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Heterogeneous vinyl flooring is the multi layer flooring with different contents from top to bottom. It combines with UV layer, Wear layer, Printed layer, Glass-fiber layer and Backing layer. It can be custom printed with all kinds of stylish patterns and innovation designs. With the advantage of cushioning, comfort, waterproof, durability and affordability, it is the perfect choice for home, school, mall, office, GYM and museum.
Today vinyl flooring is the most popular resilient flooring, and vinyl sheet flooring is the best choice for commercial flooring. There are mainly 2 types of vinyl flooring, homogeneous and heterogeneous vinyl flooring.
Since there are different specs, colors and brands of heterogeneous vinyl floor, so people always don’t know how to choose.
Today, we will give you ultimate guide on how to choose heterogeneous vinyl flooring.
It’s an in-depth article that takes 20 minutes to read.
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Different applications will have requirements on different heterogeneous sheet flooring.
Home: please focus more on colors, waterproof, fireproof, durable, scratch resistant, resilient and comfortable, easy to clean and maintain. And Pet friendly if needed.
School: Please focus more on colors, durable, scratch resistant, resilient, easy to clean and maintain.
Library: Please focus on colors, comfortable, sound absorption, easy to clean and maintain.
Hospital: Please focus on waterproof, fireproof, slip resistant, durable, scratch resistant, antibacterial, fungicidal, easy to clean and maintain.
Airport & Station: Please focus on durable, scratch resistant, slip resistant, waterproof, easy to clean and maintain.
Office: Please focus more on colors, resilient and comfortable, easy to clean and maintain.
Workshop: please focus more on durable, scratch resistant, fireproof, easy to clean and maintain. And anti-static function if needed.
Dancing Room: Please focus more on durable, scratch resistant, comfortable and resilient
Recording Studio: Please focus more on sound absorption.
Sports flooring: Please focus more on safety. Which is the thickness and resilience of the flooring. Of course durable, scratch resistant, slip resistant, easy to clean and maintain are also very import.
Whenever you buy your heterogeneous vinyl floor, please list some of the functions you need to have. There might have little different spec and function for different vinyl flooring.
Below are some of the popular technical spec and functions:
Slip resistant function: If you need higher slip resistant, please make sure you check with the flooring supplier. Tell them you need R8, R9, or even safety vinyl flooring with R10.
Waterproof: Some of the vinyl floor is only water resistant, so please pay attention to it if what you need is waterproof. (The different between Water resistant and waterproof)
Fireproof: Fireproof is very important for home, school, station, museum, workshop, office and library. Please check the manufacturer spec sheet
Resilient: When you want to install the heterogeneous sheet vinyl on dancing room, please choose the sheet vinyl flooring with very good resilience.
Durable & Scratch resistant: when you need the heterogeneous sheet flooring in heavy traffic areas, please make sure the sheet flooring is durable and scratch resistant. Normally this is the spec of wear layer thickness. Will suggest the wear layer from 0.35mm, better with 0.5mm or 0.7mm
Antibacterial and fungicidal: Hospital grade sheet vinyl flooring is most hospital and healthcare center needs. This is mainly the function of antibacterial and fungicidal.
Easy to clean and maintain: please make sure there will be UV coating or PUR coating on the surface.
Stylish colors: Please check the colors you like.
There’s no shortage of color options in heterogeneous sheet vinyl. For looks inspired by natural materials, like hardwood, stone and slate, you’ll find shades of white, beige, red, orange, brown, green, blue and gray. Alternative looks like geometric patterns and black and white checkerboard are also available.
For heterogeneous sheet vinyl, you can print whatever you can on the flooring, the print quality is so good that it will look real on the vinyl floor.
But light color for smaller room will make the room look bigger.
Normally there are 3 kinds of heterogeneous vinyl flooring:
Loose lay
Peel and stick
Glue down
Let’s explain the advantages and disadvantages of above 3:
Loose lay: if you don’t need very good installation quality, and you don’t need the flooring can last very long time such as 15 years, and there are less traffic. Loose lay should be a good choice. Very easy to install and just lay the flooring on the floor. It can also remove in the future. Normally this is for residential or temporary applications.
Peel and stick will have better installation quality, you can see this for residential application. It is also easy to install.
Glue down is normally what the commercial applications need. It will have the best installation quality and can last for 15 to 30 years. You will need to choose glue down if there is heavy traffic, or antibacterial requirement.
Whenever you want to install the vinyl flooring, you will have forecast that how long you require the flooring last. If it is for commercial project, you’d better choose the flooring that can last 15 to 30 years. Normally it is thicker, UV coating, and thicker wear layer.
But for temporary use or short time use, then you can lower down your requirement on the spec.
There are always low end, medium and high end heterogeneous sheet vinyl in the market. So please position yourself before you make any decision. It is all about suitable and match.
Note: When you calculate the vinyl flooring cost, please make sure you are talking about installed price.( Included both material and labor cost)
There are different kinds of brands in the market. Some are world famous; some are local brands, while some brands maybe new to the market.
Frankly speaking, brand is important, but quality is more important than the brand itself. So we will suggest you check the vinyl floor spec and quality instead of focus on brand only. As long as the quality is good, you are ok to buy.
Regarding service, you just need to feel it yourself, and choose the one who make you feel more comfortable.
But quality is more important than service & brand if you have to make the selection. Of course the best is you can find a brand with lower price, but reliable quality and good service.
There is no standard answer of which flooring is the best. We will need to consider lots of factors when we choose the most suitable heterogeneous vinyl flooring. Our goal is to find the best flooring that can meet all our requirements while with lower price.
This article is written by Longda Flooring (www.longdaflooring.com), the largest heterogeneous vinyl sheet flooring manufacturer from China.
Please contact Longda flooring for a free quote on your vinyl flooring needs. We have quick response, efficient communication, quality products, on time delivery, and competitive price.
Copy right by Longda China