59 Welby Street, Grantham, Lincolnshire, NG31 6EA
Free measuring and quoting, no obligation
01476 593199

Vinyl and lino flooring in Grantham

It's also cut and laid in one piece, which is the bit that matters. A single sheet with no joints running across it is about as watertight as a floor gets, and in a bathroom or a utility room that counts for a lot.

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Est. 1993, over 30 years in the trade Measured and fitted by our own team

Sheet vinyl is the practical floor. It's waterproof, it's easy to clean, it's soft underfoot compared with tile, and it costs a good deal less than most of the alternatives.

Where sheet vinyl works

Where it fits
Room 1

Bathrooms

Waterproof, soft underfoot, and no grout to scrub. It's the sensible answer for most family bathrooms.

Room 2

Kitchens

Copes with dropped pans and spilled everything. Softer underfoot than tile, which your back notices if you cook a lot.

Room 3

Utility rooms and boot rooms

Where the washing machine leaks and the dog comes in wet.

Room 4

Cloakrooms

Small, awkward shapes are exactly what sheet vinyl is good at, because it's cut to fit rather than laid in units.

Room 5

Rental properties

Hard-wearing, easy to clean, and quick to replace between tenants without a big bill.

Plank effect vinyl fitted in a hallway
The names

Vinyl, lino, cushioned vinyl. What's the difference?

The words get used loosely, so here's what they actually mean.

Sheet vinyl is a PVC-based product supplied on a roll, usually in 2m, 3m or 4m widths. Most modern "lino" is really sheet vinyl.

Cushioned vinyl has a foam layer built in, which makes it softer underfoot and slightly quieter. It's the most common domestic choice.

Linoleum, properly speaking, is a different material altogether: linseed oil, wood flour, resin and jute backing. It's a natural product, it's very hard-wearing, and it's more often specified in commercial and clinical settings than in houses.

Safety flooring is sheet vinyl with slip-resistant grit built through it. Different job, different page. About safety flooring →

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Non-slip vinyl fitted in a shower room
The choice

Vinyl or LVT?

They're both vinyl, so the choice confuses people. The difference is format and price.

Sheet vinyl comes in one piece. Fewer joints, so better for genuinely wet rooms, and it costs less. The pattern is printed across the whole sheet.

LVT comes in individual planks or tiles. It's thicker, more realistic close up, more hard-wearing, and it lets you do patterns and mixed colours. It costs more, and it needs a flatter subfloor.

If it's a family bathroom and the budget's tight, sheet vinyl. If it's a kitchen diner you'll be looking at for fifteen years, LVT is usually worth the difference.

Compare with LVT →

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Safety flooring fitted in a clinic
The fitting

Fitting it properly

Sheet vinyl looks simple and isn't. It's a large, slightly unwieldy sheet that has to be templated, cut and eased into a room with pipework, door frames, a toilet base and skirtings that are never quite square.

The subfloor matters, too. Sheet vinyl is thin and it shows what's underneath it, so boards get levelled, screwed down or overboarded first. Joins, where a room's too wide for a single roll width, are hot-welded or seam-sealed rather than just butted together.

In a bathroom we'd normally take it under the door frame and seal the edges, so water can't track underneath.

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Fitting it properly
Day to day

Living with it

Sweep and mop. That's it. No sealing, no polishing, no special products.

Avoid dragging heavy furniture across it, because a sharp edge under load can tear it. Felt pads under chair legs. Take care with stiletto heels and pointed chair feet.

Rubber-backed mats can discolour vinyl over time. Use a mat with a non-staining backing instead.

What we stock

What we stock in the showroom

Samples on a screen are a guess. Samples in your hand, in daylight, are a decision. The showroom's on Welby Street, with free street parking nearby.

Striped stair runner on a painted staircase

01/Carpet display walls

Full display walls of carpet ranges, with samples to take home for every one.

 Oak plank flooring in a bright bedroom

02/Take-home samples

Look at them in the room, in daylight and with the lights on at night, before you decide.

 Rolls of sheet vinyl in wood and pattern effects

03/Vinyl on the roll

Sheet vinyl in stock on the roll, cut and laid in one piece.

 Carpet on the roll, racked and ready to cut

04/Roll stock, ready to cut

Carpet on the roll in the shop, so quick jobs can move quickly.

 Divan bed in a bedroom room-set

05/Beds, under the same roof

Divans, frames, mattresses and headboards, in the same showroom.
Our work

Recent work, in real houses

Every floor in this gallery is one of ours, laid in a real house, usually somewhere in or around Grantham. No stock photos, no show homes.

Carpet fitted to a winding staircase
Stairs & landing
#Carpets

A winding staircase, one tread at a time

 Herringbone floor through a kitchen diner
Kitchen diner
#LVT

Herringbone, run unbroken over a levelled subfloor

 Patterned tile-effect vinyl fitted in a family bathroom
Family bathroom
#Vinyl

Laid in one piece, with sealed edges
See All Our Work →
FAQ

Fast answers for busy households

The things people ring us to ask, answered plainly. If yours isn't here, call 01476 593199.

Is vinyl flooring waterproof?

The sheet itself is. Whether the floor is depends on the fitting, particularly at the edges, around the toilet and at any join. Laid in one piece with sealed edges, it handles a bathroom very well, which is why it's still the most common bathroom floor in the country.

Can vinyl be laid over floorboards?

Yes, but not directly. Floorboards move and have gaps, and both will show through. We'd overboard with plywood or hardboard first, or level it, depending on the state of them.

Can vinyl be laid over tiles?

Sometimes, if the tiles are sound. The grout lines need filling and levelling first, or you'll see every one of them through the vinyl within weeks.

How long does vinyl flooring last?

In a domestic bathroom or kitchen, a good quality cushioned vinyl looked after reasonably well should give you many years. Thicker wear layers last longer. Traffic, grit and sunlight are what shorten it.

Does vinyl flooring work with underfloor heating?

Generally yes, within the manufacturer's temperature limit, which is usually around 27°C. Tell us when we measure and we'll check the specific product.

Is lino the same as vinyl?

Not technically. Real linoleum is a natural material made from linseed oil and wood flour. Most of what people call lino today is sheet vinyl, which is PVC-based. They look similar and behave similarly in a house.

Can I fit sheet vinyl myself?

A small square room, possibly. The difficulty is templating around pipes, door frames and a toilet, and the fact that one bad cut ruins the whole sheet, because you can't add a piece back on. It's less forgiving than click flooring.

Get started

Ready for a floor that lasts?

Get a free vinyl quote. We'll come out, measure properly, bring samples if you want them, and give you a written quote. Free, and no obligation.

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Safety flooring fitted to commercial stairs with contrast nosings
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