In Singapore's tropical, humid climate, waterproof flooring is not a luxury, it is a requirement. Mopping is weekly, the air carries moisture year round, and a burst pipe or an overflowing washer is always one bad day away. The good news is that the market has matured: the genuinely waterproof options now look as good as they perform. As a BCA registered contractor that fits floors across HDB flats, condos and landed homes, here are the five waterproof options we are asked about most, and exactly when we would specify each one.
Compare the 5 waterproof options
Tap an option to see how it performs and what it costs
LVT vinyl: the all-round winner
Luxury vinyl plank and tile, what LN supplies
SPC: rigid core, harder underfoot
Stone-plastic composite vinyl, not sold by LN
Porcelain tile: the true wet-zone floor
Dense, low-absorption tile, installed by LN
Ceramic tile: the budget tile
Glazed tile, more porous than porcelain
Vinyl sheet: seamless and cheap
Roll vinyl, the entry-level option
How to choose between them
Two questions settle almost every decision. First, is the room genuinely wet or just occasionally damp? A bathroom, a shower or a kitchen with a floor trap is genuinely wet, and that calls for tile over a membrane. A living room, a bedroom or a dry kitchen is damp at worst, so either waterproof LVT vinyl or tile will do the job: vinyl for warmth, quiet and a one or two day install, tile for a cooler, harder-wearing floor.
Second, how long do you want it to last? LVT and porcelain are built for decades. Ceramic and vinyl sheet save money up front but wear out sooner, so the cheaper floor is often the more expensive one over ten years. Our vinyl versus tiles comparison runs the ten-year maths in full.
The membrane matters more than the material
Here is the point most homeowners miss: in a wet area, the waterproofing membrane under the tile does the real work, not the tile face. A beautiful porcelain floor laid without a proper membrane will still let water seep into the screed and, eventually, to the unit below. When we tile a bathroom we hack, lay the membrane, then tile and grout, in that order, every time. Our kitchen and bathroom flooring guide walks through the full wet-area build-up.
| Option | Best room | Indicative cost (psf, supply & install) |
|---|---|---|
| LVT vinyl | Living, bedrooms, dry kitchen | S$3.20 – S$4.90 |
| SPC vinyl | Uneven subfloors (not sold by LN) | Mid tier |
| Porcelain tile | Whole home, essential in wet rooms | Quoted per project |
| Ceramic tile | Lower-traffic rooms and wet areas | Quoted per project |
| Vinyl sheet | Rentals, utility rooms | Entry level |
One BCA registered crew, vinyl and tile under one roof. LN Flooring supplies its own-brand 100% waterproof LVT and supplies and installs porcelain, ceramic and designer tile, so a whole home in either material, or a job that mixes vinyl in the dry rooms with tile in the wet ones, is handled by one team. Every LVT series carries our own 25-year material warranty. Tile, by contrast, carries no product warranty: we install it but are not the manufacturer, and the tiles we source are supplied without one. Buyers who prioritise long-term product cover should weigh this in vinyl's favour.
Read next
See the full LVT range on our flooring page, browse the tiles we carry on our tile supply and installation page, see real installs in our project gallery, or compare the two big contenders in our SPC vs LVT guide. When you are ready for a quote, the fastest way is to message us your unit details.