# Laying vinyl plank flooring



## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

I'm going to be helping my son lay some vinyl plank style tile in a basement bathroom. This is the stuff with a lap style joint system where the top of the tongue has adhesive on it and the underside of the flap on the backside also has adhesive. Seems to me I've read that these can be tricky to get lined up before the adhesive grabs so I'm curious if any members have experience with them and any tricks or suggestions to offer.


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## Herb Stoops (Aug 28, 2012)

Cherryville Chuck said:


> I'm going to be helping my son lay some vinyl plank style tile in a basement bathroom. This is the stuff with a lap style joint system where the top of the tongue has adhesive on it and the underside of the flap on the backside also has adhesive. Seems to me I've read that these can be tricky to get lined up before the adhesive grabs so I'm curious if any members have experience with them and any tricks or suggestions to offer.


Nope ,the stuff I laid had snap lock T&G. That sounds scary to me. hope it goes good .

Get a centerline of your room and rip the first and last row,so you don't get a tiny narrow rip at the far side, but you know that, don't mean to tell you how to do it.

Herb


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

Herb Stoops said:


> Nope ,the stuff I laid had snap lock T&G. That sounds scary to me. hope it goes good .
> 
> Get a centerline of your room and rip the first and last row,so you don't get a tiny narrow rip at the far side, but you know that, don't mean to tell you how to do it.
> 
> Herb


go ahead and tell him Herb...
it'd be out of character not to...


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## Herb Stoops (Aug 28, 2012)

Stick486 said:


> go ahead and tell him Herb...
> it'd be out of character not to...


While writing that, I thought ,what am I doing, Chuck has been around the block and knows how to lay floors, but some of the other readers might find it a useful tip. 

Herb


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

Herb Stoops said:


> While writing that, I thought ,what am I doing, Chuck has been around the block and knows how to lay floors, but some of the other readers might find it a useful tip.
> 
> Herb


exactly...
use Chuck as a vessel to get information to those that don't know...


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

Herb Stoops said:


> While writing that, I thought ,what am I doing, Chuck has been around the block and knows how to lay floors, but some of the other readers might find it a useful tip.
> 
> Herb


Exactly. And a friendly reminder never hurts and should always be appreciated. We had a guy a few years ago that joined asking how to cut T & G on the ends of some flooring boards that came with them. We told him that he shouldn't need to, that the end you cut off is the one you start the next row with. He then admitted that he had lined up all the joints so that the pieces he had cut off couldn't be reused that way and he was going through a lot more flooring than he expected. After I told him you should never do it that way and there really was no good way to recover from it we never heard from him again. All I could think of at the time was, if only he had asked first.


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## Guitfiddle (Dec 14, 2014)

Hi Chuck, I did a floor approx 10 x 18 four or five years ago. It turned out very well and while it was not super easy, it was not that difficult either. After doing the first two or three joints you kind of get the hang of it. Just follow the directions for layout and take your time and it should turn out great!


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

Thanks Wes.


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## Herb Stoops (Aug 28, 2012)

Cherryville Chuck said:


> Thanks Wes.


I thught you would have that floor done by now and be reporting back.:grin::grin:

Herb


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## Nickp (Dec 4, 2012)

Cherryville Chuck said:


> I'm going to be helping my son lay some vinyl plank style tile in a basement bathroom. This is the stuff with a lap style joint system where the top of the tongue has adhesive on it and the underside of the flap on the backside also has adhesive. Seems to me I've read that these can be tricky to get lined up before the adhesive grabs so I'm curious if any members have experience with them and *any tricks or suggestions *to offer.


...knee pads...patience...no foul language...

I hate that stuff...sorry, no other suggestions...


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

Herb Stoops said:


> I thught you would have that floor done by now and be reporting back.:grin::grin:
> 
> Herb





Nickp said:


> ...knee pads...patience...no foul language...
> 
> I hate that stuff...sorry, no other suggestions...


sub it out....


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## schnewj (Nov 18, 2013)

:surprise:Every time I contemplate doing flooring, me knees remind me that 'WE DON"T DO THAT, ANYMORE"!:no::no::no:


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

schnewj said:


> :surprise:Every time I contemplate doing flooring, me knees remind me that 'WE DON"T DO THAT, ANYMORE"!:no::no::no:


what part of ''sub it out'' did you not remember a longtime ago....


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## Herb Stoops (Aug 28, 2012)

schnewj said:


> :surprise:Every time I contemplate doing flooring, me knees remind me that 'WE DON"T DO THAT, ANYMORE"!:no::no::no:


I agree,+ 2 on what Bill said.

Herb


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

Well son didn't have the old flooring off yet so hopefully we'll start by tomorrow afternoon.


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## Herb Stoops (Aug 28, 2012)

Cherryville Chuck said:


> Well son didn't have the old flooring off yet so hopefully we'll start by tomorrow afternoon.


I presume there is vinyl/linoleum over underlayment. on the subfloor. Will the new flooring be the same thickness or do you have to lay new underlayment too?

Herb


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

His old floor was glued to the concrete. The new flooring instructions didn't mention underlay I don't think. This type floor floats like laminate does but because it's vinyl it may not need it.


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## Herb Stoops (Aug 28, 2012)

Cherryville Chuck said:


> His old floor was glued to the concrete. The new flooring instructions didn't mention underlay I don't think. This type floor floats like laminate does but because it's vinyl it may not need it.


The one I laid last time was on concrete and they recommended this 1/8" foam underlayment . It acted like a moisture barrier and under layment. That floor floats too.

Herb


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

I'll check and make sure first.


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## cocobolo1 (Dec 31, 2015)

Chuck, we were in HD a few weeks ago looking at the various vinyl type floorings. The one you speak of interested us considerably.

I asked number 1 son (who is in the reno biz and does many floors) and he seemed to think that many of the click together types only have a very small locking section, and that if anything went out of line they would actually come apart.

He has done a couple of the glue together ones, and he says he prefers them. I didn't ask him about any underlay. But I do recall the HD sales person showing us the thin foam underlay...so I guess that is what is recommended.

Maybe give them a quick call first.

Please let us know how you make out with this, perhaps a photo or two.


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## Herb Stoops (Aug 28, 2012)

The supplier said that the warranty depended on putting the underlayment down if it was in a moisture prone install/ below grade. The specs for the foam called for it to be run 2" up the wall and covered by the base, and taped continuous on the overlap seams. When I lay any bathroom floor I run a fine bead of caulk around under the base board to keep any water from migrating under and then under the flooring in the event of a toilet overflow. It is hard to dry out standing water trapped under the flooring.

Herb


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

Well son and I finished the floor a while back and it turned out fairly good by my standards. I had tried to review this a couple of weeks ago but my keyboard quit responding near the end and I lost it all so here goes again. As stated, the vinyl tiles were the type with an adhesive coated (ship) lap system. The vinyl is thick, two layers perhaps a 16th thick each I would guess and the vinyl is relatively stiff and was a bit difficult to score with a good utility knife. I had to make multiple passes like I would with a laminate knife before I could snap them on the line. The tiles are two layers that are bonded together but are offset to each other which forms the laps. The adhesive is a type of contact cement which is fairly unforgiving if you don't get them lined up right to start with.

I read what Keith said about his #1 son's contractor experience with just lining up the corners of the tiles by hand and eye but I found the adhesive to be a little too aggressive to try that. I opted to use a method that I use when I glue laminate down and that is to use a paper in between the glues. The tiles come packed with sheets of tissue paper between each sheet and we used it between the glue strips to keep the tiles from bonding to each other until we knew they were in position. *Once we had the paper and tile in place we would lift the corner of the paper back and tear the paper just enough so that we could see if the next and last tiles were matched at the corners.* That was about as good a test for fit as I could figure out. The tiles were really close to perfect but I'm not sure they were perfect as we would up with very small gaps here and there (less than a 64th but enough to show a black line). I tried starting with a chalkline but the overlap from tile to tile turned out to be different so lining up the corners and making sure that the gaps between adjacent tiles was as tight as possible wound up to be as good a method as any.

One pic shows how we used the paper to separate the tiles. The second shows how we tore the corners of the paper to make sure the corners matched.

I would recommend this tile for many applications. My son's basement floor was uneven, whether original or from shifting I don't know. He had to do some grinding with an angle grinder and diamond wheel to get rid of the humps and it still wasn't flat but the tile conformed enough that you couldn't tell. His tile was a gray color and I suggested that he try filling in the minor gaps with a gray children's crayon in order to eliminate the dark lines.


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## Herb Stoops (Aug 28, 2012)

Good thinking on the putting paper to keep the glue from contacting. That is different material than I imagined. I thought you were laying flooring like the 1/4" snap together planks, this is a lot like VAT plank, only with a lap joint and floats.

Good job looks nice, a new floor sure dresses up a room.

Herb


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