Linoleum Flooring Squares: The Most Durable Kitchen Floor Ever
It didn’t take too long for us to discover that rolled linoleum flooring was very difficult to find, and to replicate those old multi colored linoleum floors of the 1900s – 1940s would have been very costly. We somehow ended up at a commercial flooring dealer instead, where we were introduced to a retro looking linoleum product called “Marmoleum.”
What is linoleum?
So what exactly is linoleum and how is it different from vinyl sheet flooring? While most people use the generic term of “linoleum” to describe all sheet floors, real linoleum is made of natural products with the main ingredient being linseed oil. The oil is boiled, and then combined with melted resins and an assortment of ingredients including powdered cork, ground limestone, and wood flour. The benefit of linoleum is that it’s 100% “green” and completely biodegradable, plus incredibly durable. Most linoleum will last between 30 to 40 years and can handle some pretty heavy traffic.
Sheet vinyl on the other hand, will start to look pretty dinged up in less than a couple of years with the quality products lasting 10-15 years at the most. Sheet vinyl is a plastic product made from petroleum, with the coloring and pattern pressed into the top layer. A small cut or ding will pierce through that top layer and leave behind an ugly gouge that quickly turns black.
Linoleum on the other hand, is the same color all the way throughout and just doesn’t show any of that type of damage. For an old house, it is also more historically accurate.
Marmoleum and Forbo
Marmoleum and Forbo are two of the larger linoleum lines currently on the market, but seem to be only available through commercial vendors. Unlike the dingy colors of vintage linoleum squares, this new linoleum product comes in a rainbow of gorgeous colors . These stunning colored tiles frequently turn up in coffee shops, restaurants, and kids stores and are designed to handle high volumes of traffic.
For residential installation, the most popular size of linoleum square are the 12″ tiles which come packaged 9 to a box. These small boxed quantities allow a homeowner to mix and match different colors for his own custom flooring look, which is a real plus. For our home, we were able to match our vintage wall paper using red, yellow, and deep green tiles arranged in a pattern which would not have been possible with rolled flooring material.
Price and availability
Linoleum flooring squares are kind of pricey, running $6-8 per square foot. By contrast, sheet vinyl runs around $1-5 per square foot.
However, unlike rolled vinyl flooring in which a homeowner has to buy far more than is needed for a seamless installation, with linoleum squares there is little waste. This lack of waste helps to bring down the overall cost, making it comparable to the cost of installing a premium Armstrong sheet vinyl product.
There is one of the drawback of this product in that it has to be ordered from a commercial flooring vendor. Since a residential order is so small, a homeowner usually has to wait until his order can be bundled with several others. We had to wait nearly 6 weeks for our shipment of tiles to arrive.
But, the delay was worth it. It’s been 15 years since we’ve installed our linoleum floor and it looks as good as the day it was installed. It does need to be waxed on a regular monthly basis to keep that great shine, but aside from that the maintenance has been pretty minimal.
For rooms that get a lot of traffic, such as a kitchen or foyer, linoleum flooring squares are a fabulous solution to a floor covering that is both environmentally sound and long lasting.
