

In other words, the more strength built into the finish and wear layer, the longer and more protected your floor is from damage coming to your floor over time. The inclusion of additives into the wear layer can significantly increase the lifetime of your floor. This graphic shows them layered separately, but they are in fact, merged together. In the graphic, you see first the wear layer and coating located on top. Luxury Vinyl Plank Product Construction Diagram However, with the more rigid SPC and WPC floors, more air spaces are left underneath the floor, causing it to be louder. It is the space underneath that causes the sound that begs us for a sound-deadening backing of some sort. With the lower-end, more flexible floors, attached-backs are seldom used, as the flooring contours to the floor and is much less likely to have dead air underneath. Do I need an attached back or no? It depends on your home circumstance, but a pad is never necessary for most lvp installations. Note to self….clean up water in a reasonable amount of time.

With a concrete subfloor, it really won’t matter, but to a wooden subfloor, it would be a much bigger issue. And what about water going around the perimeter and under your baseboards? Yeah, there’s that. If you leave water on top of even the best floor, there is the possibility of some moisture getting through the joints. However, waterproof does not mean it is impervious to water. Floors, broken water lines, precious princes and princesses running in from the pool….no problem for your LVP. At least all of the products are water resistant. The glue-down, commonly referred to as dry back offers far fewer looks and less “feel-good” features. The lower price of glue down vinyl tile and product selection also come into play strongly for commercial applications. The reason for click-lock to be placed in single family homes is mainly because of the ease of installation. Single-family and small retail use the click-lock installation method. As a general rule, glue down or peel and stick vinyl tile goes in commercial or large multi-family properties. One of the first decisions the consumer will have to make is whether to use a glue-down luxury vinyl tile or a click-installation luxury vinyl plank. Glue down vinyl came before vinyl planks with a similar installation to linoleum. Shet vinyl came on the scene long ago with peel and stick variations launched right behind them. Now let’s talk about vinyl flooring innovation in their products and their installation. to continue to be imported for at least another 10 years. It doesn’t hurt that the owners of the plants don’t have to worry about OSHA, the EPA, or any other acronym that could shorten a workday.Įxpect 75% of all LVP sold in the U.S. So how do the Chinese make it work? They build smaller plants that utilize labor instead of mechanics, allowing them to respond to market changes much more quickly. China doesn’t need high-tech automation to stay profitable. During these 3 years, the market has changed so much that the $100 million investment is behind the times. It takes another year to get it running well. The downside is that it takes 18-24 months to build one of these behemoth warehouses. Factories that produce as much as 250,000 sq ft each day. And warehouses that cover 50 football fields. Think of manufacturing lines that are a quarter of a mile long. The fact is that we can make LVP cheaper and better in the USA, but we have to make it on a colossal scale. How about micro bevels? Bigger bevels? Painted bevels? And it would be premature to expect no more changes.

Then more rigid offerings with a stone-composition core. Three years ago we only saw the floppy LVP, then the layer stuff with the foam core. LVP product offerings seem to change monthly. Also, luxury vinyl plank is the fastest growing flooring product type to date. And it’s not because they can make it cheaper! I was also told where lvp shines and where it doesn’t make a lot of sense for some people. I have a valid explanation for China to produce most of our lvp options. I talked to some smart people in the LVP business to find out. Great looks, cheap price, easy installation. It can provide a stone tile look without the costly price tag or difficult installation. Luxury vinyl plank offers you a natural hardwood-looking waterproof floor. This is a good and a bad thing that I’ll explain more about later. First, I will speak on the LVP market in general.
