Vinyl Flooring Wear Layer Thickness

Vinyl floor wear layer.

Vinyl flooring wear layer thickness.

You should look for vinyl planks with a wear layer of at least 12 mil. In short the thicker the wear layer the more durable the floor. When purchasing vinyl flooring the wear layer will determine the durability of the flooring. It s slightly thicker at 4mm with an 8mil wear layer while the bottom sample is shaw matrix at 3 2mm thick with a 6mil wear layer.

Building professionals tend to stick with a minimum of 12 mil for residential and 28 mil for commercial. Better quality flooring tends to have the highest wear layers but is more expensive. If you have a space that will need a high resistance to scratches and wear a higher wear layer such as a 12 mil or 20 mil would be best for your application. But if you have an uneven subfloor in a space that s going to go through a lot of high traffic the best range to get would be between 12 mil and 20 mil.

In the middle is a slice of vinyl plank flooring from the home decorators collection in noble oak.