My studio's new floor started buckling after just two months

I installed a floating vinyl plank floor in my 12x16 studio back in April, thinking it would handle the temperature swings (I'm in Ohio). Last week, I walked in and saw a noticeable hump running right down the middle of the room. Has anyone else had a floor fail this fast, and what did you end up replacing it with?

3 comments

3 Comments

bailey.sandra20d ago

Oh man, that's the worst. I had the same thing happen in my sunroom. Those floating floors need a bigger gap around the edges than people realize, especially with our humidity. That hump is probably the planks pushing together with nowhere to go. You might be able to pull up the baseboard and trim the last row, but honestly, after it buckles, it's never quite right. I ended up pulling mine up and going with glue-down vinyl tile. It was more work, but it's been solid for three years now.

uma_patel1910d ago

Wait, but what about just cutting the hump out? I had a spot buckle in my kitchen and I used a circular saw to cut out the bad planks... then I just put new ones in with a bigger gap. It was way less work than redoing the whole floor and you can't even tell now. Sometimes you can fix just the part that's broken.

jackson.wesley20d ago

Sandra's right about the gap, but that glue-down job she mentioned is no joke. You have to get the floor perfectly clean and flat first, or every little bump shows through. I used a self-leveling compound first, which added a whole extra weekend to the project.