12 Different Types of Luxury Vinyl Plank Flooring

Luxury vinyl plank flooring covers a wide range and different types of flooring products. These different types of flooring products make up the diverse flooring collections and options for flooring brands. Understanding the difference and definition in these luxury vinyl plank flooring allows consumers to better choose the ideal flooring products for their renovation needs. This article covers the 12 most common types of luxury vinyl flooring in the flooring industry.

Dry Back Luxury Vinyl Tiles

Dry back luxury vinyl tile is also known as the glue down flexible LVT flooring. It generally has an overall thickness between 2.0mm and 3.0 mm. As a basic and one of the most inexpensive resilient flooring products, dry back LVT is highly popular for both residential and commercial flooring applications. This vinyl plank is largely used for multi-family homes, rental properties, and light commercial projects.

Peel and Stick Luxury Vinyl Tiles

Peel and Stick Luxury Vinyl tiles are perhaps one of the most DIY friendly flooring products there is in the whole flooring and decorative flooring industry. However, there are now too many cheap knockoffs, which contributes to major quality issues in durability, stability, and printing consistency of this type of luxury vinyl plank.

Though, with its super convenience for self-adhesion and ease of cutting into required shapes, it has become a top-selling product in e-commerce, such as on Amazon. The prices for peel and stick luxury vinyl plank are also very competitive and affordable. They generally come with 1.2mm thickness, which allows them to be cut and shaped easily with just scissors.

Loose Lay Luxury Vinyl Planks

Loose lay luxury vinyl plank is actually an upgraded product to dryback LVP. With increasing thickness and an anti-slip underlayer film underneath, the loose lay LVP can be installed without applying glue. This made it super easy to install as a floating floor. The increase in thickness and an additional anti-slip underlayer would raise the price significantly; however, it is still well liked by many project builders as they are very time saving. This is also one of the first glue free resilient flooring that does not require paying a premium for locking systems.

This innovative flooring combines the design flexibility of gluedown LVT with the quick and easy installation of a floating floor. Create stunning custom designs without the hassle of adhesives.

Karndean Design Flooring

Click n Lock Luxury Vinyl Plank

This is one of the most well liked products across all resilient flooring categories. With the click n’ lock technology, for the first time, luxury vinyl planks can be installed in the same way as click-engineered woods and laminate flooring. The clicking system is super easy to install and has enhanced the waterproof performance by preventing water from penetrating between two tiles.

Rigid Core SPC Plank Flooring

The very first rigid core SPC flooring was invented around 2012 but did not receive any market popularity until late 2017. The rapid surge in SPC vinyl plank flooring popularity has resulted in a large number of Chinese laminate flooring manufacturers investing in SPC extrusion production lines (as part of risk diversification against the toxic laminate flooring incident in 2015).

Rigid Core SPC Flooring is considered an improved LVT with more robust and dimensionally stable performance. The price of SPC is slightly cheaper than LVT with the same specification.

Light SPC Flooring

LSPC, Light SPC Flooring, is a new form of rigid core SPC with 20% less density weight. The manufacturing technology in light SPC planks requires precise control of the foaming process in SPC extrusion. As it has a 20% foaming, the acoustic performance in LSPC is similar to WPC flooring. The resilient flooring manufacturers consider the LSPC as the next generation of WPC vinyl plank flooring.

Hybrid Structure Vinyl Plank Flooring

Hybrid structure vinyl plank flooring, by definition, is a combination of two different types of vinyl flooring together. In the manufacturing industry, it is frequently referred to as the AB structure or ABA structure vinyl plank flooring. An AB structure means there is one layer of LVT on top of a layer of SPC. ABA structure means there is a sandwich structure where there is one layer of LVT on both sides of the SPC core.

AB Structure Hybrid Vinyl Flooring: LVT sheet + SPC rigid core  (AB Two layers)

ABA Structure Hybrid Vinyl Flooring: LVT sheet + SPC rigid core + LVT sheet (ABA Three layers)

WPC Flooring

The original WPC flooring referred to the Wood Plastic Composition that was largely used for outdoor decking, and the makeup composition actually does have wood fibers in combination with plastics. However, when it is referred to as resilient WPC flooring, there is actually no wood fiber at all in it. The reason why it is called WPC is simply because the resilient WPC planks have a wood-like acoustic performance due to their highly hollowed core from foaming. Though, due to the high ratio of foaming in its WPC core, the WPC core planks are very vulnerable to denting and even breakage. Therefore, most of the on-market resilient WPC flooring comes with an AB structure with one layer of LVT on top and a layer of WPC as the core. The WPC flooring is generally more than 8.0mm thick to improve its structural strength performance.

Non-Vinyl Luxury Polypropylene Flooring

Non-vinyl luxury polypropylene flooring is completely made from non-PVC materials. As a PVC-free resilient flooring, luxury polypropylene flooring has the benefit of being truly toxic free and more environmentally sustainable. Polypropylene plastics are also one of the least energy-consuming polymers that can reduce carbon footprint as it replaces PVC applications. In addition, with improved heat resistance capability in polypropylene (PP) polymers, the luxury polypropylene flooring has significant enhancement in dimensional stability. Making it an acclimation free before installation. Both PP-LVT and PP-SPC are flooring products under the polypropylene flooring category.

Non-Vinyl Luxury PET Flooring

Non-vinyl luxury PET flooring is made from polyethylene terephthalate plastics, a very common polymer resin that is often used in packaging for food and beverages and also for clothing fibers. Many carpet flooring are also made from PET polymers, so it is one of the most popular plastics that has been around for ages. Luxury PET flooring provides a PVC free option that effectively replaces PVC with a toxic-free PET polymer.

Loose Lay Grip LVT Flooring

When it comes to loose-lay grip LVT flooring, the most famous product in this line is the Seta-Grip LVT collections by Nox, a resilient flooring manufacturer in South Korea. The Seta-Grip LVT was first launched back in 2018 and won the Silver Nightingale Award in 2022. It is a revolutionary invention, as it allows 2.0mm thick LVT to be loose-lay installed instead of having to apply glues. It significantly has installation time as well as materials. This technology was also applied in the Allure QuikGrip collection by HMTX.

Magnetic LVT Flooring

Magnetic LVT is another glue free resilient flooring that can be easily installed and removed. Using magnetic technology, the magnetic flooring is able to grip the flooring substrate firmly. However, as the magnetic compositions are more expensive in price, they are less popular for residential use. The application for magnetic LVT is more common in commercial use, where the flooring and spatial space need to be renovated frequently. We see a huge market niche in magnetic LVT flooring for studies, retailer spaces, theaters, and other conditions where frequent changes in interiors are needed.

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