Flexible sheet-type covering material and process for making same

Process for making decorative, flexible sheet type covering material comprising the steps of:

• (a) coating at least one side of a flexible porous mat with a layer between about 10 and about 150 mils thick of mechanically frothed flexible foamed thermoplastic vinyl polymer;
• (b) gelling and at least partially fusing the foamed layer;
• and
• (c) then calendering the foamed layer at a temperature within the fusion temperature range of the vinyl polymer and at a nip pressure between about 2 and about 40 pounds per linear inch to thereby crush and consolidate the foamed thermoplastic vinyl polymer so that no re-expansion of the foam occurs after crushing;
• wherein
• (i) said mat has openings which average between about 2 and about 20 mils in the smallest linear dimension with at least about 50% of such openings having smallest linear dimensions between about 2 and about 10 mils;
• and
• (ii) the foam as applied to the mat has a viscosity between about 3000 and about 25,000 cp.