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Marmoleum and other flooring types

What's the difference?

With the enormous variety of floors, we can imagine that it's not always easy to know the difference between different flooring types. We explain what the difference is in build up of linoleum, vinyl, PVC, synthetic and rubber flooring solutions.

Marmoleum and LVT installed in a commercial setting

Marmoleum and vinyl are two different flooring solutions, both with their own characteristics. Although the terms are often used interchangeably, these materials are definitely not the same. Especially the way each is produced strongly differs from each other.

They are both known as resilient flooring: made with materials that are elastic. Resilient flooring refers to flexible floor coverings that occupy a middle ground between soft floors (such as carpets) and hard floors (such as stone or hardwood).

On this page, we will explain the similarities and differences between Marmoleum (or linoleum) and vinyl floors in more detail.

Marmoleum (Forbo linoleum)

Our linoleum floor coverings, within the Marmoleum brand, are floors associated with sustainability, durability, high quality and innovative design. Linoleum is made from natural raw materials and therefore a sustainable flooring choice that contributes to a healthy indoor environment. Further, the weighted average of our Marmoleum product range is CO2 neutral cradle to gate, without offsetting.

Marmoleum is made from natural ingredients and doesn’t contain plasticisers. It is free of allergens and naturally prevents the growth of bacteria. When correctly installed, Marmoleum can also resist water. This makes it largely beneficial for the education, healthcare, and public building segments.

Marmoleum Fresco 3260
Eternal Wood 10842 & 10852

Vinyl and PVC

The names are often interchanged, however Vinyl and PVC flooring are the same product. With this name it is commonly means a floorcovering that is composed of PVC and other additives.

This flooring type is easy to install and it is available in a variety of colours, patterns and formats. Because of the large number of manufacturers worldwide, there is also a wide choice of vinyl floors on the market, however they differ vastly in quality. The vinyl flooring manufactured by Forbo compies with the highest standards set in the market.

Rubber

Rubber flooring used to be made from a rubber tree, a 100% renewable resource. Today styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR), a general-purpose synthetic rubber is produced from styrene and butadiene. Most rubber flooring is made from synthetic rubber.

Rubber