The wear layer is critical to the
performance of a vinyl floor.
The thickness of the wear layer
varies
with each manufacturer's collection
or series and is generally measured
in mils. The thickness of a mil
is about the same as a page in your
telephone book. So a 10 mil wear
layer would be comparable in
thickness to about 10 pages in your
telephone book.
The more expensive vinyl floors
generally will have a thicker wear
layer and a much better finish. How
long your vinyl floor will look new
is based on the wear layer’s
performance. Performance
characteristics
for vinyl are:
• Easy to clean
• Stays looking like-new
• Resists staining from normal
household products
• Doesn't show scratches easily
• Resistance to tearing, gouging,
ripping and indentations
Ease of cleaning relates to how
difficult it is to remove soiling
and other marks from a floor's
surface.
When a floor begins to look old and
dull it is usually caused by
hundreds of fine hair-line scratches
in
the wear layer. The fine scratches
come from dirt, grit, and sand
rubbing on the wear layer's surface.
The new, high-end vinyl floors have
better technology to help resist
showing wear and staining far better
than any of the middle to low-end
vinyl floors made today. The special
urethane finishes used on today's
residential, high-end vinyl floors
will give you a richer looking
floor, better designs, better
tear-resistance
and much better performance.
