You're going to be floored when you learn about Luxury Vinyl Plank
Luxury Vinyl Plank Flooring
What is Luxury Vinyl Plank Flooring?
Luxury Vinyl Plank flooring is a type of flooring that can be installed in numerous applications. The base of the flooring is made primarily of PVC vinyl which allows the flooring to be extremely flexible and stable. The film that is applied on top is a PVC film that is typically a clear vinyl wearlayer. This layer may or may not contain a urethane coating that provides excellent protection.
Where can you use Luxury Vinyl Plank Flooring?
I am a huge fan of Luxury Vinyl Plank flooring for a number of reasons. The biggest question that is asked is if this flooring can be installed in bathrooms. The answer is
YES!
This is huge as I am a really big believer in keeping flooring as consistent as possible. I love the idea that the flooring in a home does not have to transition to a different type of flooring going into a bathroom.
Our basement bathroom with the Luxury Vinyl Plank flooring
How Durable is Luxury Vinyl Plank Flooring?
When we were on our two week trip to Italy, we were fortunate to be on an 8-day cruise with Viking Cruise Lines on the Italian Soujourn cruise. This is a luxury ocean liner and I have to admit, I was surprised (but not surprised) to see Luxury Vinyl Plank flooring used in a number of areas. Oh - next week's blog will be all about this fabulous cruise ship!
Our cruise ship when we were docked in Venice.
The grand foyer landing with beautiful Luxury Vinyl Plank flooring.
Just outside the elevators, some more Luxury Vinyl Plank flooring.
When I discuss Luxury Vinyl Plank flooring with my clients, I often will say that it is as close to being bulletproof as you will get in a flooring (especially if there are kids and/or pets in the home). The flooring that I use in residential designs is 3/8" thick and is 100% water resistant. Unless you are doing something crazy with a knife, it's pretty hard to ever scratch or dent the floor. With so many people that are on a cruise ship, I was not surprised at all to see this type of flooring being used.
Luxury Vinyl Plank Flooring in one of the hotels we stayed at in Rome.
Both images (above and below) showing Luxury Vinyl Plank Floor that was installed in one of my projects. Take note of the stair nosings!
Price of Luxury Vinyl Plank Flooring
While there are many different brands of Luxury Vinyl Plank flooring, the cost of this product is very reasonable. In Calgary, you can find very good LVP for around $3.80 a square foot. I wish to insert one tip here (and it's really not a tip but more of a note): you pay for what you get. There are cheaper brands, as well as more expensive brands, out there. It is important to read about the specifications of the brand you are looking at to ensure you are getting what you think you are getting!
Installing Luxury Vinyl Plank Flooring
One benefit of using LVP flooring is that it is really easy to install. Have you ever hear a hollow sound when you walk on laminate floors? The old 'tongue and groove' laminate floors are floating floors, which mean that they float above the substrate and typically have some kind of sound barrier. LVP can be installed directly on the substrate with no 'floating'. With LVP, you do not and will not, get any clicking sound.
A laminate floor that 'floats' and is not nailed or glued down to the substrate (the floor underneath).
Luxury Vinyl Plank Flooring
As you can see, I'm a huge fan of LVP flooring. The price, the ease of install in combination with the durability is just a win-win for everyone!Although this post is about LVP, there is also Luxury Vinyl Tile (LVT) that I also use in a number of projects. LVT is a great alternative when you wish to have a tile look instead of a hardwood floor look. While I won't go into the pros about LVT, just know that it can give you the look of tile without the thickness of real tile or the coldness that one could feel when you have tile installed.
LVT that I installed (yes - I installed) for a friend's bathroom refresh project.
I hope this post has helped with giving you some examples of why this kind of flooring is a great choice for busy families, rental properties, and commercial applications that have high traffic.
