Is waterproof flooring worth it ??

[Heatslave]

Hi, hope someone can help a confident and competent DIY’er please ??

I’m putting flooring down in a level 2.5m x 3m concrete floor utility room housing an oil fired boiler and associated pipe work, and a washing machine. I tend to overthink things, over engineering things, and go to the far end of a fart to make sure everything is as perfect as possible…..autism is a b’stard sometimes !!

My thinking is to put a 100% waterproof laminate or LVT flooring down to mitigate the risks of flood / leak damage. Is it worth it, or should I just go with much cheaper standard thick hard wearing laminate and risk it ?? I’ve fitted laminate before elsewhere and prefer it to LVT.

Cheers,
Graeme.

 

[Deluks]

Cheap laminate= cheap to replace if there's an issue.
But for proper water resistance, why not just tile it?

 

[Heatslave]

Cheap laminate= cheap to replace if there's an issue.
But for proper water resistance, why not just tile it?

Yep, that’s one of my thoughts, if there hasn’t been a leak in there since everything was installed four years ago, just put some cheap laminate in and I can easily replace it . I don’t want to tile it, I want something warm for my delicate little trotters

 

[foxhole]

Vinyl flooring , one surface , no gaps , no risk .

 

[aveatry]

If he tiled it could he use electric underfloor heating under the tiles. Left on very low how much £ would it cost every winter. Would it work ? Its the electric underfloor and good ?

 

[Heatslave]

Vinyl flooring , one surface , no gaps , no risk .

Not strong enough for a utility room attached to a garage where there’s going to be all sorts trapped through, but thanks anyway

 

[aveatry]

Not strong enough for a utility room attached to a garage where there’s going to be all sorts trapped through, but thanks anyway

That is a good point but then cheaply replaceable laminate wouldn’t be either. Also although laminate could be warmer than tiles it is not warm to walk on really.
I know that you are not laying oak but I went from laminate to oak and it actually feels warm to walk/ stand on.

 

[Heatslave]

If he tiled it could he use electric underfloor heating under the tiles. Left on very low how much £ would it cost every winter. Would it work ? Its the electric underfloor and good ?

I won’t be tiling it, it’s either LVT or laminate

 

[Phil473]

Cheap laminate= cheap to replace if there's an issue.
But for proper water resistance, why not just tile it?

Good point, but if there's electrics underneath I'd consider waterproofing if that were a feasible option.

Have had a bathroom leak, that shorted out the lights in the kitchen below.

Had a boiler leak in our other property also.

Rarely happens of course.

 

[foxhole]

Not strong enough for a utility room attached to a garage where there’s going to be all sorts trapped through, but thanks anyway

Plenty of heavy duty vinyls which will outlast any laminate .

 

[denso13]

I won’t be tiling it, it’s either LVT or laminate

Cheap laminate will be fine if you are just looking for an easy option.

 

[Heatslave]

Plenty of heavy duty vinyls which will outlast

Cheap laminate will be fine if you are just looking for an easy option.

I had an undetected modern crap, thin walled, copper pipe water leak under laminate leaking for months recently. When I took the laminate up to replace the pipe, the laminate was totally unaffected after being protected by the moisture barrier. The same laminate went straight back down