What is SPC Vinyl Flooring?
Luxury Vinyl flooring has been popular on the market for a while due to its waterproof qualities, making it suitable for rooms that normal wood or laminate wouldn’t be a good fit in, like a kitchen, bathroom, or commercial areas with high amounts of foot traffic. There are also different types of luxury vinyl flooring, which will bring us to the subject of our article: SPC vinyl flooring, also known as rigid core flooring.
What is SPC Vinyl Flooring?
SPC stands for stone plastic composite, or stone polymer composite, the terms are interchangeable and mean the same thing. SPC vinyl flooring essentially combines the strength of stone with the natural beauty of wood. It is constructed from a mixture of limestone powder and stabilisers to create a durable floor covering for both residential and commercial properties alike.
We use the industry-leading LOC systems to make installation simple and perfect for a DIY enthusiast through to a trade installer. No glue or specialist tools are required, simply lay the boards down and click them together.
The stone core makes the vinyl flooring stand up to big temperature fluctuations as well as being 100% waterproof, making it suitable for areas with underfloor heating and anywhere with a high chance of water spillage.
SPC vinyl flooring is sturdy, not like the traditionally flexible vinyl floors. This can stand firm against the busiest areas of a commercial space or in your home interior. It is composed of a thin wear layer at the top which is stain resistant and protects against scratches. Under the wear layer is the luxury vinyl print, which is a very high-resolution, realistic image of wood or stone. So realistic most people cannot distinguish it from real wood! The SPC core rests under the print; this will not be damaged or swell no matter how much water it is exposed to. You could submerge the whole floor in water for a week and it would be fine! SPC vinyl floors, like our own Aquacore range, will come with attached underlay to soften the ground underfoot, so there's no need to buy additional underlay for the subfloor.
The underlay serves another purpose, it reduces the sound so that the floor doesn’t cause a racket every time people walk on it, providing a tranquil atmosphere to any room it is fitted in. See below.
Another benefit of SPC vinyl floors is that they don’t require much maintenance. Just the occasional vacuuming and a quick mop and you’re all set!
As if our Aquacore range didn’t look great enough already, we also have an Aquacore Herringbone Range. SPC parquet flooring, so you can bring the timeless luxurious look of patterned real wood to any bathroom, kitchen, or commercial space.
SPC vinyl flooring compared to traditional LVT flooring
While SPC vinyl flooring can appear the same as traditional LVT tiles, the differences can be subtle, and may not be so obvious just by looking at two pieces together. One difference is the thickness. SPC flooring is composed of multiple layers for its sturdy structure, making it thicker than normal LVT flooring. Because of this, LVT tends to be more flexible due to its PVC core, rather than the stone plastic composite.
Overall, SPC vinyl flooring is a fantastic, cost efficient alternative to traditional LVT (Luxury vinyl tile) flooring, with all the benefits and easy fitting. We are so confident in the quality of our flooring that the floors in our Aquacore range have a 25 year residential warranty and 15 year commercial warranty.
To summarise, here are the perks of our SPC vinyl flooring:
100% waterproof
Stronger than traditional LVT flooring
Comes with built-in underlay - reducing the overall cost of your flooring solution
Broad range of colours from the natural tones of oak to grey wood