Linoleum Flooring

If you're someone who loves to go barefoot around the house, think about adding linoleum to your kitchen floors. There are a number of reasons, but in a nutshell, linoleum is warmer on bare feet, easier on ankle and knee joints than tile, comes in a huge variety of patterns and colors, is cost-effective, water-tolerant, and is a natural product.

I know, your grandmother's house had linoleum, and it was dull, cold, lifeless, and hard to keep clean. But that's all a thing of the past. The new linoleum has a great deal to offer. Let's look at some of linoleum's advantages.

First, let's examine the composition of linoleum as opposed to vinyl flooring. Vinyl flooring is made of chlorinated petrochemical materials, while linoleum is made from linseed oil combined with wood flour or cork dust, ground limestone, and color pigments, over a burlap, jute, or canvas backing. In fact, the very name linoleum is derived from the Latin names for two natural materials: flax (linum) and oil (oleum).

Given their difference in composition, vinyl flooring will melt if someone accidentally drops a cigarette or a match on it, but linoleum won't. The pattern on vinyl flooring is imprinted onto the top surface of the material, but a linoleum pattern goes all the way through. That means that as a vinyl floor wears down, the pattern gradually disappears. However, the same amount of wear to linoleum only reveals new color, since the color goes all the way to the bottom.

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