Luxury Vinyl Tile and Plank Flooring Very Popular In Cincinnati, Ohio
One of the fastest and hottest flooring products to come out in a long time is (LVT) luxury vinyl plank flooring and luxury vinyl tile flooring. The newest flooring resource comes mainly from recycled products and closely resembles wood flooring, hand crafted ceramic tile and slate and marble flooring. There are lots of manufactures who are marketing the new flooring, many are being made in China and shipped to the United States. One of the problems with manufacturing out of the country is the delivery of products. If a distributor runs out of stock of a certain item then they will have to wait for the ship to get here across the water. Most of the products from China ship in containers by ship. Wait times can be up to 2 months. I believe it is important to purchase luxury vinyl tile from dealers who have strong ties to the manufactures who are overseeing the research and design and manufacturing quality of such products. Standards in China are a bit different than in the United States and some companies do have their own overseers in foreign countries where these products are being manufactured.
Beaulieu Industries recently came out with Bliss Luxury Vinyl Plank and Tile Flooring under their Bliss Flooring name and they have their own people in China overseeing product development. Some manufactures are opening their own LVT (luxury vinyl tile) plants here in the US. Armstrong Flooring is building a new LVT plant in Lancaster, Pa. and it should be up and running sometime second quarter of 2015. Shaw Industries is taking their area rug plant in Ringgold, Georgia and converting it over to LVT.Cost is around 100 million dollars.We are selling LVT where hardwood flooring will not work in many conditions. Basements with concrete floors and they are not totally level. The LVT will form with the level of the concrete to a great extent. A leveling compound would have to be installed to level the cement for wood flooring to be installed, then engineered wood would have to be installed via the glue down method. Use of the engineered wood is necessary because it has the stability to go on or below grade.
We recently installed a new Earthwerks Wood Antique Plank floor in the Mason, Ohio area. The new product was installed in the kitchen (we coated the floor with embossing leveler) and put the new plank right over the vinyl. There was wall to wall carpet in the attached dining room. We tore out the carpet, built the floor up with 3/8″ plywood to meet the same level as the kitchen and continued the plank flooring into the dining room. The customer liked the product so well that we installed it in 2 bathrooms and the main entry.
LVT is really easy to take care of. Vacuum to get any grit and dust off the floor and use a neutral cleaning agent with water and a sponge mop. Using the correct PH cleanser will help keep cleaning streaks off the flooring. Earthwerks have their own cleaning products. Also you can make your own floor cleaner. Mix 1 gallon of hot water with 1/4 cup of a pH-neutral liquid dish detergent in a bucket. Swish a mop in the solution to agitate the ingredients until suds form. Dish detergent is one of the most common pH-neutral cleaners, and works perfectly for floors. LVT sales at Home Based Carpet and Flooring in Cincinnati, Ohio have been going gangbusters for the last couple of years. Installation time, subfloor conditions and cost make LVT very practical. Wide widths are even available in LVT, not to mention the beautiful tile looks that are available. Make sure you have your new flooring installed by a CFI (Certified Flooring Installer).