Anyone tried "loose lay" vinyl plank flooring?

[Stephen Tashi]

TL;DR Summary

Tell about you experience with "loose lay" vinyl plank flooring. (The planks don't interlock and they aren't glued down.)

I like to hear from anyone who has tried "loose lay" vinyl plank flooring. (e.g. ).

I don't understand how it can possibly work. Local hardware stores don't stock it, so I haven't seen any samples.

 

[berkeman]

Looks like the planks themselves are waterproof by design, but water can seep up from below or soak down from above in some cases. It sounds like it all dries out naturally and the planks are not harmed...

https://www.floorstoyourhome.com/faq.html

 

[Spinnor]

Have not used them but I can imagine that if they are layed on a surface that is not very smooth like nailed plywood or roughly finished concrete that the final result won't look like the promotional video above.

 

[berkeman]

Have not used them but I can imagine that if they are layed on a surface that is not very smooth like nailed plywood or roughly finished concrete that the final result won't look like the promotional video above.

Yeah, good point. I haven't laid floor in the past, but what kind of prep is typical for laying flooring? I'm guessing you need a pretty smooth underlayment for any flooring installation?

 

[Spinnor]

Yeah, good point. I haven't laid floor in the past, but what kind of prep is typical for laying flooring?

From what I remember the tolerances for the "flatness" of the floor is pretty extreme, this I am sure is in part to cover their butts legally if something goes wrong with the floor. I think a typical number is 1/4 inch in 10 feet so to follow the instructions properly every floor will need considerable prep.

"¼" in 10ft., Slope not more than 1" per 6 ft. (6mm in 3m, Slope not more than 25mm per 1.8m) No abrupt height differences. High spots should be sanded or ground down and low areas should be filled "

From, https://images.homedepot-static.com/catalog/pdfImages/01/018cc06a-4edd-45f5-a66c-4b5c82445898.pdf

From, https://www.homedepot.com/p/LifePro...-Flooring-20-06-sq-ft-case-I966106L/300699284

The first number I think means that if you place a 10 foot straight-edge on the floor you could not have more then a 1/4 inch gap along the bottom of the straight-edge. Typical concrete or plywood substrates I think are normally much more uneven.

 

[RCK]

I see a lot of what looks like this in nursing homes.

 

[BillTre]

You could put down some kind of underlayment (thin relatively cheap plywood) to smooth things out a bit.