Two catalogue lines can look identical and behave differently. The decorative layer, the print, even the wear layer may be the same. What separates them is the fixing method, and everything a distributor cares about follows from it.
Both are sold as LVT. In Europe the bonded version is usually called dry back. In Southeast Asia and the Middle East both terms are used interchangeably, which is where a lot of first-order confusion starts.
What a click system actually is
A machined profile on all four edges. The plank locks to its neighbour and the assembly floats over the subfloor, held down by its own weight. Common profile families are 2G, 5G and the Unilin range. The differences matter more to installers than to buyers, except that one is quicker to close than a fold-down edge.
What glue down actually is
Dry back plank has no click profile and no attached backing. It is bonded to a prepared subfloor with adhesive, usually a pressure-sensitive type applied with a notched trowel, left to go tacky and then rolled. The floor becomes part of the building rather than an assembly sitting on it.
The table is the one worth having in front of a buyer who is comparing two quotations and wondering why the installed cost is not what the unit price suggested.
| Factor | Click (floating) | Glue down (bonded) |
|---|---|---|
| Subfloor flatness | Tolerates minor variation, commonly quoted at 2–3 mm over a 2 m straightedge | Tighter. Adhesive needs full contact, so flatness is checked and corrected first |
| Preparation | Lower. Often the deciding factor on refurbishment work | Higher. Levelling compound and a moisture check are normally part of the job |
| Install speed | Fast. A two-person team can lay a room in a morning | Slower. Adhesive open time and curing set the pace |
| Installer skill | Moderate. The profile guides alignment | Higher. Coverage and rolling pressure determine how long the floor lasts |
| Point load | The assembly can move under heavy static loads | Bonded, so it resists point loads and trolley traffic |
| Sound underfoot | Hollow unless a pad is fitted | Solid and quiet, because nothing is floating |
| Replacing a plank | Lift and refit, usually the same day | Cut out and re-bond a patch; visible if the batch has aged |
| Perimeter | Expansion gap required, typically 5–10 mm | Fewer and smaller movement joints across large areas |
| Build-up height | Thicker, because the plank carries its own pad | Thin, which matters when a refurbishment cannot lose floor height |
| Freight density | Fewer square metres per container | More square metres per container, so landed cost can differ from unit price |
Two things the table cannot express. First, a click floor is not automatically the cheaper installed option: the plank costs more and the labour costs less, and the balance depends on the local labour market. Second, a bonded floor is not automatically the better floor: it is better where the subfloor has been prepared to receive it, and a poorly prepared bond is worse than a well-installed floating floor.
The single most common cause of a complaint on either system is the subfloor, and the two systems fail in different ways.
A floating click floor laid over a hump will rock. It will not necessarily fail, but it will sound hollow and the joints will work over the season. A bonded floor over the same hump will telegraph the defect through the surface within months, and adhesive that never achieved full contact will release.
- Flatness. Most specifications quote roughly 2 mm to 3 mm over a 2 m straightedge. Click tolerates the upper end. Bonded adhesive wants the lower end, because a trowel notch that does not get pressed flat is a void.
- Moisture. A bonded install needs the subfloor tested first — relative humidity, or a calcium chloride test on concrete. A click floor skips the adhesive but not the problem: moisture under a floating floor has nowhere to escape.
- Cleanliness. Grit left under a floating floor is audible and abrasive. Under a bonded floor the same grit becomes a lump you can feel.
On a straight comparison, click wins on labour and bonded wins on floor performance. What matters commercially is how each interacts with local conditions.
- Click sells more easily where installers are generalists. The profile guides the layout, and there is no adhesive to mix, spread or clean up before it skins over.
- Bonded sells more easily where the installer is a flooring contractor and the project has a written specification. Adhesive systems are what those specifications are usually drafted around.
- Acclimation applies to both. Plank should sit in the room at installation temperature before it goes down, commonly a day or two, and neither system tolerates being fitted straight off a hot pallet.
- Freight and storage differ more than buyers expect. Dry back plank is thinner and packs more densely, so a container carries more square metres of it.
Click has a genuine advantage here, and a distributor should be able to explain it without overselling it.
A single damaged plank in a floating floor can usually be lifted, the tongue trimmed and a replacement fitted without disturbing the rest of the room. In rental and hospitality, where a chair leg or a dropped tool is routine, that is a real service argument.
A bonded floor cannot be repaired that way. The plank is cut out and a patch is bonded in, which takes skill and can leave a visible repair against an aged batch. What it offers instead is that it fails less often in the first place, because nothing in the floor moves.
Both statements are true. A hotel with a maintenance team will value replaceability. A shopping centre with trolley traffic will value the stability.
In Southeast Asia the practical drivers are humidity and installer skill. A bonded floor needs a moisture-tested subfloor, and on fast construction schedules that test is sometimes skipped. A floating floor avoids the adhesive but needs its perimeter gap to actually be left. Both fail when the installer is rushed, so the decision often comes down to which failure mode is easier to service locally.
In the Middle East, projects tend to be larger and specifications stricter. Bonded floor is common in commercial work because it handles point loads and can run continuously across a large area with fewer movement joints. Heat matters for both: material should be acclimatised, and pallets should not have sat in direct sun.
For a distributor building a range, carrying both is generally more useful than carrying two designs of the same system. One click line covers the refurbishment and rental conversation. One bonded line covers the project and specification conversation. The luxury vinyl range and the glue down range are separate pages here because the buying decision is genuinely different, and the SPC comparison is covered in the SPC versus LVT guide.
Is click LVT as waterproof as glue down?
On a rigid core click floor, water resistance comes from the core rather than the joint. The locked joints are close but they are not a watertight seal, so standing water that reaches a joint can still get beneath the floor. A bonded floor has no joint to get under at that scale, but it is bonded to a subfloor that has to stay dry. Neither replaces a tanked wet room.
Do I need an underlay with click flooring?
Only if the plank does not already carry one. Many click ranges have an IXPE or EVA pad factory-bonded to the underside, and adding a second underlay on top makes the joints feel soft and can invalidate a warranty. Dry back has no backing at all, so the question does not apply.
Which system is cheaper per square metre?
The click plank usually carries the higher unit price, because of the machined profile and the attached pad. Bonded plank is cheaper per square metre but needs adhesive and more preparation, so the total depends on the labour market. Where installers are cheap and skilled, bonded often wins on installed cost. Where labour is expensive, it often does not.
Need both systems from one supplier?
Tell us the market, the subfloor and the traffic, and we will say which construction fits and what to confirm before ordering.
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