LVT Flooring

Thin, quiet and warm to the touch. LVT is the premium vinyl: a few millimetres that reproduce wood and stone with surprising fidelity and will take the traffic of a shop.

What Is LVT

LVT stands for Luxury Vinyl Tile: planks or tiles made of multi-layer PVC, with a printed decorative layer and a transparent wear layer on top. The product standard is UNI EN ISO 10582.

It should not be confused with two products it resembles. Linoleum is something else entirely, a natural material based on linseed oil. Laminate has an HDF core — compressed wood — which swells irreversibly with water. LVT is vinyl throughout its thickness and does not move in water.

The Wear Layer

Faced with two apparently identical LVTs, the price difference almost always comes down to one figure: the thickness of the wear layer. Below 0,3 mm you are looking at a bedroom product; 0,55 mm is the standard that will take a shop; 0,7 mm is for heavy traffic.

This translates into the use class of UNI EN ISO 10874: 21–23 for residential (bedroom to heavily used living room), 31–34 for commercial (office to retail). Asking for the class is more useful than asking for the total thickness: a 5 mm LVT with a thin wear layer will last less than a well-made 2,5 mm one.

Installation

Glue-down LVT (dryback) is the classic: thin planks, 2–3 mm, bonded to the screed with acrylic adhesive. It demands a perfectly smooth substrate — every defect telegraphs through — so it almost always calls for a self-levelling skim. In return it gives the most stable, quietest and thinnest result: it slips under doors without touching them.

Click LVT sits on a rigid core with a mechanical joint and is laid floating, with no glue. It is reversible and much faster, but the thickness rises to 4–5 mm and footfall is slightly louder without a good underlay.

In both cases the substrate must be dry and flat. Over underfloor heating LVT is among the best options: a few millimetres of thickness mean very low thermal resistance, so almost all the heat comes through.

LVT, SPC and WPC

The three are constantly confused, but the difference is in the core. LVT is flexible vinyl: thin, quiet, warm, but it needs a perfect substrate because it copies whatever lies beneath.

SPC (Stone Plastic Composite) has a core loaded with stone powder: extremely rigid, dimensionally stable under heat, and it forgives small imperfections in the substrate. It is the right choice where the sun beats in or where the screed is not perfect.

WPC (Wood Plastic Composite) has a foamed core with wood flour: thicker, softer underfoot and warmer, but less stable than SPC at high temperatures. If the criterion is walking comfort, choose WPC; if it is stability, SPC; if it is minimum thickness and quietness, glue-down LVT.

Maintenance

This is its strongest argument: no treatment, no oiling, no revarnishing. A damp cloth and a neutral detergent, and that is all.

The only two precautions concern marks: felt pads under furniture, because the wear layer is thin and a metal leg will score it, and a doormat at the entrance, because what dulls vinyl over time is grit and dust, not footsteps.

Watch the castors on office chairs: they must be soft, type W. Hard castors act like a milling cutter on any vinyl floor.

How to install glue-down LVT flooring

1. Prepare the substrate. Skim the screed with a self-levelling compound: under a thin LVT every irregularity shows on the surface.
2. Check the humidity. Measure residual humidity of the screed: below 2%, below 1,7% with underfloor heating.
3. Acclimatise the planks. Leave the boxes open in the room for 24–48 hours at a temperature between 18 and 26 °C.
4. Spread the adhesive. Apply acrylic adhesive with a notched trowel and respect the flash-off time stated by the manufacturer.
5. Lay and roll. Lay the planks and pass a 50 kg roller in both directions to guarantee full contact with the adhesive.

Frequently asked questions about lvt flooring →

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