Underlay for luxury vinyl planks

Weece

Hi,

I would be grateful for advice on whether or not I can use (or if it will be a problem to use) underlay for laminate flooring for luxury vinyl planks/ tiles? The underlay is 5mm foam but the packet says for laminate floors not luxury vinyl planks/ tiles.

The man in B&Q says they didn't have the underlay for vinyl so gave my DIY guy the underlay for laminate and now I'm really worried there will be a problem as I live in a flat and I don't want to cause unnecessary noise for my downstairs neighbour because of the wrong underlay. Most of the floor has already been done so I do t know what to do.

Any help or advice would be really helpful.

Thanks
Weece

Ruski

LVP is laid on ply or solid floors with SLC to smooth the surface.

Another victory for the monkeys in B&Poo

What's under the flooring already completed??

HTH

Russ

Marktheshark

What luxury vinyl planks ?
No they wont stay down very long at all on laminate foam.
The DIY bloke is well and truly out of his depth if he did not realise this.

Jonesya

Normally you lay vinyl on a solid, smooth subfloor, say by laying some thin plywood to smooth out any lumps, bumps, gaps etc.. This is good for the vinyl flooring because it ensures it is properly supported so you don't punch through it, or have uneven lumps/bumps/nails showing through the surface and it means it can be securely bonded down. But this probably increases the noise to the floor below. Good for the vinyl, worse for the neighbours.

Laying vinyl on foam isn't good as it means the vinyl isn't supported, it you put heavy objects or point loads on it it could flex, stretch or puncture. But the foam probably will help cut down on the noise. Better for noise, bad for the vinyl, in fact unsuitable for the vinyl really.

getmore4less

Some the click based floating LVP does say ok to use with correct underlay without SLC.

5mm foam is probably not one of them, have a read around installation instructions for a few brands to see what is acceptable.

Weece

Thanks for your replies.

It looks like I will have to replace the underlay and have the floor relaid. I did a test at home (strange no website tells you this, they just tell you you can't use laminate underlay but not why) but you can't use laminate underlay because luxury vinyl planks or tiles are bendy and so the cushion/ foaminess of the underlay means the plank will bend and dent if you put heavy things on it, like a bookcase.

My floor/ base is fibre board. smooth surface but it's the noise issue that worries me if there is no underlay.

I hate B&Q - they didn't deliver my underlay (ordered online) and so the handyman went out to buy it and was told, the one I ordered online didn't exist and he must mean the the underlay for the laminate as it was the same make.