More Questions about Luxury Vinyl Plank Flooring

[Pat Germain]

I did a search and found some good information here about Luxury Vinyl Plank flooring. But I still have some questions and would appreciate some advice.

Background: My house is only a few years old. It's a rancher with a basement in Colorado. The main floor has Luxury Vinyl Plank over an OSB subfloor. We have been in the house almost two years and so far we like the vinyl plank flooring. The problem is the basement. It currently has cheap, contractor-grade, wall-to-wall carpet. I could live with it for a while, but last year we had epic rainfall one night and some water got into the basement from one of the window wells. I'm pretty sure I solved this problem, but ever since the carpet got wet, my wife's cat refuses to "dump" in the litter box. She only dumps on the carpet in the area where it got wet. She never urinates on the carpet. She urinates in her cat box. Makes no sense to me, but I don't know much about cats.

First, if anyone has any suggestions for preventing a cat from dumping on carpet, I'm happy to hear it . I've tried every product I could find and none of them made any difference. So, I'm ready to rip out the carpet and install...

- Vinyl Plank Flooring. Is there a difference between "Vinyl Plank Flooring" and "Luxury Vinyl Plank Flooring", or is it just different marketing?

- My basement floor is concrete. As I said, the house is only a few years old, so I wouldn't expect the concrete floor to be too rough or uneven, but I suppose I won't know until I rip up the carpet.

- I'm currently looking at the Lifeproof brand from Home Depot. It gets good reviews online, but there are also a few comments about it not fitting together as it should. Maybe there was a bad batch because almost everyone else gives glowing reviews.

- There are multiple thicknesses of the top layer. Is it best to get 20 mil or thicker? The thinner stuff is cheaper, but I'm concerned it might not wear very well. (There is a local home builder who is notorious for installing vinyl plank flooring which is so cheap and thin it almost immediately starts peeling up.)

- Based on my initial research, it appears I'm supposed to put some type of underlayment between the concrete and the vinyl plank. But what? One video I saw showed the guy laying down a thick rubber pad followed another pad with foil layers. Is all that necessary? We are typically pretty dry here in the Colorado Springs area. Not sure if that makes a difference.

- My basement currently has a home theater area. On the opposite wall there is roughed-in plumbing where I plan to install a popcorn and coffee bar. I use the basement for movies and entertaining.

Thank you!

[Rich Engelhardt]

Try some Pooph.
It's supposed to work on skunk odor so I'm sort of thinking it should be strong enough to kill whatever it is drawing the cat to the carpet.
Since the cat has already decided to use it, it would kill the cat odor too.

[Tom M King]

I only have one experience with LVP and make no claim to be an expert on it, nor have even paid attention to all the different ones. I put down about 3,000 sq. ft. of Coretec Plus in a lake rental house a couple of years ago. Weekly renters, sometimes large crowds of them have used it for a year and a half now, including dogs and kids tracking in and out of the lake. It still looks exactly like it did when I put it down. We made the decision to use that particular one back then, and I've forgotten whatever the reasoning was, so sorry, no help with the HD one.

That house is a slab right on the ground (I didn't build it), and I only put 6 mill poly sheet down under that LVP, but that particular one has a cork backing. It is supposed to be, and has proven to be, completely waterproof.

As simple as it looks to someone used to working building things, I can see where some would have a problem with it. You do need the correct tools to work with it, and you may have to smack the beater block fairly hard, as well as develop a strategy about the order of putting it down.

[John M Wilson]

- I'm currently looking at the Lifeproof brand from Home Depot. It gets good reviews online, but there are also a few comments about it not fitting together as it should. Maybe there was a bad batch because almost everyone else gives glowing reviews.

I have installed the Lifeproof brand with good results.

I have a theory about the comments about it not fitting together easily. On my install, after days of prep work, I was eager to begin putting a few rows together so that I could see SOME progress, but it was incredibly difficult, with a lot a grunting and hammering. I told my wife "It shouldn't be this hard" and sure enough, I was going about the snap & lock process exactly backwards. It wasn't intuitive, but a few minutes staring a the instruction sheet finally got my mental lights to come on.

Once I began using the proper technique, everything fit together as it should, with both the vertical and horizontal seams mating fully. The experience with the backwards fitting wasn't entirely wasted, as I had to do a closet, & had to work from back to front. This is possible, but much more work getting them to snap just right so that the seam all but disappears.

My theory about some of the poor reviews is that folks did their entire floor using this far more difficult method, which would certainly be frustrating.

Good luck with your basement!

[Lee Schierer]

Before you get too far into this project you need to check your concrete floor for moisture. Tape a 12" x 12" square of heavy plastic or aluminum foil to the basement floor and leave it for several days. After that time pull up the tape and covering. If there is water on the foil or plastic you probably don't want to place vinyl flooring directly on the concrete.

[Tom M King]

In that rental house, it has a long hallway with bedrooms off both sides of the hall, and continues through the living area with dining room and kitchen on opposite sides of that run down the middle and around a stone chimney. I had to put down almost half of it "going backwards". Some soap up both sides of a middle piece and slide it in, but that didn't work with the Coretec plus on the long runs there, so I had to fit it around door casing going in one direction so I could hinge it down. For complicated layouts, it can require a complicated strategy.

[Pat Germain]

Try some Pooph.
It's supposed to work on skunk odor so I'm sort of thinking it should be strong enough to kill whatever it is drawing the cat to the carpet.
Since the cat has already decided to use it, it would kill the cat odor too.

Well, that's one product I have not tried. Might help in the mean time. I will give it a try.

[Pat Germain]

I have installed the Lifeproof brand with good results.

I have a theory about the comments about it not fitting together easily. On my install, after days of prep work, I was eager to begin putting a few rows together so that I could see SOME progress, but it was incredibly difficult, with a lot a grunting and hammering. I told my wife "It shouldn't be this hard" and sure eno

ugh, I was going about the snap & lock process exactly backwards. It wasn't intuitive, but a few minutes staring a the instruction sheet finally got my mental lights to come on.

Once I began using the proper technique, everything fit together as it should, with both the vertical and horizontal seams mating fully. The experience with the backwards fitting wasn't entirely wasted, as I had to do a closet, & had to work from back to front. This is possible, but much more work getting them to snap just right so that the seam all but disappears.

My theory about some of the poor reviews is that folks did their entire floor using this far more difficult method, which would certainly be frustrating.

Good luck with your basement!

Thanks. Your theory seems very plausible to me.

[Pat Germain]

Before you get too far into this project you need to check your concrete floor for moisture. Tape a 12" x 12" square of heavy plastic or aluminum foil to the basement floor and leave it for several days. After that time pull up the tape and covering. If there is water on the foil or plastic you probably don't want to place vinyl flooring directly on the concrete.

My basement is not damp at all. No need to run a dehumidifier. But I suppose it can't hurt to do that test. If there is no water below the foil after a few days, does that mean I would not require an underlayment?

[Paul F Franklin]

You are most likely going to need some kind of underlayment, but requirements vary with the flooring type and condition of the slab. I'd look up the Lifeproof install instructions and see what they recommend for installation below grade on a slab. And pay attention to the "flatness" requirements for the flooring. Basement slabs often are not really very flat and if you have humps and valleys or bumps and ridges it can wreak havoc with the snap together floors. Minor and gentle variations usually aren't a problem, but the instructions will usually say something like: floor must be flat within 1/8 inch over 6 feet.... which translates to no more than an 1/8 gap under a 6 foot level anywhere on the floor.

[Pat Germain]

You are most likely going to need some kind of underlayment, but requirements vary with the flooring type and condition of the slab. I'd look up the Lifeproof install instructions and see what they recommend for installation below grade on a slab. And pay attention to the "flatness" requirements for the flooring. Basement slabs often are not really very flat and if you have humps and valleys or bumps and ridges it can wreak havoc with the snap together floors. Minor and gentle variations usually aren't a problem, but the instructions will usually say something like: floor must be flat within 1/8 inch over 6 feet.... which translates to no more than an 1/8 gap under a 6 foot level anywhere on the floor.

Thanks.

I installed hardwood flooring in my previous house using a pneumatic stapler. Hopefully, the vinyl plank isn't more difficult than that.

[Nicholas Lawrence]

I would go to a flooring store. We looked at HD and Lowe’s, and the flooring place had better selection and pricing.

[Tom M King]

I rented a concrete floor grinding machine from a local rental place to knock down some of the high spots in the pour quality slab in that rental house. Vinyl plank is some more work than stapling down wood flooring, mostly because you spend more time up and down on the floor rather than just bending over.

[Thomas McCurnin]

I'd ask the manufacturer of the vinyl flooring for its recommendation.

[Lee Schierer]

My basement is not damp at all. No need to run a dehumidifier. But I suppose it can't hurt to do that test. If there is no water below the foil after a few days, does that mean I would not require an underlayment?

It would indicate that you not as likely grow mold under the flooring. You should still follow the manufacturers recommendations for installation over concrete.