Proximity Mills is a brand that has gained a lot of buzz in recent years, and we’re here to find out if it lives up to the hype. According to them, the brand is founded on three simple beliefs. There’s a better way to buy flooring. Everyone deserves high-performance floors without the high-performance price tag. You shouldn’t have to be a flooring expert just to find the perfect floor.
Spoiler alert:
After checking out Proximity Mills, we are big fans, and we think you should check them out too. We’d still love for you to read through our review here, but when you’re done, head to their site and order some samples. You can get a free one by using the code ‘ONEONUS’
Let’s dive into their product range, pricing, warranty, reviews, installation, and cover whether or not you should search for alternatives. Not to get ahead of ourselves, but the only reason we think you might is if one of their family brands is a better fit.
Proximity Mills Product Range
Starting off with the array of products presented by Proximity Mills. While their focus was initially on vinyl plank flooring, they have since grown their offerings to a diverse selection of five flooring options:
- Luxury Vinyl Plank (LVP)
- Hardwood
- Tile
- Carpet
- Luxury Carpet Tile
A spokesperson from the company has emphasized that they meticulously selected each material to ensure that it delivers exceptional performance within its respective pricing tier.
Luxury Vinyl Plank
Proximity Mills features 66 unique SPC (Stone-Plastic Composite) luxury vinyl plank flooring options. They come in diverse colors, finishes, and plank sizes to satisfy any design preference.
All Proximity Mills LVP floors incorporate an SPC core made of limestone powder and plastic,. This ensures exceptional durability and scratch resistance—ideal for high-traffic areas and homes with pets (Hence the performance rating). Moreover, these floors are completely waterproof, making them suitable for moisture-prone rooms like bathrooms, kitchens, and basements.
Proximity Mills stands out with its thick wear layers, ranging from 12 to 22 mils. This is complemented by a UV coating to minimize fading, even in rooms with ample sunlight. Even better, their LVP products are zero-VOC certified and recyclable, making them a more eco-conscious choice in the vinyl flooring category.
Hardwood
Proximity Mills specializes in engineered hardwood flooring, offering two distinct types: Waterproof Hardwood and High-Density Hardwood. Unlike solid hardwood, engineered hardwood combines a strong plywood or HDF base with a genuine wood veneer. This makes it stronger and more suitable for areas prone to temperature and moisture changes, such as basements and bathrooms.
Across seven collections, Proximity Mills offers 46 engineered wood products, each featuring various wood species and finishes. What sets them apart is their emphasis on performance, with two unique types of engineered wood:
Waterproof Hardwood: Made with a waterproof core and coated wood veneer, this hardwood remains waterproof from all sides for at least 36 hours and is top-down waterproof for up to 72 hours.
High-Density Hardwood: Engineered using durable wood species like Peruvian teak and strand-woven Moso bamboo, coated with an ultra-strong, dent-resistant finish.
Proximity Mills’ veneers are flat-sawn, providing a traditional and denser appearance that showcases the wood’s character compared to rotary slicing. In terms of environmental responsibility, all Proximity Mills hardwood floors are low-VOC certified and responsibly sourced, and some collections are even recyclable.
Carpet
Proximity Mills offers a selection of cozy yet high-performance carpet options, featuring 22 collections with around 400 unique products. All their carpets are crafted from durable 6,6 nylon, known for its resilience and stain resistance.
These carpets come in various styles to suit your preferences, whether you prefer cut-pile, looped, cut-and-loop, patterned, multicolored, or need them for residential or commercial spaces.
Tile
Proximity Mills Tile offers a diverse range of mosaic and porcelain tile collections, encompassing 86 products. Rectified porcelain tiles are precisely sized, allowing minimal grout lines and a high-end finish.
These tiles exhibit exceptional durability, making them suitable for indoor and outdoor use. They are even available in large sizes, up to 32″ x 32″, a rarity in porcelain tiles that are typically reserved for luxury products.
One notable feature of Proximity Mills Tile is its extensive array of designs, spanning patterned, solid color, stone-look, marble-look, and more. Porcelain’s versatility allows it to mimic the appearance of natural stone without the environmental drawbacks and variability in strength.
Luxury Carpet Tiles
Proximity Mills offers a unique selection of high-quality carpet tiles, setting them apart from competitors who often produce subpar options. These luxury carpet tiles, or LCTs, redefine your perception of carpet tiles.
Constructed from top-tier tufted residential carpet, these tiles feature solution-dyed polyester, known for its durability and comfort. This is not your typical scratchy, low-quality carpet tile; it’s the real deal.
What further distinguishes Proximity Mills is that each tile includes an attached carpet pad, ensuring exceptional comfort and longevity. Traditional carpet tiles have an adhesive backing. Proximity Mills utilizes innovative velcro pads called friXion pads for easy installation and removal.
The absence of adhesive means these carpet tiles are reusable, allowing you to pick them up and put them back down without causing any damage. Furthermore, when you decide to remove them, they leave zero residue.
Remarkably, these are machine-washable carpet tiles, simplifying maintenance. Whether it’s a pet accident or a spilled drink, simply toss them in your washing machine for a quick clean. They’re even waterproof, providing peace of mind against spills and stains.
How Much Does Proximity Mills Cost?
Now let’s speak to the MSRP pricing featured on the Proximity Mills site; remember that retailers are often up for negotiation with big-ticket items like flooring.
Luxury Vinyl Plank – Pricing falls between $4 and $9 per square foot, making it surprisingly competitive in the vinyl plank flooring market.
Hardwood – Pricing for Proximity’s hardwood varies by collection but falls between $9.00 and $15.00 per square foot. This pricing is very reasonable considering the superior quality and unique features like waterproofing and flat-sawn veneers.
Carpet – Prices for Proximity Mills carpets generally range from $5 to $11 per square foot, offering great value, especially for 6,6 nylon carpets.
Tile – As for tile pricing, Proximity Mills Tile offers options ranging from $8 to $16 per square foot, accommodating various budgets and preferences.
Carpet Tile – Proximity Mills Luxury Carpet Tiles, measuring 24″ by 40″, are competitively priced between $4.20 and $4.99 per square foot, depending on the specific product.
Proximity Mills Warranty
Luxury Vinyl Plank – Proximity Mills offers a lifetime limited warranty for residential use, which is a strong warranty compared to most other vinyl plank flooring brands. Commercial warranties range from 5 to 10 years, making them competitive in their price range.
Hardwood – Warranty-wise, most of their hardwood products come with a full lifetime residential warranty, with a few exceptions offering a 20-year warranty. Some lines also include a 10-year commercial warranty, demonstrating their durability and reliability.
Carpet – All Proximity Mills carpets come with an impressive 20-year warranty, and they are certified as low-VOC flooring by the Carpet and Rug Institute, promoting an environmentally healthy choice.
Proximity Mills Reviews
Given Proximity Mills is distributed exclusively through small business retailers across the country, there aren’t going to be as many reviews as you could find for a product sold at the big box stores. That said, their Facebook page has some honest reviews from real customers, and they have nothing but good things to say.
I contacted Proximity Mills with some product questions and received a text message response within the hour. I really appreciated such quick responsiveness to my inquiry, and the representative I spoke with was very friendly and helpful. They covered all of my questions and were very knowledgeable. My husband and I are in the process of purchasing a home and we are planning to order Proximity Mills flooring because after extensive research we feel confident they are the best and the right fit for us! Although no retailers are available in our state, I was very happy to find out complementary shipping is available nationwide! We really look forward to having this flooring in our future home and I will be leaving another review once the process is complete! Thank you Proximity Mills and team 🙂!
We are very happy that we chose Proximity Mills for our home’s new flooring. Flooring is a huge financial investment. And with so many brands to choose from, the choice can be daunting. We decided to upgrade our flooring with Proximity Mills’ Suwannee River in Teton luxury vinyl planks and we are very happy with our choice. During installation there was a problem with some planks, which our installers failed to catch. We contacted Proximity Mills and they went out of their way to make sure that we received perfect replacements. The Proximity Mills’ flooring installed in our home is beautiful. Proximity Mills proved that they take pride in their product and that they stand behind every plank they make.
Source: Facebook
How To Install Proximity Mills Flooring
As always, our recommendation for carpet and tile is to opt for a professional installation. And as you might imagine, the machine washable carpet tile installation really is more of just placing them down.
That said, we will keep focus on their vinyl plank flooring offering. Depending on the specific product, installation options include glue-down, loose-lay, and floating methods. Their floating floors use a snap-together system for easy installation. For DIY’ers, most of their products have the installation instructions right on the website.
Underlayment needs depend on the product and where they are being installed. Floating floors include an attached cushion underlayment, while glue-down and loose-lay options require a separate underlayment for moisture and noise concerns.
If you are pursuing a DIY installation, we recommend reaching out to Proximity Mills directly for guidance via their contact page.
Our Verdict
Style – 8.5 out of 10
While Proximity Mills is crafted to perform, they recognize that high-performance flooring still needs to be highly beautiful. We are very impressed with every finish, stain, dye, and emboss in their offering, and would encourage you to order some samples and see for yourself.
Durability – 9 out of 10
Durability is where Proximity Mills shines. While you might be able to find flooring that hits a 9 or 10 in visual appeal if your wallet can afford it, you’re likely not going to find a more durable product for the price.
Affordability – 8 out of 10
There is cheaper flooring out there, but we are really impressed with what you get for the price you pay. The longevity you can expect from their build quality offsets any discount you could get with a sub-par product at a box store.
Overall Score – 8.5 out of 10
As you can see, we are pretty impressed with Proximity Mills. An 8.5 out of 10 is among our highest overall scores, and we think you’ll agree if you end up installing it in your home. It truly is a high-performance flooring as it claims to be, and you won’t always find a company this committed to sustainability.
Good Alternatives to Proximity Mills
If you have navigated over to Proximity Mills’ site, you’ll see that they actually recognize that their products might not be for everyone, so they work with a family of brands that cater to everyone.
Doma
Doma is positioned as the style brand, which is evident when you browse their natural hardwoods and modern carpets. They speak to trends coming and going, but your floors shouldn’t have to. That’s why Doma flooring meshes the latest trends with classic design principles—so your home never goes out of style.
Newton
Newton is the more affordable flooring brand we were talking about. While it might not be advertised as high performance, they know that low performance is never an option, even at such a low price. We’ve found that Newton floors are built to stand up to kids, pets, and stains to give you peace of mind.
Paradiso
Paradiso is the peak of luxury and where you are going to start finding 9’s and 10’s in visual appeal. When you expand your budget for a product like Paradiso, that’s when hardwoods go from red oak to premium European oak, and tile transitions to natural stone.
Final Thoughts
If you need new flooring, you need to add Proximity Mills to your list. We would recommend visiting a local retailer and getting expert advice on what product is right for you. If it’s not Proximity Mills specifically, they will be able to point you to which brand is best for you.
Their distribution is limited, so there may not be a store within driving distance, but don’t worry. They offer sample ordering and online visualization where you can even upload photos and see their products in your home. Any of their retailers would be happy to hop on a call and help you make a decision, and when you do, they can ship the product right to your doorstep.