Vinyl
Vinyl flooring is durable, wear-resistant, and water-resistant, making it an excellent choice for homes with children or pets. It is the perfect choice for high-traffic and humid areas such as kitchens, bathrooms, and basements. It is an affordable alternative to wood that offers a high-end finish and simplified installation.
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Vinyl floors are a synthetic and durable flooring option. They are also very versatile and come in sheets, tiles and planks. Vinyl flooring can have a realistic wood or tile appearance to suit different spaces within your home.
Vinyl is often compared with laminate and linoleum. But, because it is completely synthetic, vinyl is more suitable for bathrooms, kitchens, laundry rooms, basements and other spaces that might see more moisture. It is water-resistant and won’t warp under wet conditions as laminate flooring would.
With its different styles, vinyl flooring can offer you that beautiful wooden-looking floor that you’ve always dreamed of but at a lower cost than real wood.
Vinyl Floor Materials
Vinyl floors are made from PVC (polyvinyl chloride), which is the most commonly produced synthetic plastic. However, vinyl flooring may also consist of a combination of PVC and wood (WPC) or stone and PVC (SPC).
There are two different ways that vinyl tiles or sheets are made.
The first, more traditional method involves binding a layer of PVC to a fibrous core and topping it with a printed image layer as well as a durable, transparent wear layer. This involves a rotogravure printing process to create designs (like wooden surfaces) for residential use.
Inlay vinyl flooring consists of multiple layers of vinyl fused together. These layers are all the same colour so that even if it wears down, the colour remains the same.
Do I Need An Underlay For Vinyl Flooring?
With most vinyl floors, you don’t need an underlayment. If your vinyl flooring has good cushioning and the sublayer is level and smooth, then you can put the vinyl straight down. If the subfloor is uneven, then getting underlayment is recommended to ensure that your vinyl floor lies smooth and stable.
An underlay could be useful for noise reduction and added cushioning so you may want to consider laying some down anyway. Underlayment also has thermal properties and can keep your vinyl floors warmer during the winter.
How Durable Is Vinyl Flooring?
Vinyl floors are very durable. Not only are they water-resistant, but they have a wear layer to help ensure longevity. Different thicknesses and finishes have an impact on how long your vinyl floors will last or how quickly they will wear down.
The wear layer is scratch- and stain-resistant so that your floors can look newer for longer. There are also different finishes that affect durability. For example, an enhanced urethane finish can withstand heavy foot traffic and is more scratch-resistant than other finishes.
The quality of the vinyl is also important for durability. You might want to consider investing a little more in better quality vinyl flooring so that you can enjoy beautiful flooring for many years. If taken care of, vinyl floors can last more than 10 to 20 years!
How Thick Should Vinyl Floors Be?
Vinyl floors can have thicknesses between 2 and 8+ millimeters. However, thinner vinyl floors don’t necessarily mean that they won’t last as long. It’s the wear layer’s thickness that is important for durability. We recommend getting a thickness of at least 0.3 millimeters for the wear layer. The thicker you get, the longer your vinyl floors will last.