If you’re needing a budget flooring solution, or perhaps just an extremely resilient option, we know a traditional PVC vinyl floor is an easy choice but we’d like you to consider instead a stone polymer composite (SPC) floor like our Reminiscent Collection. Although SPC is not wood (but you might be hard-pressed to tell), it is an excellent resilient flooring option at a great price. While it is similar to vinyl flooring, SPC has distinct advantages.
4 Technical Tidbits
SPC consists of a core much sturdier than vinyl.
SPC’s compressed limestone powder and polymer mix translates to a more rigid and much sturdier product. In our Reminiscent Collection, we use a three-layer composite core to increase durability. SPC provides rigidity when laid over a subfloor, providing a much flatter floor surface, whereas traditional PVC vinyl flooring may show any inconsistencies from the subfloor.
SPC features impressive physical and visual durability.
Vinyl flooring is generally durable, but there’s a limit to its resistance, especially when it comes to denting from hard surface impacts. Dent resistance is one of the top qualities of an SPC floor. With Reminiscent’s commercial-grade wear layer, the floor can take abuse. From standing height especially, normal wear and tear is imperceptible. The one-two punch of its ceramic top-coat and a 20 mil commercial-grade wear layer make this floor one tough nut to crack. Add those to the excellent 3-layer Stone Polymer Core, and you have a truly resilient floor material equipped for any high-traffic space. (We’ve mentioned it’s waterproof too right?)
You get superb sound reduction.
This floor is equipped with a 1.5 mm closed cell acoustical pad already affixed to the bottom of each plank. With advances in foam technology, this pad significantly dampens and reduces sound. In turn, you feel like you’re walking on a sturdy floor—it does not feel like you are traipsing across a floating floor.
It’s a good-looking floor you might mistake for wood.
We’ve seen plenty of bad-looking laminate and synthetic flooring in our day. After doing our research for Reminiscent, we curated a collection of wood floor color tones and characters we knew would appeal to a wide audience. As part of the wear layer and ceramic top coat, we added a wood grain embossing to further evoke the nature of a true wood floor. When light reflects on this floor, the grain shows up nicely, as in the Toasted Almond option (a favorite of the blog’s author).
DYI Homeowner and Installer Dream
For homeowners and any professionals needing to install it, the Reminiscent Collection install is a fairly straightforward process, requiring less time and fewer tools than most every other floor type.
We’ve installed this floor ourselves several times, and we did so most recently this past month at a local hair salon. With a lovely, redecorated space the owners realized they needed a quality floor to match their salon upgrade. A great advantage of the Reminiscent floors is we didn’t need to remove the old 1960s linoleum already in the space. We simply installed right over it!
Tools Needed.
- A mallet to set the end joints together.
- A floor cutter to make a clean straight cut.
- A jigsaw for cutting pieces around doorways and corners.
What It Is.
There is no gluing or fastening Reminiscent to the subfloor.
It uses the Välinge 5G Locking System to tightly lock the tongue-and-groove planks together. This locking system is superior and well-regarded in the industry. Once locked together, there’s no way to pull the planks apart without lifting them up from each other. (A great feature if replacement is needed.)
How It Works.
Start with a clean flat subfloor. As you lay planks end to end, leave a 1/2 inch space between the flooring and the walls, and any vertical object. Side to side and end to end, the pieces will slide into each other. You simply hold the flooring at a forty-five-degree angle, then set it down into the floor edge groove, and it locks into place. A mallet is used on the end joints to make the pieces completely snug. We find that it’s actually simpler to do it than to explain the process!
All the flooring boards are a set length of 60 inches long and 7 inches wide. To create patterns, you can cut the flooring to different lengths. Cutting a consistent length is easier when installing, and it’s often more visually appealing to keep the end joints from getting too close together. For our installation, we used full-length boards but also cut some into thirds.
Once you have your pattern set, the work can go quickly. You will use a jigsaw for cutting pieces around doorways, corners or anything that juts out from the wall.
At the opposite wall from where you start your work, you will likely have to cut the width of the final board to fit it to the remaining space, while maintaining that 1/2 inch space you’ve consistently maintained at wall edges.
Easy Maintenance.
Ready To Install.
Reminiscent, with its stone polymer composite, outshines its vinyl competition.