You didn’t order enough material
“Oh no! We are 2 planks short!”
Unfortunately, we hear this too often. This occurs when someone orders not quite enough material to finish their job. Best practice is to measure the total sqft of all the actual floor space(s) and add between 5% to 10% extra depending on the product choice.
Not Doing Floor Prep
Another common error is not doing adequate floor prep before installation. Its important to ensure your floor is level, clean, and free of debris before beginning installation. Take a few hours to comb over your floor prior to install to remove staples or screws that aren’t fully driven into the subfloor.
Leveling is also something many people forget to do. Make sure to check for low spots using a straight piece of lumber or an 8ft level. For low spots pour self-leveler down and allow it to fully cure before install. For high spots, you will need to sand down any crowning that exists in your subfloor.
Not Installing Appropriate Subfloor
Some flooring requires additional subfloor to be installed prior to installation. Check your install instructions from the flooring manufacturer. Glue down vinyl (2mm-3mm Thick), for example requires at least one good side plywood for a successful installation. It is not recommended to lay directly over rougher subfloor’s like OSB.
Having joints too close to one another
Your flooring should be installed with a natural random pattern. You should not allow planks to be installed in a way that allows the joints to be less than 6” apart from each other. If required to keep your random pattern, cut a plank in half to start a row so that you can maintain ideal distance between joints.
Allowing your floor to acclimatize
Most flooring requires a period of time to just sit and rest in the room/climate it is going to be installed in. Make sure to open your boxes and stack your material flat. Allow the material to sit for 24-48hrs for vinyl and laminate. For hardwood, allow it to sit 72hrs – 168hrs. That is a whole week for hardwood! Always read your installation instructions from the manufacturer as they may call for different acclimatization periods.
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