Luxury vinyl tiles, commonly referred to as LVT, are a great choice for installing into many commercial and public buildings. They can make an excellent alternative to real woods or stone and offer a massive choice of photo realistic designs with the added benefits of being easy to maintain and at a cheaper cost than their real-world equivalent. There are many different manufacturers, all with their own products and unique selling points but hopefully through this guide we can shed some light on some of the different options, explain the technical terms and help you choose the right flooring for your project.
What Are LVT?
They are a heavy duty, PVC flooring usually as a plank or tile that, rather than sheet vinyl flooring, are installed individually to create your finished floor. Usually designed in wood or stone effects and ranging from 2-10mm thick, LVT can offer major benefits over the installation of real woods, laminates, or stone.
How Are They Made?
It is made in much the same way as a heterogenous sheet vinyl flooring outlined in our guide to safety flooring which can be found here.
The manufacturer will start with polyvinyl chloride (PVC) which is then mixed in with a liquid to create a Plastisol (liquid plastic) which is then rolled out into thin sheets and allowed to dry.
Once this process has happened the backing, reinforcement, print layer and top wear layer will be compressed together at high pressures and temperatures to create a single an individual tile. It will then be given a coat of polyurethane (PUR) which gives the tiles extra protection and a long-lasting sheen and possibly even rolled through an embossing machine to give it real life textures to the finished tile.
Why Choose LVT?
LVT can be a much more suitable choice for installation into public and commercial buildings over real wood or stone as the costs and benefits can easily outweigh any cons.
Apart from generally being much quicker, cheaper, and easier to install, another benefit is being extremely hardwearing! With their PVC wear coat and PUR coatings, they can resist scuff and scratches much better than wood and also prevent stains from occurring. This means they can last for many years without needing any major works apart from keeping a regular cleaning schedule.
They also have a major benefit in being waterproof! A common problem with laminates is swelling that can occur when moisture is present. This can easily cause bigger issues along the line but not with an LVT product.
Another great benefit is being quiet and warm underfoot when compared to stone or ceramic tiles!
Where Can It Be Used?
LVT are a great choice for many areas of a commercial premises and are mainly used in open, public areas as opposed to back of house areas. Often seen in schools, offices, hotels and anywhere else you might want an eye-catching flooring installed.
With so many realistic looking designs available and the ease at which they can be mixed and matched the possibilities are endless. You also have the options of choosing different design styles, such as a herringbone or weaved installation.
What About Design?
There are hundreds, if not thousands of available designs when it comes to this type of flooring! The choice is endless, but the majority of available designs are wood and stone effect tiles. These can come in any choice of effect, colour, and style you could imagine so we would highly recommend arranging samples first to see what would work best with your workspace.
LVT can also be laid in a multitude of ways and easily mixed and match to create a completely unique space. Whether you decide to go for a simple straight lay, a high-end herringbone layout or an intricate basket weave with alternating colours your options for design are huge when choosing and LVT floor!
Loose Lay, Click or Bonded?
One of major choice when it comes to LVT is which installation system would work best for your work environment. Each come with different methods of installation, namely loose lay, click together or bonded tiles. But which one would work best for you work environment?
Loose Lay LVT
Loose lay LVT can be a great choice for quick turnaround project. Normally around 5mm thickness, they rely on their weight and a weaker “tackifier” adhesive or magnetic strips to stay in place which allows for them to be easily uplifted and replaced. This can be especially useful in an office environment with raised access flooring as it allows easy access to any wiring etc underneath or at the end of tenancy where the ease of removal and possible reuse can be a great benefit. A product such as Karndean Loose Lay would be a great choice!
Click Together LVT
Click together or rigid core tiles work without any adhesive and have a tongue and groove system, similar to a laminate flooring, to lock the tiles in place. These can be a great choice in the right environment as they are easy to install and are easy to remove at the end of tenancy, leaving no adhesive residue behind. One major downside is that as they are all physically joint together, this will make replacing tiles much harder! Click together LVT products can also tend to gap over time if not correctly installed. A great choice for click together LVT would be the Karndean Rigid Core range
Stick Down LVT
Stick Down or glue down LVT as the name suggests, means the tiles are permanently stuck and bonded to the subfloor using a suitable adhesive. Usually only 2mm thick, these LVT tiles will tend to be the heaviest duty and long lasting of all and would be best suited to any heavy traffic areas such as shops, restaurants, or public buildings. Although bonded to the subfloor they can still be replaced if required with relative ease and can give peace of mind that once they’re in place, you know that it’s there for good! A great choice for stick down LVT would be the Karndean Van Gogh range
How Long Will LVT Last?
All products will come with a guarantee for how long they will last in a commercial or domestic setting, usually 5 or 10 years but in reality, a quality LVT will last many years after its guarantee has ended. This means, unlike woods and laminates, that apart from the regular maintenance that will be explained in your aftercare documents there will be no need for any major works to keep your floor looking fresh and clean.
THANKS FOR READING!
If you have any flooring related questions or queries, then please get in touch with a member of London Commercial Flooring today and we will be more than happy to assist!