Avoid these Common Vinyl Installation Mistakes

People who buy luxury wood effect vinyl flooring and forgo the use and expense of a professional fitter may think things are pretty straightforward when it comes to putting it all in place, but that does not mean things cannot go dreadfully wrong at the same time even if you have read the vinyl click flooring installation instructions.

Coming into the project, you will have had to figure out the layout, figure out any obstacles that require cutting around and levelling your subfloor before laying anything in place. This is even before you discover the beginner mistakes that tend to always happen.

The Prep Mistakes

This comes in the form of your subfloor preparation. Upon removing your old flooring you need to make sure no fasteners are sticking up. These will tend to transfer through your flooring if you do not lower them below the surface of the subfloor.

You can achieve this by running a scraper’s flat edge over them. If it snags on anything then it requires sinking below. This can relate to nails or screws that protrude above the subfloor.

If you skip the levelling of the subfloor you will tend to find gaps between boards when you step on them. If you have some bumps or dips on the floor, you can lay out a thin-set or floor patch spread out via a trowel. Follow this up by levelling it off with a strip of wood across the material until the dip is filled.

The Installation Mistakes

If you know anything about installing quick step luxury vinyl you’ll know that you need to start from a corner of the room, but of equal importance is that you don’t see tiny pieces of boards at the end of a row.

By planning a little upfront you can easily avoid this common mistake, and most vinyl flooring manufacturers will have instructions on how to calculate this. Sometimes it is as simple as adjusting your starting plank. Be sure to have vacuumed to remove any debris and dust before starting on your installation, which can be further secured via the tapping of a rubber mallet to properly lock the joint.

One of the most common installation mistakes is not planning for your corners. You can either be left with too little or too much plank. The good news is vinyl flooring is easy to adjust and cut to fit, which is a good thing if you have not specifically measured your flooring ahead of time.

Also in installation, many people make the initial mistake of laying similar patterns next to each other. Vinyl flooring should always be laid in different patterns because it will be a real eye-sore if you lined everything up together.

The Biggest Mistake

There are two – the first one is not allowing the floor to settle for upwards of 48 hours without heavy foot traffic. The second is not following the manufacturer recommendations.

This can be in which form of adhesive to use (if required) to not use underlayment if your planks have one, and especially not to use rubber-based wax products on your floor. If you are planning to install luxury wood effect vinyl flooring in your house, talk with the team at Floorbay to ensure it is done right the first time with our vinyl click flooring installation instructions.