What Is Luxury Vinyl Flooring?
Luxury vinyl flooring differs from the older-style standard vinyl sheets or tiles in its ability to realistically mimic the look of natural materials—principally wood or stone. There are also luxury vinyl products that are realistic copies of ceramic and porcelain flooring. Luxury vinyl features a surface layer that is an extremely realistic photo-created layer, along with textures that are quite similar to that of the natural materials they attempt to mimic. The products aimed at resembling stone may use a mixture of vinyl resins and limestone particles in the composition. Luxury vinyl typically comes in tiles (LVT) or planks that use a modified form of tongue-and-groove technology to join the pieces. Some products use traditional glue-down methods for installation Luxury vinyl is more expensive than standard vinyl, but considerably less expensive than natural stone or wood flooring products. Moreover, luxury vinyl has excellent resistance to moisture, making it practical in places where natural wood flooring simply does not work.
Brands and Manufacturers
Sorting out the brand names and manufacturers of luxury vinyl flooring is sometimes confusing. As is true of many building products, the flooring industry trend is toward the consolidation of brands under a smaller group of very large manufacturing companies. Ownership of flooring brands and even manufacturing corporations is constantly changing. Thus, a flooring brand that was produced by a small independent manufacturer just a year ago may today be just one brand under a large corporation that manufacturers several brands. Sometimes there are meaningful manufacturing differences between brands within such a large corporation; other times, the brand name distinction is merely a marketing distinction between products that are virtually identical except for surface design or styling. Here are some of the current major manufacturers in the world of luxury vinyl flooring.
Mannington Luxury Sheet Vinyl Adura Luxury Tile and Plank Flooring (including Max, MaxAPEX, Rigid, and Flex)
Mannington is unique in offering a sheet vinyl product that can be described as luxury vinyl; for all other manufacturers, the luxury vinyl products are either tile or plank products. The Adura brand encompasses both tile and plank offerings. There are more than 175 plank styles available in a variety of widths and thicknesses, up to 72 inches in length. Most of the tiles mimic natural stone; the tiles are typically 18 x 18 inches square or 12 x 24 inches in size. Some products are meant for glue-down applications while others use a form of click-lock connection. Shaw currently offers numerous wood-look luxury vinyl plank products and stone-look tiles, although there are color variations within each style. Most plank styles are 48 inches long, while the stone-look tiles are typically 16 inches square. Shaw’s luxury vinyl products fall under three different collection names:
DuraTrueFloorteFloorte Pro
In 2008, Burke was acquired by Mannington Mills, who also manufactures other brands of luxury vinyl flooring. EricVega / Getty Images Luxury vinyl product lines from Cryntel include:
Advantx TileAdvantx PlankVillaFloorSimplicity Tile
Brands offered by Metroflor include:
KonectoEngageEngage GenesisEngage InceptionPrevaleMetrofloor LVT
Mohawk’s luxury vinyl flooring is sold under the SolidTech brand, which includes more than 80 wood-look and a dozen stone-look products. Some are glue-down products, while others use the Uniclick method—a modified tongue-and-groove system. The luxury vinyl flooring made by the USFloors company is more commonly known under its single brand, COREtec. Several dozen wood-look luxury vinyl planks are available, as well as a good selection of luxury vinyl tiles mimicking natural stone, ceramics, concrete, cork, and bamboo. Buyers can be reassured they are choosing flooring from a company with a notable reputation for producing environmentally friendly products.
