LVP Wear Layer Explained: What 6, 12, 20, 22 and 30 Mil Mean, and Which to Choose

Two vinyl plank floors can look identical in a photo and carry different numbers on the spec list: 12 mil on one, 20 mil on the other. That number is the thickness of the wear layer, the clear layer over the design layer.

This guide answers the questions shoppers ask about it: what a mil is, what 6, 12, 20, 22 and 30 mil come to in inches and millimeters, which of them we sell from Shaw and COREtec, which one we'd choose for which home, and what the warranty on each one says. It does not put a lifespan in years on any of them, because neither Shaw nor COREtec publishes one.

Quick answer: A mil is one thousandth of an inch: 0.001 in, or 0.0254 mm. On luxury vinyl plank it measures the wear layer, the clear layer over the design layer, not the plank. The wear layers we sell are 6, 12, 20, 22 and 30 mil, which is 0.15, 0.30, 0.51, 0.56 and 0.76 mm; in our catalog Shaw comes in 6, 12, 20 and 30 mil and COREtec in 12, 20, 22 and 30 mil. If you're choosing, our recommendation is 20 mil for a busy household, 12 mil for bedrooms and lighter-traffic homes, 6 mil for light-use rooms only, and 22 or 30 mil for the hardest-used floors. That advice is ours: neither brand's warranty assigns a wear layer to a household, both exclude surface scratches, and the warranty term does not follow the mil number, so read the warranty on the exact style.

What does mil mean in flooring?

A mil is one thousandth of an inch: 0.001 in, or 0.0254 mm. In flooring it is the unit for the wear layer on luxury vinyl plank (LVP), the clear layer that sits over the design layer. It is not short for millimeter, and it does not measure the plank: a 20 mil wear layer is about half a millimeter thick, on planks that run from 4.4 mm to 12 mm overall in our catalog.

COREtec's own breakdown of a plank names five parts: a UV acrylic finish, a wear layer, a luxury vinyl design layer that carries the look, the core, and an attached underlayment. It gives the wear layer one job: it "protects against excessive wear and stains."^{Source 1}

Shaw's residential resilient warranty and COREtec's define wear by the layer underneath it. Both use the same sentence: the floor "will not wear through to the pattern/decor layer under normal use during the period of this warranty." Both define normal use as "light to moderate foot traffic."^{Source 2Source 3} The warranty's pattern/decor layer is the layer COREtec calls the design layer.

You will meet the same unit elsewhere on a flooring job. The 6 mil poly film that COREtec's Pro installation guide recommends under a floating floor on concrete is plastic sheeting six thousandths of an inch thick.^{Source 4}

What does 22 mil mean?

A 22 mil wear layer is 22 thousandths of an inch thick: 0.022 in, or about 0.56 mm. It describes the clear layer over the design layer and nothing else. It is not the plank's thickness, and it is not a grade or a number of years.

In our catalog 22 mil is a COREtec figure. Three COREtec styles have it and no Shaw style does:

• COREtec Originals Enhanced 9x72 CR501 ($5.89/sq ft): 8 mm overall, 9" × 72" planks, 10 colors
• COREtec Restored Era CR502 ($6.89/sq ft): 8 mm overall, 7" × 60" planks, 5 colors
• COREtec Retro Revival ($5.39/sq ft): 8 mm overall, 9" wide planks in mixed lengths (30", 42" and 72"), 10 colors

All three are on COREtec's residential warranty document.^{Source 2} Our product page for Retro Revival shows a lifetime residential warranty, the one COREtec's own product page lists for it;^{Source 5} our pages for the other two show no term.

How thick is 20 mil in inches and millimeters?

Twenty mil is 0.020 inch, which is 0.508 mm: about half a millimeter. Every wear layer converts the same way. Multiply the mil number by 0.001 for inches, or by 0.0254 for millimeters.

Spec sheets round the metric figure. The manufacturer data behind our product pages lists a 20 mil wear layer as 0.5 mm and a 22 mil one as 0.55 mm, so a small gap between a spec sheet and this table is rounding, not a different floor.

Set against each other: 12 mil is twice 6 mil, 20 mil is two-thirds more than 12 mil, 22 mil is one-tenth more than 20 mil, and 30 mil is half again as thick as 20 mil.

Which wear layers do we sell from Shaw and COREtec?

Shaw comes in 6, 12, 20 and 30 mil in our catalog, and COREtec in 12, 20, 22 and 30 mil. We have no 22 mil style from Shaw and nothing thinner than 12 mil from COREtec. Of the 53 luxury vinyl styles we sell, 36 are 20 mil.

For the rest of each lineup, see our Shaw LVP buyer's guide and our COREtec LVP buyer's guide.

Is 6 mil LVP good?

For a light-use room such as a guest room or a closet, yes. For a busy household or a home with dogs, we'd choose a thicker wear layer. Six mil is the thinnest wear layer we sell, 0.15 mm of clear layer, and it is still a floor Shaw warrants for a home: the two Shaw styles that have it carry a 30-year residential warranty on one and a lifetime residential warranty on the other.

• Shaw Impact Plus ($2.99/sq ft): 4.4 mm overall, attached pad, 5 colors, 30-year residential warranty^{Source 6}
• Shaw Anvil Plus ($3.79/sq ft): 4.4 mm overall, attached pad, 6 colors, lifetime residential warranty^{Source 7}

What 6 mil has less of is clear material: 0.15 mm, against 0.30 mm at 12 mil and 0.51 mm at 20 mil. The wear layer is the material that takes the wear, and Shaw's warranty covers wearing through it to the design layer under light to moderate foot traffic.^{Source 3} So where a floor works harder, we'd want more of it. That reasoning is ours, not Shaw's: the warranty says nothing about which rooms a wear layer suits, and it excludes surface scratches unless a scratch warranty applies.

Anvil Plus has a sibling style, Shaw Anvil Plus 20 Mil ($3.29/sq ft), with the same 4.4 mm overall thickness and the same plank size, a 20 mil wear layer and 10 colors. We have no 6 mil style from COREtec.

Is 12 mil enough?

For bedrooms and lighter-traffic homes, yes: that is where we'd choose 12 mil, along with homes that have cats or one small, calm dog. For a busy household with kids or most dogs, we'd step up to 20 mil. Twelve mil is 0.30 mm of clear layer, twice the 6 mil figure and three-fifths of 20 mil.

All four 12 mil styles we sell carry a residential warranty:

• Shaw Endura Plus ($2.99/sq ft): 4.8 mm overall, 17 colors, 30-year residential warranty^{Source 8}
• Shaw Paladin Plus ($3.89/sq ft): 5 mm overall, 15 colors, 30-year residential warranty^{Source 9}
• Shaw Distinction Plus ($4.79/sq ft): 7 mm overall, 8 colors, 30-year residential warranty^{Source 10}
• COREtec Originals Classics VV585 ($6.19/sq ft): 6.5 mm overall, 2 colors, 25-year residential warranty

Our product pages show the 30-year term on every Paladin Plus color, on 15 of the 17 Endura Plus colors and on 6 of the 8 Distinction Plus colors. The remaining four colors show no term, so read it on the color you're ordering. VV585 is the one COREtec style we sell at 12 mil, and it carries a 25-year residential warranty.

The step up to 20 mil is our recommendation, not a warranty rule. Neither Shaw's warranty nor COREtec's assigns a wear layer to a household, and both cover wear-through under the same light to moderate foot traffic at every thickness.^{Source 3Source 2}

Is 20 mil worth it?

For a busy household, yes: 20 mil is our default for homes with kids or most dogs, and for kitchens and entryways. In our catalog it is also the standard wear layer rather than an upgrade: 36 of the 53 luxury vinyl styles we sell have it, 16 from Shaw and 20 from COREtec. It is 0.51 mm of clear layer, two-thirds more than 12 mil.

Two of those 36 styles, Shaw Ignite and Shaw Ambition, show a 30-year residential warranty.^{Source 11Source 12} On the other 34, our product pages show a lifetime term or no term at all, so read the product page for the exact style.

Our Shaw 20 mil styles are priced from $3.29 to $7.19 per square foot, and our COREtec 20 mil styles from $4.09 to $8.89. A few of them:

• Shaw Anvil Plus 20 Mil ($3.29/sq ft): 4.4 mm overall, 10 colors
• Shaw Infinite SPC ($3.89/sq ft): 4.4 mm overall, 13 colors
• Shaw Pantheon HD Plus ($6.49/sq ft): 8 mm overall, 11 colors
• COREtec Pro Classics VV017 ($4.09/sq ft): 5 mm overall, 15 colors
• COREtec Originals Classics VV023 ($6.39/sq ft): 8 mm overall, 20 colors
• COREtec Originals Premium VV810 ($8.89/sq ft): 10.25 mm overall with an attached Soft Step pad, 10 colors

So 20 mil differs from 12 mil by 0.2 mm more clear layer, which is the reason we'd choose it where a floor works harder. It does not reliably differ by warranty term: Shaw Ignite and Shaw Ambition are 20 mil floors that show the same 30-year residential warranty the Shaw 12 mil styles do.

22 mil vs 30 mil: what is the difference?

Eight thousandths of an inch. A 22 mil wear layer is 0.56 mm thick and a 30 mil one is 0.76 mm, so 30 mil has 0.2 mm, or about 36%, more clear layer. We'd choose either one for the hardest-used floors in a house, or for several dogs or one large, high-energy dog, and we'd choose between them on the plank.

In our catalog the two numbers also sit on different planks. All three 22 mil styles are 8 mm COREtec planks. The eight 30 mil styles, two from Shaw and six from COREtec, are all 12 mm or thicker, and the six from COREtec each have a 3 mm attached cork pad.

• Shaw Titan HD Plus Platinum ($6.79/sq ft): 12 mm overall, 10 colors
• Shaw Titan HD Plus ($8.19/sq ft): 12 mm overall, 6 colors
• COREtec Coastal Luxe ($8.19/sq ft): 12 mm overall, 5 colors
• COREtec Lakehouse Luxe ($8.19/sq ft): 12 mm overall, 5 colors
• COREtec Originals Premium VV457 ($9.09/sq ft): 12 mm overall, 10 colors
• COREtec Originals Premium VV458 ($9.69/sq ft): 12 mm overall, 8 colors
• COREtec Originals Premium VV662 ($9.59/sq ft): 15 mm overall, 15 colors
• COREtec Originals Premium 3/4" CR500 ($10.69/sq ft): 19 mm overall, the thickest vinyl plank we sell, 4 colors

The warranty is not what separates them. All eleven styles are on their brand's residential warranty with the Waterproof and Petproof sections.^{Source 2Source 3} Our product pages show a lifetime residential warranty on Retro Revival at 22 mil^{Source 5} and on all six COREtec styles at 30 mil.^{Source 13} The other two 22 mil styles and both Shaw Titan styles show no term, so read the product page for the one you choose.

How long does a wear layer last?

Neither Shaw nor COREtec publishes a lifespan in years for any wear layer, so there is no manufacturer figure to give you. A thicker wear layer is more clear material over the design layer, which is the layer both warranties measure wear against. That is what the number tells you, and it is the reasoning behind our recommendations: where a floor works harder, we'd want more of it. It is our reasoning, not a published service life.

The warranty term does not follow the mil number either. Six Shaw styles show a 30-year residential warranty, and they are spread across three wear layers:

• 6 mil: Shaw Impact Plus shows a 30-year residential warranty,^{Source 6} while Shaw Anvil Plus shows a lifetime residential warranty^{Source 7}
• 12 mil: Shaw Endura Plus, Paladin Plus and Distinction Plus each show a 30-year residential warranty, on most of their colors or all of them^{Source 8Source 9Source 10}
• 20 mil: Shaw Ignite and Shaw Ambition each show a 30-year residential warranty^{Source 11Source 12}

So the 6 mil Anvil Plus shows a lifetime residential warranty, while the 12 mil Endura Plus and the 20 mil Ignite each show a 30-year residential warranty.

Nor does a thicker wear layer make a floor scratch-proof. The same warranties list "surface scratches unless covered by a scratch warranty" among the things they do not cover, along with cuts or gouges from sharp objects, indentations from heavy static loads, and changes in gloss over time.^{Source 2Source 3} A wear warranty is about wearing through to the design layer, not about marks on the surface. The same documents carry a waterproof clause, and our waterproof flooring explainer covers what that one does and does not promise.

Is the wear layer the same as plank thickness?

No. The wear layer is the clear layer over the design layer, measured in mils. Plank thickness is the whole plank, measured in millimeters, and one does not tell you the other.

Three floors in our catalog show it. Shaw Anvil Plus and Shaw Anvil Plus 20 Mil are both 4.4 mm planks, one with a 6 mil wear layer and one with 20 mil. Shaw Distinction Plus is thicker than either at 7 mm, and its wear layer is 12 mil. Read both lines on the spec list: overall thickness is the number to use for floor height at doorways and transitions, and wear layer is the number this guide is about.

Is an LVP wear layer the same as a hardwood wear layer?

No. On engineered hardwood the term means the real wood veneer over the core, and it is measured in millimeters rather than mils; our hardwood product pages list it as Face Veneer. The two are different materials doing different jobs, so the numbers cannot be compared directly. Our engineered hardwood wear layer guide covers that one.

What mil should I get?

For a busy household, 20 mil: it is our default, and it is also the most common wear layer we carry. Here is what we'd choose for each kind of home.

Why we'd choose that way. The wear layer is the clear material that takes the wear, and Shaw's and COREtec's warranties cover wearing through it under light to moderate foot traffic.^{Source 3Source 2} So where a floor works harder, we'd want more of it.

What the warranties don't say. This is FloorFreight's recommendation, not a manufacturer's. Neither warranty assigns a mil number to a room or a household, and both exclude surface scratches at every thickness.

A few facts from our catalog to set beside it:

• 20 mil is the widest choice. It is 36 of the 53 luxury vinyl styles we sell, from both brands.
• 30 mil is the most clear layer we sell. That is eight styles, all on planks 12 mm or thicker.
• A 6 or 12 mil floor is still a warranted residential floor. Four of those six styles show a 30-year residential warranty, Shaw Anvil Plus shows a lifetime residential warranty, and COREtec Originals Classics VV585 carries a 25-year residential warranty.
• Between 20 and 22 mil, choose on the plank. The gap is 2 mil, about 0.05 mm.

Whatever you choose, order a sample first. The wear layer is one line on a spec list; color, texture and how the plank reads in your own light are not. Samples are $5 each, credited back toward your floor order when you sign in at checkout with the same email you used to order them.