Firstly, what is ‘hybrid’ flooring……It looks like timber – but it is not timber.
Hybrid flooring has the appearance of a timber floor, but it is a rigid floating floor product that combines the attributes of laminate and vinyl.
A good quality hybrid floor has an embossed LVT surface which carefully replicates wooden floor planks. This flooring is available in a wide range of natural colours and designs that perform like durable timber hardwood planks. The high-density core and tough surface of hybrid flooring is scratch resistant, stain resistant, water resistant and pet friendly.
Although water resistant, hybrid flooring is not recommended for wet areas.
Like timber, care should be taken with large pets and furniture to avoid scratching. A hybrid floor cannot be sanded.
As a ‘hybrid’ floor is ‘floating’ – no adhesive is necessary and is easily installed by the professional or handy DIYer. It is not a ‘direct stick’ product. Generally, a ‘click and lock’ installation method is used to install a hybrid floor.
All hybrid floors expand and contract with changes in temperature and humidity. 10mm gaps should be left around the perimeter of the room to allow for expansion and to prevent the floor from buckling. This is generally achieved by fixing the skirting boards after the floor has been laid.
It is not generally known, but a hybrid floor should be allowed to acclimatise for approx. 48 hours prior to installation. This is because the flooring has been stored in a warehouse which is likely to have a different ambient temperature to your home.
It is often asked – what surfaces can a hybrid floor be installed on to?
A hybrid floor can be laid over any solid flat surface. Floor preparation will be required if the subfloor is not solid or flat. The subfloor must not have any variation greater than 3 millimetres over a 2 metre area. If the subfloor has any high or low points beyond this, it must be levelled prior to installation. The preparation normally completed is a self-levelling pour to fill low points, or a floor grind to remove high points.
A good hybrid flooring product comes with noise reducing underlay already adhered to the back of the board – a separate underlay is not needed.
In the right situation, a hybrid floor can tick many boxes – it just depends on your budget, the look you are after and what you are trying to achieve.
