Click LVT or glue-down LVT — which should I choose?

Subfloor preparation, repairability, wet areas, underfloor heating and the feel underfoot all differ — and the subfloor usually makes the decision.

Difficulty: intermediate
Time: 25 min
Read: 4 min

Short answer

Glue-down is thinner, feels more solid, handles wet rooms and underfloor heating better, and copes with large areas without expansion joints — but it demands a genuinely flat, smooth, dry, primed subfloor and it is a commitment. Click and rigid-core LVT is far more forgiving of the subfloor, faster to lay, and liftable, at the cost of a floating floor's rules.

Both are vinyl planks and they behave like completely different products once they are down. The honest way to choose is to look at your subfloor first, because the preparation difference between the two is far larger than any other difference and it dominates the cost and the time.

Step by step

Assess the subfloor before looking at any product.Flatness, smoothness, dryness and stability. Glue-down telegraphs everything below it and needs a near-perfect base; click and rigid core products tolerate more.
Test the subfloor for moisture.Concrete slabs give up moisture for a long time, and glue-down LVT over a damp slab fails at the adhesive. The polythene sheet test, or a proper hygrometer reading, comes before any decision.
Consider the room's use.Bathrooms, wet rooms and utility rooms suit glue-down, because there are no joints relying on a click profile and no floating raft that water can get under. Living rooms and bedrooms are comfortable territory for click.
Consider underfloor heating.Glue-down conducts better and moves with the screed rather than as a raft, which suits UFH well. Click products over UFH are possible but bring the floating floor's expansion rules with them.
Consider the area.A large continuous area suits glue-down, because there is no accumulated expansion to manage. A floating floor over a big area needs expansion joints.
Weigh repairability.A damaged glue-down plank can be cut out and replaced individually, which is a genuine advantage. A damaged click plank in the middle of a room means unclipping back to it — or cutting it out and gluing the replacement, which spoils the raft.
Weigh the build-up height.Glue-down is thin and adds almost nothing, which matters at thresholds and under doors. Click and especially rigid core products are thicker, and they need underlay too.
Weigh how it feels and sounds.Glue-down feels solid because it is bonded to the floor. Floating LVT can sound slightly hollow, though good underlay reduces this considerably.
Cost the preparation, not just the product.Levelling compound, primer and adhesive can easily exceed the difference in material price. That is where the real comparison lies.

Tips

Rigid core products — SPC and similar — sit between the two: they are click-fit but far more rigid than flexible LVT, so they tolerate a less perfect subfloor than glue-down while still feeling solid.
Whatever you choose, LVT shows subfloor defects far more than laminate does, because it is thin and flexible. Preparation is the job.
Glue-down needs the adhesive's open time respected, which means working in planned areas rather than opening the whole room.
Buy spare planks either way. Matching a discontinued product later is close to impossible.

Common mistakes

Gluing LVT to a subfloor that was never properly prepared — The product is thin and flexible and takes the exact shape of everything under it — a screw head, a board joint, a lump of dried adhesive. All of it telegraphs through the finished surface, permanently, and there is no fixing it without lifting the floor.
Treating click LVT as suitable for a wet room — A floating floor has an expansion gap around it and joints that are mechanical rather than sealed. Water that gets to the edges runs underneath and stays there. Wet areas want a bonded floor or a sheet product.
Skipping the moisture test before gluing — Adhesive bonds fail when moisture from a slab arrives at the bond line, and it can take months to show. By then the floor is down and the failure is across the whole area rather than in one place.

If it doesn't work

Glued planks lifting at the edges

Cause: Poor bond, moisture, or adhesive open time not observed — Fix: Lift, check for moisture, and re-lay with the correct primer and adhesive. If moisture is present, the floor cannot go back until that is dealt with.

Every screw head visible through the floor

Cause: Subfloor not smooth before a thin flexible floor was laid — Fix: It cannot be corrected from above. Prevention is a smoothing compound or an overlay before laying.

Click LVT joints opening in a big room

Cause: Area beyond the product's continuous limit, or pinched at the perimeter — Fix: Release the perimeter and, if the area exceeds the limit, add an expansion joint at a doorway.

Questions people ask

Which lasts longer?

The wear layer thickness determines wear life, and it is specified independently of whether the product is click or glue-down. What differs is the failure mode: glue-down tends to fail at the bond if the subfloor was wrong, click tends to fail at the joints if the floor was pinched or the subfloor uneven.

Can I put click LVT in a bathroom?

Some manufacturers permit it and others do not, and where it is permitted it usually comes with conditions about sealing the perimeter. In a room where water regularly reaches the floor, a bonded or sheet floor is the more robust answer.

Is rigid core worth the extra?

It is more tolerant of an imperfect subfloor, feels more solid and is more dimensionally stable than flexible click LVT, which makes it a good compromise for a domestic floor over an old timber or patchy concrete base. Over a perfectly prepared subfloor, the advantage narrows.