Luxury vinyl plank bounce

4 years ago

last modified: 4 years ago

We just had 2 rooms of luxury vinyl plank installed. You can feel the gap between the plank and subfloor when you step on it in some areas. It makes a small thunk sound and you can see it moving. Installer tried to level out the subfloor in those areas with cardboard but it didn’t work. Installer said that it will conform with the subfloor eventually and we won’t notice the bounce as much. Is there any truth to this? They did no leveling of subfloor before install. I wasn’t aware we needed to even ask about it. (Coretec plus product. 20 mil.)

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Comments (3)

User
4 years ago
All floors need prep to be flat. 3/16” in 10’. Bear in mind that prep costs extra over and above basic install costs. On bad floors, the install costs can double. Cardboard is a joke. Without the proper prep work, the tongue will end up being damaged and the planks will no longer lock together.

Call them back after printing our the installation requirements. Ask them why they didn’t discuss the prep requirements with you. .
Dawn thanked User
Dawn
Original Author
4 years ago
Very helpful response. Thank you so much. I really appreciate it and plan on following through like you suggested.
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SJ McCarthy
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....oh....my....."Installer tried to level out the subfloor in those areas with cardboard but it didn’t work."

No kidding! Wow! I haven't seen that trick with lvp before. And there's a reason for it. S/He just blew your ENTIRE warranty.

Subfloor prep work MUST be done as the installation instructions require. LVP HATES anything 'squishy' underneath it. It MUST BE rigid. Card board is for the boxes you use to cart his tools to the curb!

If this guy KNEW your subfloor was SOOOOO bad that he felt cardboard would work, then your subfloor prep should be in the $2-$3/sf range. If you did NOT pay for subfloor prep, you (I'm very sad to say) got what you paid for (I know that sounds mean...but it is a very sad truth...so sorry :"(

I pray to all that is holy you did NOT pay him!

Please find another person to install this for you. Your installer is poorly trained and is not ready for something like LVP. S/he simply does not know the product and is trying to "figure things out" as long as you let him/her do it.

And to be clear, it is entirely possible you will lose 25% of your planks when they are pulled up. The click edges on vinyl are very sensitive. They break just by looking at them. Once they break, the plank (or most of it) is lost. Please ensure the product is still stocked and you can access MORE when the right flooring installer is found and offers to deal with these issues....for the proper price.

Free rarely turns out to be in the building industry.
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Luxury vinyl plank bounce

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Dawn
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