One of those things you can do to give your home a cozy, classic and elegant look is flooring your stairs. The new trend now is tiling stairs and everyone seems to be taking this trend seriously.
If you are one of those still contemplating on whether tiling your stairs is a good idea or not, you really need to make your decision faster. Give your home a new look.
Picking a tile for your stairs can be tricky and it is a beautiful sight if you extend the same tiles in your home to your stairs. One of the flooring systems being used mostly these days is the vinyl flooring.
Do you have a home floored with vinyl and you are wondering if this flooring is suitable to install on stairs?
Vinyl flooring is suitable to be installed on stairs and can be a great addition to the continuation of the rest of your vinyl floor home. Vinyl flooring is easy to install, easy to maintain, durable, and comfortable to walk on, making it an ideal choice for stairs.
What is vinyl flooring?
Vinyl flooring has taken over the flooring systems in homes.
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This flooring is can be used on any part of the home, including the stairs.
This is because vinyl flooring is strong and can survive well in places in the home where there is heavy foot traffic or where significant amount of moisture is expected.
Vinyl is a flexible material, a pure polyvinyl chloride mixed with different compounds to create the desired color, sheen, flexibility and hardness.
Why a vinyl flooring?
The vinyl flooring is not only gaining popularity because of its plushness.
This type of flooring is extremely durable and very comfortable under the feet, which makes it an ideal flooring for stairs.
If you have kids or pets, you should use this flooring because it keeps the feet firm to the ground and reduces noise.
Vinyl flooring is easy to install and most DIYers go for it because of this feature.
It is also very easy to maintain.
With vinyl flooring, you have a wide range of colors and patterns to choose from.
No matter the kind of decor in your home, you are sure to get a matching vinyl flooring material.
Vinyl flooring is resistant to liquid penetration, physical impact, water damage and stains; this is definitely the type of flooring needed on the stairs where there will be heavy foot traffic.
Types of vinyl flooring
Asides having different colors and patterns, Vinyl flooring comes in different materials also.
It can either be in planks, tiles or sheets. Before installing a vinyl floor on your stairs, you should select the particular type you want.
Of the three types of vinyl flooring materials, the vinyl tile is most commonly used on stairs.
Of course, you can also use the vinyl plank or sheets.
Vinyl plank flooring
For your stairs, this is one of the best vinyl flooring materials you can consider.
Vinyl plank is a type of vinyl flooring that comes in long, narrow strips the length is usually 48 inches long while the width is either 6 inches or 7¾ inches wide.
This material with its graphics has a surface embossing that makes it look like a plank.
Vinyl planks can go well to floor your stairs.
You can install the flooring yourself without the service of a professional floor installer but most vinyl plank installation requires more labor.
You can however do a floating floor installation of which you will not need to attach the flooring to the subfloor.
With floating floor installation, the back of the vinyl planks is with adhesive that makes them stick quickly to the floor.
The adhesive also extends to the sides and the planks stick to one another as a result.
Vinyl planks can be a little bit expensive but not all; there are inexpensive ones on the market.
Vinyl sheet flooring
This kind of vinyl flooring comes in one large, continuous sheet that you lay out and cut as desired or needed.
Although using vinyl sheets for stairs is not common but this vinyl flooring serve just as well as other vinyl flooring materials.
Vinyl sheets are even more impermeable to
Vinyl tiles flooring
This is the most common type of vinyl used on stairs.
Vinyl tiles are strong and can withstand physical impact. Just like vinyl sheet, they can also be installed by oneself.
There is the self-adhesive vinyl tile which has a layer of adhesive applied to the bottom during production.
The adhesive is covered with a protective paper which can be easily peeled off during installation.
You peel off the paper backing, layout the tile in the proper position on the floor and pressed down against the floor to glue.
How to install vinyl flooring on your stairs
Whether you have decided to settle for a vinyl tile, plank or sheet, it is important you create the ideal layout.
A proper layout will result in a perfect vinyl flooring.
But if the layout is not properly done, you might end up with a vinyl installation that has ugly square shapes and design on some parts of the stairs.
Before anything, center the stairs so that at the long run, you would end up with the same size shapes on either side of the stairs. After the layout, cut your vinyl flooring materials into the same size cut.
For a vinyl sheet, you would need a sharp knife while for vinyl planks, you would need an electric compound miter saw.
Vinyl tiles on the other hand require a special cutting tool. To maintain straight cuts while cutting, use a straightedge.
After cutting out the vinyl flooring materials in straight shapes, apply a mastic adhesive onto the surface of the stairs, place the materials in their proper positions, and then press down into the glue.
After the installation, make sure you give it sufficient time to dry before movement is done on it.
Conclusion
Although it is best to have the type of flooring in your home extend to your stairs so as to improve the decor and attractiveness.
However, irrespective of the kind of tiles you have in your home, you can still decide on a new look for your stairs.