just different things. This is a preference, not a rule, and it is
worth looking at samples in your own light, which is the entire reason the samples come to the house.

### Matte vs satin floor finish: which hides more?

Matte hides more. A lower-sheen finish scatters light instead of reflecting it, so it
disguises fine scratches, dust and small imperfections in the floor underneath. Higher gloss reflects,
which makes a floor look richer and shows every mark. Neither is more durable by virtue of its sheen.

Durability comes from the finish chemistry and how many coats went on, not from how shiny it is. Ask what
the finish is and how many coats, not just the sheen name, because sheen names are not consistent between
manufacturers.

### What is the difference between luxury vinyl plank and ordinary vinyl?

Ordinary vinyl is a thin flexible sheet or tile that is glued down and follows every
contour of the subfloor. Luxury vinyl plank is a thicker rigid or semi-rigid plank, usually with a
click-lock edge, a printed and embossed wear surface and a separate wear layer over it.

The practical differences: LVP floats rather than glues, hides small subfloor variation better than
sheet vinyl but is less forgiving of large ones, and comes with a stated wear layer thickness you can
compare between products. Ask for that number in mils, because it is the one specification that separates
a cheap plank from a good one.

Sources

1. National Wood Flooring Association,
[Wood
Flooring Installation Guidelines](https://nwfa.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/NWFA-Installation-Guidelines.pdf), revised 2025. Grade-level suitability, engineered wood construction,
floating-floor eligibility, interior temperature and humidity, subfloor flatness, radiant heat surface
temperatures, vapour retarders, system operation before delivery and wear-layer species, and care of the
finished floor. The ASHRAE comfort range is quoted within that document.

Standards last read 9 September 2026

More answers

## The other guides.

- [Why a new floor squeaks, cups or gapsMoisture and the subfloor, with the figures.](https://www.referralflooring.com/why-new-floors-squeak-cup-and-gap)

- [What can go over an existing floorTile, linoleum, laminate, hardwood, carpet and concrete.](https://www.referralflooring.com/what-can-go-over-an-existing-floor)

- [The order things happen inCabinets, paint, baseboards, an unlevel subfloor, flush vents.](https://www.referralflooring.com/flooring-order-of-work)

- [Stairs, treads and spindlesNosing, hardwood after carpet, runners, iron vs wood.](https://www.referralflooring.com/stair-nosing-treads-and-spindles)

- [Cleaning and careWhat to use, what will wreck it, humidifiers, replacing one plank.](https://www.referralflooring.com/cleaning-and-caring-for-floors)

- [All the questionsThe full index, and why there are no prices on it.](https://www.referralflooring.com/tips)

Your floor

## Compare them on your own floor, in your own light.

The samples come to the house with the free estimate. That is the whole point of
how this works.

[Book a free estimate](https://www.referralflooring.com/#book)
[Call 289-689-4242](tel:+12896894242)

Phone

[289-689-4242](tel:+12896894242)

Email

[referralflooring@gmail.com](mailto:referralflooring@gmail.com)

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Source: https://www.referralflooring.com/which-flooring-to-choose