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. 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. According to Congoleum, the company's Ultima line is one of the most technologically-advanced flooring products on the market today. An increasing number of complaints are coming from homeowners who have succumbed to pressure from mortgage brokers and lenders to refinance their property or take out large equity loans. Many of today's refinancing transactions are definitely justified.