Understanding Linoleum Flooring Basics
Linoleum flooring has been around well over 100 years and was very popular up until the 1950 when vinyl flooring became available. This flooring material is coming back into vogue because it is a 100% natural product and is environmentally friendly. People wishing to reduce their carbon footprint can safely choose linoleum tiles for their floors. It is made from several different renewable materials including solidified linseed oil (linoxyn), pine rosin, wood flour, and ground cork dust. Mineral fillers such as calcium carbonate are also used and they use a backing made from burlap or canvas. All these ingredients are abundant in supply and linoleum is now a growing green industry.
A Quick Look at the Advantages
A linoleum floor is durable, easy to maintain and quiet to walk on. Linoleum tiles have a flexibility which all allows them to be used in situations where ceramic tiles would crack. The soft flexible material is easy to walk on and suits people with arthritis or leg problems. Linoleum flooring is also hypo-allegenic and for this reason it is used in hospitals and medical clinics.
How To Choose Between Different Types of Linoleum Flooring
Linoleum flooring comes in tiles in varying sizes and it also comes in rolls for seamless flooring. Different products are used to finish the linoleum and it is available in a high gloss or a matt finish. The high gloss finish looks similar to vinyl flooring and the matt finish looks more like cork. Linoleum flooring is available in many different colors and tiles can be mixed and matched for design purposes. Tiles have the flexibility of being replaced if an accident occurs and one gets damaged. Continuous flooring is harder to fix when damaged.
Select a Color Scheme
You can mix and match the linoleum colors to suit your décor, just as you would with ceramic floor tiles or other flooring. Linoleum comes in an imitation marble finish, that doesn’t show the dirt easily and it looks great with granite or marble kitchen benches.
Select a Correct Adhesive
Selecting the correct adhesive is important, especially to keep the flooring green you must used a non toxic green adhesive. For linoleum installation you can use adhesives that are 100% solvent free and which meet all the low VOC requirements.
Hire Someone to Lay Linoleum Flooring for You
If you do not know how to lay linoleum floors yourself, you should hire floor laying professionals to do it for you. There may even be a linoleum specialist in your area. They will prepare the surface underneath properly and will know if you need to do any special preparation or if you need to use any underlay. Linoleum tiles do come in different thicknesses and concrete floors are better with the thicker linoleum flooring. The thicker variety of linoleum flooring has a better cushioning effect and will make the finished floor less hard.