How to Calculate Thickness

To find the depth of a vinyl plank you need to account for the protective wear layer, core, and the backing. To better evaluate your options you’ll need a basic understanding of how companies assemble vinyl planks. In-depth videos and diagrams explaining the process are available online.

Be careful: Vinyl plank manufacturers often display the wear layer thickness as opposed to the actual thickness of the plank. As most of these products ship from overseas, they reflect the metric measurement.

For actual plank thickness, you’re looking for measurements in mm. You’ll find a wide range here, with lower quality planks falling in the 4mm range and higher quality planks boasting 8mm or thicker.

Will there be a transition from your vinyl planks to another type of flooring? If so, you’ll need to keep that in mind when calculating the thickness of the planks. Awkward transitions between rooms will make your floors uneven and unattractive.

The disadvantages of vinyl floors

Yes, vinyl floors are remarkably inexpensive and look like they’re made of real wood, but choosing them can actually cost a homeowner much more in the long run.

Some disadvantages of vinyl flooring include:

• Cannot be repaired
• Can emit volatile organic compounds (VOCs)
• Shorter lifespan than wood floors
• No impact, or negative impact, on home resale value
• Difficult to remove, especially if adhesive is used during installation
• Not eco-friendly; difficult to recycle

Types of Resilient Vinyl Flooring

There are several categories of vinyl flooring, and while all are grouped under the label “resilient,” they have very different methods of installation and some different merits.

• Resilient sheet vinyl: This is the most common form, consisting of a thin flexible sheets of vinyl bonded with a printed design and transparent wear layer. Sheet vinyl comes in 6- or 12-foot wide rolls, which means that the flooring can be laid with very few seams. This makes it the best (and cheapest) form of vinyl for wet locations, such as bathrooms. Sheet vinyl is normally installed with a glue-down bond, although there are some forms that are installed with just a perimeter bond.
• Resilient vinyl tiles: This product is largely the same as sheet vinyl, except it is sold in boxes of square pieces, which are either glued down with troweled-on adhesive or by a pre-applied adhesive exposed when a peel-off backing is removed.
• Luxury vinyl: This is quite a different material, a thicker, semi-rigid form of flooring that is manufactured in either long planks (known as LVP, or luxury vinyl planks) or tiles (known as LVT, or luxury vinyl tiles). Marketed as rigid-core vinyl by some manufacturers, these products are made with relatively thick layers that give the flooring some rigidity. Either way, luxury vinyl tiles or planks are usually floating floors that snap together at the edges and rest over an underlayment with no glue-down bond. Of all the forms of vinyl flooring, this is the most prestigious, and in the right application, it can actually add real estate value to a home. The plank forms generally are manufactured to resemble wood, while the tile forms are made to resemble ceramic or stone tile.

UNDERSTAND THE DIFFERENCE IN MATERIALS

There are various types of vinyl flooring and each provide different benefits to home and business owners. Vinyl plank flooring provides the look and feel of hardwood without the cost, as well as its durability and stain resistance ability. Vinyl tile flooring is assembled piece by piece, making it even easier to replace one if damage occurs. This saves you money down the road. The last type of vinyl flooring product out there is vinyl sheet flooring. Your flooring expert will roll out a single sheet of LVT in the specified room and glue down the material. Vinyl sheet flooring is perfect for bathrooms and kitchens because it doesn’t contain any seams, reducing the amount of moisture underneath the material.

While one may think all flooring is the same, that’s not the case. The thicker the vinyl flooring material, the more durable and long-lasting it will be. For example, thicker vinyl flooring could last you over 25 years while thin vinyl flooring material will last you between 5 to 10 years total. Both of these ranges include normal foot traffic, which shows you just how important it is to purchase quality flooring materials from your flooring manufacturer.

Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Luxury Vinyl Flooring Contractor

Once you have identified promising commercial flooring contractors via your research, ask them the following questions:

1. Are you properly insured? In the event that something goes awry during the flooring installation — whether with the installation itself, damage to the surrounding area, or injury — the insurance the flooring installer has for his or herself, any employees or subcontractors should cover these issues. If the flooring contractor you select does not have insurance, you may be responsible for covering any costs.
2. How long have you been installing luxury vinyl flooring and can you provide references? The installation of luxury vinyl flooring requires a different skillset than other types of flooring installations. Ensure the flooring installer you hire has the experience needed by asking him or her to provide references as well as a list of luxury vinyl flooring installation projects he or she has done, ideally accompanied by photos. If the projects are within driving distance, you may even be able to visit them.
3. How much experience do you have with luxury vinyl flooring installations that require signifigant subflooring preparation? Although luxury vinyl flooring itself is fairly easy to install, proper subfloor preparation is crucial regarding the longevity of the vinyl flooring. Renovation projects are more likely to have imperfect subfloors compared to new construction, so the ideal commercial flooring installer knows how to evaluate their condition and make them suitable prior to installing the luxury vinyl flooring.
4. When bidding for a project do you include subfloor preparation costs? Usually commercial flooring contractors estimate projects based on a set of drawings and therefore cannot properly factor in any needed subfloor preparation without seeing the space in person. When looking at bids, only compare the estimates without any subflooring preparation costs so that you are able to compare apples to apples. By excluding the prep costs, you can compare simply the material and labor costs first and then evaluate the subfloor prep costs as a separate bid once the contractor is on site.
5. How soon in the construction process do you recommend beginning the luxury vinyl flooring installation? It is highly advised to refrain from installing the flooring until there is a permanent working HVAC system and the windows are installed. Flooring should also be among the last finish items installed prior to furnishings being brought in so that damage from other trades fitting out the space is avoided or minimized.
6. What is the estimated timing for installation? Based on the construction timeline, the flooring contractor should be able to provide you with an approximate installation date as well as a date for when furniture can be delivered. By reading the flooring manufacturer’s installation manual, the flooring contractor will know when furniture can be put on the floor without damaging it. For example, Parterre Flooring Systems recommends a minimum of 24 hours without foot traffic and a minimum of 72 hours without heavy or rolling traffic for our 3mm products.
7. How will clean-up be handled? To ensure that your space is clean and organized after installation, ask the flooring installer if they will be responsible for disposing of any flooring remnants and cleaning the flooring surface prior to leaving. You may also want to ask if floor protection will be provided, as some commercial flooring installers put down heavy duty craft paper, like Ram Board, to protect the flooring until the space is ready for grand opening. Doing so minimizes the risk of damage from tradespeople who may come in after the flooring has been installed, such as paint spatters or tracking in dirt or debris.
8. Do you offer a warranty or extended warranty? Typically the luxury vinyl flooring you purchase comes with a limited manufacturer warranty. Aside from the product warranty, most commercial flooring contractors offer a one-year warranty that covers their installation, though some offer extended warranties. You’ll want to know what warranties they offer and what exactly is covered by them.
9. Can you work on multiple projects simultanously? If you have more than one flooring installation happening at once, being able to consult one contact for all your projects will help to simplify the process. Having a commercial flooring installer who has additional branches of their own business or can recommend another installer will save you time and possibly money.
10. What is the payment schedule? To know what to expect, you’ll want to be aware of the flooring contractor’s payment schedule ahead of time. Knowing whether a deposit is required prior to installation, as well as when final payment is due, will help you budget properly.
11. What are my responsibilities? Ask what the flooring contractor expects you to do in order to be able to efficiently install the luxury vinyl flooring. You may have to move furnishings and other materials in and out of the project area unless the contractor is willing to do so for an additional fee.