Glue-down LVT or click SPC: an honest comparison

For the last few years Spanish flooring shops have mostly sold click SPC: click-click, done, no adhesive involved. Glue-down vinyl, meanwhile, has been pushed into a corner — as if it were that cheap self-adhesive tile for a rented flat.

The reality is different. Glue-down and click vinyl are not "the cheap one and the expensive one"; they are two different engineering solutions for different jobs. Let's compare them point by point and see where each one works.

In short: what the fundamental difference is

Click SPC is installed as a floating floor: the planks lock into each other and rest freely on the subfloor without being fixed to it. The whole floor is a single slab that "breathes" freely and needs an expansion gap around the entire perimeter of the room.

Glue-down LVT is bonded to the subfloor across its full area. Every plank is fixed in place. The floor is not a separate slab — it becomes part of the subfloor.

Everything else follows from that difference.

1. Stability and large areas

A floating floor expands and contracts as a whole with temperature swings. The larger the uninterrupted area, the greater the cumulative movement. That is why SPC manufacturers limit the continuous installation area — typically to around 100–150 m², beyond which a separation profile is required. Doorways need a profile too.

Glue-down flooring has no such limits. A bonded plank does not move. A 400 m² hall is laid as a single field, without a single threshold strip and without breaks in the pattern.

Conclusion: for large open spaces — an office, a showroom, a sales floor, an open-plan living room and kitchen — the glue-down option wins outright.

2. Sun and full-height glazing

This is a sore point specific to the Spanish market. A room with large south-facing glazing: on a summer day the floor surface temperature easily reaches 45–50 °C.

A floating floor behaves predictably badly in that situation: it expands, runs into the gap and, once the gap is used up, it buckles or the joints pull apart. Local overheating under a patch of direct sunlight creates uneven stress across the whole field.

Glue-down LVT planks are held by the adhesive layer and physically cannot shift. The demands on the adhesive are higher — you need a formulation rated for thermal load — but the problem is solved when the adhesive is chosen, not after the floor is down.

3. Height and renovation without demolition

Click SPC is 4–5 mm plus another 1–1.5 mm of underlay. Around 6 mm in total. In a renovation over existing tiles that means a step at the entrance, trimming the internal doors and transition profiles to the adjoining rooms.

Glue-down LVT at 2 mm thick adds exactly 2 mm. Doors stay where they are in most cases, there are no thresholds, and junctions with other floor coverings are resolved without steps. For residential renovation in Spain, where ceramic tile is almost everywhere, this is the decisive argument — we covered it in detail in the article on installing vinyl over existing tiles.

4. Repairability

Here the glue-down option wins by a wide margin, even though intuition suggests otherwise.

Say one plank in the middle of the room is damaged. In a floating floor you have to unclick everything from the wall to the damaged spot and then reassemble it, with the risk of damaging the joints during dismantling.

In a bonded floor the damaged plank is warmed, lifted, the subfloor is cleaned and a new plank goes in. Half an hour's work, with the neighbouring planks untouched. That is exactly why high-traffic projects, where point damage is inevitable, are specified with glue-down installation and spare material from the same batch.

5. Underfloor heating

A bonded floor transfers heat more efficiently: there is no air gap and no underlay, which by definition acts as a thermal insulator. Warm-up is faster, heat losses are lower, and so is the heating bill.

Floating installation over underfloor heating requires an underlay compatible with the system and still gives higher thermal resistance. On top of that, constant heating and cooling cycles are exactly the load under which a floating floor moves the most.

One limit applies to both types: the floor surface temperature must not exceed 27 °C.

6. Acoustics and underfoot feel

Here SPC honestly wins. A floating floor with an underlay is softer underfoot and does more to damp impact sound for the neighbours below.

A bonded floor is rigid — you feel the subfloor exactly as it is. If there is a concrete slab underneath, footsteps will sound hard. This is solved with an acoustic underlay beneath the adhesive or with a self-levelling compound with acoustic properties — but that is an extra line in the budget and has to be planned for in advance.

7. Subfloor requirements

Glue-down installation is demanding: the subfloor must be flat (no more than 2 mm deviation under a 2-metre straightedge), dry (residual moisture below 2 % by the CM method for cement screeds), sound and dust-free. A 2 mm plank follows the profile of the subfloor — any unevenness or grain of grit will show through on the surface.

SPC, thanks to its rigidity and underlay, forgives minor subfloor flaws. That is its main practical advantage.

There is a caveat, though: deviations beyond the permissible limits are not forgiven by a floating floor either — you simply get joints pulling apart instead of a cosmetic defect.

8. Cost: it has to be calculated differently

Material price per square metre is not the figure to base the decision on. You have to cost the whole job:

The bottom line depends on the state of the subfloor. A flat subfloor: glue-down comes out cheaper on the total budget. An uneven subfloor: SPC.

Summary table

Who should choose what

Glue-down LVT is your option if: the area is large or the layout is open-plan; there is plenty of light and direct sun; underfloor heating is installed; it is a renovation over tiles and height is critical; the project is commercial and repairability matters; you need a result that lasts 15 years or more. In other words, in practically any case where the floor is being done seriously and for the long term.

Click SPC is worth considering if you are installing it yourself without experience, if the subfloor is uneven and you do not plan to level it, or if the floor is being laid temporarily in rented accommodation. We do not supply that product — we work only with glue-down floor coverings, because they are the ones that deliver a predictable result over the long run.

If you are unsure which scenario your project falls into, send us the room dimensions and the subfloor type and we will advise without any hard sell.

The use class, meanwhile, is chosen separately and does not depend on the installation method — how to read the marking is explained in the article on classes 32, 33 and 34. For high-traffic areas with wet processes it makes sense to look not at planks but at commercial sheet vinyl with welded seams.

You can view decors and specifications in the catalogue of 2 and 2.5 mm glue-down LVT — the wear layer and use class are listed for each item.

In a campervan or van conversion the rules change: what matters there isn't floor area or wet processes but weight, thickness and temperature swings — covered separately: glued or floating flooring in a campervan.

FAQ

Is glue-down vinyl the same as the self-adhesive tile from the DIY superstore? No. Self-adhesive tile has a factory adhesive layer under a release film and is designed for temporary use. Professional glue-down LVT is installed with a specialised adhesive applied with a notched trowel and is designed to last decades.

Can glue-down LVT be installed by yourself? Technically yes, but subfloor preparation and working within the adhesive's open time take experience. A mistake in glue-down installation, unlike click, cannot be redone — the plank has to be lifted and the subfloor cleaned off.

How soon can you walk on the floor after installation? It depends on the adhesive. As a rule, light foot traffic after 24 hours; full load and furniture placement after 48–72 hours.

Can a glue-down floor be taken up? Yes, but not for reuse. Planks are lifted with heat and adhesive residue is removed mechanically or with solvent.

Which one handles water better? Both coverings are waterproof in themselves. The difference is in the joints: in a bonded floor water does not get under the plank, whereas in a floating floor it can get into the joint and under the underlay. For bathrooms and kitchens the glue-down option is the safer one.