Complete flooring information and inspections

When I started inspecting, about the only kind of vinyl being used was what most people called "Linoleum", which is actually a brand name.  The technical term is "resilient" or "sheet vinyl" because,...it is vinyl, and comes in sheets, or rolls, and is resilient.  (For instance, you can take a hammer and put a permanent dent in a wood floor, but not so easily in resilient/vinyl).   The rolls are usually 6' or 12' wide.  I used to HATE vinyl because it was so ugly.  I still remember being in a rental home cleaning the carpet while an installer was installing vinyl in a kitchen.  He carefully cleaned the floor and cut-out the edges, then went to lay the vinyl down on the floor.  He promptly found a little rock he had missed still on the floor pushed right up through his new  but now damaged piece of vinyl.  But that was all a long time ago.  Welcome to today's world of vinyl.

Vinyl/resilient still comes in sheets on rolls, but also in various types of "planks".  And the patterns can be AMAZING.  I went to look at a floor a while back that looked like a hand-scraped engineered wood floating floor with beveled edges.  As I was getting out my wood flooring inspection tools, the homeowner commented about how he loved his vinyl plank floor.  I couldn't believe it!  (Of course, I just acted cool like I knew that all along while I got out some additional tools...).   A big market right now are the vinyl planks that stick to each other with "gripper strips" and are a floating floor.  They do not stick down to the subfloor, and therefore there is no adhesive to mess with.  These are very friendly for do-it-yourself installations and come under names like "Allure" and "Metrofloor".  However, a word of caution on these.  Be sure and do everything on the installation EXACTLY as stated in the directions.  The biggest problem these can have is the seams coming apart later.  Be sure that during the installation, the room (and planks) are plenty warm, a dust-free environment, expansion space at ALL of the edges, and rolling the seams very carefully with a large 100 lb 3-section roller. 

The other main general area of concern with vinyl flooring products is their ability to "telegraph" bumps/irregularities in the subfloor, including adhesive trowel lines on sheet vinyl.  Adhesive trowel lines telegraphing through the vinyl is a clue that an improper "open" time was used on the adhesive before setting the vinyl into the adhesive.  Some sheet vinyl is only "perimeter" glued, and others are glued across the whole room. 

On the subject of installation, I wouldn't recommend trying to install sheet vinyl yourself, unless perhaps there were no seams.  You still need to be very careful to follow the manufacturer's directions for installation.  If there are seams, cutting them to match well like a professional does is not easy, and, the sealer put on the seams is REALLY SMELLY, like a strong chemical smell that needs to be well vented.  On the other hand, the vinyl planks that are floating are much easier to install, as long as (let's say this together) you are very careful to follow the manufacturer's directions for installation.  (See a theme here?).

Of course, the big plus about vinyl is, it is much cheaper than other floor covering-yet can look like much more expensive wood/laminate/tile floors.  And, it is easy to clean/maintain.  One last plus, it is not too sensitive to moisture issues like wood flooring, but can discolor if there is an area with high moisture underneath the vinyl. 

Some of the many vinyl flooring manufacturers; Gerflor, Domco, Congoleum, Amtico, Metroflor, Tarkett, Mannington, Armstrong, EarthWerks and Winton