Collection 6 min read

Flooring Listed as Waterproof

41 products in the range are listed as waterproof by their makers on the catalogue of 15 September 2026: 36 rigid vinyl floors (24 planks, 8 herringbone, 4 click tiles) and 5 shower wall panels. The listing describes the board. The base under it and the sealed edges around it decide whether the room stays dry.

Listed as waterproof

41 products

Rigid vinyl floors

Slab moisture limit

75% RH (BS 8203 practice)

Samples

£1.99 each

1/ 8

What "listed as waterproof" means, and what it does not

Every product on this page carries the attribute "Waterproof: Yes" in its listing. That is the manufacturer's statement about the board: a rigid vinyl plank with a mineral core does not take up water and does not swell at the joints the way a laminate or a timber board does, and a shower panel is made to be wetted. We repeat the listing; we do not add a promise of our own to it, because the listing is about the material and a dry room is about three other things.

The base

Water trapped under an impermeable floor has nowhere to go. In UK practice following BS 8203 a hygrometer sealed to the slab reads 75% relative humidity or below before a resilient floor goes down, and a new screed dries at roughly a day per millimetre for the first 50 mm.

The edges

Water gets under a floor at the bath, the shower tray, the door threshold and the appliance. The fitting instructions describe how the edges are sealed; that step, not the board, keeps water off the base.

The habits

The MMFA, the association for multilayer modular floors, requires low moisture cleaning and says pooling of liquid on the floor must be avoided under all circumstances. Listed as waterproof is not an invitation to leave water standing.

The rigid vinyl planks (24)

Two constructions among the 24 planks: 5.2 mm boards, 181 x 1220 mm, with a 0.3 mm wear layer for a bedroom, a home office or a room with light traffic; and 6.5 mm boards, 228 x 1524 mm, with a 0.55 mm wear layer for the kitchen, the hall and anywhere with a dog. All are click fitted, listed for underfloor heating and carry a 25 year manufacturer's warranty. The wear layer is the number to choose by; the listing as waterproof is the same on both.

The BML planks

Herringbone and click tiles (12)

The 8 herringbone floors are 6.5 mm blocks of 126 x 630 mm with a 0.55 mm wear layer, the pattern floor for a kitchen or a hall where an oak block would not suit the water. The 4 click tiles, 305 x 610 mm in slate, concrete and cement decors, give a bathroom or a utility room the look of a tile without grout and without the cold underfoot; they float on an underlay like the planks.

The herringbone floors

SPC herringboneBML Herringbone European

SPC herringboneBML Herringbone American White

SPC herringboneBML Herringbone Light

SPC herringboneBML Herringbone Vintage Fumed

SPC herringboneBML Herringbone Grey

SPC herringboneBML Herringbone Smoked Limed

SPC herringboneBML Herringbone Invisible

SPC herringboneBML Herringbone Antique Smoked

The click tiles

SPC tileBML Black Slate

SPC tileBML Concrete Dark Grey

SPC tileBML Concrete Grey

SPC tileBML Cement Light

The shower wall panels (5)

The 5 Berry Alloc Wall & Water panels cover 1.44 square metres each at 10.2 mm thick, interlock, and carry a lifetime warranty from the maker. They replace tiles and grout on the walls of a shower or around a bath, which is where a bathroom usually fails first; the guide linked below covers fitting and the sealing at the corners and the tray.

The Wall & Water panels

Wall panelBerry Alloc Wall & Water Shower Panel Concrete

Wall panelBerry Alloc Wall & Water Shower Panel Black Velvet

Wall panelBerry Alloc Wall & Water Shower Panel White Marble

Wall panelBerry Alloc Wall & Water Shower Panel White Brooklyn Concrete

Wall panelBerry Alloc Wall & Water Shower Panel Cement

Product	Format	Wear layer / thickness	Fitting	Underfloor heating	Warranty
Berry Alloc Wall & Water Shower Panel Concrete	1.44 Square Metres	10.2mm	Interlocking System	Not stated	Lifetime (Berry Alloc) · listed as waterproof
Berry Alloc Wall & Water Shower Panel Black Velvet	1.44 Square Metres	10.2mm	Interlocking System	Not stated	Lifetime (Berry Alloc) · listed as waterproof
Berry Alloc Wall & Water Shower Panel White Marble	1.44 Square Metres	10.2mm	Interlocking System	Not stated	Lifetime (Berry Alloc) · listed as waterproof
Berry Alloc Wall & Water Shower Panel White Brooklyn Concrete	1.44 Square Metres	10.2mm	Interlocking System	Not stated	Lifetime (Berry Alloc) · listed as waterproof
Berry Alloc Wall & Water Shower Panel Cement	1.44 Square Metres	10.2mm	Interlocking System	Not stated	Lifetime (Berry Alloc) · listed as waterproof

Where it belongs, and where it is not the answer

Kitchen

The 0.55 mm planks or the herringbone. The floor runs under the kick boards, not under the units, and the slab is tested first.

Bathroom

The click tiles or the planks on the floor, the panels on the walls, the edges at the bath and the tray sealed to the instructions. A textured surface for the footing.

Utility room

The 0.55 mm planks, edges sealed, the washing machine on a tray. The oldest slab in the house is often here; test it.

Hallway

The 0.55 mm planks or the herringbone, with a long mat inside the door. Grit, not water, is what wears a hall floor.

Conservatory

The rigid core moves less with temperature than a flexible vinyl, and the floor is floated with its full expansion gap.

Living room, bedroom

Where the look of real oak is wanted and the room stays dry, the engineered oak range is the honest recommendation; the listing as waterproof buys nothing there.

Before you order

Test the slab, do not assume it

A hygrometer sealed to the surface, 75% relative humidity or below in BS 8203 practice. An old kitchen or utility slab may have no damp proof membrane.

Wear layer for the room

0.55 mm for the kitchen, the hall and a home with a dog; 0.3 mm for a bedroom or light traffic. The HSE grades slip potential by the pendulum test value, and a textured surface is the sensible choice near a sink.

The edges are the specification

Bath, tray, threshold, appliance: sealed as the fitting instructions describe.

48 hours in the room

The MMFA's acclimatisation requirement: flat, in unopened boxes, at the room's in service temperature.

Order 8% to 12% over

The manufacturer allowance for a plank; 15% to 20% for the herringbone. In one batch.

Over underfloor heating

Every rigid vinyl floor here is listed for it; the underlay is rated for heating and the system is commissioned before the floor goes down.

What the published standards say

Published standards

Each entry is quoted from its source and linked to it. The full set is in the standards reference.

BS 8203 — relative humidity limit for a subfloor

UK practice following BS 8203 treats a subfloor as dry enough for resilient floor coverings when hygrometer readings do not exceed 75% relative humidity (65% RH for solid timber coverings), measured with a hygrometer sealed to the surface so that it reaches equilibrium with the base.

RH limit, resilient floor coverings	75 % RH
RH limit, solid timber floor coverings	65 % RH

“The base can be considered dry enough to install most floorcoverings if a series of tests produce readings not exceeding 75% R.H. (65% R.H. for solid timber floorcoverings).”

Source: F. Ball and Co. Ltd - Digital Hygrometer, Technical Data Sheet

Cleaning — the manufacturers’ own guidance

For multilayer modular floor coverings the MMFA requires low-moisture cleaning methods and states that pooling of liquid on the floor must be avoided under all circumstances.

“Absolutely avoid ponding in any case!”

Source: Basic cleaning — MMFA (Multilayer Modular Flooring Association)

Room conditions at the time of fitting

The MMFA, the European association for multilayer modular floor coverings, requires the flooring to acclimatise for at least 48 hours in the same conditions as the installation area, stored flat and cross-stacked in unopened boxes at roughly 15-25 degrees Celsius and 35 to 65 per cent relative humidity.

acclimatisation before installation	at least 48 h
storage and acclimatisation temperature	15-25 °C
storage and acclimatisation relative humidity	35-65 %

“Leave the floor covering to acclimatise in the same environmental conditions as the installation area for a period of at least 48 hours prior to installation. Always store the boards flat and cross-stacked, in their original unopened boxes and at approx. 15-25 °C and between 35 % and maximum 65 % relative humidity.”

Source: Prior to installation — MMFA (Multilayer Modular Flooring Association)

What SPC rigid core actually is

According to the Multilayer Modular Flooring Association, SPC stands for Solid Polymer Core, whereas WPC stands for Wood Plastic Composite; both are listed as alternative core-layer materials for multilayer modular floor panels, the SPC core being a solid polymer compound and the WPC core a wood-polymer composite.

SPC	Solid Polymer Core
WPC	Wood Plastic Composite
EPC	Expanded Polymer Core

“Core layers can be wood composites such as HDF or cork, but also polymer or polymer composite materials such as PFC (Perfluorcarbone), natural fibre-reinforced plastics, WPC (Wood Plastic Composite), EPC (Expanded Polymer Core) and SPC (Solid Polymer Core); but also mineral-based substrates, e.g. MPC ("Mineral Plastic Composites").”

Source: Multilayer Modular Flooring in focus - MMFA (Multilayer Modular Flooring Association)

Wear layer thickness classes for vinyl

EN ISO 10582 does not link heterogeneous PVC floor coverings to a wear layer thickness in millimetres per class. Its published scope states that the standard specifies the characteristics of non-cushioned heterogeneous PVC floor coverings and that it includes a classification system (see ISO 10874) based on the intensity of use, plus requirements for marking - so the class number (23, 31, 32, 33, 34) describes where a floor is fit to be used, not how thick its wear layer is.

Basis of the classification system referenced by EN ISO 10582 (ISO 10874)	intensity of use

“To encourage the consumer to make an informed choice, this document includes a classification system (see ISO 10874) based on the intensity of use, which shows where these floor coverings give satisfactory service. It also specifies requirements for marking.”

Source: ISO 10582:2017 - Resilient floor coverings - Heterogeneous poly(vinyl chloride) floor covering - Specifications (ISO catalogue page, abstract)

Pendulum Test Value — how slip risk is assessed

HSE grades pedestrian slip potential from the pendulum test value (PTV): 0-24 is high slip potential, 25-35 moderate and 36 or above low slip potential, the pendulum coefficient-of-friction test being the subject of BS 7976 Parts 1-3.

low slip potential	36 + PTV
moderate slip potential	25-35 PTV
high slip potential	0-24 PTV

“Table 1 Slip potential classification, based on pendulum test values (PTV) PTV High slip potential 0-24 Moderate slip potential 25-35 Low slip potential 36 +”

Source: HSE - Assessing the slip resistance of flooring (GEIS2)

Questions about waterproof flooring

Does waterproof mean the same as water resistant?

No. Water resistant floors, such as a lacquered engineered oak or an HDF laminate with a sealed surface, tolerate a spill that is wiped up; the core still takes up water if it stands. The products on this page are listed by their makers as waterproof because the board itself does not take up water. The base and the edges are a separate question for both.

Can a waterproof floor be laid over a damp concrete floor?

No. An impermeable floor traps whatever moisture is in the slab, and the joints and the underlay suffer for it. The slab is tested with a hygrometer sealed to the surface and reads 75% relative humidity or below before the floor goes down, in UK practice following BS 8203.

Is laminate waterproof?

Not in our range. Laminate has an HDF core that swells if water stands in the joints, which is why it belongs in the dry rooms. For the same decors in a kitchen or a bathroom, the rigid vinyl floors on this page are the answer.

Do I still need to seal the edges in a bathroom?

Yes. The listing covers the board, not the room. Water gets under a floor at the bath, the shower tray and the threshold, and the fitting instructions describe how those edges are sealed. The shower panels do the same job on the walls, without grout.

Which wear layer do I need?

The 0.55 mm wear layer for the kitchen, the hall, a utility room and a home with a dog; the 0.3 mm layer for a bedroom, a home office or a room with light traffic. The listing as waterproof is the same on both; the wear layer decides how the surface lasts.

See the decor in your own light first

Cut samples are £1.99 each, up to two per product. A grey that looks right on a screen can look blue on a north facing kitchen floor.

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Care guide Cleaning SPC and LVT Guide Bathroom wall panels guide Room guide Best flooring for bathrooms

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