source: punggolwaterway.com
This was a question by Rahim Rina from Sunshine Garden @ Choa Chu Kang.
Q: Between vinyl and homogeneous which one is cheaper & can last longer?
A: Both materials used to be of almost equal cost until HDB decides to stop providing free cement screeding. Hence, you might find yourself spending more because of the cement screeding you need to spend on if you have decided to go for vinyl flooring.
As for the life span, the situation depends. Tiles are more prone to chips if you happen to drop something hard while vinyl flooring are prone to cuts from dropping of hard & most importantly sharp objects despite both are occasional.
Additionally, it will cost more effort to change spoilt tiles compared to vinyl, considering the fact that vinyl tiles are not permanently laid to the ground.
On a side note, high quality vinyl flooring is also recommended to be reusable when you move house (except those that are cut to fit your layout). Hence, I would say that vinyl flooring is more considerable life-long investments for those who are looking at long term values.
But bear in mind I'm not stereotyping that tiles carries only short term values. It is common to see resale buyers willing to fork out more if the tiles condition is well maintained, since they can cut down on their renovation cost.
Lastly, I would personally recommend vinyl flooring if you are into woody flooring concepts despite woody design floor tiles are available in the the market. This is because in order to portray natural wood design, it would mean that these tiles have to be laid in random manners and in return chances of unevenness with protruding sharp edges is much higher.
Hence, these tiles are usually more recommended for walls in kitchen or toilets for better aesthetics. Hope this will help you more when deciding the materials for your renovation.