Any flooring guys here? Have an issue (2 Viewers)

[AARPSaint]

This thread brings back a lot of memories, like flooring over the return air. Good thing we found some 1 inch quarter round. Fortunately, the next floor turned out much better.

 

[saintmdterps]

That happens, too. Is it in a corner or in the middle? Middles are much harder to fix. In a corner, you can pull up, recut, and relay the floor, which is the better solution. However, if it's in the middle, you could pull up the quarter round and using a vibro-blade to slice off the end of each board close to the base boards and put the quarter round back. Then you would just have to touch up the quarter round and base boards... I mean if you are interested in doing it yourself.

I'm getting to the point where I'm going to do it myself following exactly the steps you laid out. The area is about 12-18 inches from the wall. It's not worth it to have a carpenter do it unless I can lure dtc here to do it for a 6-pack of Natural Light, which should work well for him.

 

[boutrous]

I'm getting to the point where I'm going to do it myself following exactly the steps you laid out. The area is about 12-18 inches from the wall. It's not worth it to have a carpenter do it unless I can lure dtc here to do it for a 6-pack of Natural Light, which should work well for him.

If you have a Harbor Freight, here is what you need. You can get one at Home Depot or wherever, too, but might be a few more bucks.

2 Amp Variable Speed Oscillating Multi-Tool

Variable Speed Oscillating Multi-Tool

www.harborfreight.com

 

[efil4stnias]

@staphory explained it, but maybe not clear enough, so I'll extrapolate what he's saying.

For a floating floor, the floor ends just under the molding on either side of the room. This is so that if the floor expands, it doesn't push against the bottom plates of each wall and buckle. Depending on how thick your drywall and molding is, the floor could have a good 3/4" to 1" gap on each side away from the wooden bottom of the each wall. This gap is not seen because it's covered by molding and drywall. You kicked your flooring together towards the middle, but what you may have also done is push the whole row of flooring towards the wall on the opposite side of the room, closing the 1" gap and possibly hitting the wood on the other side. This has caused the gap on the wall you are looking at. What you need to do is "kick" the whole row back towards the wall that now has a gap so that row tucks back under the molding, but be careful not to go too far as to create a gap at the other wall.

I hope this makes sense.

Also, if your flooring is pulling apart in the middle, it's possible either the end click joint on that piece either broke off or was never properly clicked in. If it broke off, that floor is never going to stay together where it separated if it's in a high traffic area. Might be wise to glue that joint.

AHHHH HAAA- simple !@#!#!@#@ GEOMETRY.

so instead of just "kicking " from one direction, i need to do maybe 1/2" from left and then again from right ( if the middle of room gap is 1" )

ok THAT makes total sense and i never thought to do a LITTLE from each side. I just did from one side. And makes sense. Because when i do from left, then i have that gap by molding. So imma try tonite and see if that works

THANK YOU.

 

[efil4stnias]

I dont think vinyl plank should have the same expansion /contraction that real wood does, but it is a possibility. Or it was cut too short. Could you hide it with bigger quarter rounds?

no i think when it was laid/cut it was REALLY close to having a gap to begin with but didnt see it.

Ive heard that floor guys will use folded paper in a pinch to "fill" and backstop the floor. Which is good for a month or two but over time, disintergrates/gets up in wall etc and now allows for movement of plank.

I dont think its hydro related since these things are solid vinyl ( i used them to accent my mud room wall vs having regular drywall and when cutting, it was like cutting siding )

 

[dtc]

We have the opposite problem. The laminate in the kitchen is too tight in one area, causing it to buckle when the indoor humidity gets high. Recently high temps have been in the 70's with lows in the 50's meaning neither the AC nor the heat is coming on very much. The indoor thermometer also has a hygrometer showing the humidity in the 66-70% range, where it is normally 45-50%.

Ima git me a carpenter out here to fix this mess. @dtc where you at??

It shouldn't be the humidity that causes it to expand. LVT is basically waterproof so it's more likely heat.

LVT/VCT expand a bunch under heart. I learned that the hard way after we installed it in a little bar here in town. The bartender left the heat on one night after closing and it was one of those regular fall days where it's 45 at night and 80 during the day. I think it was Saturday night for a place that's closed on Sunday. Anyway, Monday afternoon after the heater had run for 2 days, the floor was 12" high in the middle of a 24' room.

FYI, read the manufacturer's install instructions. They call for expansion gaps at 12 or 15' usually so long runs will buckle.

Whoever said you kicked it to the far side of the room above, was also correct.

 

[Beast]

Having just re-done two bedrooms' worth of floors recently, I dealt with this as I was putting the vinyl planks down and would periodically adjust to ensure the floor stayed straight and maintained its gaps on the edges. The spacers I was using wouldn't stay in place very well, but once I got to a certain point, it was much more difficult for the floor to move on its own. My biggest slip up was thinking I could shoehorn in a piece at the bathroom door as the last piece instead of doing it upfront with the first row. I just didn't want to deal with handling an intricately cut board right at the start of the work, so I put it off. Lots of cuts and trims later, I got that last board in. Still need to fill in the nail holes on the quarter round trim.

Oh, and my fingerprints are finally coming back after wearing them off.