Vinyl Flooring Guidelines

Vinyl flooring is the most popular type of resilient flooring and by far the most widely used flooring material in the United States. Vinyl flooring is available in both low and high end types. Low-end vinyl flooring is usually recommended if you wish to have the most affordable type of flooring material. However, high-end vinyl floors can also contend with expensive flooring like hardwood in both quality and appearance.

Vinyl flooring materials are comprised of varying amounts of vinyl. These are often in solid or composite types of vinyl. Solid vinyl is made of vinyl pieces set in a vinyl base while composite vinyl is composed of vinyl pieces embedded in non-vinyl fillers. Solid vinyl is more expensive and more solid of these two types of vinyl. High quality flooring contains higher degree of vinyl components. Wear layer is the protective topping which is found in all vinyl flooring. This can be available in urethane that is plain and without wax covering or can be present all in vinyl. The vinyl type is more resistant against stains and scratches. However it can lose its shine more easily than the urethane protective topping. Glossy floor can get slippery and can also be hazardous especially when used in the bathroom. Both types of protective toppings may wear in time and can become dull unless wax is applied regularly.

All vinyl floors have a cushion backing, which is available in variety of thickness. This characteristic is useful especially when vinyl is installed in the kitchen where there is a higher tendency of dropping breakables. Apparently, the thicker the cushion backing is the easier for the floor to suffer from dents. The answer to this problem is by using textured vinyl surfaces to camouflage the dents.

Vinyl flooring comes in two forms. These are in tile and sheet forms. Some people who do their own installations would rather use vinyl tiles. These are a lot easier and quicker to install. Most vinyl tiles have adhesive backing that an installer will have to strip off, position on the floor and attach it on. The surface where the vinyl is going to be installed needs to be clean and smooth to give a good and tight fit. Other people have felt backing and glue application to be a requirement on the floor surface for installation. However, this type is very difficult to remove if the replacement is required. There is also a vinyl-backed type, which only needs gluing on the edges that enables it to be easily removed when replacement is still required. Sheet vinyl, however, costs more than tiles per square foot. It also requires more time and determination to install. A typical do-it-yourself homeowner can find installing sheet vinyl a little more difficult.

Lastly, it is advisable to settle for better quality vinyl flooring that can last longer than to get the lowest type and suffer from the complex process of replacing the cheap floor material in only a few years’ time.