Vinyl Flooring near you

The format changes how the floor is fixed, how it handles water at the edges, and how easily a damaged section can be dealt with later. Ask which format a quote is priced on and how the edges and junctions are being finished.

This is the single most important thing to settle before an old vinyl floor is touched. The national product register describes Australian-made and imported asbestos vinyl flooring and tiles produced prior to the 1980s and in use prior to 1990, with asbestos acting as a binder that gave the product its durability, at a proportion that ranged up to a substantial share of the tile. It lists asbestos-backed vinyl flooring, paint-on adhesives that may themselves contain asbestos, and underlays of asbestos cement flat sheeting or asbestos felt.

Nothing but a laboratory test at an accredited facility can confirm whether a material contains asbestos, so the sensible sequence is: identify the age of the house, have the old covering and its adhesive sampled if it predates the 1990s, and only then plan the removal. SafeWork NSW's position on the era is blunt — any house or building constructed or renovated prior to 1990 could contain asbestos.

If asbestos is confirmed, who may remove it is set by work health and safety law. In New South Wales a homeowner or a tradesperson acting for them may remove less than ten square metres of non-friable asbestos; a licence is required above that, all friable asbestos must be removed by a Class A licensed removalist, and SafeWork NSW recommends using a licensed professional for any amount. Waste must go to a landfill licensed to accept it, with larger quantities tracked through the state system.

Vinyl is thin and it is stuck down, which means it copies whatever is underneath it and it depends on the bond holding. A ridge of old adhesive, a trowel mark in a levelling compound or a nail head telegraphs through the finished surface within weeks, so the preparation is the visible part of the job even though you never see it.

Moisture is the other half. A slab on ground is in contact with the soil beneath it, and the housing provisions require a vapour barrier of polyethylene film under such a slab, lapped not less than the specified overlap at joints and taped or sealed around every service penetration, with the site classified in accordance with AS 2870. New South Wales and South Australia specify a high impact resistant grade. Where that barrier is damaged, missing or from an era before it was required, moisture vapour moving up through the slab can break down the adhesive and lift a vinyl floor that was laid perfectly.

The practical questions for a homeowner are therefore simple: how will the moisture in this base be measured, what reading does the adhesive system need, and what is the plan if the reading is too high. A contractor who has priced a surface barrier or a delay as a contingency has met this problem before.

Vinyl is the usual covering for a laundry or a bathroom floor, but it is worth being clear about what it is and is not doing. The housing provisions set requirements for wet areas: in a room containing a shower or bath, the floor must be water resistant where it is concrete or fibre-cement and waterproof where it is timber, walls near a bath or basin must be water resistant to at least a set height above the vessel, and inside the shower area the floor must be waterproof, including any hob or step-down, with the walls waterproof to a substantial height above the floor substrate. Compliance is by way of AS 3740, the standard the code references for waterproofing domestic wet areas.

A vinyl covering is a water-resistant surface, not a substitute for the waterproofing membrane the code requires where a membrane is required. In practice that means the important conversation on a wet-area vinyl job is about the substrate and what is under the covering, not just about the vinyl itself, and about how the edges are finished — coving the sheet up the wall, sealing at door thresholds, and dealing properly with the junction at a shower screen.

Laying resilient flooring is not a separately licensed trade in most of Australia. Queensland's trade licence list does not include a resilient or soft flooring class; its floor finishing and covering (hard sector) licence covers timber floor preparation, sanding and coating, cork, parquetry, pre-finished manufactured and engineered timber flooring and epoxy or seamless coverings. New South Wales licenses by value instead: residential building and trade work above a set figure in labour and materials including GST requires a contractor licence, and vinyl laid as part of a bathroom, kitchen or laundry renovation falls inside general building work.

Where a vinyl job does cross into licensed work is at its edges. Asbestos removal above the unlicensed limits requires a licensed asbestos removalist. Waterproofing is a licensed trade in its own right — New South Wales issues a waterproofing licence, defining waterproofing as any protective treatment of a home to prevent water or moisture getting into it, and Queensland has a QBCC waterproofing class whose scope is applying, installing and repairing waterproofing including surface preparation. Moving a floor waste or a laundry tub is plumbing. Ask which of these your job includes and who will be doing each part.

Australian Consumer Law guarantees apply to the installation service and cannot be excluded by a contract: acceptable care and skill, fitness for a purpose you made known, and supply within a reasonable time when no time was agreed. For a vinyl job the scope should say who tests the base for moisture, how the base will be levelled, who removes and disposes of the old covering, what happens if that covering tests positive for asbestos, how seams and edges are finished, and which product and adhesive system is being used.

LokalMatch is how homeowners reach these businesses. You describe the job once — which rooms, the existing floor, the age of the house, the format of vinyl you are considering and your postcode — and vinyl and resilient flooring installers working in your area contact you directly. They pay LokalMatch for the requests they receive; homeowners are not charged to describe a job. LokalMatch does not lay flooring, does not set or quote prices, and does not vet, rank or recommend any business that gets in touch.