Advanced options
Sheet vinyl comes in 2m/3m/4m widths: a room narrower than the roll width means NO seams: the wet-room-floor advantage nothing else matches at the price. LVT (luxury vinyl tile/plank) is the same plastic sold as pieces: dearer, better looking, repairable tile-by-tile. Subfloor prep is the hidden line for both: vinyl telegraphs every lump through within weeks: ply-lining or self-levelling first (GBP 8-15/m2) is the difference between a floor and a regret.
What The Vinyl Flooring Calculator Works Out
- Area to buy: room length x width plus a 10% cutting margin. Vinyl is cut to the room, so the margin covers doorways, alcoves and the inevitable mis-cut.
- Estimated cost: the area to buy x the rate per m2. Sheet vinyl runs GBP 8 to GBP 15 supply-only and roughly double fitted, click LVT GBP 25 to GBP 45 fitted and glue-down LVT GBP 40 to GBP 70 fitted, so a 12 m2 room spans GBP 160 DIY sheet to GBP 700 or more for commercial-grade glue-down in a similar wood effect.
- Sheet vs LVT: one polymer sold three ways. Sheet is cheapest and seamless in small rooms but a gouge is forever; click LVT floats like laminate and shrugs at water; glue-down is the pub-and-shop grade, flattest and hardest wearing, and fussiest about the subfloor.
- Quoted price and cutting margin (advanced): use your own per-m2 price from the shop or fitter, and raise the margin to 15% for L-shaped rooms, bay windows or large-pattern tiles that need matching.
- Sheet roll to order (advanced): sheet comes in 2 m, 3 m and 4 m widths and is sold by the running metre. The card runs the roll along the longer side, counts how many widths the short side needs and shows the seams. A room narrower than the roll has no seams at all, which is the wet-room advantage nothing else matches at the price.
- Subfloor preparation (advanced): vinyl is thin and telegraphs every screw head and board joint within weeks. Self-levelling compound over concrete runs about GBP 8 per m2, 6 mm plywood over floorboards GBP 12, and both together GBP 15. Trade quotes include it; DIY weekends frequently forget it.
- Uplift and sundries (advanced): lifting and disposing of old carpet or vinyl is typically GBP 3 to GBP 5 per m2, and thresholds, door bars, adhesive and silicone add GBP 20 to GBP 60 a room.
- All-in total and cost per year (advanced): flooring plus prep, uplift and sundries, multiplied across identical rooms, with the true per-m2 figure and the cost spread over the floor's life. Quality vinyl lasts 15 to 20 years, which is its best environmental credential.
- Type comparison table (advanced): all four formats priced for your room with the same prep and extras, so the real gap between sheet and LVT is visible once the fixed costs are included.