resilient flooring

• Flooring
• October 7, 2022

Have a Family? You Probably Need Resilient Flooring

Resilient flooring. It sounds a bit vague; a catch-all phrase that can include all sorts of flooring products.

If you look up the term “resilient” in the dictionary, it means:

• Capable of returning to an original shape or position
• Flexible
• Able to recover readily

For many homeowners, that’s exactly what they are looking for when selecting a new flooring material. That’s why resilient flooring is trending upward in the marketplace.

Still, if you’re a homeowner in the market for new flooring, what does that really mean?

Resilient flooring explained

When you picture resilient flooring, you may think of flooring that:

• Is comfortable with a little give
• Bounces back no matter what your family can dish out
• Is easy to care for
• Continues to look good year after year
• Is easy to maintain
• Is a good value for your hard-earned dollar

Resilient flooring is all that and more. It has more “give” than you’ll find in hardwood planks, stone, or ceramic tile. It has more support than you’ll find with carpet. It has the physical strength and flexibility to withstand nearly anything your family can spill, throw, or drop on it. In short, it’s what many homeowners are installing right now as they remodel and renovate their homes.

Does it sound perfect for your home?

Types of resilient flooring

If you find resilient flooring interesting for installing inside your home, you’ll find several floor covering types available for consideration.

Vinyl

Vinyl encompasses a variety of different flooring products, each with its own benefits for including them inside your home. Considering vinyl makes up about 80 percent of the resilient flooring market, it’s worth digging in and learning more about if you’re looking for resilient flooring.

Vinyl composition tiles (VCTs) top the list for strength and durability, often used in commercial applications. It’s strong enough to stand up to the abuse it receives in healthcare, schools, and even supermarkets. It’s a low cost, durable option that many DIYers are turning to because of the strength of the product. VCT manufacturers often fuse VCT chips into large sheets before cutting them into smaller tiles, making for easier installation. These VCT chips contain things like natural limestone, color pigments, polymers, and filler materials. They require several layers of polish after installation to keep them from being susceptible to stains and water damage.

Flexible luxury vinyl tile (LVT) has increased in sales the last few years because of its incredible design capabilities. If you’ve had your eye on some of the most popular flooring options – granite, marble, stone, hardwood – and can’t justify the cost, LVT may be the right choice for you. The designs have become so well created, many guests can’t tell the difference between the LVT product and the real thing. It’s highly durable, and is water resistant. Maybe that’s what’s driving its current popularity – it’s user-friendly in homes with active families.

Rigid luxury vinyl tile is often called rigid core flooring, and provides all of the advantages of flexible LVT … plus a few more. If you’re looking for a product with underfoot comfort, look no further than rigid LVT. It combines a rigid surface plus a multilayer core that provides added warmth and better sound absorption. If you want even greater resistance to water, humidity, and environmental changes, rigid LVT ups what’s possible in a flooring product. Some manufacturers offer waterproof flooring – you get great looks and the benefits of standing up to standing water too. Just be aware that nothing can withstand a flood. While this product does well if your kids forget to mention the puddle of water on the floor, water damage can occur if the entire room floods, and the water seeps into the baseboards and down underneath the tiles.

Sheet vinyl has been around for decades, and continues to be a great choice for some rooms in your home. Today’s sheet vinyl typically comes in a 6-foot, 12-foot, or greater width roll that allows you to easily lay down flooring and provide excellent moisture protection. Today’s sheet vinyl is better than anything you may remember from your parent’s or grandparent’s home. It mimics the aesthetics of other popular flooring choices, such as hardwood or stone. It combines lasting performance, low maintenance, softness underfoot, and an economical way to bring beauty into your home. From laundry rooms to bathrooms, it remains an economical choice for many homeowners.

Linoleum

For some homeowners, they want to expand beyond vinyl and return to a flooring product that is more natural, sustainable, and eco-friendly. For those families, we love to recommend linoleum. Made from natural, rapidly renewable ingredients, it offers an economical choice for families looking for resilient flooring. Linoleum is made from linseed oil (derived from flax plants), and is combined with limestone, pine resin, cork, wood flour, and dye. It’s rolled onto a jute backing, and offers a flooring choice built to withstand heavy traffic, standing up to scratches, and more.

Linoleum comes in several types:

• Glue down tiles that require adhesive during the installation process
• Click and lock tiles that fit together like a jigsaw puzzle, ensuring a secure connection between the tiles or planks
• Sheets are similar to glue-down vinyl, and are ideal for large spaces, such as halls and entryways

Rubber

While many homeowners rarely think of rubber when it comes to a flooring choice, that’s changing as rubber moves more into the mainstream. Yoga spaces, workout rooms, and home gyms are often fitted with rubber to create a softer space for your workout routine without losing its shape.

But don’t let the thought of being for gyms or workout spaces hold you back; we’re seeing people move it to playrooms, nurseries, children’s bedrooms, and even family rooms as they realize the benefits it brings.

Cork

A final product that homeowners are turning to brings a touch of eco-friendliness to the product. Cork comes in various sizes, shapes, and colors. Because it is harvested from the cork oak tree, it brings a sense of sustainability. Rather than harvesting the tree, cork is removed from the bark, meaning the tree can produce multiple times.

It’s softer than you’ll find with some of the more rigid resilient flooring options.

It’s sustainable, which can give it an edge if that matters to you.

It’s durable and easy to maintain. That alone makes it a great choice for any room in your home, able to withstand anything your family dishes out.

So what’ll it be? Which resilient flooring is right for you?

There isn’t a wrong choice. If we’ve listed it here, it has a number of benefits that can make it a great option for your home.

Resilient flooring is perfect for homeowners who want to strike a balance between comfort, cost, and durability.

How can we help you find the right resilient flooring to suit your needs?

• Flooring
• October 24, 2021

Why Resilient Flooring Is Becoming More Popular

Resilient flooring has seen tremendous growth over the past two years for two reasons: the pandemic and the current housing market. As more people stayed at home, they looked around and discovered they needed different space. Whether they chose to move or remodel, one of the first places they started renewing was the flooring, and resilient floors just make sense in many situations. With an increase of more than 21 percent over the past year, that makes resilient flooring the industry leader.

Flooring is a multi-purpose product with many requirements, depending on what room it’s installed in. It should be durable to stand up to anything your family can dish out. It should be long-lasting – who wants flooring that needs replacing soon after it’s installed? It should also be attractive, matching your decor, and giving the room a sense of your personality.

More and more, people are finding that in resilient flooring.

What is resilient flooring?

Resilient flooring is an umbrella term that describes a variety of different flooring products, including rigid core, flexible luxury vinyl, vinyl tile, vinyl sheet, linoleum, rubber, and cork. It gets its name because it’s built to endure daily life, with the ability to spring back into shape under most situations. Depending on the quality, it makes a perfect addition to residential and commercial applications.

The Resilient Flooring Covering Institute (RFCI) originated in 1976 to bring the highest quality manufacturers of resilient flooring together and set standards for the industry. If you select a manufacturer that abides by RFCI guidelines, you can ensure the resilient flooring you choose is good for other reasons too. RFCI:

• Seeks out recycled or upcycled materials – manufacturers look for replenished natural resources, and can repurpose it at end of life too.
• Uses low emissions – they certify that their flooring produces as little off-gassing as possible.
• Prioritizes a low carbon footprint – reducing global impact is everyone’s business.
• Assesses durability – natural resources like wood have a global impact beyond production. RFCI manufacturers look for ways to impact the environment in a good way.

Types of resilient flooring

When many of today’s homeowners think about new flooring, the term “vinyl” might not be the picture of durability. It brings back soft, dated material used on your mom’s or grandmother’s floors. It yellowed, scratched, dented, ripped, and in general, doesn’t bring back fond memories.

But times are changing thanks to the introduction of luxury vinyl flooring. One of the leading resilient flooring options on the market falls into the vinyl category. This includes luxury vinyl tile (LVT), luxury vinyl planks (LVP), solid vinyl tile (SVT), and vinyl composition tile (VCT). You don’t have to go very far to find these products, as they seem to be popping up everywhere.

It’s not your only option. Linoleum has also made a comeback for homeowners looking for a natural product. Linoleum is a natural product created from linseed oil, wood, limestone, cork, and resins. You can find it in large sheets, glue-down tiles, or click-and-lock planks.

Cork is another option for homeowners looking for organic flooring. It’s made from thinly sliced cork from a cork oak tree. It’s considered an eco-friendly product because the cork is sheared from the trunk without killing the tree. The tree reproduces cork over and over again.

For gym, studio, or even garage settings, rubber is often a good option to create a soft, padded surface area. While rubber was once made from rubber trees, it is now mainly constructed from synthetic rubber.

Why homeowners rave about resilient flooring

Homeowners turn to resilient flooring for a variety of reasons. They often come in with specific problems they are trying to overcome:

• Cracked tiles
• Warped wood planks
• Ruined hardwood from flood damage
• Smelly carpet with mold and mildew embedded in the fibers

Resilient flooring offers style and personality combined with features homeowners love.

Durability – resilient flooring can be installed just about anywhere and will stand up to all a homeowner can dish out. It’s created with a combination of wear layers that are designed to minimize scratching, stains, and scuffs, as well as prevent wear and tear.

Maintenance – resilient flooring is easy to maintain. Its protective coating means you can wipe up spills with ease. Daily sweeping with periodic mopping is all you’ll need to maintain its good looks. Plus, its moisture-resistance and waterproof core means it can stand up in places where other flooring materials can’t. If you have moisture issues in the kitchen, bathroom, laundry room, or basement, resilient flooring will be your flooring of choice.

Flexibility – with some flooring choices, paying attention to the subfloor can create headaches. Resilient flooring is capable of being installed over other products, and doesn’t need a perfectly level floor to create lasting beauty. You won’t find this cracking or pulling away with minor imperfections underneath.

Comfortable – while tile may be beautiful, it can be hard and uncomfortable if you’re standing on it all day. Resilient flooring is soft enough to take pressure off and provide comfort if you’re standing on it for longer periods of time.

Cost – you’ll find resilient flooring to be one of the most economical options for your home remodeling needs. If you have a budget in mind, you’ll find options well within your budget.

Looks – all you have to do is stroll down an aisle, and you’ll fall in love with the way resilient flooring looks. If you have a design in mind, you’ll find options with resilient flooring. Manufacturers understand the benefits of this product, so they’ve put more resources into creating options homeowners will love. Whether you have a specific style, look, color, or pattern in mind, you’ll find it with resilient flooring.

Is resilient flooring the right choice for your needs? 

The best place to start is by coming in and seeing your options. Start with a specific product, a color choice, or a design style. We’ll point you in the right direction to help you narrow down your choices. Take a few samples home and see them in your home’s ambiance. When you finalize your choice, you’ll be sure it’s the perfect one for you. 

• Flooring
• February 14, 2020

Choose Resilient Flooring For Your Kitchen and Bathroom Projects

Looking for the perfect flooring for your kitchen or bathroom project? Maybe it’s time to give resilient flooring another look.

Resilient flooring isn’t your mom and dad’s flooring choice. It’s come a long way since the vinyl flooring that stretched across the modern home built in the 1900s, thin, often with asbestos, and not very attractive.

Today’s resilient flooring gives you many different choices, vinyl being just the start. How about selecting natural materials such as linoleum? Maybe you want the good looks of hardwood without the fuss. That’s resilient flooring, and more.

Resilient flooring is available in three basic categories:

• Sheet – this is a great option when covering large spaces, as it provides you with fewer seams
• Tiles – this is easy to install and great for the do-it-yourselfer
• Planks – easy to fit together and provides a high quality flooring option

You’ll also find resilient flooring is available in several different installation processes:

• Glue down – an adhesive is applied to the subfloor before the flooring is laid into place
• Self-stick – tiles come with adhesive already applied to the back, simply put them into place and press down
• Floating – this uses interlocking planks that click together

What types of flooring are considered resilient flooring?

According to the Resilient Floor Covering Institute (RFCI), only six types of flooring can be considered resilient:

https://rfci.com/

• Vinyl
• Linoleum
• Cork
• Rubber
• Asphalt
• Polymeric poured seamless floor

Polymeric is poured in liquid format, rarely in a residential area.

Asphalt hasn’t been used in residential surroundings for years.

Rubber is often considered a great choice for home gyms or yoga studios, but in general, is left to more commercial surroundings.

That leaves three – vinyl, linoleum, and cork – products used in home environments that meet all the requirements of resilient flooring.

Homeowners migrate to using resilient flooring because of several distinct advantages, including:

• It’s durable – when well cared for, resilient flooring can last for decades
• It’s flexible – it’s the perfect flooring for subfloors that are less-than-perfect
• It’s inexpensive – for budget-minded homeowners, resilient flooring is the ideal choice

Of course, resilient flooring has its own set of disadvantages too.

It’s soft and flexible. And while that can be good in certain situations, small pressure points like chair legs and high heels can indent and damage resilient flooring.

It can detract from the value of your home. Not every homeowner loves the look of resilient flooring. In higher valued homes, it can prevent a potential buyer from placing a bid. It pays to know your neighborhood, and understand the value of what you’re having installed.

Why vinyl may be the perfect resilient flooring choice for your kitchen or bathroom

Vinyl flooring comes in an array of products: sheets, tiles, and planks. They are made up of several layers:

• A top coat that protects the wear layer and adds sheen to the overall look
• A wear layer that safeguards the pattern layer
• The pattern layer that gives the vinyl it’s color, pattern, and looks
• The cushion layer that provides texture and give
• Fiberglass that gives the product its shape keeps it from rolling and curving
• A base layer that provides support to all other layers

Vinyl sheets were invented back in the 1950s and quickly became one of the go-to products to install in a home. Homeowners loved sheets because if its ease. It was easy for an expert to lay a vinyl sheet into place either loosely or glued down for a more permanent performance. It was soft and looked good at the same time.

Over time, vinyl tiles and planks were created for even more options, and quickly became a DIYer’s dream. Tiles and planks are harder and stiffer than sheets, which makes them easier for a DIYer to lay into place. Whether you glue them down or join them and float them over the subfloor, they can be an easy way to change up your floor in no time flat.

No matter which product you select, they can be a great addition to a kitchen or bath. Vinyl doesn’t mind messy spills; they are easy to clean up. If you drop a pot or a pan, vinyl can bounce back and look just as great as before. And because these are rooms where you’ll be cleaning more frequently, vinyl makes the process easy. It’s water resistant, meaning you can wipe up spills and messes without worrying about the condition of the flooring when it’s gone. Keep in mind that vinyl can be slippery when wet, so it’s still a good idea to have bath mats ready when stepping out of the tub or shower.

Why linoleum may be the perfect resilient flooring choice for your kitchen or bathroom

Yes, there is a difference between linoleum and vinyl.

Linoleum was first patented over 150 years ago. It’s a solid but flexible film formed over a layer of linseed oil paint. That makes linoleum a natural and biodegradable material, something some homeowners demand in their flooring choice. In addition to linseed oil, it can also include a host of other natural products, including pine rosin, limestone, cork flour, wood flour, jute, and coloring pigments. Because the coloring will stretch throughout the product, it won’t scratch away as it can with vinyl.

Linoleum isn’t as forgiving as vinyl. Linoleum must be installed over a smooth, level subfloor to ensure its success. If that can’t be assured, installing an underlayment may be needed to ensure its success. Linoleum typically is secured with a flooring adhesive; check manufacturer’s guidelines for specifications.

Linoleum isn’t as flexible as vinyl, and is harder to work with, especially in more challenging areas of your home. There are also fewer choices with patterns and colors, and gives off a yellow hue that will disappear when exposed to light.

But if you’re looking for a green solution to your flooring needs, it’s hard to beat linoleum. And it requires only a basic routine of sweeping and mopping to keep it looking good throughout the day. It also must be treated with a sealer periodically to keep it looking its best.

Why cork may be the perfect resilient flooring choice for your kitchen or bathroom

Cork is growing in popularity because it looks beautiful while providing high end durability. Cork is naturally elastic, making it a great flooring choice to stay soft underfoot and bounce back in certain circumstances. It’s also an environmentally friendly choice, perfect for households that want to go green.

Cork offers a wide variety of color and pattern choices. It is available as both planks and tiles. The texture of cork is dependent on how cork is laid together; small granules give it a more traditional cork look, or use larger granules for a more textured appearance.

You can even choose from different composition types. Want an even more environmentally friendly option? How about constructed from recycled wine corks? Or stick with an engineered cork flooring that can float or click into place.

Which resilient flooring is right for you? 

Are you looking at changing out the flooring of your kitchen or bath? Maybe it’s time to give resilient flooring another look.

It’s the perfect way to add beauty and aesthetics to your overall design, while creating an environment that’s easy to clean and is durable for years to come.

Stop by today and see our complete line of resilient flooring. You’re going to love the look.

• Flooring
• February 13, 2016

A Guide To Resilient Flooring

The term resilient means:

An object able to spring back into shape after bending, stretching or being compressed. Flexible, pliable, supple. 

Add another term – resilient flooring – and you’ll have one of the most popular and practical flooring materials on the market today.

Resilient flooring is a general term that is made up of flooring manufactured from vinyl, plastic laminate, linoleum, cork, and other similar materials. They provide a cushion feel beneath your feet, and are skid-resistant, quiet, more comfortable, and warmer than other materials like stone or tile.

Drop a glass of water onto a resilient floor and not only will your mess be easy to wipe clean, the glass itself may survive the fall.

Compare resilient flooring to other popular choices: wood, tile or stone. You’ll find materials that are less expensive, available in an unbelievable array of patterns and colors, and ready to take on all of your daily activities with ease.

And resilient flooring can be used in any room, take on any look, and function in an easy-to-maintain way, making your daily chore list just a little shorter.

Some of our favorites?

Laminate plank flooring takes on the appearance of a hardwood floor, yet gives you easy, maintenance free living. Laminate plank flooring provides you with plank wood look and feel, easy click in place construction, and the softness and durability that comes with being a resilient floor. Perfect for family and living rooms, and kitchen spaces with lots of traffic.

Cork flooring is another favorite. Cork is growing in popularity because of its beautiful look and its incredible versatility. You can use cork in any room in your home. It’s softness makes it easy to stand on for long periods of time. And because it’s an eco-friendly product, it provides you with the benefits of being sustainable too.

And of course we can’t forget vinyl. Vinyl flooring is the perfect choice for many rooms in your home. How about the bathrooms? Or the laundry room? It’s a perfect choice when you desire a seamless look with beauty and style. It’s a perfect choice for rooms with high moisture, high humidity.

Ready to make resilient flooring a part of your home? Stop by today and see all of the options waiting for you.