SPC flooring: what it is and what to check

What SPC flooring is

SPC stands for stone plastic composite. Indonesian maker AICA describes it as a mixture of limestone powder, PVC and stabilisers, pressed into a rigid core, and lists the layers of its own boards from the top down: a UV coating, the wear layer, a PVC decorative film that carries the wood or stone pattern, the rigid core, and IXPE foam underneath for comfort and sound.

The boards click together and float on the subfloor rather than being glued down. The Bjelin Rigid Core data sheet files this kind of product as modular resilient flooring with a rigid polymeric core, under ISO 10582, the standard for heterogeneous PVC floor coverings, and gives the installation method as floating. The pattern is a print, so the look of wood or stone comes from the film, not from the core.

SPC flooring specs to compare

The figures that separate one SPC floor from another sit on the data sheet. Two examples, both with a 0.55 mm wear layer:

SPC flooring specs to compare

What to compare	Bjelin Rigid Core	Aspecta RC55 Essentials
Total thickness	6.60 mm	6.0 mm: 5.0 mm rigid core with wear layer, plus 1.0 mm HDPE underlay
Format	228.6 × 1830 mm planks	448 × 906 mm tiles
Wear layer	0.55 mm	0.55 mm
Use class	23 and 33	34
Weight	9.10 kg/m²	—
Coverage per box	2.09 m²	2.44 m²
Other tests given	castor chair, indentation, impact	fire class Bfl-s1, slip class DS

Sources: Bjelin data sheet; Aspecta RC55 Essentials data sheet, revision 01 of 26 August 2025.

The wear layer is the top film that, in AICA’s description, protects the print from daily wear. When a seller quotes only “6 mm”, ask how much of that is core, how much is a factory-fitted underlay and what the wear layer measures.

Use classes: 23, 33 and 34

The class on an SPC box refers to a classification standard: EN ISO 10874 on the Bjelin sheet, EN 16511 on the Aspecta sheet. Bjelin labels its two classes as 23, heavy domestic use, and 33, heavy commercial use; Aspecta labels class 34 as commercial very heavy. On both sheets, the 2x class is domestic and the 3x classes are commercial.

So a floor for a shop, an office or a guesthouse corridor should carry one of the commercial 3x classes on its box, and a home floor at least a 2x class.

Subfloor and fitting rules for an SPC floor

The Silvara Home Click installation guide, for an SPC floor with built-in underlay, sets these limits:

1. Acclimatise. Leave unopened packs flat in the room for at least 48 hours at 15–22°C and 30–70% relative humidity.
2. Check flatness. No more than 2 mm deviation over 1 m and 1 mm over 20 cm. The guide calls poor subfloors the first cause of click-joint failure.
3. Deal with old floors. Carpet, underlay and soft coverings come up. Firmly bonded ceramic tiles can stay if they are flat, clean and dry and the subfloor has a damp-proof membrane.
4. Do not add underlay. A second layer under a board with built-in underlay lets the floor move too much.
5. Leave gaps. 5–10 mm around walls, door frames, pipes and thresholds; an expansion joint for runs over 13 m and between rooms; the full gap and blinds where strong sun falls on the floor.
6. Underfloor heating. The floor surface must not go above 28°C.

Care of an SPC floor

The same guide asks for felt pads on furniture legs, a soft broom or vacuum, and a damp microfibre mop with a pH-neutral vinyl cleaner. Steam cleaners, scouring pads, bleach and strongly acidic or alkaline cleaners are on its list of things not to use.

SPC flooring or porcelain tile

SPC flooring clicks together and floats, while tiles are fixed to the screed. If you are weighing the two for a floor in Zanzibar, Kitovu has the Beige Porcelain Tile 1200 × 600 mm, Matt Anti-Slip R10 in stock: a granular matt surface, slip class R10, and 0.72 m² per tile by our calculation (1.2 × 0.6). How porcelain differs from other floor tiles is set out under porcelain tiles; soft and coated floors are covered under carpet tiles and epoxy floor paint. Kitovu does not sell SPC flooring.