Vinyl flooring is one of the most popular types of flooring installed in homes and businesses today, thanks to its ideal combination of durability, adaptable style, and wide price range. Plus, it requires minimal maintenance to stay looking sharp year after year. In fact, the main downside of having vinyl flooring installed is probably going to be deciding which of the many options is the best choice for your application.
In this article, we’ll be taking a closer look at sheet vinyl and discussing the advantages of sheet vinyl flooring over vinyl plank flooring.
Sheet Vinyl is the King of Affordable Flooring
For most shoppers, the main advantage of sheet vinyl over vinyl plank flooring is the affordability. In general, having a room finished with sheet vinyl flooring will cost less than the same space done with luxury vinyl plank.
Sheet vinyl floors tend to be less expensive for two main reasons. First, the material itself costs less to produce because it’s not built with the rigid core construction that gives LVP its stiffness, and because it doesn’t require the precision sizing and cutting to create individual planks. Secondly, sheet vinyl installation requires less work than installing LVP, resulting in a quicker job and lower labor costs for the customer.
Of course, there are situations where sheet vinyl can be more expensive than LVP, a premium sheet vinyl versus the most basic LVP, for instance, but by and large, sheet vinyl will be more affordable.
Sheet Vinyl’s Flexibility Can Be an Advantage
Although sheet vinyl and vinyl plank flooring share many material characteristics, as mentioned above, sheet vinyl does not have LVP’s rigid core construction. This rigid core can be made with a variety of different materials, including solid PVC or composites of PVC and wood or stone. The core gives each plank its stiffness, helps improve durability, and can influence levels of noise isolation and overall comfort. And while sheet vinyl’s lack of a rigid core creates a bit of a disadvantage in those two areas, it’s not entirely a bad thing. Because it’s so flexible, sheet vinyl is often the preferred vinyl flooring for rooms with subfloor irregularities, such as a basement.
Rigid flooring materials like LVP, tile, hardwood, and laminate require a smooth, imperfection-free subfloor for proper, safe installation. Having any of these materials installed on a wavy subfloor or a subfloor with random bumps or divots can lead to cracks, chips, or even entire pieces of flooring coming loose. But since it’s much more flexible, sheet vinyl can be installed directly onto subfloors with these kinds of imperfections, because the material will bend to match those contours. This makes sheet vinyl the best flooring choice for rooms where an additional subfloor can’t be installed, whether to keep costs down or to avoid raising the floor due to already low basement ceilings.
When Fewer Floor Seams is Better
Sheet vinyl’s form factor offers another advantage over LVP or LVT. Typically offered in 12-foot-wide rolls, it’s often possible to finish a room in sheet vinyl without placing any seams across the floor. Many customers appreciate this from an aesthetic perspective, but it also offers practical advantages. With minimal seams, there are fewer places for liquids to seep through, preventing potential long-term damage.
Even though every product in Empire Today’s LVP flooring selection is fully waterproof, a seamless floor helps further reduce the risk of accidental water seepage if a seam in LVP flooring is compromised by wear or damage.
Seams or joints in a floor are also spots where very fine debris tends to collect, requiring just that small bit of additional effort to fully and effectively clean a floor. Maintenance of sheet vinyl flooring is just about as simple as it gets: sweep up dry debris and mop up more stubborn stains with a mild soap-and-water mixture or another approved vinyl flooring cleaner.
So, which is the Best Type of Vinyl Flooring?
Like most major home renovation options, there will never be a universally “best” flooring option. Each type of flooring has its pros and cons, and those often depend on your needs for each room. In situations where affordability and practicality are the main factors, it’s tough to beat sheet vinyl flooring.
