SPC Flooring - Clicking/Hollow

3 years ago

Hello,

Recent remodel project includes flooring throughout the downstairs. Visually, everything looks great. However, certain areas have a hollow/springy feel. The original material was carpet and we have replaced it with Republic Flooring SPC. After bringing it up with the GC, he indicated this was normal and to be expected with floating flooring.

A brief google search seems this is an issue that comes up frequently. Having said that, I can’t help but feel a bit disappointed given the price tag of the overall project. Is this truly, par for the course or should pre-emptive steps been taken to ensure a level subfloor? The topic wasn’t even brought up before install.

Is it too late to make changes? Will time/items being placed on the floor help balance this out?

Given the GC’s tendency to brush this off as “normal”, I’m curious to know what experience or suggestions others have in this situation..

Thanks in advance!

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (4)

yvette_garcia62
3 years ago
I would also like to know the answer to your question. Also, can you tell me the color of your Republic floor.
K R
3 years ago
I have a couple of areas of “hollowness” with my floating floor. It is normal, you have padding under there, and even with good prep work, it is almost impossible to have perfectly level sub floor underneath. Even with a new build. Don’t let it bother you now, and after a while it won’t be an issue.
Related Discussions
Click flooring NOT the woodgrain look?
Q
Comments (7)
OP here, just checking back to see if anyone has seen the tile options for We Ship Floors mentioned above by suseyb? Looking on their website, there are a few products listed with "no image available" and two of those might be the kind of wood-look-alternative that I am seeking. See links below. I tried to phone them but just reached a machine (hey, it's Saturday!) https://www.weshipfloors.com/flooring/supercore-xtreme-carrara-white-spc-30mil-6mm-x-12-x-24-rectangle https://www.weshipfloors.com/flooring/supercore-xtreme-ivory-travertine-spc-30mil-6mm-x-12-x-24-rectangle
...See More
LVP/SPC flooring, can't seem to find expertise
Q
Comments (7)
OK, so let's get our terminology working here. There are two thicknesses that *seem to be getting in the way. The term 'mil' and the term 'mm'. 1. 'mil' = 1 THOUSANDTHS of an INCH (very small...wear layer thickness) 2. 'mm' = millimeter = 1 thousandths of a METER (1 meter = 3ft) = very close to 1/32 of an inch Great. Now we have a definition of 'mil' vs 'mm'. The LifeProof (sold ONLY at Home Depot...ahem....Home Depot...) is 7 mm thick (the website says 6mm or more). That means it is more than a 1/4 of an INCH thick (it's almost 1/3 of an inch...but that's a weird thing to see). As vinyl goes, that's a middle of the road thickness. The 12 mm THICK vinyl is the SPC stuff like CoreTec (the mineral core makes it thicker). And 12mm is almost 1/2" (it is SUPER close to 0.5 inches). OK...now on to wear layer. The wear layer is what I was talking about with 12mil vs. 20mil. That is the MICRO COATING (super thin....thinner than a piece of paper thin...can't be measured using a hand held tool using the naked eye). That's where I was going with the statement '20 mil' wear layer thickness. First thing's first...please work with a reputable independent flooring company. Home Depot sells toilette paper, paint and chewing gum...and in the back they sell flooring. For me this isn't a place to go shopping if you have many quality requirements for look/feel/wear. If you can by Christmas lights and lawn gnomes at the same store where you purchase your flooring, you might be looking in the wrong place. To be clear, a FLOATING FLOOR is what causes the feeling of 'hollowness' underfoot. That's why the subfloor needs to be flattened to within an inch of it's life! A flat subfloor = a solid feeling floor. Wood can be used in basements so long as it is floated (ahhh....again with the floating = can still bounce and feel hollow under foot). You can have wood so long as you have humidity CONTROL (humidistat built-in to the Heating/cooling system because A/C doesn't always cut it). But again the floor would need to be floated and that is the BIG issue. Floating = hollowness (when done POORLY). So...here are your options: A PERMANENT floor (such as tile, carpet, sheet vinyl, glue down wood, etc) will give you the FEEL you want (solid feeling without being hollow). A permanent floor gets tricky in a basement setting where ground water is an issue. But it still can be done. As Patricia points out, you can use something like DriCor underneath and then nail down the wood. That is totally acceptable. This decision is best done before doors are hung...but it doesn't have to be. Please get out of 'big box' stores and go shopping at your high-end flooring stores. They will not deal in junk. And for a quality vinyl/floating floor product you will be looking at prices that are 2-4 times HIGHER than Home Depot.
...See More
Can you redo a section of click lock SPC flooring?
Q
Comments (3)
In *theory it can be done...but in practice it is a massive PITA. You need to assume you will loose all the planks you pull (the click edges on vinyl are EXTREMELY BRITTLE and break just by looking at them) and a few of the one's around the area as well. It is very hard to 'reverse' new planks into place. Example: the planks you want to pull are on the STARTING wall. That means they started with this wall and then finished the room on the opposite wall. To pull the planks at the start wall is easy enough...but clicking them BACK into place is a 'reverse' install. It is a DAMN DIFFICULT thing to do with laminate...and near impossible for the vinyl. Again, to the point of ruining 3-5 more planks than you thought you needed. My personal choice ('cause I'm lazy and I'm cheap...yah...I said it ;-]) is to ask for a discount. It should be worth the value of the LABOUR they would have to give you plus the cost of the 'planks' that were laid inappropriately. If they mislaid 7 planks (let's imagine that's a box = 16sf), then they owe you 16sf (whatever you paid for per square foot price) and the cost to remove the planks and reinstall them). The 'going rate' for a 'spot fix' or small job = $50/hour. That's where you end the negotiations...not start them. That's what the 'fix' is worth to them. Remember: it is a good thing to have money in the bank after a renovation.
...See More
Hollow sound at installed LVP. What is my next step?
Q
Comments (3)
Sigh....so you are saying the GC did NOT read the installation instructions. Sadly (very sadly) this is normal for GCs. A flooring professional (who only does floors) *might have caught this. But often time they do not...because a lot of 'regular guys' do not read installation instructions AND they firmly believe a vinyl floor is the same as a laminate floor (which they are NOT). I will point out the 1/8" (3mm) over 6ft (2m) is too short for a decent 'leveling' but that's not for me to judge. The standard is 1/8" (3mm) over 10ft (3m). Whatever... Now to the nasty solution. The floors you have are no longer warrantied because the install clearly violates the manufacturer's instructions. You will need to rip out both floors (be careful with the vinyl...you must be VERY careful or you will lose 50% of the planks due to breakage of the edges) and start over. Removing the wood = $3-$5/sf (depending on where you live) Subfloor leveling = $2-$5/sf (depending on where you live) Vinyl install = $3/sf (labour only) Extra purchase of vinyl = 25% more due to breakage of click-edges during removal. I'm sorry but this is a complete redo. You MIGHT get the installer to come back...but something tells me that you will not hear back from them...so just be mentally prepared to do this one without any shared costs. And to be clear, it is almost impossible to 'flatten' an engineered floor...which is why you noticed the humps in the first place. The 'guy's' "taking care of it" = do nothing and hope no one notices.
...See More
SJ McCarthy
3 years ago
A well installed floating floor can and will feel 'solid'. Ahem...well installed. There are SOOOO many ways a floating floor can BECOME 'bouncy'...it is hard to determine with a single photo.

Here are some of the links I have found for your flooring (you didn't say WHICH SPC so I'm including ALL links): https://www.republicfloor.com/copy-of-laminate-installation-instr

https://www.republicfloor.com/copy-of-spc-installation-instruc

Here are my thoughts with the quick description of your project (I used to sell floating cork flooring and it could have the same 'bounce' when the subfloor prep wasn't done).

Carpet....sigh. Dearest carpet. How thee hidethe the worst of the worst. I'm not kidding. Carpets HIDE some of the WORST subfloors on the planet. That's why builders LOVE to use carpet. They hide every thing 'wrong' with a build. If this is over concrete, then carpet will hide dips, lumps, bumps, hollows, massive cracks, crumbling concrete, etc.

If this is over 'wood joist' system then the carpet will hide height variations between underlayment sheets (yes...we've seen builders 'fudge' underlayment thickness because they ran out of one thickness so they throw down another and do a light sand on the edge to cover it up). Carpets hide slopes. They hide wavy subfloors (or subfloors that are too thin for the joist distance = warping of the subfloor). Carpets hide EVERYTHING.

Once the carpets are gone, the CONTRACTOR must FIX everything. Must. Fix. Everything. All the humps, bumps, hollows, hieght variations, etc MUST be fixed before rigid floors are installed. For that reason, your contractor's QUOTE would have included subfloor prep. And it would look like a range of money: $1-$4/sf for subfloor preparation based on conditions found upon carpet removal. Please check your quote. If it ins't mentioned, it MAY NOT exist.

If the subfloor prep was NOT done...then we have our FIRST suspect. Yep. First of MANY. Second thing that throws up red flags for me: the installation instructions do NOT mention "underpad" of any sort. That means it is NOT allowed. Please check to see if your installer used 'underpad' (like the stuff found underneath laminate flooring). An example of this is the 'laminate' floor installation instructions SPECIFICALLY MENTION the use of underpad...but the SPC/vinyl does NOT.

Now we get onto the EXPANSION gap (the thing hidden behind the baseboards). It needs to be a minimum of 10mm thick (7/16" or so). It must be MORE if the long run is MORE than 20 ft.

Now for the door areas. Do you have t-molding through EACH and EVERY DOOR? A photo will confirm that. And the MAXIMUM RUN (ie. down a hallway, into the living room, around a corner into the dining room and out the laundry room) is 40 ft. Do you have a maximum run that is MORE than 40ft? If you do, is there a t-molding SOMEWHERE in that run? If not, then the installation is wrong.

The Uniclic system (the click edge system) is very good but it has limitations as to how much it can handle if the floor has long runs. The numbers I've shown above are NORMAL for Uniclic.

Uniclic MUST HAVE t-moldings in doorways. The expansion gap MUST be observed. The 'flatness' rating of the floor MUST be observed (it cannot be wavy, lumpy or bumpy). If you have runs that are more than 40ft long, you must have 'in-field expansion gaps' inserted to REDUCE the length of a continuous run.

These things can cause movement or bouncing of a floor. Which is why you need to have a look at the preparation (should have cost you $2-$4/sf depending on how BAD the subfloor was underneath the carpet). You then have to look whether or not an underpad was used under the floor. And then you have to look to see if the expansion gaps (at the walls) were maintained as well as t-moldings through doorways.

My guess: the subfloor prep was skipped. But you still have to check all of the above. Because if things were missed, you have no warranty due to 'installer error'.
Andrea Gómez
2 years ago
Hi!

has the sound get better?

did you do something to fix it?

we installed last week Republic flooring SPC and having same problem!

i'm trying to find a solution before freak out.

thank you!

SPC Flooring - Clicking/Hollow

Comments (4)

yvette_garcia62

K R

Related Discussions

SJ McCarthy

Andrea Gómez

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US