Inlaid
Process
Vinyl
flooring via the inlaid construction process is made
with solid color vinyl chips that are laid on top of a
carrier sheet, then bonded together with heat and
pressure. In this process, the pattern goes all the way
thru to the backing.
The
vinyl inlaid process have been around for many years and
in general, results in geometric type patterns and
designs.
Residential inlaid vinyl floors have a clear wearlayer,
which is place over the chips to make the finish on the
floor easier to maintain. When homeowners walk on their
vinyl floor, it is this wearlayer they are actually
walking on and not the vinyl chips. The appearance of
this type of vinyl flooring will be dependent on how
long this clear wearlayer finish lasts.
Rotogravure Process
The
rotogravure construction process is today's most
commonly used method for making residential vinyl
floors. In this process, a print cylinder spins while
the vinyl’s core layer (the gel coat) passes
underneath. Systematically, the cylinder prints various
colored ink dyes to create the pattern. Following the
setting of the print dyes, a clear wearlayer is applied
to the surface. As with inlaid vinyl, the appearance of
this type of floor will ultimately depend on the
durability of this clear wearlayer.
VINYL
FLOOR PERFORMANCE
The
most critical element to the performance of any vinyl
floor is that floors wear layer. The wearlayer
thickness will vary from manufacturer to manufacturer,
and different styles and collections may also have
different thicknesses from an individual manufacturer.
Wearlayer thickness is usually measured in mils.
If you look at a single page of your phone book, you
will see a thickness that is about 1 mil. Consequently,
a 10 mil wearlayer is the equivalent of 10 pages in your
phone book.
In
general, the more expensive the vinyl floor, the thicker
the wearlayer will likely be, and the better the
finish. It is worth repeating, the thicker the
wearlayer, the longer the original look of the vinyl
will last.
