Do you want to install vinyl plank flooring for the first time? There are some common mistakes when installing vinyl plank flooring. I’ve been there, and to be honest, it was a little overwhelming. You’ll need to figure out the layout, know how to cut obstructions, and forget about it if your walls or floor aren’t level. There is a slew of difficulties that can set your vinyl plank flooring installation back. Today, I’ll teach you Beginner Mistakes Installing Vinyl Plank Flooring and how to avoid them!
Mistake #1: Not Sinking Fasteners
The first step in installing vinyl planks is to make sure you have a solid, flat surface to work with. Examine the surface of your floor after you’ve removed your old flooring (carpet, tile, etc.). Make sure there aren’t any fasteners protruding from the surface. If you don’t drop your fasteners below the floor’s surface, they can transfer to the flooring itself.
Mistake #2: Leaving Your Baseboards Installed
The next blunder is perhaps more of a personal preference. Leaving the baseboards in place makes the work much easier and is rather typical. When removing carpet, though, you’ll need a thick quarter round to disguise the expansion gap as well as the height difference between the lower and upper floors.
Mistake #3: Not Levelling the Subfloor
Making sure your subfloor is level is an important step before installing vinyl plank flooring. You may end up with flooring that has gaps between the boards or click when you walk on them if you neglect this step. Start by placing a long bubble level on the spc plank flooring to see if they’re level. Span over several regions with your level, looking for any dips or humps.
Mistake #4: Not Undercutting Door Jamb and Trim
Your transition strip should be able to fit under the door jam and may even be part of the trim. You’ll have to scribe the flooring around the trim if you don’t undercut the trim. This means you’ll have to fill up the spaces with caulk. This does not appear to be a smart idea and will stand out like a sore thumb.
Mistake #5: Ending Rows with Small Boards
What doesn’t appear to be appealing? At the end of a row, seeing tiny small fragments of wood. However, with a little forethought, you may easily prevent this blunder. The directions for calculating this should come from your flooring manufacturer, but the concept is simple. You don’t want to conclude a row with less than an 8″ piece when using 4′ planks. And simply modifying your starting plank, you can avoid this.
Mistake #6 Thinking you need a lot of fancy tools
All of the straight full-width cuts can be made by you. “But you don’t have a fancy miter saw,” you may be thinking, That brings us to Mistake #6. Vinyl flooring has the advantage of being cut using a number of low-cost instruments.
Mistake #7: Not Planning for Corners
You can make a mistake without even recognizing it: you didn’t plan for corners. You can use a gentle mallet and a tapping block to lay down a couple of rows of vinyl plank flooring. But then you came to a hump in the room that formed a corner, and your board was too short to comfortably traverse the gap.
The good news is that lvt vinyl flooring is quite adaptable. You just kept the rows apart until you reached the row with the far corner. Then, at the head of the row, you need to put a smaller plank. The rest of the row was pulled down, leaving us with a virtually full-length piece.
Mistake #8: Laying similar patterns next to each other
Preparation is the greatest approach to prevent making this error. We unpacked your vinyl plank flooring in an area near the bedroom instead of pulling it directly out of the boxes. We divided the boards into eight heaps, one for each of the eight patterns.
Mistake #9: Putting Air Vents Across a Seam
We ran into an air vent on the floor as we approached the far wall, which was error #9. This vent was smack dab in the middle of our board’s width. We couldn’t really do much if it overlapped a lengthy edge. We may, however, change where it strikes along the length. So, before the vent, we cut and placed a plank that would give us about 8″ before the cut out.
Mistake #10: Not Following Manufacturer Recommendations
When we placed vinyl plank flooring in the past, the most common question I received was “why didn’t you put down the underlayment?” That’s mistake number ten.
The underlayment is integrated into the back of the vinyl plank flooring you’re installing, so there’s no need for an additional barrier. If you use one, it truly voids the guarantee. So, listen to your manufacturer’s advice and do what they advise.
To Sum Up!
That concludes our list of the Top 10 Mistakes to Avoid When Installing Vinyl Plank Flooring! Are you getting ready to put down vinyl plank flooring in your home? Hopefully, these pointers will make your job a little simpler. For further information, see How to Install Vinyl Plank Flooring before you begin your project.
Fixingexpert stands out as the premier interior fitout company in Dubai, renowned for providing high-quality interior solutions. As the preferred choice for top-notch interior services, our committed team is ready to meet all your interior decor needs.
Read more.
