True, this really is not a common situation, and not what we're usually planning for when we talk waterproof flooring, but when we show a guy displacing gallons of H2O all over a staged vinyl floor, it does raise the question headlining this post. What is that vinyl floor doing, and what isn't it doing where all of that water is concerned. Is this vinyl really better than any other floor we might find in a situation like this, a proper room flooding? I say it is, despite the caveats, and I'll explain here.

Will It Flood-Proof Your Floor

I hate to be negative, but no. No floor covering will do this for us. Our waterproof options come in the form of vinyl planks and tiles. Like hardwood and laminate, those are going to have seams. Many will be permeable, and some will not be, but even when water cannot get between individual planks or tiles, there are still gaps where your floor meets the wall. That's also the case with a solid sheet of vinyl, stone tiling - any floor. If your room gets flooded, nothing will protect what is under your floor covering from getting wet.  

So what's the point then?

For one thing, if you have flooding, you will have a problem to solve after getting the water out. Your subfloor will be wet, and needs to be dried quickly to protect the material, and to keep mold from starting. The same features which make our waterproof vinyl floors easy to install also make them easy to get out of the way. With hardwood, ceramic tiles or a solid vinyl sheet, removing that material is going to be close to a demolition. These just pop up, especially the loose lay planks. All you have to fight there is gravity, so you can get your top layer out of the way very quickly, without tearing anything up, and begin dealing with the wet subfloor.

The other thing...

The Flooring IS Waterproof

Because the planks or tiles you got out of the way are waterproof, those very pieces can go right back down once your room is ready. Vinyl sheet and some hardwoods would need to be reglued, if they are intact. If they aren't okay, you have to buy another floor. Hardwood and laminate are likely to have absorbed enough water to be effectively ruined. Laminate can be very water resistant, but it is never waterproof. The resistance is on the surface, but where the planks lock together the wood is usually exposed.

We show the differences in the video above. Even stone tiles, waterproof in themselves, may be damaged when you pull them up. If they are left in place the grout between them may have soaked in water, leading to potential mold and mildew issues.

Waterproof vinyl flooring does not need to be replaced after an incident of flooding, and it makes handling the inevitable fallout of the event much easier to deal with.  

To see how some of these kinds of flooring work, here are three unbelievably tiny versions of our videos on each of the waterproof vinyl products we carry.

It's all about Blog Neatness, you see, the Plate Presentation of the interwebs. 

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David has written and made videos about flooring products and installation since 2011 at Floors To Your Home (.com), where he is also the PPC Manager, a Researcher, a Website & Marketing Strategy Team member, Videographer, Social Strategist, Photographer and all around Resource Jito. In my spare time I shoot and edit video, put together a podcast, explore film history, and mix music (as in ‘play with Beatles multi-tracks’). Connect with  W. David Lichty

 

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