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Linoleum and Vinyl Flooring |
For many linoleum or lino and vinyl flooring is synonymous. However, over the past 50 years vinyl almost completely replaced linoleum. They are two very different material when it comes to composition but they look very similar. Linoleum is making somewhat of a comeback but know that there are pros and cons for either type of floor.
A shiny smooth floor in your kitchen usually means a lino or linoleum floor to most. It is really just a term used to differentiate between ceramic tile, wood or an artificial synthetic floor. You will often hear contractors or sales people in the industry refer to a lino floor because the term is so familiar. They usually are referring to vinyl flooring materials when they say linoleum.
Vinyl flooring replaced lino over the years mainly because of cost. It was cheaper and easier to produce and could be made into different patterns and colors easier. Though linoleum is harder and tougher and more durable it cost more and since people tend to change things up more than once every 30 years vinyl made sense from an manufactures as well as a consumers point of view.
Linoleum is believed by some to be more environmentally friendly since it is made of apparently bio degradable material. This of course made an impression with the eco conscious crowd and demand went up slightly. Lino being made mostly of linseed oil and flour sounds like a degradable mix but it can also contains an acrylic surface substance which puts a dent in its so called eco friendly nature. Some of the modern linoleum manufactures use alternatives to acrylics and consciously make lino a more bio-degradable and environmentally friendly floor compared to its plastic counter part vinyl.
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