Hybrid Flooring Australia - The Definitive Guide

What is Hybrid Flooring

Hybrid Flooring is the first waterproof, scratch resistant and durable floorboard. Mixing waterproof of Vinyl Plank with Durability of the Laminate Floors, made the installation process possible to be done in wet areas. Also thickness of hybrid floorboards makes it possible to be installed over existing tiles and save cost of the installation by reducing the price of labour.

Hybrid Flooring Reviews in Australia

As hybrid flooring is the latest innovation in the flooring industry including Australia, there are not many reviews from consumers available yet. We know that it is combining the best specifications of laminate and vinyl plank flooring i.e. durabilityand waterproofness. Hybrid Flooring is actually the first rigid floating floor which can be installed throughout the entire home including bathroom, laundry, and kitchen in Australia. Also can be laid on top of existing tiles due to being not very thick comparing to the other types of floating floors. CQ Flooring is one of the first companies who introduced the hybrid flooring to Australia’s flooring market as our first hybrid floor batch landed here on Feb 2017. As it was a very new product and not many reviews were available in Australia, we decided to test it in our own showroom so we laid Hybrid Flooring in our Altona North showroom in an area of more than 300 m2! After more than two years now here is the oldest hybrid review in Australia: there is not even one single scratch or dent, there is no water damaged area even though our customers walk in with their wet shoes on rainy days. The last review we can confirm is that there are no structural issues due to expansion and contraction due to humidity and temperature changes!

What is Multilayer Hybrid Vinyl Flooring Made Of?

PUR and PVC treatment of hybrid vinyl flooring provide super scuff and stain resistant. These specs also make hybrid vinyl flooring hard wearing, high impact resistance and making cleaning a breeze.

The embossed decorative layer i.e. the second layer of multilayer hybrid vinyl flooring not only replicates the look of an authentic hardwood floor but also the feeling.

The 1.5 MM high-density(minimum 600 per cube meters) rubber acoustic underlay made to improve echo/ impacts and a great feeling of comfort underfoot. With the attached rubber underlay cost and price of hybrid flooring will be saved by about $5 comparing to other types of floating floors. This combination also has made the hybrid vinyl flooring one of the best floating floor systems in terms of acoustics ranking in Melbourne and even whole Australia based on the flooring experts and even user reviews.

Hybrid Flooring Installation Types And It’s Cost/ Price

Hybrid flooring installation depends on the type of the click system i.e. Valinge 5G or Drop Lock. Price of having hybrid flooring installed depends on the cost of installation which can include the cost of old floor removal, subfloor preparation and even skirting boards removal and reinstalled(optional). Just to have an idea, the cost of having a good quality hybrid flooring installed in a standard size living room, dining and hallway are around $3000. obviously, this price can be less or more depends on many factors as we mentioned earlier like the size of the room, preparation, etc. Generally hybrid flooring is not known as a cheap nore an expensive option eventhough its specifications make it one of the best flooring options.

HYBRID FLOORING PROS AND CONS

Hybrid flooring can scratch and dents easier than a good hard wearing floor.

Hybrid flooring price is dearer than some othe floors.

Hybrid flooring is 100% water proof but still better not to be laid in bathroom!

Hybrid vinyl planks click system is sensitive.

Hybrid floor has been made from PVC.

Color can fade if exposed to direct sunshine

What is The Best Hybrid Flooring Brand?

To be able to answer this question, I spent more than two years on researching on different brands of hybrid flooring. We almost have all the available brands of hybrid flooring in our showroom. When a customer visits our showroom sometimes I spend one hour to explain differences between the hybrid flooring brands and ranges. Here I explain you a few of options that I think the best hybrid flooring brands have to have:

Size matters

there are three available sizes of hybrid flooring in the market; 1.2, 1.5 and 1.8 meters roughly. The perfect length for hybrid flooring is about 1.5 cause it is not too short to have too many join lines in a hallway or living area also not too long to put too much pressure on the joins due to being very heavy.

Click system

the best click system for hybrid flooring specially when the width is more than 180 mm is 5G. 5G will lock the boards regardless of the external pressure direction as not always the pressure is from up to down but sometimes when the subfloor is not perfectely level can be opposite and thats when the 5G click performs better.

Real EIR

Obviously the best hybrid vinyl flooring has to look great also feel great when you touch it! that’s right if the floor feel like a fake plastic is better or you can feel the grains when you walk on? the best hybrid vinyl flooring not only have some embossed texture but you should feel exactely what you see. This would need an extra stage at the manufacturing process to emboss the design on the hybrid vinyl flooring surface very accurately.

Look Great When It Is Laid

Some hybrid flooring brands look great but only in small piece samples! when it is laid though, there are too many lines and looks crowded. This is why we have huge size of all the hybrid flooring samples in our warehouse showroom installed on the wall to help customers to imagine them in a bigger area.

Aspire Hybrid Flooring

Aspire Hybrid Flooring is one of the best hybrid flooring brands in Australia because:
5-1 Aspire hybrid flooring is one of the first hybrid flooring ranges introduced to the Australian market around early 2017. Since then it has been tested in thousands of projects and not much negative feedback from customers!
5-2 Aspire hybrid flooring has a big range of colors consist of 14 colors including Australian species as well as European oak which means everyone would be able to choose at least a couple of them for their project.
5-3 Aspire hybrid flooring planks length is 1.8 meters which is one of few brands of hybrid flooring with that length available.
5-4 Wear layer thickness is 0.55 mm which is commercial grade and overkilling for a residential application.

Hybrid Flooring FAQs

Below we are going to answer some of frequent questions people ask about hybrid flooring, please do not hesitate to contact us if you still have any questions.

What Is Hybrid Flooring?

Hybrid flooring is the latest technology in floor covering mixing waterproofness of vinyl and scratch resistancy of laminate.

Is Hybrid Flooring Good?

Hybrid Flooring is a very good floor covering comparing to other types of flooring. For example hybrid flooring is the only water proof product whith click lock system. There is no need to use glue during the installation of hybrid vinyl flooring which makes it easy to install and reduces the cost of the installation.

Is Hybrid Flooring Waterproof?

Yes hybrid flooring is 100% waterproof in opposed to some laminate flooring brands which claim that they are waterproof too! Truth is that there is no laminate flooring which is 100% water proof due to being made from hdf core!

Does Hybrid Flooring Need Underlay?

Nearly 95% of available hybrid flooring comes with built in underlay so do not need to buy an underlay separately. Still there are some senarios you may need to use another layer of underlay for example when hybrid flooring is going to be used in an apartment with people living in the lower level. In that case you may need another layer of acoustics underaly which has to be very high density otherwise will be too soft for hybrid flooring. Acoustic underlay is about 5mm tick and is made of rubber which will reduce the impact noise to go in the lower level apartment.

Can Hybrid Flooring Be Laid Over Tiles?

Yes hybrid flooring can be laid over existing tiles if the tiles are flat, not broken and also the grout joints are not too deep. Even hybrid flooring can be laid over existing vinyl sheet, old lino or even timber floors again subject to their conditions.

Is Hybrid Flooring Vinyl?

Hybrid flooring is not 100% vinyl but it has made from mixture of vinyl and limestone powder and that’s why it called hybrid vinyl floor. Reason is to have the waterproofness of vinyl also the hardness of the stone which has givven the hybrid flooring the ability of click lock system which is not exist in traditional vinyl floorings.

Does Hybrid Flooring Expand?

As hybrid flooring is made of limestone powder mixed with PVC it does not expand as much as any other type of floor covering.

Is Hybrid Flooring Noisy?

Comparing to laminate and engineered floors, hybrid floor is not that noisy because of the underlay is attached to the board.

Does Hybrid Flooring Need Expansion Joints?

Yes, hybrid flooring needs expansion joints like any other floating floor. Floating floors are not glued down to the subfloor so they will expand & contract with the temperature changes and need expansion joints to be able to move when needed.

Does Hybrid Flooring Scratch?

Yes hybrid vinyl planks flooring can scratch and dents eventhough it is one of the most durable and scratch-resistant floor covering available in the market.

Hybrid Flooring