Luxury Vinyl Tile Flooring

Luxury vinyl tile flooring an increasingly popular product without an established definition.  We hear LVT,  LVP and LVS among other acronyms. LVT, the most popular of the terms and used to identify “luxury vinyl tile flooring.”

What it is Luxury Vinyl Tile Flooring

As luxury vinyl flooring came into popularity, manufacturers and dealers grouped large number of products together. The referred to all of them as LVT or luxury vinyl tile.

Luxury vinyl tile or LVT still the most popular term used to describe a variety of flooring products. The industry has started to use additional terms and acronyms for the growing number of flooring styles produced.  LVP for “luxury vinyl plank” and LVS  for “luxury vinyl sheet.” Mannington a leading producer of resilient floor covering products is referring to LVS as “the next evolution in sheet vinyl flooring.”

Luxury vinyl flooring designed to simulate both natural and man made products such as wood, natural stone, granite, ceramic and attractive designer patterns.  Style possibilities are limitless as the pattern that you see is actually an image that has been produced using high definition photography.

The American standards organization ASTM International has established a broad specification ASTM F 1700 Solid Vinyl Floor Tile. Under this specification they have included luxury vinyl tile flooring.

Some people in the industry apply the term LVT to vinyl composition tile which is really a stretch. Primary ingredient of VCT, about 65% limestone, used as a filler material. Less expensive material, VCT, still a durable product, primarily used for commercial installations such as schools, retail stores and other high traffic areas.

Vinyl Tile or “VT” is a homogeneous (more uniform) product. Referred to as a solid tile material. If you break a “Vinyl Tile” the color is consistent throughout while a vinyl composition tile exhibits its pattern and/or color at the surface.

Luxury Vinyl Tile Flooring “LVT” and Solid “SVT” have a higher vinyl content than VCT and therefore are less porous yet as durable. Both routinely use a photographic image to provide unique designs.

LVT Flooring Offers Style and Performance

Luxury vinyl tile flooring has made amazing transformation over this past decade. Once, just another vinyl floor covering, LVT and LVP now an important and rapidly growing segment of the floor covering industry.

LVT is available in a large number of shapes, colors, patterns and styles. There are ceramic tile and stone patterns that can be installed with or without grout while offering warmth and softness.

Other Considerations

For those with pets that are not perfectly potty trained and the pet owner wants the look of hardwood, luxury vinyl has you covered. Mostly in plank styles, these products take the abuse without the damage placed on hardwood and laminate from pets.  Wood appearing choices are limitless from floors that provide a tabletop appearance to those with deep embossed, distressed texture.

Perhaps you are considering a laminate plank but like to wet mop your floor. While you cannot wet mot a traditional laminate floor you can wet mop luxury vinyl. This flooring is a perfect choice for children, pets or a husband that tracks in mud or those accidental spills or even teenagers that leave a mess on the floor for mom to clean up.

As you can see, luxury vinyl tile flooring is not just another floor. LVT is a floor that offers style, durability and ease of maintenance. Not a perfect floor but a very good floor worth considering for most any flooring project.

Edited by Terry Weinheimer of The Weinheimer Group, nationally recognized flooring and floor covering inspectors and consultants.