When it comes to resilient vinyl planks, many people consider it a cheap flooring option that just feels too plasticky. This misconception can lead to incentives to choose laminate floorings over vinyl floorings. However, here is a few facts: luxury vinyl flooring does not have to look and feel cheap, and it can look just as good as laminate flooring or hardwood flooring. This article summarizes 7 product features that define cheap luxury vinyl planks. By closely checking these features and specifications, you can easily avoid low-quality LVP and find an ideal LVP product that truly looks authentic.
Product Features in Determining Luxury Vinyl Plank Appearance
- Deco Film Printing Quality and Manufacturing
- Pattern Design Coverage and Repetition
- Type of Surface Textures
- Glossiness of Surface and Light Reflections
- Thickness Specification
- Protection Wear Layer
- Acoustic Underlay (If applicable)
1. Deco Film Printing Quality and Manufacturing
Cheap looking luxury vinyl tiles generally has low quality over their printing deco films. This means the pattern design appearance can feel unclear and even pixelated. This type of issue (and even defects) are generated from buying of low quality of print films that are applied onto luxury vinyl planks. The manufacturing process for LVP can also have a stretch affect that if not controlled will cause the pattern design to go off and even fade in colors.
When consumers are buying for the cheapest LVP products in the market, the natural cost structure of manufacturing will inevitably affect the quality of deco films used in manufacturing. Therefore, it’s worth time to examine at least a few boxes of vinyl planks to make sure the deco film pattern design has a consistent printing with higher definitions.
2. Pattern Design Coverage and Repetition
The unique beauty about real hardwood flooring is that you will never get two planks with the same exact pattern appearance. This made hardwood a beauty on its own due to the uniqueness in wood cut patterns. With man-made floorings, whether they’re laminate floorings or vinyl floorings, pattern design repetition is not avoidable. Even with digital printing vinyl floorings, the length of the pattern design is never endless. A cheaper version of laminate flooring or vinyl flooring will only provide 4 pattern design planks, while for the more premium collections, more printing cylinders are being developed to provide up to 16 pattern design planks or more. With increasing pattern design planks, fewer plank repetitions with higher flooring coverage are achieved.
Sreelance offers luxurious vinyl flooring collections with extra long 1.8 metre plank size that comes with A/B/C/D print designs. This means the collection can provide up tp 6.75sqm (72.65sqft) coverage with no repetition. A top design that very few manufacturers in China currently provide.
3. Type of Surface Texture
When it comes to surface textures, the surface embossing can make all the differences. The cheaper luxury vinyl planks will only use random deep emboss where the surface texture will not match the pattern grain. The premium luxury vinyl planks use Emboss In Register (EIR) design that make the surface texture identical to the pattern design of the deco film. Significantly improving the authenticity of the appearance both visually and texture.
4. Glossiness of Surface and Light Reflections
One of the main reasons why luxury vinyl planks might seen cheap and plasticky is due to the shininess and light reflections off the plank surface. The latest matt coating technology allows for glossiness level to go under 1.0 gloss level. This adaptation of surface coating technology can make vinyl flooring even more like hardwood flooring.
5. Thickness Specification
Materials input defines price and cost of making. The thickness of vinyl flooring also determines the quality and performance of the flooring. Generally with thicker vinyl tiles, the better the product is. Its worth noting that pattern designs might not have been invested by the brands or manufacturers, but thicker planks will give more stability and longer lasting lifespan.
6. Low-Grade Protection Wear Layer
While the thickness of vinyl planks provides more stability over expansion, contraction, and wrapping, it’s the wear layer that protects the deco film from scratch and wear. A thicker wear layer can naturally handle more foot traffic and will have a longer lifespan in use.
The lower quality vinyl floorings will have a thin wear layer that does not provide enough long-lasting lifespan. Some extremely cheap LVT tiles may not even have any wear layer at all, and this can seriously diminish the durability of the vinyl plank surface.
For commercial grade, a 0.50mm, 0.55mm, or 0.70mm wear layer thickness is more ideal.
7. Thin Acoustic Underlay
Pre-attached acoustic underlay can improve the acoustic performance of the luxury vinyl planks. Different materials such as IXPE, cork, or other performance underlay materials can be used to improve the overall quality of the flooring. Most of the acoustic underlay is applied on click LVT and click SPC floorings. However, the latest dryback LVT can also have an acoustic underlay attached.
With more entry-priced vinyl flooring products, EVA underlayers are generally applied. However, for the more premium and luxury vinyl flooring collections, IXPE and Cork are also more popular. Branded underlayers may also have their own embossing with the brand’s logo and slogan with IXPE or EVA underlayments.
New Product Launch
In short, luxury vinyl flooring planks does not have to look cheap and plasticky. If you choose the specifications right, luxury vinyl flooring can look authentic while remain highly affordable with inexpensive prices.
Here at Sreelance, we provide highly authentic EIR flooring collections with up to 4 pattern design cylinders. Our latest flooring collections offers robust grain patterns with slight medium color variations. This style brings a more natural variance to luxury vinyl flooring.
The SR2601 to SR2608 collection features EIR embossing with a low glossiness level. With options for extra-long planks up to 180 cm, this collection is most suitable for flooring distributors that are exploring new designing collections for launch. Certified with industry qualified certifications, Sreelance provide high quality vinyl flooring collections for flooring importers around the world.
Tips on How to Avoid Buying Cheap Looking Vinyl Floorings
Now that we have covered the different features that would make vinyl floorings appear cheap, we are able to improve the appearance of the vinyl flooring products by making adjustments on the specifications. To conclude on these product features, the following tips demonstrate what premium vinyl flooring products should be.
- Select Vinyl Flooring Collections that offer low-repetition pattern designs.
- Choose surface that reflect with pattern grains, the Emboss In Register (EIR) surface provide authentic textures.
- Ultra Matt offers a more naturalistic appearance.
- Choose thicker planks for more robust and durable performance.
- A thicker wear layer is more long-lasting than the thin wear layer collections.
By following on these tips, you are able to create product offerings that has the class of premium in them.
To further learn about how to build effective vinyl flooring collections for floor retailers, read on Unique Vinyl Flooring Products in China. For sourcing from Vietnam, read on How to Buy Vinyl Flooring from Vietnam.
About Sreelance Materials as a Global Supplier in Resilient Vinyl Floorings
Sreelance Materials Technology is a professional global supplier in the resilient vinyl flooring category. Working as a buying group, Sreelance provides highly competitive LVT and SPC products for flooring buyers across the global markets. Flooring importers will find Sreelance’s vinyl flooring highly competitive in both quality and pricing. Here at Sreelance Materials, innovative resilient flooring products are also provided.
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