Your Guide to LVT Flooring

In the mood for some home updates? New flooring is a more expensive upgrade than painting, but it’s significantly less expensive than a total renovation. Plus, if you’ve been in your house a few years, chances are pretty good that your flooring doesn’t look as pristine as it once did.

If you’ve already started your search for new flooring, you know just how many options are on the market. It’s easy to get overwhelmed. And when it comes to hard-surface flooring, making a decision is extra hard.

Most people think of two things when you mention hard-surface flooring: hardwood and tile. But the reality is that there are so many more choices now. Give resilient flooring options a chance. They aren’t the squeaky, ugly floors of the past. They’ve grown up! And new materials and manufacturing processes have made resilient flooring products better than ever.

One of the stars of the resilient flooring market is luxury vinyl tile, or LVT. Not sure exactly what that is? You’ve come to the right place.

Keep reading to learn more!

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What is LVT Flooring?

Luxury vinyl tile flooring is a low-maintenance, hard-surface vinyl flooring material. It’s made of several layers of different materials. The overall thickness of these layers determines how much wear the flooring can withstand. For a house, LVT flooring with a thickness between six and ten millimeters is standard.

The top few layers of LVT are clear, durable PVC. These layers protect the vinyl planks or tiles from scratches and gouges. They also protect the flooring’s color or design.

Luxury vinyl tile comes in a variety of styles, colors, and textures. Stone, brick, wood. Wide planks, narrow planks, varying tile shapes. Hand scraped texture, wood grain texture. If you can think of it, chances are excellent that you’ll find it in an LVT flooring product.

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Installing and Maintaining LVT Flooring

Compared to other flooring materials, LVT flooring is easy to install and keep clean. Vinyl is durable and resists water damage and stains. If your household is a busy one, LVT flooring is the way to go.

Installing luxury vinyl tile flooring

While it’s technically possible to DIY new flooring, your best bet is to hire a professional. When you rely on the pros, you don’t have to worry about not having enough material or missing a crucial step in the installation process.

On your end, the most labor-intensive task is clearing out the spaces where the flooring is being replaced. The installation crew will take it from there.

Here’s an overview of the steps the crew will take:

• Remove the old flooring.
• Fill in and level the subfloor.
• Adjust doors and trim as needed to accommodate the thickness of the LVT flooring
• Install vapor barrier and/or underlayment.
• Install the luxury vinyl tiles or planks.
• Grout between the tiles, if needed.

The adhesives (and grout, if applicable) need to fully dry before you can walk on the new floors or move furniture back into the space. In most cases, you’ll need to wait at least 24 hours, but ask your installer to be sure.

Maintaining luxury vinyl tile flooring

One of the best things about LVT flooring is the maintenance. It’s almost nonexistent! Really, you won’t need to do anything special to keep your floors clean and looking great. Just keep the following guidelines in mind:

• Clean up spills as promptly as you can. LVT isn’t prone to staining. It’s just better to be safe than sorry.
• Sweep or vacuum the floor a few times per week. If you can do it every day, that’s even better. This keeps everyday dirt to a minimum so it won’t get ground into the floor.
• When you mop the floor, use a cleaning solution formulated for LVT.
• Don’t let water or other liquids sit on the floor for long periods of time. Eventually, this will damage the flooring.

If you follow these basic care steps, your LVT flooring will continue looking just as good as the day it was installed. Just like any other home improvement or upgrade, a professional installation is the key to a job well done.

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