You may think of the worn out, peeled seams kitchen floor at your grandmother’s house when you hear “vinyl flooring.” And sure, you’re not wrong, that IS vinyl flooring. But that’s not what we’re talking about today. Luxury vinyl flooring is the iPhone 11 of your grandma’s kitchen floor. Advancements in manufacturing, a keen eye for design, and top quality installation techniques turned this builders’ basic floor finish into one that is coveted by designers and DIYers alike. Luxury vinyl flooring is the universal floor covering for every home, office, restaurant, and more!
When we steer our customers (contractors, designers and homeowners) in the direction of this type of flooring, it’s for these three reasons:
- Easy installation
- Minimal maintenance
- Cutting-edge colors and design
So if you’re on the fence about luxury vinyl flooring, read on and uncover why it is the flooring for you.
Installing Luxury Vinyl Flooring
Let’s start by saying how seamlessly simple it is to install. With only two types of plank / tile styles, you (or your contractor) can lay a whole homes’ worth of flooring in just a couple of days. All you need are a few basic tools, a little prep and planning, and a free weekend! The main priority is to make sure the floor you’re going over is completely level.
Note: it’s best to remove existing tile before you start, as they aren’t the most secure surface to cover.
As mentioned above, there are two kinds of luxury vinyl planks (LVP) and luxury vinyl tiles (LVT). While they look very similar, one type is glued and one is locked together, no adhesive required. This is called “floating” flooring. Once you level your floor, you can apply solvent-free pressure sensitive adhesive and set your glue-down LVP or LVT. Or you can click together the tongue-and-groove edges of your floating floor over the clean, level surface.
Floating floors are by far the most popular, as even a novice DIYer can lay this flooring with ease. Plus it doesn’t require as much preparation as the glue-down type does. You can go directly over any level hard surface like hardwood, linoleum, concrete, etc.
Make Cleaning a Breeze
View Shaw Floors’ vinyl flooring
Care and Maintenance Guide.
We all know the never-ending battle of keeping our floors in tip top shape. With luxury vinyl flooring, worry less about water damage, sticky spills, or muddy feet. Since LVP is 100% synthetic material, it’s also 100% water-resistant, making it the ideal candidate in kitchens and bathrooms. And as an added bonus, LVP and LVT aren’t nearly as slippery as ceramic or porcelain tiles. It’s also very low maintenance. No regular waxing, buffing or refinishing required. Simply sweep and mop weekly and wipe up spills as they happen. Germs and bacteria are far less likely to survive on the impervious surface of luxury vinyl flooring. And who doesn’t love that?
You Won’t Believe It’s Not Hardwood (or Tile… or Marble…)
Photos by Lucki Schotz
It’s no surprise that many luxury vinyl flooring companies staff a design team. Their job is to stay on top of trend forecasts when creating new LVP and LVT designs. In the fast-paced Interior Design industry, it’s imperative for flooring brands like Mannington to get ahead of their competitors when it comes to style. That’s why you’ll see updates to their products almost yearly. What you’ll find in their luxury vinyl planks is classic materials, like oak, cherry and maple, as well as driftwood, tiger wood and birch for the millennial crowd. Marble and slate tile-looks keep the tradition while patterned filigree and hexagon tiles carry them into the future of design with luxury vinyl tiles. There truly is something for everyone.
Technically speaking, there are many industry advancements that have increased the beauty of luxury vinyl flooring too. High-resolution printing, for one, emulates the look of natural wood and stone so impeccably, you can hardly see the difference. Embossing is another technique used to simulate authenticity in hardwood finishes. The embossing follows the grain pattern and knots in the print to give off the textured look of true wood planks. As we mentioned earlier, LVT are less slick than glazed tile, and that it due in part to subtly embossing the surface of the tile. We all know in today’s day and age, glossier is not always better. Matte and satin urethane wear-layers protect the surface of luxury vinyl floors, giving them extra durability AND a contemporary finish.
Why Vinyl Flooring is Perfect for Your Home
If the question still stands whether luxury vinyl flooring is right for you, give us one last shot to explain our reasoning. Besides the anyone-can-do-it installation, insanely easy care and maintenance AND beautiful designs, luxury vinyl is also:
- Warm underfoot. Gone are the days of waking up in the dead of winter, your bare feet reaching the cold, hard floor and crawling back into bed.
- Sound insulating. Second-floor neighbors wearing high heels? Who knew! She has luxury vinyl plank so you can’t hear a thing.
- Price-conscious. The initial investment is lower than your average hardwood, plus the long-term investment is minimal, since you won’t need special products to keep up the integrity and appearance of these floors.
Have we convinced you yet? Let’s schedule a free in-home consultation and measure for your own luxury vinyl floors.
