Can a waterfall edge countertop go over floating floor?

7 years ago

Hello! We are trying to finalize our planning for a kitchen remodel. We are pretty sure we are going with Curava Savaii countertop and are investigating having the peninsula end come down to the floor in a waterfall edge. While I am waiting on info/quote from the fabricator, can anyone tell me if/how this is going to work with a Marmoleum floating click floor? Does the bottom of the waterfall edge not actually sit on the floor so it still has the expansion gap? Is that a problem for the cabinets to bear that weight? Or does it sit on the floor and it doesn't matter that those 37" are weighted down and there are enough expansion gaps around the rest of the floor? I can't picture how it would look good at all if the Marmoleum butted against the Curava edge or if there had to be a quarter round or other trim at the bottom.

Featured Answer

Jo B

7 years ago

We have just had our kitchen and flooring redone. The kitchen and counter top (with waterfall) was installed first and went right to the concrete. The flooring was installed second and the wood was cut where the waterfall ends hit the floor and silicon was used to fill the gap between the wood and waterfall ends.

Hope this helps, if you are wanting to have the waterfall end, you might need to do a bit of reworking to the flooring, hopefully you keep some spare planks you can use.

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Comments (51)

m_gabriel
Original Author
7 years ago
Hi Amy - I know who you are, too! Are you working on a project? Hello back from NC! So funny!
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m_gabriel
Original Author
7 years ago
Thank you Jo B - I didn't think of the gap having a bit of silicone to fill it. That might look alright. Do you have a floating floor?
amyfgib
7 years ago
How funny -- the second person I know IRL who's popped up on Kitchens! We're renovating our kitchen -- laminate is peeling off everywhere, crown molding leaping to its death. so it's time.

Sorry for hijacking everyone! M and I worked together a million -- I mean 15 -- years ago!
Jo B
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
m_gabriel - yes, our wood laminate is a floating floor.

I will add that our benchtop is white and our laminate flooring is concrete grey so the white silicon is not noticeable on casual inspection. However, I would presume there are different colours of silicon that could be used that blend in with the colours specific in your kitchen.
m_gabriel thanked Jo B
Jo B
7 years ago

here is a picture of our waterfall end and the laminate flooring. Sorry, i don't have any close up on this PC.
m_gabriel thanked Jo B
m_gabriel
Original Author
7 years ago
What a pretty space, Jo B! Your choice to waterfall makes it so beautiful.
mrsyenshops
7 years ago
Hi Jo B! I'm so glad I found your answer! We had our marble waterfall edge installed first and just had our laminate wood flooring installed this week- when we saw the finished work we discovered the contractor had used 1/4 round shoe moulding all around the waterfall edge (where the marble meets the floor). It looks hideous! We are still trying to figure out a way to fix this (maybe with a less noticeable moulding), but I feel like any kind of moulding would take away from the clean, straight edge look. no one had suggested silicone filling! I'll have to ask my contractor about this. Thank you!!
dan1888
7 years ago
I prefer the flooring be installed before cabs including anything with a waterfall end.
emspecia
5 years ago
M_gabriel, did you end up doing the floating floor around the waterfall and use the silicone? How did it turn out? I have the same dilemma right now and I can’t find much about the subject anywhere!
mr44
5 years ago
We are having the same issue. Builder wants to add quarter round and we said no, that it defeats the whole purpose of waterfall island/streamlined look. We are recommending they place flooring closer and use silicone as suggested. I was going to call the laminant flooring company and see what they suggested . Wish there was more info on this so I had more info to tell the builder.
David Oakes
5 years ago
Facing the same challenge in our kitchen as well. The quartz template technician recommended we install floor after the waterfall countertops. I’m going to lay it flush to the waterfall and caulk the seam to match flooring. This is against the manufacturer’s guidance but I’m going to risk the potential problems that may arise from thermal expansion. Damn the torpedos full speed ahead.
mr44
5 years ago
David, FYI I called Pergo flooring company to get info from their technical department. He said they install flooring in bathrooms all the time now and no one wants quarter-round around a tub so they install tile close to tub and use caulking. He said worse case scenario if it buckles it is very easy to fix. I told the builder and they are going to fix tile closer to waterfall and they suggested using wood color caulking instead of clear? We will see what happens. Quarter-round /shoe molding allows for sloppy work to be covered up. Had I known it was going to be this much trouble I would gone with wood look tile so the waterfall could rest on it. Live and learn. We are having an issue now with bathroom vanity tile- excessive grout along tile to ceiling edge. Guess they didn't want to cut tile so they slabbed up extra grout. Now they want to put crown molding in our bathroom to cover it up. We want a modern look bathroom so we are hoping they can do a Schluter trim edge instead. Good luck with your kitchen. Ours has been such a challenge
Stephanie Faunce
5 years ago
We had the very same issue!!! Waterfall installed first and my husband was putting in bamboo flooring later. I unfortunately I didn’t think about the expansion gap before the waterfall went in. He is not too savvy about modern design, so I came home to quarter round and almost lost my mind but tried not to hurt his feelings. He changed it to a smaller moulding, but it still bothers me 2 years later. With the expansion gap needed I couldn’t find any answers until I saw this post. Who has had luck with the silicone?? there is molding to cover the expansion gap all over the house and it just doesn’t have that clean edge.
mr44
5 years ago
Stephanie- unfortunately for us we are stuck with shoe molding as well. We gave a good fight with the flooring company but were told they would have to remove quite a bit of flooring to fix the gap and they were going to void the warranty of our flooring. We ended up having to keep the shoe molding. The good news for anyone else who hasn’t started the process yet is that if you can have your builder coordinate with the kitchen countertop company and flooring company (good luck) it is possible to have laminate flooring installed without shoe molding. What they have to do is make sure bottom of waterfall is “floating” and not resting on floor and then they wedge laminate underneath. Most of the weight of the countertop falls on the kitchen cabinets so having the sides “float” does not affect anything. It’s too late for us but hopefully this will help someone else.
User
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
Stone does not float. You can not have a waterfall edge that doesn’t rest on the floor. That is physically impossible. Waterfalls go over permanently installed floors. Floating floors are a poor choice for multiple reasons. But they are an impossible choice for any sleek molding free look.
David Oakes
5 years ago
One of the main reasons we chose luxury vinyl planks with center core was that they felt good under your feet. With tile we always used fatigue mats in the kitchen. The fatigue mats were the ugliest thing in our house and we didn’t want to install a new kitchen and then put ugly mats back in it.
We have a relatively small kitchen and I’m convinced that the thermal expansion won’t make our floors tent even though I’m installing them flush to our waterfall countertops. But maybe I’m the guy that sticks his finger in the socket because he can’t see electricity. Time will tell. I’m installing it myself so I’m only out about $450 in materials. Worth the experiment in my mind. I might not be inclined to experiment if I lived in a super sunshine state and had tons of light pouring in.
David Oakes
5 years ago
Here are a few photos of my installed luxury vinyl plank kitchen floor. I just ran it flush to the waterfall. This is breaking about every single rule but whatever. Time will tell. I’ve also got my fridge sitting on the vinyl floor. There was no other way to get a clean install without it being under fridge front legs/rollers
christina q
4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago

I am in the time will tell category also. While I built a welded frame to hold the weight, we rested the end of the slab down on the vinyl plank floating floor. The advantage I have is that I can jack up the whole island and counter with the metal framework if I need to straighten the floor. My fridge (500lbs) is also on the floor albeit on wheels. Not quite finished all the details, but here is work in progress.

.
christina q
4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago

Hopefully the picture shows up, but my main reason for being here is... how much weight can the waterfall edge hold? I have a leg behind the edge, but would like to cut it out - now there are (2) 1x3 metal tube supports under the top also from end to end. Just wary in case it cracks....and we have to do it again!! Total length 72" x 30" 36" on the pan drawer cabinet. steel tube is 70" x 2 tubes roughly 16" in a square welded configuration. But the leg was easy to cover on the cabinet end, but .... I'm not sure if I need it on the waterfall end. The base extends to 1" from the falls
mr44
4 years ago
Reply to greendesigns- according to Pergo as long as majority of the weight 70-75% of the quartz countertop is resting on the cabinets yes the waterfall edge can float on top of the floor. Our issue was that flooring was installed after the island so no way to wedge underneath but if flooring and kitchen guys coordinate they can make sure they leave a small gap and wedge flooring underneath. We had to have shoe molding installed because our flooring was installed after the cabinets and they left a 1/2 gap when they installed floors. Ideally we wanted a modern look without molding but to be honest we don’t pay much attention to it now.
artistsharonva
4 years ago
Ask countertop fabicator Pro & flooring pros.

But I think the answer is no, you should not have the weight of the waterfalls on the floating floors.

Consider expansion.

So, Fill & attach a permanent, durable bottom material under waterfall less thick of waterfall & thick enough to lift slightly pass flooring thickness. Then slide floating flooring edges under. The waterfall covers the expansion gap in the floating floor.
gotoran
4 years ago
Or you can ask a fabricator how much it would cost to notch the bottom of the waterfall edge 1/4" all the way around.
Joycelyn Yue
3 years ago
I really don't like the look of the caulk and expansion. Has anyone installed a waterfall on top of floating floors? I was told if it moves, it would be after summer or winter seasons, also heat and humidty plays a factor too.
PRO
Joseph Corlett, LLC
3 years ago
I'd install two stainless steel buttons to the bottom of the waterfall edge and forget about it. No caulk.
gotoran
3 years ago
What do these stainless steel "buttons" look like? Never heard of them before.
Joycelyn Yue
3 years ago
current situation
Virginia Caradonna-Graham
3 years ago
Yes what is stainless steel buttons??
Virginia Caradonna-Graham
3 years ago

I am having my laminate floor put in as I write! & I don’t like the gap.

My contractor said that silicone would be a no-no because it would not allow expansion he suggested the cord around but I do not like how it looks I am really perplexed about what to do
Virginia Caradonna-Graham
3 years ago
I asked if they had a very slight eighth of an inch round and he said no so right now I am leaving it without any molding.

My contractor as I mentioned said he will NOT put in silicone as my floor panels will buckle.
lauriebrainerd
3 years ago
I’m planning a solid surface waterfall which, of course, will be considerably lighter than a stone waterfall. I think it has to go in after the floors. Maybe a hair’s breath over. There is no opening and I (not educated in this) think the 8’ of counters can easily bear the weight.

What do you all think?
PRO
Joseph Corlett, LLC
3 years ago
Stainless buttons.
PRO
Joseph Corlett, LLC
3 years ago
lauriebrainerd:

I think you are correct.
gotoran
3 years ago
I asked before, but you never explained nor provided a link to what the stainless buttons are.
nic nac
3 years ago
What are stainless buttons?
I have same issue. My contractor said its a floating floor.
They cut the wood planks way short before the waterfall edge.
Now put wood trim around like the cabinets. But that looks terrible and not a waterfall finish.
How do i advise they correct?
Nails?
Glue?
Silicone?
nic nac
3 years ago
Does this go on inside of stone waterfall edge? My floor isnt under it so how do i get the floating wood floor up to the stone?
David Oser
3 years ago
I didn’t do my homework until basically reading this forum now as we are redoing a new house we purchased. Our current condo, renovated 3 years ago has floating bamboo floors with waterfall quartz sitting right on top. We put floors down first and have floors under our entire kitchen. We haven’t noticed any issues yet, but after reading this I am definitely concerned for our future... time will tell
Shaun Yalldo
2 years ago
so many of you have mentioned time will tell with regard to silicone to fill the gap between the waterfall and fhe floor. Much time has passed and I am hoping you guys can tell me how it went. any issues?
nic nac
2 years ago
No issues. Other than i dont like how it looks.
Shaun Yalldo
2 years ago
Thanks for your feedback! we’re gonna try it using a similar wood color for the silicone. do you mind sharing a picture of yours?
David Oser
2 years ago
Mine is the quartz on top of the floating floor, but no issues yet. Here are photos
Dennis Kopitz
2 years ago
I've seen cork used to fill gaps like this. Maybe an option.
Leila Lampkin
last year
David Oser how thick is your waterfall countertop?
gotoran
last year
David Oser, what material is your floating floor and does it use a click lock mechanism?
jmassari82
6 months ago
I can tell you that a waterfall resting directly on a floating LVP floor will definitely cause issues. After a full year we have major flooring issues with buckling around the waterfall area. That’s what you get for hiring a cheap contractor that doesn’t think these things through. I am now renovating another property and thinking this through ahead of time and found this thread on what to do. It sounds like the stainless steel button should do the trick and be totally hidden. This should allow the floating floor to slide underneath the waterfall edge and allow for an expansion gap while keeping everything hidden without the use of caulking.
Ewan
last month
Can anyone explain how this stainless steel

button approach works please?
Ewan
last month
Can anyone explain how the steel

button idea works please?
gotoran
last month
last modified: last month
Instead of resting the slab directly on the floor, you mount a stainless steel button under the slab edge in order to raise the slab just high enough to allow for a plank to slide beneath it. For instance, if a luxury vinyl plank is 1/4" thick, the button would have to be fractionally thicker than that. This allows for the contraction and expansion of the plank. This could not occur if the slab was resting directly atop it. Hope that helps.
Ewan
last month
Thanks. perhaps the terminolgy is losing me, but what exactly is a stainless steel button? just a circular tab of stainless?
gotoran
last month
Exactly what it sounds like, but with a threaded post that would have to be screwed into the bottom edge of the slab, or perhaps without a post and glued on instead.