Click vs Tongue and Groove Flooring

The edge of a board decides how the floor is fitted, and the range splits cleanly. Every laminate and every rigid vinyl floor clicks together; every solid oak, engineered oak and parquet board is tongue and groove. That is not an accident of the catalogue. It follows from what each material is.

Click

A click profile is a machined edge that locks into its neighbour when the board is angled in and pressed down. The floor is laid floating: it sits on an underlay over the subfloor, held together by its own joints and by nothing else, with an expansion gap around the edge so the whole floor can move as one. No adhesive, no nails, no curing time, and a room can be walked on the day it is laid.

It works because the boards it is used on are stable. A laminate core is dense fibreboard; a rigid vinyl core is a solid polymer. Neither moves much with humidity, so a floating floor of either stays flat. The standard for mechanically locked multilayer panels, quoted below, describes exactly this construction: modular panels with a wear-resistant surface, supplied for floating installation. The laminate range and the rigid vinyl range are both click.

Tongue and groove

A tongue and groove edge is older and simpler: a tongue along one edge slots into a groove along the next. It does not lock, so the floor has to be held down by something else, glued to the subfloor, secret-nailed to a timber base, or in some cases glued along the joints and floated. Every oak board and parquet block in the range is tongue and groove, micro-bevelled, and fitted one of those ways.

The reason is movement. Oak takes on and gives up moisture with the seasons, engineered oak less than solid but still more than a polymer core, and a wide floor of it needs to be fixed to the subfloor so that movement happens board by board rather than across the whole floor at once. Solid oak parquet blocks are glued without exception; engineered boards are glued or floated depending on the board and the subfloor; the UK code of practice for installing wood flooring, quoted below, is the document a fitter works to.

What each means for the job

Time. A click floor in an average room is a day's work and usable the same evening. A glued tongue and groove floor needs the adhesive to cure before furniture goes back.

Subfloor. Both need a flat, dry subfloor. A click floor over its underlay tolerates small imperfections; a glued floor needs the surface prepared for adhesive. Neither tolerates a damp screed, and the moisture checks are the same for both.

Doors and build-up. A click floor plus its underlay adds height; a glued tongue and groove floor adds only the board. The rigid vinyl floors, with the underlay attached, are the thinnest build-up in the range.

Repairs. A click floor can be unclicked from the edge to reach a damaged board; a glued floor is repaired by cutting out and replacing the board in place. Neither is difficult for a fitter; the click repair is easier for an owner.

Doing it yourself. Click is the format people fit themselves, and the laminate and rigid vinyl floors are sold with that in mind. Tongue and groove oak, and any parquet, is a fitter's job; the set-out and the adhesive are where the skill is.

The rules for a floating floor

Whichever material clicks together, the floating floor it makes has two rules. It needs an expansion gap around every edge and at every doorway, covered by skirting or a threshold, so it can move; the industry figure for the gap is quoted below. And it needs an underlay, which does more than most people expect: it levels small imperfections, protects against residual moisture from below, and decides how the floor sounds. The industry statement of those three jobs is quoted as well, and the underlay guide goes into the choice. The laminate producers' position on floating against full-surface gluing is the last of the facts below, and it is clearer than many fitters assume.

Common questions

Which fitting a room needs follows from the material chosen for it, and the material follows from the room. LVT or laminate and solid or engineered oak are the two comparisons that come first. Subfloors vary as much as houses do. Browse by town and region.