luxury vinyl plank issues all seem to be improper installs?

Question

Does anyone have solid core luxury vinyl plank that has held up for years in your rental without splitting at the seams?

From all the reviews I've read, it seems people are trying to lay this stuff over unlevel floors.

you can't lay this over ceramic tile if there's lippage.

it appears no one uses self leveling underlayment before plank install either.

Has anyone here actually properly installed plank over a perfectly level floor... and still had issues?

What if you used a few drops of super glue while click locking the planks together?

Tony Gunter · Answer

@Mike Franco

People skimping on self leveling underlayment. What I’ve seen, if the floor is not 100% level, walking on it will pop open the seams with time.

Mike Reynolds · Answer

Yes, I have done many commercial and residential jobs that have lasted for ten years or more. If your floor is level your tile is level. I have glued it and have used non glue type. I have used the same installer also for the same length of time so there is that.

Ronald Starusnak · Answer

I never use self leveler. Use LUAN board, sometimes two layers of it. The buckling people are seeing is usually from installing too tight to the wall. You need a gap at the walls.

Bill Hand · Answer

Yes, the gap between the flooring and the wall is essential. There are some cheaper brands you will get from big box stores that will expand more than others. I had a problem with a particular brand, only in spots where the sun was coming through windows and hitting the floor. After getting buckling in just the sunny area, I had to remove the product and replace with something higher quality.

The box did state that the product was only good in the temperature range from 50 to 70 degrees but I still felt like I got ripped off.

David Lee Hall, III · Answer

My first VLP job was my laundry room, it has been there about 7 years. I also have some bamboo click-lock I did in the kids bedrooms, it has been there about 8-9 years. My house is 1995 so fairly level. Used a denim underlayment on the bamboo and a roll-out membrane underlayment on the VLP. Have had no issues with splitting. Depending on your product, it will say how much deflection it will accept in the instructions/prep. It can also matter with respect to direction in terms of seams pulling apart. As mentioned by @Ronald Starusnak buckling is something more often caused by the inability for the floor to move - either not putting in expansion joints (so typing multiple rooms together) or being too close to walls. Unfortunately none of my rental property LVP is more than a few years old so I am waiting to see how it holds up over time.

luxury vinyl plank issues all seem to be improper installs?

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