VINYL FLOORING

A favorite of the do-it-yourselfer, vinyl flooring offers the look of ceramic tile, stone, hardwood or other contemporary designs at a fraction of the cost.

VINYL BASICS
The vinyl plank and tile flooring sold at iFloor.com offers a wide range of contemporary designs with easy installation. While appearing to be a simple, straightforward product, there are many variables you should understand before making a purchase.

At the bare minimum, you should be aware there are many manufacturers in the marketplace, offering vinyl at many price points and quality levels. You usually get what you pay for.

The amount of traffic a vinyl floor should be able to withstand should be your primary concern. If you buy a low-price peel-and-stick vinyl for your entry or kitchen, you’re asking for trouble. But you may not need the highest quality for a basement bathroom.

Nevertheless, if you’re flooring a small space, why not go with a higher quality flooring? The price increase won’t be significant. Even if the material is $4 per square foot vs. $2, the difference in a standard 6’x8’ bathroom installation is less than $100.

In general, you can put higher quality vinyl anywhere, but be very careful where you install lower-quality materials.

One note before you get started: vinyl is not the same as linoleum. Linoleum is an all-natural flooring material that was around decades before vinyl flooring appeared.

To get the floor you need, start by answering three questions:

1. What is the wear surface?
2. How is the structure of the vinyl constructed and how is it backed?
3. How will it be installed?

Wear Surfaces
There are three basic types of vinyl wear surfaces:

Vinyl No-Wax
Vinyl No-Wax is the original no-wear surface. It resists scuffs and scrapes, and it has some stain-resistant properties. This surface does require regular washing and occasional polishing to restore the gloss, especially in heavy traffic areas. Though this wear surface was once used on almost all vinyl flooring, it is now found mostly on entry-level grade flooring and some first upgrades.

1. Urethane (PVC)
Urethane surfaces do a much better job of resisting scuffs, scrapes, stains and heel marks. They will retain their new appearance much longer than the vinyl no-wax surfaces.

2. Enhanced Urethane
There are several levels of enhanced urethane, but all of them resist scrapes and marking better than other wear surfaces. The best of them will not stain from exposure to household troublemakers like mustard and iodine, and dirt will not stick. Regular sweeping and occasional mopping with an approved cleaner or vinegar and water is all that’s required of these floors.

Structure and Backing
The construction of vinyl flooring determines how well it will stand up to indentation from heavy appliances and falling objects.

Vinyl flooring is constructed in two ways.

1. The rotogravure or printed-floor process.
Roto or printed floors are created by attaching a printed image under the wear layer. As a result, this type of floor offers an endless array of designs and colors.

2. Inlaid Floors.
Inlaid floors are manufactured by placement of tiny vinyl granules from the backing all the way up to the wear surface, resulting in an extremely durable floor.

Basically all vinyl floors are made with a sandwich of layers, starting with a felt or vinyl backing. Both materials offer different advantages during installation, but vinyl backings also offer more dent resistance.

The structure is applied to this backing. On printed floors, a foam layer is placed on the backing, a picture is placed on the foam and the wear layer is applied. On inlaid floors, the vinyl granules are place directly on the backing and a wear layer is applied directly on the fused vinyl granules.

On some printed floors, a tough vinyl inner layer is placed between the foam and the picture, which enhance the durability greatly and protects the floor from gouges, tearing, and indentation.

In general, if you’re looking for a more durable floor, pay more for one with a vinyl inner layer or an inlaid floor, which is the most durable of them all.

Installation
Many "peel-and-stick" options have a self-adhesive covered with a peel-off backing. Tiles without the backing require an adhesive that is spread over the floor with a notched trowel, yet this job can usually be performed by a non-professional relatively easily.

Most modern adhesives used in residential installations are water-based rather than the toxic, solvent-based adhesives used in the past. When properly applied, they are totally safe and will perform well.

Regarding adhesives, always use the same brand of glue for the same brand of flooring. If you use Mannington vinyl, use Mannington adhesive. If you use Tarkett vinyl, use only Tarkett adhesive. If a manufacturer does not offer its own brand of adhesive, then ask what product the company recommends.

If you’re hiring someone to install your vinyl floor, make sure you specify what brand of flooring you’ve purchased ahead of time and what adhesive you want used. Making this determination will save you trouble later on. Better yet, providing both the flooring and the adhesive to the installer will eliminate any miscommunication.

Do Your Homework
Take the initiative to look at warranties, and read care-and-maintenance information before you buy the floor. Also, understand that every floor, even those designed to take the most abuse, will look worn at some point in the future. Given that information, realize that a medium-tone vinyl with a pattern will look better longer than a light colored or white vinyl with very little pattern.

How to shop for vinyl flooring

This article is by Steve Simonson -- a writer for our affiliate partner, iFloor.

For the purpose of this article, I am assuming that you have concluded that vinyl flooring is what you really want. There are other choices, depending on the look that you are trying to capture, such as linoleum, natural stone, ceramic tile and laminate flooring. However, since you have narrowed your choice down to vinyl, this article should help you make the right choice within this flooring category.

Since I hold my own opinion in such high regard, I offer a money back guarantee. If you purchase a new vinyl floor based on the information you gathered from this article AND you are unhappy with your vinyl selection, I will refund the amount you paid for this article. Since I am offering this article for free I figure my exposure is pretty low.

You may ask yourself what kind of information am I talking about? Well, the first part of any flooring experience should be a list of questions. These questions are not going to be asked by you - but instead by the flooring salesperson. Within these questions, the basics of your lifestyle and living habits and will help establish the general needs that your floor must address.

If you have followed my first instruction and read Steve'sStages of Floor Shopping I salute you. You now know the basic idea of floor shopping is the transformation of your experience from excitement to desperation, only occasionally leading to the final decision.

Beyond those basics, this article serves as a guide to the buying process and to minimize the frustration that many flooring shoppers encounter. Although these principles can be used in most purchasing situations, this article is specifically focused on vinyl flooring. Remember that this is in an interview sales format and is similar to what your salesperson should be asking you. Following the standard questions, I then add some of my patented insight into common situations that hopefully will guide you to your own conclusions as to what vinyl flooring will work best for your needs.
GOOD DAY TO YOU. THANKS FOR COMING IN - LET ME GUIDE YOU THROUGH THE VINYL SHOPPING PROCESS BY ASKING YOU A FEW QUESTIONS. FIRST - IN WHAT AREAS OF THE HOME ARE YOU CONSIDERING INSTALLING VINYL FLOORING?

Typically, people shopping for vinyl flooring are covering wet areas like the kitchen, bathroom, laundry room or the mudroom. There are certainly more areas that vinyl can be used. For instance, people use vinyl in closets in order to clean them easily and in dining rooms and family rooms. Usually, the dining room and family room applications coincide with usage in the kitchen or some other adjacent area.

Sometimes, in new construction homes, people have the vinyl installed in the kitchen, eating area, entry, hall and powder room. When vinyl is originally installed in the house the subsequent homeowners will many times follow the same initial layout configuration when they decide to replace the flooring. It is typically much easier to go over the same area than to change the layout. However, you CAN change the layout, you just need to know what you might encounter. Problems with sub-floor thickness, baseboard and transitions are just a few of the potential complications when changing the original layout of vinyl flooring.
OK - NOW THAT WE KNOW WHERE YOU WANT YOUR NEW FLOORING - ARE YOU WONDERING WHAT VINYL REALLY IS?

To see a more complete account of what vinyl is made of, you should checkout VINYL 101 which is available at www.ifloor.com for FREE. The basic idea is that vinyl is flooring with some kind of pattern that has a high wear resistant coat of protection on top of the pattern. There are different kinds of coatings and many different ways of applying the pattern to the flooring.
ARE YOU CONSIDERING SHEET VINYL?

Sheet vinyl comes in rolls, which means that the product comes on a specified roll width. You must order enough to cover the length of your room. An easy layout is a standard 5-foot by 8-foot bathroom. Most of the time people select a 6-foot wide material for this layout and order a 6-foot x 8-foot roll of vinyl. This floor can be done in one piece, which means that no seams are required. Someone with experience really should measure a room with a lot of twists and turns. Be sure that you consider the pattern match of the flooring for any area where you will need to make a seam. This pattern match will add enough additional material so that when you make a seam, the pattern will line up on both sides of the seam.
ARE YOU CONSIDERING VINYL TILES?

Not all vinyl is made in a roll. Some vinyl comes in tiles, often called luxury vinyl tiles, and some vinyl even comes in long strips. Although these flooring materials are common, this article is directed toward roll materials because 85 to 90 percent of vinyl flooring sold is sold in rolls. This doesn't mean that vinyl tiles or strips are not a good option for you. They can be wonderful floors. But like any product, they include some poor quality floors that are typically self-stick tiles and some very high quality floors that will outlast you. My advice if you are seeking a vinyl tile or strip floor, is to check out NAFCO, CONGOLEUM and ARMSTRONG and then compare qualities and looks.
NOW THAT WE KNOW WHAT ROOM(S) YOU WANT YOUR NEW VINYL IN, AND WE HAVE ESTABLISHED THAT YOU ARE LEANING TOWARD ROLL MATERIALS. HOW MUCH TRAFFIC IS THERE IN THESE AREAS?

The amount of traffic that the floor should be able to withstand is of paramount importance. If you buy a low priced peel and stick vinyl tile for your entry and kitchen, you are probably asking for trouble. On the other hand, you may not need the best quality flooring for the guest powder room. One basic principle is that you are free to put the higher quality vinyl almost anywhere, but be careful of where you put lower quality materials. If you do put the highest quality vinyl in the guest powder room there are usually two chief reasons. Number one, the pattern is really what drove your decision. Number two, the area is so small that the material does not cost a significant amount of money anyway. Who really cares if the material is $4.00 per square foot instead of $2.00 per square foot? If you only have 48 square feet (like a standard 6x8 bathroom) the difference is under $100.00.

I am always trying to appeal to good sense and logic when it comes to consumers feeling good about the floor buying process. Doesn't it make design sense to put in the pattern you like if the difference is negligible? Doesn't it make economic sense to spend the extra money and have the floor last until you literally get tired of the pattern? That's right. Unless there is some serious water damage a high quality vinyl, it will probably last until you simply get sick of the pattern and wish to change it based on design issues.

Of course, the same logic should be applied to high traffic areas, except with one small difference. You really shouldn't even consider lower quality vinyl in high traffic areas if you are serious about the longevity of the floor. If you are selling the home and simply want to cover the area to spruce up the room, then a common scenario is to cover it with a lower grade and that usually works fine.

However, if you have a kitchen area and eating area with 3 kids and 2 pets and not the best housekeeping strategy, then you should consider having the best quality flooring installed. Why? The answer really is obvious, but lets investigate it further.

A retired couple that travels half the year probably doesn't generate heavy traffic on their flooring. Heavy traffic is more commonly associated with young families and the inevitability that there will be significant amounts of spills, traffic, fights, paint, running, screaming, (did I mention fights?) and much more. High traffic flooring should be selected with this in mind and therefore, you should consider starting your search in the best quality products. If only the cost of materials is considered, you should probably be in the $3.00 - $5.00 per-square-foot range. You should always start looking at the highest quality products for your needs so that if you fall in love with a pattern it will be in the appropriate quality. A pattern is something that you want, but you must select your floor based on your flooring needs. Many people find a pattern that they really like, only to later learn that it is in a low quality builder grade. They of course ask the obvious question: Does this same pattern come in a higher grade? Unfortunately the answer is typically NO. They then purchase the floor based on look alone and I see that same customer back in 2-4 years to purchase flooring all over again.

I understand that the pattern is the most important part of the floor when you consider how the floor will impact the room. But I can only advise caution if you throw quality into the backseat, because ultimately it is the quality of the product that will have the last say about how that floor impacts the room.
OK - WE KNOW WHERE THE FLOOR IS GOING, WHO IS USING IT AND WE KNOW WHAT LEVEL OF FLOORING WE NEED. NOW WHICH BRAND DO WE CHOOSE?

This of course is not an easy question. If you have an affinity to a brand from before, this is a good reason to at least start looking at patterns from that line.

Major brands include ARMSTRONG, MANNINGTON, CONGOLEUM, TARKETT, AND DOMCO. The only way to objectively compare these manufacturers is to list them according to their market position, which I have done.

Each manufacturer has some unique ways of showing their products and therefore each deserves some level of consumer review.

However, if I suppose myself in the shopper's shoes (a small Shakespearean tongue twister) I would recommend first considering Armstrong or Mannington.

Armstrong has a very unique system of creating inlaid floors that leads to many appealing patterns. Their technique is known for creating the best quality floors with lots of different styles. I have recommended inlaid floors for over a decade and still to this day, I believe they are really excellent floors that deliver the extra depth a printed floor can't match. Recently, Armstrong reduced its prices across the board in order to compete more effectively, so these inlaid floors are the lowest prices in years. The only draw back to an inlaid floor by Armstrong is the fact that it is limited to 6-foot wide rolls, which in large areas creates more seams than 12-foot wide material. There are a couple reasons why this is the case, but suffice it to say it only comes in 6-foot rolls. If the seams are properly sealed then you really have nothing to worry about in the future.

Mannington's design department is honestly, the best in the business at this time. They don't simply copy the other manufacturers; they create new and satisfying patterns. Only recently have they received the attention they deserve. Their collection of natural styles and patterns has literally stormed the vinyl industry. Other manufactures are now copying Mannington's innovations -but the look still remains strong from Mannington. Mannington makes most of their flooring in both 6-foot and 12-foot widths. Some of the Mannington floors are made ONLY 12-FEET wide, so if you are looking for a bathroom, be sure that the size works for your layout.

Tarkett, Congoleum and Domco all have some nice features and benefits but due to limited space I have held my review to the above brands.
OK - WE KNOW A LOT ABOUT YOUR NEEDS - BUT I CAN TELL YOU ARE CONCERNEDABOUT THE ADHESIVE USED TO INSTALL THE FLOOR.

The modern adhesives used in residential installations are almost all water based instead of the toxic solvent based adhesives, which was the old way of installing these floors. When they are properly applied, they are totally safe and will perform under your vinyl just like it's supposed to. The main word of caution about vinyl flooring adhesives is to use the same brand of glue for the same brand of flooring. That's right. If you use Mannington vinyl I suggest you use Mannington adhesive. If you use Tarkett vinyl, use only Tarkett adhesive. If a manufacturer does not offer their own brand of adhesive then be sure you use the product they recommend.

Sometimes when you hire your own installer you need to be 100% sure that you tell them ahead of time what brand of flooring they are installing and what adhesive they will need to provide along with their installation services. Better yet, take control of the situation and provide both the floor and the adhesive to the installer prior to installation. I have yet to hear an installer complain about receiving the glue. I realize this is an added expense, but the benefit of having the correct adhesive far outweighs the additional cost.
I AM A GOOD GUY - BUT BUYER BEWARE

I strongly believe that I can lead and assist you in the floor buying process by providing objective and honest information. But I cannot make your final decision. Part of the buying process is the shouldering of due diligence on the part of the consumer. Please take the initiative and look at the actual warranty as provided by the manufacturer before you buy the floor. Please read the care and maintenance instructions before you buy the floor. Please understand that the laws of physics apply to flooring and that it will take abuse and will scratch and scuff and look worn at some point in the future. If you select a white vinyl with almost no pattern that it will be harder to clean than a medium tone flooring with a moderate pattern. Most of all I want you to be happy with your new floor and equally important to me is that your buying process be enjoyable.

To aid you in buying flooring, I have written this article as well as others in an easy to read format (and easy to write luckily) and I hope you have found this helpful. I have also created a flooring web site called www.ifloor.com that is dedicated to providing information about flooring as well as the opportunity to purchase your flooring online. We provide you with the knowledge and then you are free to make your flooring selection. I wish you the best of luck on your project.

Vinyl 101

All Vinyl Floorcoverings Are Not Created Equal
It's sometimes very hard to determine the advantages and the disadvantages when choosing a new vinyl floor for your home. You may remember it as the stuff that dented, tore and was hard to clean in the apartment you used to live in. You might also remember the vinyl floor your mother had that lasted for 20 years and withstood the abuse of four young kids and two dogs. Well, both of those memories - while painting different pictures - are accurate, and both of those floors are easy to identify and differentiate if you know the basics.

First of all vinyl floors are not linoleum. Linoleum is an entirely different product with its own pros and cons, which we will discuss, in a future article.

Second, There are many manufactures of vinyl, many price points, and many levels of performance attributes. Basically, you get what you pay for.

Third, you need to know a few things before you start the shopping process. How long do you expect the floor to last, how much use will it get, (dogs, kids, parties), How much time do you have to clean the floor and how hard do you want to work to keep it looking like new.

Fourth, What are the Features, Benefits, and Warranties? Let's take a closer look.

If you know three things about Vinyl Floors then you can differentiate between all the colors, styles and performance attributes. Get the floor that best meets your needs. The questions are:

What is the Wear Surface?
What type of Structure is it?
What is the Backing / How will it be installed?

WEAR SURFACES:
There are three basic types of Vinyl Wear Surfaces, Vinyl No-Wax, Urethane, and Enhanced Urethane.. They all have fancy different names and make lots of claims but the bottom line is how well will they resist scuffs, scrapes, black heel marks, stains and retain there original luster. Don't get caught in the Thickness of the Wear Layer discussion, its makes very little difference how thick the wear layer is, what is important is what it is made out of, what is the technology. Remember that Wear Surfaces are all about cleanability and have nothing to do with durability.

Vinyl No-Wax
The original no wax wear surface, resists scuffs, and scrapes etc. and has some stain resistant properties but will still require regular washing and occasional floor polishing to restore the gloss, especially in heavy traffic areas. This wear surface was once used on almost all vinyl floors but now is found mostly on entry level base grade floors and some first upgrades.

Urethane (PVC)
The first evolution from VNW. Urethane wear surfaces do a much better job of resisting all the scuffs, scrapes, stains and black heel marks than VNW and retains its like new look far longer than basic VNW floors.

Enhanced Urethane
There are several levels of "enhanced urethane" floors all of them are even better at resisting all the previously mentioned problems associated with maintaining a vinyl floor. The best of these will not stain from normal household elements, (mustard, iodine, asphalt driveway sealer etc.) and will not become soiled; dirt and grime will not stick to it. All that is required to clean these floors is a broom and an occasional mopping with an approved floor cleaner or vinegar and water.

STRUCTURES:
The structure, how the floor is constructed, determines the durability of the floor. How will your floor stand up to normal household use? Can Drop, Refrigerator Drag, Indentation can be eliminated or minimized based upon the quality of the structure. Most all floors are constructed one of two ways, the Rotogravure or printed floor process or the Inlaid process.

Roto or printed floors are created by taking a picture and then placing the photograph under the wear layer, which offers detailed designs and colors.

Inlaid Floors are manufactured by random or precise placement of tiny vinyl granules from the backing all the way up to the wear surface creating an extremely durable floor.

To help you understand the Structure you need to understand the manufacturing process.

It's like making a sandwich. Basically all start with a backing upon which the structure is placed this could be foam or vinyl granules depending on the quality. On printed floors a foam layer is placed on the backing, a picture is placed on top of the foam and a wear layer is then applied. On Inlaid floors the vinyl granules are placed directly on the backing and a wear layer applied directly on the fused vinyl granules.

One additional thing to mention concerning durability. On some printed floors, a tough vinyl inner layer is placed between the foam and the picture which enhances the durability greatly and protects the floor from tear, gouges and indentation.

In Summary:
If you are looking for a durable floor that will resist damage, choose a good floor with a vinyl inner layer, or an Inlaid floor which is the most durable of them all.

A word on Backings, There are two types of backings Felt Backings and Vinyl Backings both offer certain advantages associated with Installation. Vinyl backings offer additional indentation resistance due to its resilient nature, when it dents it bounces back. More information about backings can be found in our Installation segment.

Finally take the time to find and read the Installation and maintenance information the information varies greatly and can make a huge difference before your purchase and more importantly in the event something should go wrong down the road.