What is LVT Flooring?
Luxury Vinyl Tiles, shortened to LVT, is a product that looks like actual stone or wood but comprises a series of thin layers. It’s a highly durable flooring product that adds warmth to the home, much like carpet, but with the practicalities offered by tiles. LVT is one of the fastest-growing products on the market and is often chosen instead of laminate flooring or tiles.
Installed using either glue or, more commonly, with click fastening, LVT flooring is a great option for DIYers to do themselves at home.
This article will give you everything you need to know about luxury floor tiles and why you should choose them for your home.
Why is LVT so popular?
Luxury floor tiles are a popular choice for various areas of the home, such as the living room, bedroom, kitchen and hall. Different types and styles of tiles are suitable for some rooms more than others, but they are all warmer and more sound insulating than standard ceramic or porcelain tiles. They are also thinner, ideal if you cannot add too much depth to your existing floor.
The popularity of LVT also stems from the durability of the tiles. It's more durable than actual wood, meaning you’ll get the texture and grain detailing but without the scratches that come from wear and tear.
Those looking for a stone finish also choose LVT as it’s more affordable and requires little maintenance. Cleaning LVT floors is easy, which we’ve detailed in our LVT cleaning guide.
Benefits of LVT flooring
Part of LVT’s popularity is down to its various benefits:
- Waterproof tiles
- Greater durability than the material LVT is based on
- Warmer than laminate tiles
- Softer on foot than tiles and laminate
- Various colours and styles
An added benefit of LVT flooring from Forbo is sustainability. The electricity used to create this flooring is 100% made up of renewable sources. Our Ultrasonic cutting reduces waste to below 5% which is much lower than traditional press cutting methods. The backing of all our LVT flooring contains 60% controlled recycled waste. Every LVT tile is made in Europe using REACH compliant components.
What LVT options are available?
At Forbo Residential Flooring, there are two distinct options available for LVT.
Allura LVT
Combining the looks of natural stone and wood floors with the benefits of strong, comfortable vinyl tiles, the Allura LVT is designed for the home. Warm underfoot and with easy installation and maintenance, the LVT collection delivers stunning stability.
Enduro LVT
Enduro LVT offers endless possibilities for the home. Featuring 20 contemporary designs in woods and stones, they are available in adhesive-free and click construction, both featuring 0.30mm in wear layer.
How is LVT flooring made?
Creating LVT involves using large print rollers that reduce design repeats on planks or tiles to increase the realism of the wood or stone finish. In-register embossing increases the natural look of the designs, to make them look as close to the real material as possible. With increased dimensional stability in the process, this supports the creation of planks up to 180 x 32cm and 100cm x 100 cm tiles, leading to stunning effects.
Advanced cutting allows for precise bevelling while a matt finish increases the realism of the finished LVT tile.
You can find out how Allura LVT is made in the video below:
Why is LVT flooring so thin?
LVT flooring is anywhere between 2mm and 8mm thick. Typically, the flooring often has different top layers as well, ranging from 0.1mm up to 0.6mm. The key reason luxury vinyl tiles are so thin is their high density and strength. 4mm of compressed vinyl is much stronger than 8mm of HDF wood, making the thin structure a good choice. LVT is a trusted flooring solution for commercial buildings as the tiles can handle the heavy traffic it encounters. The thinner profile also means it will cause little disruption to your existing fixtures including skirting and shower trays.
Installing LVT flooring
Installing LVT flooring from Forbo Residential Flooring is made easy thanks to the Click Pro system. You can read more on how to lay LVT flooring in our installation guide.
Browse our product range today or get in touch with our team who can help you further with your purchase of LVT flooring.
