Vinyl flooring is one of the most common flooring material used for both residential and commercial installations. Its prevalence spring from the fact that vinyl flooring offers a lot of benefits compared to other flooring types. The variety of designs that it can create and its ease in installation and maintenance makes it practical and economical for long-term use. Vinyl is a non-hazardous synthetic material made from processed ethylene and chlorine. It is used in thousands of products, mainly in the construction, automobile and medical industry. In the building sector, vinyl is used as landfill liners, as insulation for electric wiring and as covering for walls and floors among others.
Vinyl flooring is available as vinyl sheet, vinyl plank or vinyl tiles. Vinyl sheet is often used in large domestic or commercial installations such as in gyms or corridors. Vinyl tiles can replicate the look of ceramic tile floor and therefore are commonly used of kitchen and bathrooms. Vinyl planks are available in long and narrow planks which imitates the look of real wood, making it look authentic and perfect for living areas in residential spaces. The material’s durability makes it an excellent choice for high-traffic areas such as corridors, classrooms, office buildings, malls and more.
Since vinyl flooring is also water and stain-resistant, it’s also popularly used in bathrooms and laundry areas. Liquid-resistant vinyl flooring is best used in commercial kitchens because of its resistance to mineral oil, grease and more. Its slip-resistant feature also makes it perfect for aged-care homes and medical facilities like Polyflor’s Polysafe APEX Vinyl flooring which is used in bathrooms, therapy rooms and the likes. Walking barefoot on vinyl flooring is also not an issue since vinyl is generally soft under the feet, especially luxury vinyl flooring which also has sound-reducing properties. Like Armstrong Flooring’s Wallflex Vinyl Wall Covering, vinyl can also be used as wall covering because of its hygienic characteristic that’s required of private rooms as well as special places like medical facilities and aged-care homes.
One of our recent installations was of a vinyl border in a commercial project in Perth. We added a vinyl border to break floor to ceiling monotony and create a more appealing look that students and teachers can enjoy. Since vinyl flooring is an engineered product, colour and pattern designs are endless and can match any other material in your property. In addition to being used in floors as well as a full wall covering, vinyl tiles can also be used to create feature walls, especially since manufactured vinyl tiles can imitate the look and feel of real wood.
Unlike other flooring materials, vinyl is quick and easier to install so long as there’s a smooth and even surface for the material to go over. Installing vinyl flooring over more than one existing vinyl is not recommended since it might not guarantee the attachment of the new vinyl to your base flooring. What we recommend as a base would be sanded plywood or concrete so that there would be a strong foundation for the vinyl to attach to the floor.
To do this, we first ground the floor to smoothness and then apply a damp proof membrane (DPM) to prevent rising damp from beneath the concrete slab. The float coat compound is then applied over the top of the DPM to achieve a smooth levelling of the floor, ready for the vinyl install. Doing this is necessary since even though vinyl flooring is water-resistant, moisture can be trapped in between layers and can cause cracks and peel off the attachment and can eventually destroy your floors. Maintenance for vinyl flooring is just quick and easy! Simply sweep the floor to remove dirt and then run a damp mop over it to bring out the shine.
At Creative Flooring, we make sure that we only supply and install high-quality, durable flooring materials so as not to put to waste the resources of our clients. We work with recommended suppliers like Polyflor Australia and Armstrong Flooring for recommended Vinyl flooring in various design patterns. For flooring supply and installation enquiries, get in touch with us on 0422 945 262 or via our contact page. We have worked with a wide range of floor covering materials for both residential properties and commercial establishments such as schools, offices, government properties and more so trust that we can deliver honest and good results.