It's Not Your Grandmother's Floor

In recent years, consumers have felt the effects of the technological boom in all facets of life - from super-fast computers and personal digital assistants to cell phones that allow us to stay in touch wherever we are. But who would have thought that 21st century technology would benefit even the most everyday products, including the floor you are standing on?

Flooring products have come a long way since the days of your grandmother's linoleum. In the past, floor coverings were seen as a necessary component of a home's interior, and most homeowners did not consider their kitchen floor a fashionable item. However, modern technology has provided consumers with natural-looking and realistic feeling design options that capture individual personalities and bring the outside indoors. As a result, the flooring material chosen for a home is seen as a fashionable product, and a focal point of a home's decor.

Today's floors are created using the most up-to-date technology available, thus creating a more natural-looking and exceptionally durable floor surface. "Consumers are looking for flooring products that exhibit the timeless beauty of nature," says Leonard Ludovico, vice president of styling and design for Congoleum Corporation, a leading manufacturer of resilient sheet and tile flooring. "The advances we have made in our manufacturing process allows for the production of flooring that not only mimics the looks of natural materials like stone, wood and ceramic, but also has a strength and ease-of-maintenance never before seen in the industry.

You might ask yourself, "Why should I choose natural-looking resilient flooring when I can put the real thing in my house?" Resilient offers consumers the same aesthetic benefits as "the real thing" with numerous other advantages. For many homeowners, installing other natural-looking materials simply is not an option due to their budget. The affordability of resilient flooring makes it a logical alternative. New technologies employed in the manufacturing of today's resilient flooring allow for the creation of a textured product with unprecedented authenticity.

Manufacturers are now able to use computer technology to engineer a more realistic floor. Digital information can be engraved directly onto the cylinder used to print the pattern onto the flooring material, enabling manufacturers to reproduce the exact patterns and details of natural materials. Congoleum utilizes this advanced technology in the production of their Ultima line of sheet flooring, which replicates the look of natural materials including stone, ceramic, wood, and slate.