Flooring Design - Luxury Vinyl Tiles
Why Flooring?
Flooring is a crucial aspect of your office interiors, one that can make or break the visual experience. Being the first aspect a person will come into physical contact within your space, it is a foundational design element. Although there are many innovative and trendy designs introduced every day, with respect to flooring, practicality and functionality should take precedence. Many a times have we seen otherwise beautifully designed office receptions that lose its appeal owing to scratched, scuffed, and overall worn-down flooring. All this because the designers of the time did not consider the client’s use of the space and went for the novel design trends of the time.
What is LVT?
Vinyl floors have long been known for their versatility and high durability in the flooring industry. Here we will delve a bit deeper into Luxury Vinyl Tiles, often called LVT in the flooring industry. Over the last decade, LVT has climbed to become the most popular option in vinyl floorings and continues to be the fastest growing market segment in the flooring industry. From the R&D phase, LVT has been designed around the notion to be a cost effective and easy to install option to real hardwood or stone flooring option. As such over the years, they have become impossible to differentiate from the products they imitate to even the most trained eyes.
How is it made?
Manufacturing LVT is a complex process beginning from the raw materials namely moisture resistant PVC or virgin vinyl. This raw material is compressed into continuous sheets using heated rollers with utmost precision through a calendering process. Then comes the lamination process, whereby the different layers are bonded. These include a backing layer which offers sound absorption and textured grip, a fill layer which offers stability for indentation resistance, a print layer which involves realistic 3D visuals to allow the tiles to resemble ceramic, stone or hardwood, and a wear layer which plays a crucial role to the longevity of the flooring. The embossing process which follows applies textured designs onto the product surface using heated rollers and then a further top coat to ensure resistance to scratch and scuff. After these processes, more are performed to ensure reduction of “Cupping” or “Doming”, the most common of defects in synthetic flooring such as these. The finished slabs are then inspected for any manufacturing flaws before the milling process produces tiles from them.
How to install?
LVT’s come in all shapes and sizes. That said, the thickness of the wear layer of the LVT makes almost all the difference. From 2mm to over 25mm thickness, one would be advised to restrict anything lower than 4mm in low traffic areas subject to less stress and wear. Similarly, in areas of low foot traffic this flooring can be employed in a floating type installation whereas in heavy traffic areas a glue-down approach is recommended. Regardless of the type of installation employed, vinyl will require acclimation to the environment pre-installation to avoid any future troubles as vinyl can expand and contract depending on temperature fluctuations.
How, Why and Where to use it?
As can be seen from the above mentioned details, the composition and manufacturing processes involved in the production of Luxury Vinyl Tiles allow them a great many set of advantages ranging from moisture resistance and sound absorption to indentation and wear resistance. Above all the developments in printing technologies to recreate natural stone and hardwood finishes that cannot be differentiated from the real deal along with the ability of manufacturers to produce custom designs in a product that is as easy to install and maintain is the true advantage at the end of the day.
As opposed to other traditional flooring elements, LVT’s sheer versatility owed to the above mentioned attributes allow the product to be an ideal flooring solution for any area within a space. From kitchen/pantry to receptions or conference rooms, LVT flooring can easily provide some warmth of natural flooring elements like stone or wood without the high cost or hassle of installation and maintenance. It also has the added advantage of being a more consistent product than natural options when it comes to buying different batches.
Our advise
As can be seen from our designs, we highly recommend LVT and also try to incorporate it mainly in receptions areas, meeting/conference rooms, pantry/breakout areas, manager/CEO offices, and anywhere the client would like to introduce some character and appeal to the space without much hassle.
To conclude, LVT is a versatile flooring product and one that is high demand due to its various advantages and ease of installation, making it one of the most cost-effective options around. As such, we can vouch for the product being named as such owing to its ability to easily introduce luxury to a space.
Are you looking to transform your space? Are you looking for an easy, cost effective and sure-fire way to give your space a burst of luxury? We believe that LVT might be a viable option for you.
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