High quality sheet vinyl 'tile' flooring?

WIAWSNB

As heading - is there a source of high quality, sheet vinyl flooring in a tile design? 

By 'high quality', I mean convincing - ie it must have rebated 'grout' lines, and a texture to reflect the pattern. 

Not necessarily this particular design, but an idea of the type of pattern and 'tile' size:

Thanks. 

Albermarle

There is more than one type of sheet vinyl flooring, but only two basic different types for domestic use.

Solid - This is flexible but there is only a little bit of 'give' in it. 
Cushion - Between the bottom layer and the top layer there is a foam layer. So this feels softer underfoot.

Really you need the former for areas like a kitchen. The cushion vinyl does not like having appliances sat on it, or dragged across it, as it can easily puncture/damage the surface.
However the cushion vinyl can be fine in a bathroom, although it seems to have largely gone out of fashion.
I think though you are more likely to find a cushion vinyl with grout lines etc 

Due to the popularity LVT and laminate etc , the number of manufacturers of vinyl sheet in general has reduced a lot.

Eldi_Dos

The hygiene benefits of Linoleum should not be overlooked, especially if any the occupants are getting to the stage where they may be going off piste.

WIAWSNB

Tee-hee - the waterproofing aspect was important, but not of the peeved variety quite yet. 

Thanks Albe. Yes, I was aware of the distinction, and 'cushion' isn't important as it would be unrealistic. 

Just wondering if there's a higher grade out there, so if I decided to do a bathroom floor in it, it wouldn't look too obviously like sheet vinyl.

Albermarle

I think you are going to struggle. Maybe a trip to a flooring showroom will be the best bet.

Eldi_Dos

ForboFlooring-UK  their Marmoleum range is pretty top notch, Welsh Slate looks good. Have not seen any with grout lines unfortunately  but it is easy enough to order a sample.
It also has the benefit of noise suppression if big enough order made.Who knows you may find a offcut by phoning around.

WIAWSNB

I've come across Forbo before - sil had it (stick-down vinyl tiles) for her downstairs (matron!), and I recall it being far superior to, say, Karndean (Edit - the one we compared it to was Amtico. The Forbo had the properly-matching wood grain, whereas the Amtico had a random texture over the grain, for example). I'll check out their Marm (missus!)

Cheers, Albe - yes, really needs to be seen in t'flesh. (oooh... etc)

Albermarle

Eldi_Dos said:

ForboFlooring-UK  their Marmoleum range is pretty top notch, Welsh Slate looks good. Have not seen any with grout lines unfortunately  but it is easy enough to order a sample.
It also has the benefit of noise suppression if big enough order made.Who knows you may find a offcut by phoning around.

Just for clarity, Forbo are a European company and no longer have any production. facilities in the UK for domestic vinyl products
Tarkett ( Sweden )are another top notch company in the field. 
Most of the other sheet vinyl products brands you see are just made 'somewhere' and rebranded. 
The only significant UK producer is Amtico, who only make LVT.

Eldi_Dos

The Forbo Nairn factory in Kirkcaldy is still going strong, when you pass on the train the smell of linseed oil is still noticable and I think pleasant.
Judging by their website they still supply the residential market although looking at their adverts they seem to target health care facilities.

Albermarle

Eldi_Dos said:

The Forbo Nairn factory in Kirkcaldy is still going strong, when you pass on the train the smell of linseed oil is still noticable and I think pleasant.
Judging by their website they still supply the residential market although looking at their adverts they seem to target health care facilities.

It is only producing Linoleum nowadays, hence the smell of Linseed oil 🙂
They also used to manufacture cushion vinyl flooring, but that facility closed some years ago.
It is back to basics as originally the factory/company were one of the original linoleum producers in the world (started in 1860)When it fell out of fashion, the Kirkcaldy plant was the only one in the U.K. that stayed open/ kept the faith, and is still producing linoleum today ( but not vinyl flooring anymore)

Eldi_Dos

A little daft anecdote:

There used to be a privately run landfill outside Kirkcaldy and on the gate was a well known local Character, who went in for a bit of wheeler dealing. He noticed the factory used to send any rolls of seconds that did not pass quality control to the tip and he started to recover and store them.

He had a contact in the north of England who would come up when there was a sufficient enough load to make it worthwhile,all went well for them for a time but the company noticed a drop off in sales in the area this guy was selling on the flooring and worked out what was going on. After that any seconds that came into the landfill was shredded beforehand.