Don’t put laminate flooring in bathrooms, laundries, full ensuites, basements, sunrooms, or anywhere outdoors. The short answer comes down to two weaknesses in the product: the HDF (high-density fibreboard) core swells when it gets wet, and the click-lock joints expand and contract with temperature swings. Get either of those wrong and the floor lifts, peaks at the joints, or warps along the plank edges. This guide walks through the rooms where laminate fails, why it fails, and what we’d lay instead.
Bathrooms, ensuites and laundries
Skip laminate in any room with a shower, a bath, a basin, or a washing machine. The HDF core inside a laminate plank acts like a sponge once water reaches it. Even with a tight click-lock joint, water from a shower splash, a leaking hose, or a slow plumbing drip will track along the edges, soak into the core, and swell the plank from the inside. You’ll see it as raised joints and a chalky white edge first, then full delamination as the wear layer separates from the core.
Some manufacturers now sell “water-resistant” or “AquaProtect” laminates with sealed edges and tighter joints. They genuinely buy you more time against splashes and quick spills, but they’re still not rated for standing water or pooling. For a true wet-zone install, a fully waterproof product is the safer call. Our guide to waterproof flooring options covers the practical alternatives.
Basements and below-ground rooms
Below-grade rooms aren’t common in Australian housing, but they show up in older Sydney terraces, sloping Brisbane blocks split-level builds. The problem isn’t usually a flood event — it’s the slow movement of moisture vapour through the concrete slab. Laminate’s HDF core picks up that humidity over months, expands, and starts cupping or peaking long before there’s any visible water. A vapour-barrier underlay helps, but it doesn’t fully solve it. We’d recommend SPC or hybrid in these rooms instead.
Kitchens — case by case
Kitchens sit in a grey zone. A modern kitchen with a dishwasher, fridge plumbing, and a sink is exposed to enough spill risk that we’d push most clients toward hybrid or SPC over laminate. That said, if the kitchen is dry, the dishwasher has a tray underneath, and the household is good about wiping spills, a quality water-resistant laminate can work — particularly if it’s the same product running through the connected living area for visual continuity. We’ve laid out the trade-offs in the best flooring for kitchens guide.
Outdoor areas, alfrescos and pool surrounds
Laminate is an indoor product. Direct UV bleaches the printed decor layer, daily temperature swings between 5 and 40 degrees push the click joints past their tolerance, and any rain blow-in soaks the core. Covered alfrescos, pergolas, and pool surrounds all sit outside the manufacturer warranty. For these zones, look at outdoor-rated decking timber, porcelain pavers, or composite decking — not laminate.
Sunrooms and rooms without climate control
Laminate planks need an expansion gap of around 8-10 mm at every wall and a maximum unbroken run (typically around 12 metres) so the floor can move with the seasons. In a Queensland sunroom that hits 35 degrees in summer and 12 degrees on a winter morning, that movement gets aggressive. If the gap is undersized, the floor peaks in the middle of the room. If the run is too long, the same thing happens at the joints. Either lay something more dimensionally stable like SPC, or commit to climate control in that room.
Flood-prone ground floors
If the property has flooded before, or sits on a flood overlay, laminate is the wrong product full stop. Even a 24-hour inundation will write off the floor. We’ve covered the smarter options for these properties in our guide on flooring for flood-prone houses — the short version is that fully waterproof hybrid or SPC over a sealed slab is the resilient pick.
Where laminate still works well
It’s worth saying what laminate is good for, because it’s still a sensible product in the right room. Bedrooms, hallways, dining rooms, formal lounges, home offices, and most living areas are exactly what laminate is built for. A quality laminate with an AC4 or AC5 wear rating handles foot traffic, kids, and everyday furniture moves better than most timber-look products at the same price point, and the modern click systems are quick to install over a level subfloor.
What to lay in the rooms where laminate doesn’t suit
For wet zones, basements, kitchens, and flood-prone ground floors, the practical replacement is hybrid flooring — specifically SPC. It looks similar to laminate, installs the same way, and the stone polymer composite core doesn’t swell when it gets wet. Our pillar on hybrid flooring brands walks through the ranges we stock and where each one fits. For outdoor areas, talk to a deck builder or a tiler — different category of product entirely.
If you’re not sure which way to go for a specific room, bring the floor plan into one of our Sydney or Brisbane showrooms. We can match the right product to each zone rather than forcing one floor through the whole house.
Ready to shop? Browse our full laminate flooring range online, or drop into our Sydney or Brisbane showroom to see the range in person.