Vinyl flooring and laminate flooring offer many of the same advantages: durability, good looks, economy and easy do-it-yourself installation. From a distance, both types of flooring even look similar.

HomeAdvisor, the home services website, estimates that it costs $3,131 to install new flooring in a standard, 320-square-foot living room (20 feet by 16 feet), with budget installations of, say ...