How to Tell if Your Floor is Hardwood or Vinyl

(From Left to Right)  Brigitte – Du Bois | Nolita – Metropolitan SPC

If you don’t know what material your floor is, don’t worry – you’re not alone. In fact, one of our most common reader-asked questions is “how can I tell if my floor is hardwood or vinyl?”.

Thankfully, there are a few quick, easy ways for you to tell if your floor is hardwood or vinyl. Here are our tips to help you figure it out:

Introduction & Why Knowing Your Flooring Material Matters

Before we begin, we should mention that it can be difficult to tell the difference between hardwood and vinyl floors. High-quality vinyl floors are nearly identical to their hardwood counterparts, and it may take a visit from a trained flooring professional to determine what material your floor is.

So, why does this matter?

Well, figuring out what type of floor you have is very important to your floor’s longevity. Vinyl and hardwood have very different care requirements and caring for a floor improperly can damage or even destroy it.

If you want to try and determine which type of floor you have, follow the tips below –

How to Tell if Your Floor is Hardwood or Vinyl

There are a few ways that you can tell if your floor is wood or vinyl. If you are unsure, it is always best to consult with a professional. Here are a few tips to determine which type of flooring you have:

Examine the flooring up close. Feeling your floor is perhaps the best way to determine what material it is. Hardwood flooring feels like … well, wood. On the other hand, vinyl flooring feels more synthetic than natural hardwood.

Look at how the floor was installed. Hardwood floors are typically nailed or glued down, while vinyl floors are often installed using interlocking or floating planks.

Check the edges of the flooring. Hardwood floors will have square or tongue-and-groove edges, while vinyl floors will have a rolled or beveled edge.

Look at the underside of the flooring. If you have spare flooring planks, flip them over and look at the underside. Wood floors will have a wood underside, while vinyl floors will have a paper or fiberboard backing.

Visually inspect the flooring. While vinyl floors are incredibly realistic, you can usually determine if a floor is hardwood or vinyl by inspecting it closely.

Does it look synthetic or natural? Hardwood floors will usually have raised graining and indented knots that can help you determine. However, high-quality vinyl floors may have these too.

Hardwood flooring is a natural product and therefore each plank will be visually different and will never be perfectly symmetrical to another.  Whereas, vinyl planks are patterned and you will be able to detect symmetry.

Consult with a professional if you are still unsure. They will be able to determine the type of flooring based on a visual inspection.

Overall

While it can be a bit challenging to determine what material your floor is, we listed a few easy ways to help you figure it out.

To recap, vinyl flooring is synthetic and thinner than hardwood. On the other hand, hardwood flooring typically has visible graining and knots that weave across the planks.

If you are still unsure or have any questions, contact us here. Our flooring specialists will be in touch soon.