Gail Alcock, Product Director for Malmo LVT flooring shares trend insights for 2023 and how they influence business

The New Year signals new beginnings and a time for making positive changes. It’s often a time for reflection on the design of our home environment and how it supports our lifestyles, but for all of us working across this sector, it’s also a time for considering the bigger picture of trends and how it influences our business.

In our NPD and range development, we are immersed in design and are continually influenced by many aspects. How people choose to live their lives, at work, at home and at play are all linked, and we are increasingly seeing a blur of boundaries between residential, workplace and hospitality design. Many of the trends are in fact ideas borne out of human desire to create spaces which make them feel better. Consumers are seeking designs which have longevity, are sustainable in themselves since they are built to last. A backlash to the throw away fashions and fads borne out of Changing Rooms (no disrespect Linda) and cheap flat pack furniture.

Urban Garden

The Urban Garden trend is all about connecting home interiors to the outdoors and has many claims to enhanced wellbeing. In the pandemic people turned to nature and plants as a salve for stress and to create calmer, more restorative home environments. Biophilia expert Oliver Heath has talked extensively about how the space that surrounds us can have a dramatic impact on our physical, mental and emotional state and how incorporating nature into interior design can make people feel calmer and more relaxed. This trend is most apparent in the places we spend most time – the home and workplace – and shows no sign of waning.

Kitchen and bathroom designers can achieve this look with large glass door openings to the garden, skylights over the kitchen and by using materials derived from nature within the interior. Natural tones such as ochre, burnt orange and forest green are all part of this trend complemented by light coloured woodgrains in furniture and flooring.

Earth Bound

This trend captures inspiration from travel and escapism, which after lockdown has an even greater sense of importance but it’s also strongly connected to nature. It incorporates warm earth baked tones, textural materials and organic objects made by hand, bringing together nature and culture. We’ve seen rich red shades chosen as the colour of the year 2023 by paint companies such as Graham & Brown and according to trend reports, we’ll be seeing grounding earth tones such as terracotta, sepia and Italian clay for some time to come. Dark wood flooring with characterful textures are part ofthis trend.

Organic Sculpture

The Organic Sculpture trend brings together cocooning curves, tactile surfaces and soothing colours that are easy on the eye. It’s driven by the need for creating interiors that are safe and welcoming and offer a place of security during times of conflict and anxiety. The bathroom is a key room here as it’s a sanctuary where we want to recapture time for ourselves. People want a more luxurious bathroom environment with large bathtubs, waterfall showers and indulgent bathing products that are also kind to the skin. TikTok shows more than 23m searches on #BathRitual. There’s a clear opportunity for manufacturers and retailers to tap into this desire to create the perfect bathroom retreat. Nature inspired tile designs, whether in LVT or ceramic or natural stone floors, are integral to this look.

Grand Millennial

The Grand Millennial style allows spaces to be infused with personality and embraces a mix of old and new. This trend taps into the transition from blind consumerism to more conscious consumption which has come to the fore in the past couple of years. You only have to look at companies like The Used Kitchen Exchange to recognise the appetite for repair and recycling. Grand Millennial captures the love of vintage which has been widely adopted as the responsible and ethical way of shopping for the millennials. They are brave and rebel against the catalogue interiors they were brought up with – looking back to their grandparent’s generation for inspiration.

This look incorporates vintage heirloom furniture, chintz and floral patterns which can be combined with contemporary art and fresh colours keeping it from looking cluttered. Aged timber flooring is an excellent choice to incorporate into this eclectic design trend and our herringbone designs and those that replicate reclaimed planks work very well here.

All the trends we have identified are borne from the human response to the world around us and hybrid working, well-being and sustainability feature heavily. These have been the biggest drivers of the past few years and they look set to play a major part in shaping our home environments for many years to come.

How did you start your career?

I started as a part-time receptionist in May 1998. Since then, I have progressed through a range of roles including customer service, internal sales, regional external sales and national account manager, eventually becoming a Product Director. I’m so grateful for the opportunity and when I look back, I still can’t believe that over 24 years later I’m now at this level working for a fantastic brand.

Why are Malmo™’s products better than your competitors’ products?

Malmo™ luxury vinyl tile (LVT) was initially conceived as a ‘challenger brand’ to the longer established market players, and in just a few years has gone from strength to strength, driven by its ethos of design innovation. We now offer a total of 57 decors across stickdown and rigid click formats that offer a high-performing and creative flooring solution for any environment.

A key to our success has been continued investment in product innovation, the latest development being the application of an Aluminium Oxide coating as standard across the entire collection of Malmo™ Freedom Stickdown designs which increases the flooring’s slip resistance to +36 PTV, low risk in wet areas. This feature is usually reserved for safety flooring where design choice can be quite limited, but we wanted to offer our customers a design-led flooring suitable for use in any environment, including those where safety is a priority.

What one piece of advice do you wish you could give all flooring contractors?

Make sure you are aware of the environment that the flooring is going into and ensure the surface floor chosen is the right one for the customer’s requirements.
For example, when it comes to LVT, stickdown is ideal for installing in kitchens as cabinetry and island units can be placed on top of the flooring without risk of movement or contraction. It is also more stable to variations in temperature than its rigid counterparts, so is a good choice near bi-fold and patio doors and in conservatories. Rigid LVT may be a better choice when working in tricky or restricted spaces such as around sanitaryware and underneath doors in bathrooms because the joints need less positioning space. Understanding these technical features is key to a good flooring installation.

What’s the worst flooring installation you’ve seen, and why?

I’ve seen a few over the years but one that sticks in my mind is a wood floor that caused tremendous damage to the structure of a house. It had expanded into a bay window area and made the wall collapse. Needless to say, it was a very expensive fix!

Who, outside your company, do you most admire in the industry?

I admire lots of people within the industry so it would be unfair to single out any one individual. We have some fantastic talented and knowledgeable people within the flooring sector, but it’s also important that we continue to invest in the next generation of flooring professionals.

What’s the secret to a successful flooring installation?

It’s important for retailers and installers to get to know their customers and their lifestyle to determine whether they are they choosing the right floor for their environment. For example, in a busy family home LVT might be a more practical choice than its real wood, ceramic or stone counterparts due to its durability and easy maintenance qualities. Installers need to ask themselves whether they’re offering their customer their forever floor.

And what’s the secret to creating a successful flooring product?

When it comes to design, a successful flooring product should offer a mix of traditional and trend-led decors to appeal to all customer tastes. Traditional floors never age but they must also keep up with the new technical innovations within the flooring world.

What worries you most about the challenges facing the industry?

The biggest challenge we face is ensuring a future talent pool. We need to encourage more young people into the profession and to see the benefits of learning a trade. It’s a physical job to lay a floor and it can be demanding, but it’s also rewarding to play a part in installing a product that can be there for years.
There’s also a lack of specialisms among some flooring fitters which can affect the innovations in design being driven into the industry. For example, chevron, herringbone and hexagonal flooring designs require a level of specialist installation and are not often attempted by the DIY market. We need to keep passing on the skills of specialist installation to the younger generations to ensure we have a constant pipeline of skilled installers with the expertise to fit all types of flooring.

What in your opinion is the most important characteristic of a successful flooring contractor?

Being able to listen and communicate well is key. It’s also important to be able to accept change and adapt to the innovative new products coming through and understand what the benefits of these changes are.

In today’s economic climate, what’s the biggest threat to your company’s profitability?

It is vitally important that we continue to invest in good environmental and sustainable manufacturing practices, but at the same time this does have an impact on costs, from materials to transport. All Malmo™ products offer Greenguard, Floorscore and ISO9001 and ISO14001 certification and in our manufacturing processes we aim to use minimal amounts of energy and keep emissions to the lowest possible levels.

The industry as a whole has a duty to continue to invest in sustainability as it’s important to protect this wonderful world for future generations.

In what state is the flooring industry emerging from Covid-19, in your opinion?

The flooring industry grew during the pandemic as homeowners found the time, and financial means, to invest in their homes. Malmo™ emerged strongly as LVT chimed with consumers’ desire for products that helped their homes be safe, stylish and easy to look after. Unlike grouted tiles or wood floors, LVT delivers a very smooth and streamlined surface that is very easy to clean and does not require any ongoing maintenance such as re-sealing. LVT also goes hand in hand with the trend for people to create light-filled rooms and bring the outdoors in with free-flowing open spaces. With no expansion gaps or door profiles required, it is highly stable to deal with the temperature variations from direct sunlight and deliver a streamlined design look.

Of course, we’re all facing very different challenges now, but I think the desire for people to invest in their homes as a place of safety and enjoyment will continue and LVT offers a stylish, hardwearing and long-lasting flooring material.

How does the industry solve the problem of no new blood coming through the ranks?

We need to instil in the younger generation that it’s OK not to be an academic whizz. You can achieve your goals with non-academic training and at the same time develop better social and emotional skills. Communication is key……..says the sales lady!

Does your company do a good job helping contractors when products go wrong?

Most definitely. We will always investigate and advise why the problem has occurred. We all want a satisfied customer at the end of the day.

What would you tell a contractor who complained about sustainable products costing them more money?

Do you have children, nieces, nephews or grandchildren? If so, would you like to keep the world a brighter place or as dark as the earth you will be in one day?

If you weren’t in the flooring industry, what would you be doing?

Something that keeps me in front of people, talking, caring, sharing and meeting new faces.

What is your favourite flooring installed in your home?

I bought an old house seven years ago and upon removing the carpet in the lounge and hallway I found a beautiful teak parquet floor. I paid to restore it back to its beautiful self and I love it. It was well worth the investment.

Design & market trends

LVT continues to be a popular flooring choice in 2022. It’s a material that is stylish, affordable and easy to maintain, making it a fantastic option for domestic and commercial projects alike, and we only expect this trend to continue with technological advances, improvements in installation methods and design development.

The material offers a cost-effective way of achieving the premium look of real timber or the stunning appearance of tiled floors, while offering the advantages of being affordable, highly durable, scratch resistant and easier to clean and maintain compared to real wood and stone. With a myriad of colours and design styles now available offering higher levels of authenticity than ever before, it’s no wonder that LVT flooring represents a healthy portion of the flooring market.

One of the continuing design trends is wooden parquet effects. Herringbone and chevron flooring has long been associated with luxury and grandeur in stately homes and a marker for style and affluence, and the pattern’s expansion into LVT flooring over the last decade or so has opened up the design scope of this sought-after look to a much wider demographic.

Herringbone offers a more classic parquet look with tightly alternating boards laid at 90° angles which create a stunning focal point in any room while chevron takes the classic style and gives it a modern update. Here the planks are cut at 45° to create a more modern geometric zig-zag effect, which is particularly popular among younger homeowners.

One of the main advantages of LVT flooring is its hardwearing surface layer. It does not crack like a ceramic so is increasingly viewed by consumers and retailers alike as a real alternative to a traditionally laid ceramic tiled floor, and of course the fact that it can be laid with ease in a fraction of the time to tiles is a major selling point for installers.

Patterned tile effects are another trend in the LVT flooring market that is showing no sign of waning, as you can instantly achieve the look of retro tile flooring with all the convenience, value and performance benefits of a man-made material. These designs are currently enjoying a revival among younger consumers and at the same time, they conjure up feelings of nostalgia among the older demographic, so are a good option with the increasing trend for multi-generational households.

Similarly, large format tile designs such as concrete and slate effects are continuing to have a moment. The flooring offers a great way to create a bold statement while injecting a sense of space into a room and offers the benefits of easy maintenance and compatibility with underfloor heating systems, unlike natural stone.

Steve Ball, Technical Services Manager, outlines his top tips for laying Rigid Click luxury vinyl tile (LVT) flooring.

It goes without saying that any professional flooring installer wants to avoid the inconvenience of revisiting a project once the work is complete, especially if it involves time consuming and costly remedial work and a dissatisfied end customer.

Rigid click LVT is generally regarded as a fast and easy to fit floorcovering due to its ability to be laid and locked into place with ease, in fact Malmo™ Rigid LVT only requires a firm finger touch with no need for hammers or tapping tools. However, despite being easy to fit, there are common problems that we see regularly occurring which installers can easily avoid.

Horses for courses

With rigid LVT, incorrect subfloor preparation is a common error which can lead to damaged flooring and wear and tear quicker than expected. Another mistake that we see time and again is the installation of rigid flooring underneath heavy objects leading to buckled and damaged locking systems. Understanding which LVT flooring products are best suited to which environment should be the starting point for any flooring professional.

Rigid LVT was originally invented as a quick to install floorcovering that was thin enough yet sturdy enough to be installed directly over other hard floorcoverings such as wood or ceramics without having to remove them first, with homeowners often reverting to the original floorcovering as trends changed. Over time rigid LVT has become one of the most popular types of flooring available, assuring a stylish and long-lasting solution when installed correctly.

The good news for installers is that mistakes can be prevented with thorough forward planning, and we always recommend that the full instructions are read prior to installation and followed carefully, as incorrect installation will invalidate the warranty.

Fit and Forget

Here are our ten top tips to ensure a ‘fit and forget’ rigid LVT flooring installation.

1. Always allow 48 hours for the LVT product to acclimatise in the room where it is to be installed. Store the packs flat and no more than two packs high.
2. Take appropriate time to prepare the subfloor ensuring it is level. Use a good quality levelling compound with a maximum 2mm variation over a 2m x 2m space.
3. Remember that expansion gaps of 6mm are required around the perimeter of the room and any fixed items like door jams and radiator pipes. Do not obstruct any expansion gaps with objects or sealant.
4. When installed over underfloor heating, expansion gaps should be 10mm and the surface temperature not allowed to exceed 27⁰C. Refer to the full UFH instructions prior to installation.
5. Install a door profile in every doorway.
6. The maximum area of coverage without an expansion break is 10m x 10m.
7. Heavy furniture, such as kitchen cabinetry, American style fridge freezers and range ovens cannot be installed over a rigid LVT floor. In these instances, a stickdown LVT would be the correct choice because it’s fully adhered to the subfloor and therefore more stable.
8. If the area has lots of glazing, e.g. skylights or bi fold doors, recommend to the customer that they install blinds to minimise temperature variations. For the same stability reasons outlined above, stickdown LVT is the correct option for conservatories.
9. Recommend to customers the use of door mats and furniture protection pads to prevent the floor from scratching.
   And finally, if you’re struggling with installation and need advice, call the UK based Malmo™ technical team, we are more than happy to assist.

The complete Malmo™ collection offers a total of 57 designs; 25 stickdown and 32 rigid, including the award-winning Senses range. The range has up to 25 years domestic wear warranty, with up to 10 years for commercial applications.

Expansion gaps of 6mm are required around the perimeter of the room and any fixed object when fitting Malmo™ Rigid LVT.

The maximum area of coverage without an expansion break for Malmo™ Rigid LVT is 10m x 10m.

Working from home and hybrid working are fixtures of modern living now and for the foreseeable future this is going to have a direct, positive impact on home renovation as consumers look to create more space whether it’s a garden room, a kitchen extension or a loft conversion for an ensuite.

The pandemic has put the entire home under scrutiny for decoration, comfort and hygiene with consumers seeking out products that deliver these benefits.

Design-wise, products that offer smooth and seamless surfaces such as luxury vinyl tile flooring will be seen as more beneficial than ever because of the heightened consumer focus on health and hygiene and feeling safe at home and their ability to combine high performance with simple maintenance. From a retailer’s perspective, they also offer the benefits of being easy and fast to fit which can help ease some of the pressures on installation and skills shortages.

As we begin to enjoy greater freedoms again, I think there will be a renewed burst of enthusiasm from consumers for refreshing the looks within their home to psychologically move them away from anything that reminds them of the pandemic times. This may be a bright new coat of paint, a stylish floor or a bathroom makeover with custom-printed wallpanelling – anything that enhances personal pride in the home.

While consumers may not have recovered their confidence to travel again, by contrast they are fuelling a boom in the purchase of a second holiday home or moving altogether to a new part of the UK as part of a life-change. This all benefits those involved in home improvements across the entire UK as people have sought out lesser populated and cheaper places to buy than they might have otherwise considered.

Everyone is beginning to realise that they can all play a part in helping the planet and making sustainable design choices is going to come much more to the fore, especially with the younger generations who are vocal and influential. All Malmo™ products offer Greenguard, Floorscore and ISO9001 and ISO14001 certification and in our manufacturing processes we aim to use minimal amounts of energy and keep emissions to the lowest possible levels, making them an appealing and sustainable choice. I think we will see more and more consumers prioritising these credentials when they come to choose products for their homes.  

With the UK underfloor heating (UFH) market increasing year on year and becoming a preferred heating option within residential and commercial properties, Gail Alcock, Flooring Director for Malmo™, explains the compatible flooring options available and the benefits offered by Luxury Vinyl Tile (LVT).

Many consumers choose water-piped UFH as it’s an excellent heating source for large, open plan rooms and ideal for achieving streamlined aesthetics. By replacing radiators, which often take up valuable wall and floor space, UFH can also provide greater design freedom for room planning.

Bathrooms and kitchens are the most popular rooms in the home for UFH as it’s an ideal way to keep them cosy and warm underfoot. It distributes heat evenly to deliver a constant, ambient temperature, and works on a lower flow temperature than radiators which increases efficiency and saves homeowners money over time. With an efficient heat output setting at around 27°C (compared to radiators which are usually set to around 75°C) to heat up a room effectively, UFH consumes less energy and can lower bills by around 15%.

Choosing a floorcovering which will be compatible with the system is important because not all flooring can cope with the fluctuating heat and high temperatures. Engineered wood, stone, ceramic tiles, laminate and LVT are all among the best options for UFH systems. LVT is currently the fastest growing floorcovering in the market and our Malmo™ range is available in rigid click and stickdown options which are both compatible with water-piped UFH, giving it the flexibility to be installed over the heating system in any room of the home.

Heated floors naturally expand and contract as the temperature fluctuates, and both the fully bonded stickdown LVT and rigid LVT are well equipped to cope with these movements without impacting the floor’s integrity. As LVT is thinner than stone and ceramics, the heat naturally rises and passes through the floor material meaning areas will heat up quicker. With LVT also being naturally warmer underfoot than tiles for example, installing without UFH will still give a cosy feel and stylish looks.

Not only is stickdown LVT well-suited to UFH, its fully bonded and adhered installation means it can also cope with sunlight ‘hotspots’ in conservatories and rooms with floor to ceiling glazing – as is the ongoing interior trend.

LVT flooring offers the additional benefits of being high performance, easy maintenance and in the case of rigid LVT, very easy to fit. Design-wise, LVT ranges such as our Malmo™ collection have come a long way in recent years due to the product’s ability to deliver stylish and authentic looks. We’ve just added 13 new design-led finishes to our Stickdown fully adhered range that keep it on point for a range of styles and tastes. In the past, vinyl flooring has had a bad reputation for looking and feeling cheap with poor imitations of real materials. Unlike traditional sheet vinyl flooring, the new generation of LVT comes in tile, plank and herringbone formats and is available in a wide variety of colours and textures that authentically mirror natural materials and which are more economical than their real counterparts. Our Malmo™ Senses rigid collection in particular has garnered industry awards for its sophisticated, natural appearance created by the innovation of registered embossed textures.

The overarching benefits offered by LVT makes it one of the most versatile flooring products on the market. We’re seeing more and more retailers and consumers viewing LVT as a real alternative to tiled and real wood floors thanks to its long-lasting performance, flexibility for installation in any domestic or commercial setting, and its superb creative scope that continues to reflect the latest consumer tastes and interior trends. The material also harnesses the benefits of easy cleaning and no ongoing maintenance compared to natural stone and real wood flooring alternatives, so it is very much in tune with today’s enhanced hygiene requirements. With or without the addition of underfloor heating, LVT makes a stylish and beneficial flooring choice for everyone.

Dala MA112

Moderna MA103

Steve Ball, Technical Services Manager for Malmo™, outlines his top tips for laying Rigid Click luxury vinyl tile (LVT) flooring.

It’s no idle claim that LVT is faster and easier to install than natural stone and wood, and this is one of the factors behind its rising popularity, alongside its credentials for being high performance, easy maintenance and offering broad design scope. The product is supplied in packs of planks or tiles that are lightweight and easy to handle and transport to jobs.

The Rigid Click installation system, where the planks and tiles are laid and locked into place, is particularly quick and easy to install, whereas stickdown requires a greater level of expertise. For example, our Malmo™ Rigid products feature Välinge 5G push down end joints meaning each plank only requires a firm finger touch to securely click the product into place with no need for hammers or tapping tools. The fact that the end joints need less positioning space also makes the flooring ideal when working in tricky or restricted spaces such as around sanitaryware and underneath doors in bathrooms. Some rigid LVTs, including Malmo™, feature a 1mm thick underlay offering further time and cost saving benefits by eliminating the need for separate installation.

Although the Rigid Click system is straightforward to fit, we always recommend that the full instructions are read prior to installation and followed carefully, as incorrect installation will invalidate the warranty. Here are some top tips to bear in mind to ensure a correctly installed floorcovering and a satisfied end user.

1. Always allow 48 hours for the LVT product to acclimatise in the room where it is to be installed. Store the packs flat and no more than two packs high.

2. Take appropriate time to prepare the subfloor ensuring it is level. Use a good quality levelling compound with a maximum 2mm variation over a 2m x 2m space.

3. Remember that expansion gaps of 6mm are required around the perimeter of the room and any fixed items like door jams and radiator pipes. Do not obstruct any expansion gaps with objects or sealant.

4. When installed over underfloor heating, expansion gaps should be 10mm and the surface temperature not allowed to exceed 27⁰C. Refer to the full UFH instructions prior to installation.

5. Install a door profile in every doorway.

6. The maximum area of coverage without an expansion break is 10m x 10m.

7. Heavy furniture, such as kitchen furniture, cannot be installed over a rigid click LVT floor. Being fully adhered to the subfloor and more stable, Stickdown LVT can withstand heavy weights.

8. If the area has lots of glazing, e.g. a conservatory or bi fold doors, recommend to the customer to install blinds to minimise temperature variations.

The complete Malmo™ collection offers a total of 57 designs; 25 stickdown and 32 rigid, including the award-winning Senses range. The range has up to 25 years domestic wear warranty, with up to 10 years for commercial applications.

Expansion gaps of 6mm are required around the perimeter of the room and any fixed object when fitting Malmo™ Rigid LVT.

The maximum area of coverage without an expansion break for Malmo™ Rigid LVT is 10m x 10m.

What changes have you made to your service in reflection of the pandemic?

The Malmo™ LVT collection has a robust service proposition in place that has continued to serve our customers well throughout the pandemic. We are committed to holding full depth and breadth of product through our nationwide distribution network which enables us to offer ex-stock availability across the complete product range with delivery in 24-48 hours to anywhere in the UK. This has enabled clients’ projects to keep running without any delays, circumventing current industry challenges around supply chain management, which is unfortunately impacting on product availability and project build timescale in other areas.

Has the pandemic had any influence on flooring trends?

Post pandemic, people are more looking for products that will help their home be safe, stylish and easy to look after and wall, floor and kitchen surfaces have a large role to play here. Unlike grouted tiles or wood floors, LVT delivers a very smooth and streamlined surface that is very easy to clean and does not require any ongoing maintenance such as re-sealing.

The trend of course continues for people to create light-filled rooms and bring the outdoors in with free-flowing open spaces and stickdown LVT goes hand in hand with this as a floorcovering choice. With no expansion gaps or door profiles required, it is highly stable to deal with the temperature variations from direct sunlight and deliver a streamlined design look.

The pandemic has made our homes even more important to us. Does this put extra pressure on ensuring that each new home has the perfect bathroom?

The pandemic has made everyone value their homes as a place of safety and happiness and this has fuelled the desire to move or improve. With hygiene naturally moving up the agenda over the past 18 months, the choice of surface finishes in the home has been elevated to a higher importance and there is a greater desire for materials that provide a smooth and seamless easy to clean finish, while delivering high performance. Luxury vinyl tile (LVT) flooring offers many benefits for the bathroom environment because, as well as being extremely durable with higher impact resistance than tiles, the flooring is naturally warm underfoot, is totally waterproof and has a tactile but easy clean surface with no grout lines to contend with.

The complete Malmo™ collection offers a total of 57 designs; 25 stickdown designs and 32 rigid, including the award-winning Senses range.

Luxury vinyl tile (LVT) continues to be the UK’s fastest growing flooring choice thanks to its stylish and realistic designs and high performance and low maintenance qualities. Here Steve Ball, Technical Services Manager for Malmo™, jargon-busts some of the terminology associated with this popular flooring material.

Luxury Vinyl Tile (LVT) – Luxury vinyl tile is made from carefully compressed multiple layers of PVC vinyl which create a high-quality, durable and water resistant floorcovering. LVT comes in tile or plank formats that mimic a range of styles including wood, stone and ceramic tile, but with all the practical benefits of a sophisticated man-made material.

Dryback – may also be referred to as gluedown or stickdown, this is a thinner product than rigid LVT (usually 2.5mm) but with high density and strength. This means it is incredibly easy to handle and install on site, and there is less requirement for adjustments to doors etc.

Stickdown installation – Stickdown is one of two installation methods for LVT flooring. Here the dryback vinyl planks/ tiles are glued directly to a sound and level subfloor. Being fully adhered, this results in a more stable floorcovering that can withstand heavy weights and variations in temperature, meaning it is more versatile for areas such as conservatories.

Self-levelling compound – A self-levelling compound is a chemical mixture used to smooth uneven concrete floors. It is very important to have an even-surfaced floor when installing LVT flooring with a maximum deviation of 2mm over a 2m span. If self-levelling compound can’t be used then a flooring grade plywood can be used as an alternative.

Primer – primers are used for pre-treating floors and are often applied prior to levelling materials or flooring adhesives to ensure good bonding of upper floor layers.

Adhesive – a suitable LVT adhesive must be used for dryback products, and there are two options available – a standard vinyl floor adhesive or a pressure sensitive adhesive.

Rigid – a type of LVT flooring created for fast and easy fitting and perfect for DIY projects. The core of this product is usually either WPC (wood particle composite) or SPC (stone polymer composite). An SPC core is more durable and water resistant than a WPC alternative. The thicker and more solid core means that it can be laid over existing hard floorcoverings, to easily cover variances of up to 2mm within the subfloor e.g. ceramic tiles with grout. As rigid LVT products are usually 4-5mm in thickness, they still allow you to install over existing hard floors without impacting the overall floor height, reducing time, cost and mess when compared to lifting a ceramic tile floor for example.

Click installation – there is a range of patented click installation systems available across rigid LVT products. These include:

• • 5G – a strong locking system that requires the lightest of touches to simply push down the end joints. Malmo™ rigid LVT features the Välinge 5G installation system.
  • i4f

– a strong click mechanism which is often secured with ease by tapping with a rubber mallet.

• • Angled click

– the end joints are clicked together, and then lifted together into the long lengths. This originated with laminate flooring products rather than LVT.

Underlay – some rigid LVTs feature underlay already attached (e.g. Malmo™) whereas others may require a separate 1mm thick LVT-specific underlay prior to installation. These dense underlays provide transitional sound absorbency, ideal for use in apartments and installations above ground-level.

Expansion Gaps – this is a gap of 6mm minimum required around the perimeter of a room and fixed items like door jams and radiator pipes with rigid LVT. This prevents damage to the flooring by allowing it to expand and contract with the environment where it is fitted. Expansion gaps must be 10mm minimum where UFH is used, and never filled with sealant or silicone. This also means that door profiles must be used in every doorway with rigid LVT products. Expansion gaps are not required for stickdown LVT.

Registered Embossed – the texture is pressed into the surface of the material perfectly in line with the visual pattern of the woodgrain to replicate the look and feel of real wood. The Malmo™ Senses range incorporates a registered embossed surface finish.

Slip resistance – slip resistance is measured in the UK as an “R” rating within the domestic market, or “PTV” rating for commercial use. Both cover wet and dry use, and a high R rating is defined as R10+ upwards, whereas for PTV it would be +36 (Building Standard Regulation). The forthcoming Aluminium Oxide coating being applied to all Malmo™ stickdown products will achieve +36PTV.

Wear Layer – this is a clear overlay which gives LVT flooring its durable and hardwearing surface. As stickdown LVT is more commonly used in commercial applications, it tends to have a thicker wear layer, for example Malmo™ stickdown LVT features a wear layer of 0.55mm, Malmo™ Rigid Comfort is 0.3mm, but because it is registered embossed Malmo™ Rigid Senses also has a thicker 0.55mm wear layer.