Making the interior of your home feel warm and welcoming all comes down to the decoration. Everything must be in sync and perfect, from the furniture, color scheme, wallpaper, and even flooring plan. One of the hardest choices you will make is the type of flooring you will use in your home.
There are numerous options you can choose from. There are wooden floors, porcelain tiles, ceramic tiles, and even natural stone. Your choices will depend on your use case, preferences, and your intended budget.
This article will look at luxury vinyl plank flooring, and who knows? Maybe this is the perfect flooring option for your dream home and budget.
Get in The Know: What Are Luxury Vinyl Tiles?
Luxury vinyl tile or LVT is a type of flooring made from synthetic materials. Materials such as hard plastics, PVC, and wear layers are compressed together to form a flooring plank. Then, manufacturers insert an image layer on LVT to look like the type of flooring the clients want (e.g, stone or hardwood).
LVT is rapidly gaining popularity as a flooring choice because of its endless designs. It is also an alternative to expensive flooring materials such as wood and natural stone flooring. With LVT, you can achieve that aesthetic interior without burning a hole in your pocket.
Let’s dive into the world of LVT flooring and find out why this could be the best option for you.
Types of Vinyl Flooring
The first type of vinyl flooring is called vinyl sheet flooring. You can buy vinyl sheets in rolls. It's available in 6 feet or 12 feet. Some manufacturers give you an option to customize the length of your sheets so you can lay them on your floor seamlessly. This type of vinyl is recommended for small rooms for easy installation.
The second type is the LVT. LVT comes in planks, which usually measure 7" by 48". It can also be in square tiles, depending on availability. LVT mimics the designs and patterns of woods and stone to give your home a luxurious look on a budget. Most stone-designed LVT comes in plank form and looks similar to natural stone tiles.
Types of Vinyl Finishes
Adding some texture to your floor will give that genuine feeling. Vinyl flooring comes in three different finishes to elevate the experience in your living spaces.
No-wax finish
A no-wax finish vinyl flooring is coated with acrylic or other chemicals for shine. This type of finish is also the lightest one, which is why it’s recommended for low-traffic areas. However, the no-wax finish also retains dust on the flooring, so you should regularly sweep and mop the floor to keep its shine.
Urethane finish
A urethane finish lets you install vinyl in moderately trafficked areas like the bedroom. This flooring has a heavier layer protecting your floors from dents and scuffing. With proper maintenance, this floor can last up to 10 years.
Enhanced urethane finish
Enhanced urethane is the toughest finish for vinyl floorings. You can use these floors in heavily trafficked areas like the foyer and living room. This floor is stain and scratch-resistant, and it can retain its luster even without constant maintenance.
Matte finish
The matte finish gives more texture to the planks so you can feel the genuine surface of natural floorings. For example, some natural stone tiles feel rough and uneven underfoot. Matte finish aims to mimic the feeling without the unnatural shine that other finishes give.
Costs
When choosing a floor, the biggest factor for homeowners is the cost. However, if you don't have any trouble spending extra money on genuine flooring materials like stone flooring, it will surely add real estate value to your home.
But if you’re tight on budget, stone look vinyl flooring is your best option. LVT costs between $6 to $15. Textured LVT that mimics the look and the texture of organic materials can cost up to $20. But this still can give you significant savings compared to genuine materials that cost more than $30 per square foot.
Additionally, vinyl flooring does not need professional workers for installation. You can do this as your DIY project—no labor fees are needed!
Installation
Let's talk about installation. Before you lay down planks on your floors, you have to prepare them first so you can get through the process smoothly. What's good about LVT is you can layer them down on your old floors. But if you want to remove the old floor, make sure to scrape off the excess to have an even surface, and always make sure to sweep the dirt and dry your floors before installation.
There are three installation types for LVT flooring:
Stick down
The stick down is the traditional method of installing vinyl planks. You can think of it as putting stickers on your floor. So you have to make sure that there is no litter on your floor because it can cause visible bumps when you lay the flooring down, affecting the overall look of the vinyl.
Locking system
This type of installation is the most DIY-friendly because it feels like putting puzzle pieces together. If you buy LVT stone floor tiles, you will probably use this method for installation. The locking system is easier because the planks have a sub-layer that levels the tiles on the floor. So, if you missed little debris on your flooring, you won't have to worry about visible bumps showing.
Looselay
Looselay flooring is the easiest installation method for vinyl planks because it doesn’t require any adhesive or fasteners to install it. Looselay floorings are usually in the form of thick rectangular planks with a rubber underside. This flooring also has a special layer that makes it heavy, so it won't require any bonding agent to stay in place.
Just remember, when installing loose lay floorboards, you should cover the entire room so the planks won't have any space to move from their positions.
Maintenance and repairs
Maintaining vinyl floor tiles will not cost you money and won’t require professional help. However, unlike solid hardwood floors or ceramic floor tiles, you need to reseal every two to three years to block moisture and retain the flooring quality.
Vinyl is waterproof so that you can easily make your floors squeaky clean with a mop, water, and mild soap. No special chemicals or equipment are needed. These floors are also scratch-proof and stain-proof. And if in some cases, you need to replace them, you can pull out the damaged plank without compromising the health of the rest of your flooring.
Sunlight
As you already know, vinyl uses an image layer for its designs. The image layer is then topped off with other layers to make it durable and textured. But direct exposure to sunlight can affect the image layer. UV rays can make your image layer fade. You can still use vinyl despite the natural lighting in your rooms. Just remember to close the curtains when you're not in the room or have your windows tinted.
Stone-look tiles usually come in dark shades like black or dark grey. Discoloration due to UV rays will be obvious so always keep your floor away from the rays at all times, if possible.
Your Perfect Floor
Stone look vinyl plank flooring will bring out the elegance in your house and has more to offer than other expensive flooring choices. Its waterproof, stain-proof, scratch- and dent-resistant, and is very easy to maintain: qualities that are rare on organic flooring.
With the endless design options, you can get any natural stone look you want for your home without stretching your budget. Still, looking for inspiration? Visit our site to see what LVT can do for your home design.
June 3, 2022
