Vinyl Buying Guide
Why Choose Vinyl Flooring?
Luxury vinyl and traditional vinyl flooring, while relatively new in the flooring market, are quickly becoming the go-to options because of the reasonable cost, flexibility of suiting almost any décor, and durability.
Vinyl flooring's range of new water-resistant, stain-resistant and on trend colors and patterns can provide a quick upgrade to home improvement projects. The array of options may lead you to consider vinyl.
If that isn’t enough, vinyl's ease of installation and low maintenance requirements might tip the scales for you to shop for vinyl flooring right now.
Advantages of Vinyl Flooring
Durability
Designed to be resilient, the top layer of vinyl flooring, called a wear layer, protects your floor from damage. A vinyl flooring tile or plank with a thick wear layer is virtually impossible to dent and is difficult to scratch or stain.
Great Looks with Great Comfort
Vinyl flooring gives you a plethora of options in color, pattern, and finishes. The luxury planks and tiles give you a very realistic hardwood floor or stone floor without the high-maintenance of real wood floors or the uncomfortable cold sensation of stepping on stone tiles on winter mornings.
Where Can You Install Vinyl Flooring?
Everywhere! Vinyl flooring can be used in every room in your home. It is ideal for high-traffic areas as it is scratch-resistant, spill-resistant, dent-resistant, and stain-resistant.
Vinyl flooring is especially ideal for your kitchen, bathroom, and laundry room, where high moisture levels and spills are prevalent.
With such amazing finishes and looks, vinyl is perfect for your living room, bedroom, boardroom, or any commercial space too.
While Vinyl can be one of the easiest types of floors to install on your own, we also offer the even easier option of professional installation.
Find the Right Vinyl Tile
Here is an overview to help you find out what type of vinyl may work best for your room update.
Types of Vinyl
| What Do You Need? | Type of Vinyl |
|---|---|
Do you need your floor to look like a hardwood floor but without the maintenance it requires? |
Vinyl Planks |
Do you need your floor to look like a stone or tile floor but with greater durability? |
Vinyl Tiles |
Do you want flooring that is seemingly continuous, spread out over a large space? |
Vinyl Sheets |
Vinyl Planks
Vinyl planks come in many finishes, including wood, tile and stone.
Do you have pets or kids? Do you need wooden flooring with low maintenance? Are you searching for a more durable alternative to hardwood floors? Then vinyl planks are right up your alley.
Most of the wood-look vinyl comes in plank form. Vinyl planks provide the best wood-look alternative to traditional hardwood floors.
Luxury Vinyl Plank (LVP) provides increased durability and easy installation. The one thing that separates luxury vinyl from traditional vinyl flooring is realistic visuals.
Luxury vinyl planks have a high-quality printed vinyl layer with those stunning natural wood images that make the floor shine. It also, typically, comes with a thicker wear layer that protects the flooring from scratches, dents, and overall aging.
Luxury vinyl plank flooring is a smart way to breathe new life into a room, and it comes in an excess of shades and designs.
It is waterproof, with great texture and feel, and can be installed quite easily as well.
Vinyl Plank Flooring Advantages
- Water-resistant
- Plenty of choices to suit many styles of décor quite easily
- Easy maintenance
Vinyl Tile
Do you want to create an earthy classic décor with a stone finish? Then consider vinyl tiles. Most of the stone-finish vinyl comes in the form of vinyl tiles.
Vinyl tiles are usually a mixture of vinyl, clay, and mineral fibers. Sometimes, for more durability, they may be solid vinyl.
Vinyl tiles are easier to install as they can be glued on next to each other or even grouted for an authentic tile flooring feel.
Shop Vinyl Tiles | Shop For Tile or Stone Look Vinyl TilesLuxury Vinyl Tile
One type of flooring that is trending with homeowners (and business owners) is luxury vinyl tile or LVT.
Do you want vinyl flooring to look like the real thing? Then choose LVT. It is designed to mimic the look and feel of wood, stone, or ceramic. The layer just above the actual vinyl layer is responsible for creating the realistic effect of whatever material is desired – be it wood, natural tone, slate, or ceramic tile.
Luxury vinyl tiles are made to look like real tiles using a high-quality design layer. Moreover, the texture layer ensures that they feel like the natural flooring they’re simulating.
Luxury Vinyl Tile Advantages
- Plethora of colors, patterns, and designs
- The textured surface lends a stone or wood feel
- Added layer of protection from scratches and scuffs
- Able to withstand a lot of foot traffic
- Low maintenance
Sheet Vinyl
Traditionally, vinyl flooring meant sheet vinyl. Sheet vinyl flooring comes as huge, uncut, flexible sheets that are sold in prepared rolls or wide panels. A vinyl sheet floor is completely resistant to water.
Vinyl sheet is best used on flat and level surfaces. They are also very resilient to stains and scratches, so when something spills, or if you have a bunch of toddlers running amok with markers, a quick wipe will usually help you reset and regain your composure.
Advantages
- No seams, therefore no grouting required
- Softer and more comfortable feel than other hard-surface flooring options
- Huge range of design options
Sheet vinyl comes in three types, felt backed, vinyl backed and loose-lay. Below are more details on each type.
Felt backed - this type of vinyl is created by adding a layer of felt to the back of the vinyl sheet adding a cushion. Felt backed vinyl sheets are installed with an adhesive.
Vinyl Backed - this type of vinyl is installed by gluing the sheet to the floor along the edges only. It is recommended that this product be installed by a professional.
Loose-Lay - this type of vinyl is created by adding a layer of fiberglass to the back adding strength and stability to the sheet. Loose Lay vinyl is installed without any adhesive
Choosing Vinyl Trims
Trims are multi-functional pieces typically used as a completion to the space where a vinyl floor ends. They serve as transition pieces from a vinyl floor to a carpet or used in spaces where the floor and wall meet.
This is a necessary accessory to consider buying. Do check in with our store experts to help you choose a set of trims appropriate for your home.
Installation
While vinyl is easy to install, especially planks and tiles, it is important to have a good underlay. The process of installation is quite easy. You lay the vinyl flooring on top of your underlay and then press the flooring to the adhesive.
While the installation process is easy, it can be a lot more relaxing to let the professionals handle it.
Maintenance and Repair
This flooring is great at maintaining a neutral temperature. It also makes it really easy to maintain the look of hardwood floor.
However, sometimes your vinyl flooring can get damaged with some small cuts or cracks. Your floor also could have water damage and bubble up in some areas. In such cases, if you need to repair or replace any part of your vinyl flooring, the removal process is also simple and quick.
Especially with vinyl tiles or planks, the damaged portions can get quickly replaced with new ones without disturbing the rest of the flooring.
