Is SPC Waterproof flooring better?

The Stone Plastic(Polymer) Composite flooring, also often called rigid core flooring in the industry, is a much cheaper product.  Different from Wood Plastic(Polymer) Composite, or WPC, the SPC core contains no wood particles which makes it more stable and harder.  And the lack of vinyl veneer make it more resilient under heat.   However, there are some major drawbacks of such construction.  First of all, the manufacturing process of SPC flooring only allows a very thin layer of veneer being laminated to the core.  Much like the now almost obsolete laminate flooring, there’s limitation to what the visual can achieve with such thin layer of veneer.  Secondly, the density of the core makes it much less acoustically pleasing once it’s installed.  Lastly, the rigidness of the planks makes it impossible  to conform to any unevenness of the subfloor.  This can end up with more “hollow spots” after installation.

The SPC flooring has been marketed to replace WPC flooring because it contains no wood particle and it is harder.  However, in reality, it is much easier and cheaper to produce SPC flooring on the manufacturer end.  That is the key driving force of its production.  In addition, due to patent issue, almost all of the so-called WPC flooring today actually contains no wood particle at all.  Therefore, SPC and WPC flooring should be considered as two different types or levels of waterproof flooring.  We shouldn’t use price alone to distinguish the two.  There are a lot more to consider when explain the differences to customers.   Just like Solid and Engineered hardwood flooring, they are wood flooring but different in construction, price and application.