Since vinyl flooring took off in the last several years, it has seen rapid adoption in both the residential and commercial spaces. Durable, easy to install, and safe for the elderly and children, vinyl flooring is quickly finding itself being installed in spaces all over the world. On top of that, vinyl flooring is available in a wide variety of designs and colours. No wonder vinyl flooring installation is gaining popularity!

What makes vinyl flooring so unique? The secret lies in the technologies that go into the vinyl flooring. Let us have a look at them, layer by layer.

1) Top Layer Technology: Tuff-Shield™

The top layer of the vinyl flooring is a crucial part as it needs to take the everyday abuses and abrasions. From footsteps to household accidents, such as the dropping of keys, the top layer acts as a protective shield for the flooring. It helps to maintain the beauty of the floor for years to come. Not all wear layers are the same. Superior wear layers are critical for performance as well as letting the design come to life.

Tuff-Shield™, the Tuffest coating ever, originates from the United States. It features a double-coating method that adds extra strength to the underlying urethane protectant coating of your vinyl flooring installation. Tuff Shield™ provides the vinyl floor with additional resistance to everyday wear, allowing it to be used in various applications in the home or office. Tuff-Shield™ technology is found in The Floor Gallery’s Eco Resilient Flooring (ERF), as well as EcoTech Extreme Core (ETEC) range of flooring products.

2) Middle Layer Technology: Ecotecture™

The middle layer is the part that provides for the dimensional stability for the vinyl flooring installation. Dimensional stability is the ability for the material to retain its original shape, especially when subjected to changes in its surroundings such as temperature and humidity.

Ecotecture™ Tech is created by bonding several high performance core layers. Every layer is designed to perform and bond together for exceptional dimensional stability and extra sound absorption.

(Eco Protect Resilient Flooring)

Each layer of the Ecotecture™ performs a specific function in the vinyl flooring installation. While the bottom most layers prevent curling and add stability to the vinyl tile or plank, the middle layer provides for sound absorption. The top two layers provide protection to the flooring’s design, as well as against the elements and even bacteria, ensuring that the vinyl flooring remains durable in most environments. Ecotecture™ is featured in The Floor Gallery’s Eco Protect Resilient Flooring (EPRF).

3) Locking Mechanism Technology

The locking mechanism provides for tight joints between vinyl planks and ensures that the flooring does not open up. Tight joints will also prevent any water from seeping in from the flooring’s surface.

Undoubtedly, modern technologies allow for so many exciting possibilities in the modern homeowners’ and offices’ flooring needs. Connect with one of our flooring specialists to discuss about a vinyl flooring installation that suits your needs HERE!

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#1 Highly Water Resistant

The number one thing a working kitchen needs to have is a flooring that is highly water resistant. This will hence, make the flooring easy to wash and clean.

#2 Slip Resistant

While washing or cleaning your kitchen flooring with soapy water, one thing to caution about is potentially slipping accidents. This is especially so when it comes to ceramic tiles. Eco resilient flooring is tested to be highly slip resistant, hence after the washing, you will still feel assured that slipping is minimised. This is therefore recommended for families with elderly parents who always do the cooking or laundry.

#3 Impact Resistant

Touch wood, though there is no wood. Even if an unlikely scenario of slipping accident, the cushion effect of eco resilient flooring greatly reduce the impact of the fall. Therefore, it enhances safety at home.

#4 Stain Resistant

Stubborn oil stains that gives you the headache of cleaning it away. No worries about it when you have eco resilient flooring.

#5 Heat Resistance

Intense cooking cause one to feel very hot in the room. If the flooring is not a good insulator of heat like ceramic tiles, sometimes you may feel your feet being uncomfortable. As for eco resilient flooring which is highly heat resistant, you have no worries about uncomfortable feet.

#6 Fire Resistance

Eco resilient flooring (ERF) has been tested to have high quality standards in terms of fire resistance such as the credible CE rating and other European (EN) standard test. Hence, such feature enhances safety at home. In the event of fire incident (touch many wood, please), fire spread will be greatly reduced with eco resilient flooring compared with non-quality vinyl or resilient flooring.

#7 Certified Eco Friendly

One reason to choose eco resilient flooring for your kitchen is because it is certified eco-friendly such that it has credible accreditation such as the Singapore Green Label. Certified eco-flooring products are tested based on stringent standards such as indoor air quality, composite of safety materials used to manufacture the product, VOC emission and formaldehyde emission rate. By installing certified eco friendly flooring products, one will therefore feel extra safe at home.

Hope you have a clear understanding of eco resilient flooring (ERF) and why is it different from most types of clickable resilient flooring in the market.

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“What are some of the safety properties of the flooring should we be looking at, if we have elderly at home then?” you may ask. Read on for the answer!

1. Slip Resistant

Water spillage or water pouring from the rain into the house, is something inevitable. This is especially true for the kitchen, service yard and toilet area. According to Health Promotion Board, a lot of injuries happened to elderly due to fall each year. Therefore, it is extremely important to have a flooring that is highly slip resistant. Also, look for a flooring that is impact resistant, so that in event that may not fully prevent falls, it may also help to cushion falls, lessening impact.

2. Easy to maintain

Very often, the younger ones are either out at work or in school. The cleaning is, sometimes, done and maintained by the elderly. Having an easy to maintain flooring will help them have an easier job. They need not need to scrub the floor hard, but just using their comfortable way of having a broom and a mop, they will feel the floor clean. Having an easy to maintain flooring may also help them to gain their confidence as they know these are simple chores they can help out at home, if they want to do, of course.

3. Comfortable

When we are buying shoes, we look for shoes that we are comfortable to walk in. The same goes for flooring. We need to be comfortable with the flooring that we are walking on as we are spending a lot of the time walking at home when we are home. What more about the elderly who could be at home more often than you do? Some flooring, such as concrete tiles, may not be good for health if we were to stand on them for long. People with morning sinus will not like to step on ceramic tiles or marbles in the morning too. Hence, look for a flooring that will not be cold during cold weather or hot in the hot afternoon.

4. Air Quality

Fresh clean air helps to improve our life quality. As much as we like to have clean air, we also need to understand that dust is everywhere. We can clean them, but some flooring, such as carpets, tend to trap dust easier than others. Dust and dust mites will cause problems to elderly, especially those with respiratory problems. Hence, it is vital to look for a flooring that is tested and proven for better indoor air quality standard.

Flooring may seem to be the easiest to go for in a house, but when safety for the elderly becomes a concern, you will realise there are many considerations you need to have. There is no perfect flooring for a safe house. Do consider what your priority are. Research well before committing and don’t forget to involve the elderly when choosing flooring as their comfort should also be taken into consideration!

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Durability

Ceramic flooring is quite durable, if you know how to take good care of it. It can last for about 50 years or more. However, a drop of heavy object on the tiles, may break the tiles..

On the other hand, eco resilient flooring has high in durability due to its extreme dimensional stability, thick protective wear layer and reasonable thickness. With these features, it is no wonder eco resilient flooring manufacturers are able to provide lifetime warranty for the product.

Installation

Installation of ceramic tiles will take a lot of time, At the end of the day, there will be a lot of mess after the installation too. It may also take longer time for the installation complete. This is partly because ceramic tiles requires the use of wet cement for installation.

Eco Resilient Flooring, on the other hand, can be completed faster compared to ceramic tiles. A typical four room BTO flat may take a few hours of installation. It is much fuss free and so much easier. Not to forget, it is pretty mess free too!

Replacement

You can easily walk into a tile shop to get a replacement of the broken tile and replace it yourself. However, if your tiles are installed long time back, you might have problems finding a replacement. You can consider it a new fashion or trend if you have a sudden patch of different tiles out of nowhere on your floor.

Eco Resilient Flooring, as mentioned previously, is covered under warranty for lifetime on residential properties. If there is any faulty parts on the flooring, you can always call up the flooring contractors again and they will be there to solve your problem with a replacement plank. Hence, no need to worry about having a out of place patch on the floor!

Maintenance

Both type of flooring are relatively easy to maintain. However, for the ceramic tiles, there is the grout area that you need to scrub. Grout is the part where the tiles are joined. It is normally the dirtiest part of the floor on ceramic tiles flooring. A lot of manual work is required, but not very often. Otherwise, to maintain both flooring, you will only need to sweep and mop the floor to maintain the cleanliness. For Eco Resilient Flooring (ERF), cleaning is so easy and completely fuss free.

Now that we have gone through the differences between the 2 types of flooring, we hope you have a clearer and better understanding of the two.

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Maintenance

What if I were to spill a cup of ribena onto your beloved carpet? You will definitely scream at me, yeah? Reason being that it is hard to clean spillage on the carpet. It may seep through and stain the carpet. Once stained, the carpet is very hard to clean. Due to the material of carpets, moisture can also be absorbed much easier on carpet. With moisture, mould can grow on the carpet. It will result in obvious sightings and make the carpet unsightly. It is highly recommended for a change of carpet every 5 to 10 years for hygiene reason. You won’t feel comfortable stepping on a carpet that is mouldy and dirty right?

Eco Resilient Flooring (ERF), on the other hand, has no such issue of mould and stain as it is stain resistant. Resilient flooring has no worries over moisture as it is waterproof. Hence, there is no worries about water spillage or water seeping into the flooring, resulting in undesirable consequences.

Installation

Carpet and Eco Resilient Flooring (ERF) are considered relatively to install. Carpet may take up more labour compared to resilient flooring as the flooring is mostly stapled and glued while resilient flooring is using a patented click system. In terms of safety, resilient flooring is safer as you do not need to worry about the exposed staple.

Replacement

Replacement of both flooring are similar. You are required to change only that particular “tile” that is faulty. There is no need to replace the whole flooring. However, you will need to be careful of the rusty staples, if any, when replacing a carpet flooring.

Design

Carpets color, depending on how it is manufactured, may appear to have more shades of one color. It may also have more colored compared to resilient flooring. However, in terms of the pattern, you will realise there is limitations. This is due to how carpets are manufactured.

Eco Resilient Flooring (ERF) may not appear to have as many shades of colors as carpets. Due to the manufacturing process and technology intervention, you realise you are lost for choices when it comes to pattern. You will be able to get designs as close as real stone or wood, something that carpet cannot provide.

Whether it is carpet or eco resilient flooring, both are able to provide you the different feel you are looking for in your residential or commercial properties.

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Ease to install

You just got the key to your new house and cannot wait to move in. Yet, renovation has to complete. The flooring is one of the reasons for the long wait time for the renovation to be completed. Hence, having an ease to install flooring will help you to move into your love nest at the soonest possible.

Highly Slip Resistant

Watery and slippery floor is, sometimes, inevitable in a kitchen. We tend to wash the kitchen, wash the utensils, and we may leave traces of water behind. Hence, kitchen is known to be one of the most dangerous place in your home, beside the bathroom. Having a slip resistant flooring will make your kitchen safer for all of your family member, be it young or old, alike.

Ease to Maintain

Kitchen, a place where oil stained are easily found, especially if you do not clean the area after cooking. It is a high maintenance area in the house. Therefore, for any family, to have an easy to maintain flooring will help. Lesser time spent on cleaning also equates to more time spent enjoying the good food you just created in the kitchen with your family.

Highly waterproof

Everyone would want to have a flooring that last. Having a highly waterproof flooring will ensure that your flooring is in good condition as no water can slip through to the base. Having this in mind, it also means there is no chance of having mouldy floor. This is critical to areas like the kitchen, as that is where food of all types are handled.

After listing down the characteristics and the reasons, we highly recommended Eco Resilient Flooring (ERF) as the recommended kitchen flooring. Besides the listed reasons, Eco Resilient Flooring is also Eco Friendly. Eco Resilient Flooring is one of the fewest clickable resilient flooring products that has been awarded The Singapore Green Label. Hence, Who would not want such flooring with so much benefits?

The post Type of Flooring That Best Suits the Kitchen! appeared first on The Floor Gallery.

#1 Waterproof

Grey Trend Design

One key feature of ERF flooring is that it is waterproof. Hence, this flooring can be washed and mopped ample times without worrying about water seeping between the gaps of the flooring. Its waterproof feature makes it a strong substitute to laminate flooring which is not resistant enough towards water. Therefore, eco resilient flooring is highly recommended for the kitchen!

#2 Certified Eco Friendly

Euro Oak Design

Another key feature of eco resilient flooring (ERF) is certified eco friendly friendly. Hence, it makes ERF a strong substitute to most clickable resilient flooring products which are not certified eco friendly. Its eco friendly certification is mainly based on two areas; the material of the flooring and the indoor air quality in enclosed areas when the flooring is being installed.

#3 Slip Resistant

ERF tiles – Anthracite Design

Safety at home is one great consideration when deciding on which flooring to install. One flooring feature you may have to look at the slip resistance of the flooring. Eco resilient flooring (ERF) is highly slip resistant, thus ensuring safety at home by preventing possible falls due to wet floors.

#4 Fire Resistant

ERF – Red Root Design

Another important feature especially for kitchen flooring is its fire resistant properties. Make sure that your flooring is tested and certified for fire resistance. Eco resilient flooring (ERF) is a certified fire resistant flooring product, hence it will double ensure safety at the kitchen.

#5 Heat Resistant

Grey Trend Design

Eco resilient flooring (ERF) is also highly heat resistant which means that heat from the cooking will not be trapped in the flooring. Hence, with ERF flooring, you feet will comfortable on the kitchen flooring. Moreover, compare to stones and ceramic tiles which can be cold at times during cool weather, ERF keeps your feet comfy at all times whether the weather is cold or hot.

#6 Stain Resistant

ERF – White Sawn Design

If you cooks regularly, one of the toughest stains you will need to wash and remove is the oil stain. Eco resilient flooring (ERF) is also highly stain resistant. Therefore you need not worry about oil stain on the flooring. All you need is to wash and clean immediately after cooking, so that the flooring will be sparkling clean!

#7 Easy to Clean and Maintain

ERF Tiles – Cool Cement Design

Eco resilient flooring (ERF) is also easy to clean and maintain, you do not need any special cleaning solvent, wax or oil to maintain the flooring. Just simply wash and clean with soapy water, and that is good enough!

So there you have, the 7 features why Eco Resilient Flooring (ERF) is highly recommended for kitchen flooring! For more information on ERF, please click here.

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1. Certified Eco Friendly Resilient Flooring

As eco resilient flooring is certified eco friendly, it is therefore a highly recommended flooring product for home owners today. (ERF – White Sawn Design)

Eco resilient flooring (ERF), is certified eco friendly. It has the Singapore Green Label certification which requires stringent standards to achieve it. Two of the standard are healthy indoor air quality and also the material composite of the product. Some resilient flooring products in Singapore may not be certified eco friendly mainly because of their material composite. Many of these resilient flooring products may have seemingly ‘eco friendly certifications’, however if the home owner can take a closer look, the resilient flooring products suppliers who got their ‘eco friendly certifications’ are not because of the material composite of the products but because the manufacturing process of the products was done in an environmentally fashion.

2. Waterproof

Eco resilient flooring is good for kitchen because of its waterproof and easy-to-wash properties. (ERF – Cool Cement Design)

Eco resilient flooring (ERF) is also a waterproof flooring hence making it highly recommended for areas such as the kitchen, entrances near the bathrooms or the sanitary area. If your home ‘chef’ does a lot of cooking at home, you also need not worry as the waterproof properties of Eco Resilient Flooring (ERF) make it easy to clean and wash. Its waterproof properties therefore make it a strong substitute to conventional wood flooring and laminate flooring.

3.  Highly Slip Resistant

Eco Resilient Flooring (ERF) – Dark Grey Oak Design

Eco resilient flooring (ERF) is also highly slip resistant. Therefore, such flooring helps to enhance safety at home by reducing the probability of slipping accidents. This is so important especially if your home has kids running around or elderly parents.

4. Impact Resistant

Due to its versatility and safety features, you can also make a platform with eco resilient flooring. (ERF – Thai Teak Design)

Being impact resistant means the flooring adds a ‘cushion effect’ on the fall impact when there is a slipping accident. Hence, with its high slip resistant properties plus this high impact resistant properties, it adds safety assurance to families with children and the elderly.

5. Scratch Resistant

Eco Resilient Flooring is a pet friendly flooring due to its scratch resistant and eco friendly feature.

Eco resilient flooring (ERF) has a highly scratch resistant 0.5 mm wear layer and a coating (turf shield) which enhances the lifespan of the flooring through wear and tear. Its high scratch resistance make it recommended for family with pets (‘Purrfect!’) or even high traffic commercial areas such as retail shops and restaurants.

6. Stain Resistant

Oil Stains? Don’t worry about it as Eco resilient flooring (ERF) is stain resistant!

Too much cooking? Afraid the oil stains may be hard to wash thus making your eco resilient flooring sticky? Have no worries about that as Eco Resilient Flooring (ERF) is stain resistant. The oil stains can be easily removed. Furthermore, ERF is waterproof such that all you need is to just wash it with soap and water, the flooring will be spick and span in no time!

7. Termite Proof

Eco Resilient Flooring – Thai Teak Design

Eco resilient flooring (ERF) is termite proof. This is because its material is not edible or does not look ‘delicious’ to the termites. Hence, such flooring is also recommended for landed homes in areas near forestation with a relatively higher level of humidity, or ground level commercial properties.

8. Lifetime Warranty (Residential)

Eco Resilient Flooring (ERF) ~ Oak Floss Design

With the above 7 properties in place, manufacturers of eco resilient flooring (ERF) are therefore able to place a lifetime warranty on its products so long the flooring is installed correctly by experienced flooring installers. This lifetime warranty will therefore give home owners a ‘peace of mind’.

So there you have the 8 benefits of eco resilient flooring (ERF). If you are interested to find out more about eco resilient flooring, please click the link here.

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Firstly, What is Overlay Flooring?

Overlay flooring would be placing a new layer of flooring over the existing flooring. This would make your floor slightly thicker, but it would not be noticeable. This can be done with overlay vinyl flooring and tiles.

#1 Better Flooring Protection

By overlaying a layer of flooring over, it will not only protect the flooring by acting as a cushion, it will also add comfort to every step you take. Compared to hacking, overlay flooring adds the advantages of your new flooring product to your home’s existing flooring. This is especially great if your new flooring product comes with a decent padded thickness! Eco Resilient Flooring (ERF) has a thickness of 5mm and comes with slip-resistant and non-toxic features for a safer household.

#2 Shorter Renovation Time

It takes a shorter time to do an overlay than to hack and replace the current flooring. Hacking is the removal of your current flooring, which means there will be more work involved. Hacking of flooring is approximately completed within the time frame of 3 consecutive days – that is at least 3 days more compared to overlay flooring. As there is no need for flooring tiles to be removed for the overlay process, there is no additional time required for overlaying. This results in a faster completion of the new flooring.

(Interested in overlay flooring? Feel free to get in touch with our flooring team here.)

#3 Lower Overall Cost

Overlaying is also relatively cheaper as there is lesser work to be done with just the adding of another layer. In addition, you would not need to pay for the cost of manpower for hacking.

Prerequisite: Stable Condition of Old Tiles

Some firms may suggest not to overlay tiles if they are too old, or if your tiles are suspected to be hollow. You can try to hit the tiles with coins or marbles and listen out for any hollow sounds. Reason being that if the existing tiles are old or hollow, they may pop up or crack under the new tiles soon after the overlay. If this occurs, you would have to redo the entire flooring again, and this would cost more ultimately.

Remember, your existing flooring is the base for your new flooring. You might prefer it done faster and at ease, but it is important to check if the foundation is ready for a fresh layer of flooring! If its condition is not good, do consider hacking and re-doing the flooring first.

(Want to find a flooring that suits your budget and home’s interior? Discuss your best options with us here.)

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It is not common in Asian countries, especially the Chinese, to have dark flooring. To many, it is said that dark flooring will make the room smaller as darker flooring will absorb light. However, wall color and furniture will help in making the room looks different. Having a brighter colored wall and lighter furniture will make the effect of enlarging the room. Darker flooring will also make your house “pop” out due to contrast. This “pop” out effect will, surprisingly, add values to your house as it gives the trendy look, making your house resale value up.

Do you know that having a darker flooring will make the room more attractive? Because it is unique in the color shade, it tends to grab one’s attention almost immediately. Darker color, especially black, is often associated with power and social prestige. It will also give the room a tingle of stylish feel. With darker flooring, it is also easier to create the different feel you are looking for, for example, rustic or trendy.

Dark flooring, compared to lighter flooring, might not do as good job as covering up dust and scratches. Having a glossy colored flooring will make it even worst. You will not want to have your guests, kids or even pets to enter into your place until you are sure their soles are cleared of dust. Provided you do not mind cleaning the floor every now and then after they entered or walked on the floor. Flooring with patterns can help to cover the dirt and dust left behind by others.

Where would be a great place for dark flooring, you might ask. Kitchen is definitely a big NO, as there are mess and spillages every now and then very easily. You would not want to have these stains showing on the floor, imperfecting the beautiful kitchen you have every now and then after your cooking time. How about bedroom? You can consider master bedroom or any bedroom for this matter. We would not be expecting too much spillages or messes in the bedroom. Just take note that a darker flooring can make the room smaller.

The Eco Resilient Flooring (ERF) that we carries has many designs and colors. There is sure bound to have one that suits your room theme, be it dark or light flooring. Contact us for advice, if you cannot make up your mind!

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