LAMINATE FLOORING vs OTHER FLOOR COVERINGS

	Different From Laminate	Similar To Laminate
Vinyl Flooring	Vinyl flooring is flexible, contains only vinyl product, and is 100 percent impervious to water. Vinyl flooring does not need to acclimate to a room prior to installation.	Vinyl is the closest non-laminate cousin of laminate. It is competitively priced, equally easy for do-it-yourselfers to install, and has a similar look.
Solid Hardwood	Hardwood is 100-percent solid wood. Laminate has no solid wood product. Solid hardwood is thick and can be sanded and re-sanded many times. Laminate is thin and can never be sanded.	Solid hardwood and laminate flooring can look remarkably alike, especially from a distance. High-definition imaging techniques make some laminate flooring a dead-ringer for real hardwood.
Engineered Wood	Engineered wood has a plywood base topped with a veneer of 100-percent real wood. Laminate has no plywood and no natural real wood veneer top.	Both engineered wood and laminate have a base that made of manufactured wood. Both products can look remarkably similar, especially with the premium laminates.
Stone	Laminate flooring contains no stone product. Stone is hard, solid, and thick. Laminate is flexible, breakable, and thin.	As with the hardwood-to-laminate comparison, higher-end laminate flooring can look very much like stone.