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Forbo Vinyl Plank Flooring Review

Forbo Vinyl Plank Flooring Review

by Dylan Johnson

Forbo vinyl plank would be the perfect option for homeowners who want to deliver hardwood look at home without the hefty cost and the maintenance fuss.

The problem is, there are so many different vinyl plank flooring brands out there, which can give you a hard time in making a decision.

Some brands are known for their quality products that may have high price tags although not as high as hardwood flooring.

Forbo is one of those top-notch brands in flooring industry. This is a UK-based manufacturer that has been focusing and producing commercial vinyl floor.

But it turns out that have expanded their business to residential luxury vinyl products with better features and more unique styles and designs.

The Fuss about Luxury Vinyl Plank

Why the luxury vinyl floor gains a lot of popularity these days?

You see, a lot of homeowners love the hardwood floor.

It has its own natural appeal.

It is super gorgeous.

It is warm.

It affects the ambiance and vibe of the house significantly.

However, hardwood comes with its own weaknesses.

It is easy to scratch.

It isn’t waterproof.

In fact, moisture is hardwood’s nemesis since the wood is porous and it will absorb moisture.

It is quite complicated to maintain you need to go the extra mile for caring and cleaning. And most importantly: hardwood is super expensive.

The material is expensive. And since you need a professional installer to do the installation, you will have to spend more for the installation cost.

Then, comes the luxury vinyl floor. This is the better and upgraded version of the regular vinyl floor.

Vinyl floor is known for its good water resistant quality. But today’s vinyl floor even comes with better feature.

Not only it comes with more impressive waterproof quality, but it is also able to imitate the look of stone and wood.

In some of the premium brands, you can’t even tell the differences. The luxury vinyl floor looks exactly like the hardwood floor.

The greatest thing about luxury vinyl floor is that it can imitate the look of hardwood floor just flawlessly and you won’t even have to worry about the maintenance, cleaning, or care.

Whereas hardwood can only be installed in certain areas (areas that aren’t included basements, kitchens, bathrooms, laundry rooms, etc), it won’t apply to luxury vinyl floor.

You are free to install the floor in any room that you want, including those areas of basements, laundry rooms, and bathrooms.

No need to worry, the floor should hold up pretty well against moisture and water.

Read Also: Commercial Vinyl Flooring For High-Traffic Areas

Forbo Brands

The company is known as Forbo Flooring Systems. They have produced commercial and high-quality floor products, including luxury vinyl, vinyl, and linoleum.

In fact, their rolled linoleum variants are known to be one of the best in the commercial floor.

They state that their Forbo vinyl plank products have undergone significant evolution.

Although there aren’t many reviews about their products, their floors are known to manufacture high quality vinyl flooring which worth the consideration.

The Price Matter

Hardwood will cost you at least $10 a square foot and more than $15 a square foot for designers’ products or exotic wood. Regular vinyl plank may cost you between $3 and $7 a square foot.

What about Forbo vinyl plank?

Since the products are premium and high in quality, expect to spend around $5 a square foot to $8 a square foot.

It may not be the lowest price range in the flooring industry, but at least, you won’t be spending a fortune unlike your expenses with the hardwood.

Forbo and Allura

Forbo has their own luxury vinyl flooring line, known as the Allura which is one of their most popular and liked brands.

Allura Forbo vinyl plank comes with 100 designs, along with various sizes of tiles and planks.

The company prides their products so much for having endless designs, long lasting protection, and impressive dimensional stability.

One thing to like about this type is the company’s ability to imitate natural stone and wood floors.

Isn’t it great when you are able to enjoy the beauty of hardwood without the complication of stone or wood?

Not to mention that the products from Forbo come in 3 different formats, including the interlocking click, the tackified loose lay, and the glue down (or the dry back).

Allura Collections

Basically, the Forbo vinyl plank comes with Traditional Collections as well as New Collections. In the Traditional lines, there are:

  • Allura Flex. It comesas tackified loose lay method
  • Allura Dryback. It comes with glue down mechanism
  • Allura Click Pro. It is connected by interlocking click
  • Allura Decimal. This one offers superior and impressive acoustic ability

For the New lines, there are:

  • Allura Puzzle. It comes in loose lay model in puzzle connected style
  • Allura Ease. It comes as loose lay model without the tackifier.

The New Collections are offered so that homeowners have more freedom and flexibility in the application.

You won’t have to use any adhesive to install the floor, making the installation process faster and easier.

If you have to break down more collections of the vinyl floor, there are more types to enjoy. Here are some of them:

Allura Wood

This one comes with glue down installation method. It comes in 34 designs all in natural wood design.

All of them have various texture and color options, but they aren’t really various or unique. The colors are pretty generic which you can find in other brands.

Moreover, the reproduced wood look isn’t as realistic as other brands. You may not notice it from a glance, but if you take a closer look and without having to approach closer, the design look….well, fake.

Allura Stone

As the name suggests, this collection displays the collections to imitate stone appearance.

Within this line, there are Allura Color and also Allura Abstract. The Abstract has bright, bold, and unique designs with premium quality.

You won’t find such a quality from other brands. The floors have beautiful and striking patterns and colors, such as weave, metal, and even galaxy design.

Feel free to combine the floor with other accent tiles or colors from the Wood Collections.

For Allura Color, they are bold (in colors) and super durable. They are perfect for busy retail setting and high foot traffic environment. This one is offered in interlocking and glue down versions.

Allura Flex

This is the line for loose lay form. However, don’t expect them to have many design options.

You need to use tackifier (or adhesive resin) instead of permanent adhesive for the installation. The Flex type has 40 different designs in natural wood and stone.

Allura Click

This one has 38 different designs also in stone and wood options. They are easily installed because of the easy click mechanism.

The floor comes with natural emboss, true tone shades, and realistic (plank) size that makes them super unique.

Forbo Vinyl Plank Environmental Friendly Concern

The company is extremely concerned with environmental issues. This is the reason why they use Life Cycle Assessment.

It is used to measure their products whether they have completed the environmental standards and performances.

They want to increase efficiency while reducing virgin raw materials usage.

They are always looking for the most environmentally appropriate methods or solutions.

The company assures that their Forbo vinyl plank is safe and green. Their European manufacturing plants are running on green electricity. Their floors have 20% of recycled contents for the backing.

Not to mention that all of their products are phthalate free. If you want to learn about their contribution in environmentally friendly sector, go to their website and check their commitment.

Forbo Vinyl Plank Easy Maintenance and Care

One of the things to like about this Forbo vinyl plank is the fact that you won’t have to deal with complicated cleaning or maintenance. Just use the regular broom to remove dirt, dust, and debris on daily basis.

If you have a regular vacuum cleaner, then use it. But don’t use the beater bar attachment.

For deep cleaning, you can use wet mop and pH neutral cleaning products. Forbo has their own cleaning brands and products, so it is safer to use their own lines.

Read Also: Flooret Vinyl Plank Flooring Review

Final Words Forbo Vinyl Plank

To make design easier, make use of their Floor Planner interactive use. They offer actual and real floor environment and feel free to see the various patterns and colors so you get the idea of how the floor looks like.

Can you download design files or order flooring samples?

Of course you can! In this way, you won’t make mistakes for your pick.

Another thing to like about this floor is your ability to mix and match the designs. You should have no problems creating unique patterns and look on the floor.

However, you should also note that the floor has 20 mil of wear layer, which is actually thicker than the 12 mil but not as thick as the 22 mil.

Not to mention that the price is higher than the standard floors and the designs for wood (and stone) is pretty limited. Ask yourself whether Forbo vinyl plank is the right one for you or not.