LVT Floors and leveling

Kaipa88

So I recently got a local flooring company to install LVT flooring (click not glue on) in my living room through to kitchen. The original kitchen was on a slightly lower level so they had to level it. They put hardboard planks in the living room prior to fitting the LVT and used screed in the kitchen. The fitters came back twice prior to the actual fitting to make sure the kitchen was level and added more screed/sanded as they went along. The floor was fitted a few days ago and it was IMMEDIATELY noticeable that the floor is not level in areas. Infront of the kitchen workspace it feels like the whole floor is sloping and you can visibly see stress on the joints.

I contacted the boss who to be fair came out quickly and had said he will address the issues by taking up certain areas and re-leveling but since that conversation I’ve noticed more “dead spots” where it doesn’t feel like the LVT is connecting with the subfloor. I appreciated LVT is calling floating floor for a reason but it’s literally clicking all over the place. I wanted to check on here what peoples thoughts are..

The living room in OK since it didn’t get level, just some thin planks of wood throughout but even there you can see where the LVT isn’t flush. My joiner said you shouldn’t feel the joints if you run your finger across them. There’s some areas that are smooth and others that are noticeable which I’m worried will get worse over time.. so yes multiple issues here. 

I’ve uploaded a photo with yellow crosses where the dead spots are. Pretty much ALL of the floor on the appliance side is unlevel. The back door area literally has no support at all and can feel it sinking. I’ve also uploaded some photos of how it’s connected in some areas (raised) like the path running all the way from the living room to kitchen compared to others which are much smoother. Is this acceptable or at least expected with this kind of flooring? 

Kaipa88

Oh and the total for this is just shy of £2500.00 with the flooring itself costing £1850.00. I have £700 left to pay on it

tacpot12

The floor shouldn't click as you walk over it. The areas of visible stress also need remediating.

The manufacturer of the floor should publish a tolerance for the flatness of the subfloor it can be laid on; so the question would be asking is Does the floor meet this tolerance?

I'm not a flooring expert, but I would also be suspicious of the floor being laid over subfloors of two different constructions. Again, I would consult the manufacturer's documentation to see if they have any stipulations about not connecting planks across subfloors that are constructed differently. (The fact they are constructed differently means that they are likely to move differently and you could end up with a disticnt ridge between the two sub-floors, even if they are level now.)

If you have home insurance, you might check now to see if you have legal expenses cover as part of the policy, and if not, add it now. You can't normally add such insurance and hope that it will cover an existing problem you have, but you don't really have a problem until the firm gives up trying to fix it so I think you would be allowed to add this cover now. If you have the cover, you could ring the legal helpline for advice on how to manage the situation in this early stage. 

Kaipa88

I’ve emailed the manufacturer with some images and asked for their opinion. It’s so frustrating as this wouldn’t be an issue if they leveled correctly in the first place. Now I fear they’re going to have to take the whole lot up..

Edit: It’s probably with mentioning there was vinyl flooring through both rooms originally which felt 100% solid. No noise or sinking feeling at all. 

silvercar

My LVT herringbone was laid on a floor that was partly boarded, partly screeded and partly the original concrete floor. The fitters insisted that I needed the glue down type to avoid the issues that you appear to have. Even so, I have occasionally come across the issues you have. One revisit from the fitter, who cut and reglued a small area, the rest seem to resolve by leaving a heavy weight on the offending section. This encourages the glue to restick- even months later.

I'm not as happy with the level as I was with Karndean in my old house (where the whole floor was screeded with self levelling compound), but having it refitted would be too much hassle in terms of arguing with the fitter, supplier and the inconvenience. 

Kaipa88

The fitter commented when I said I could feel abit of movement that it’s because it’s floating. I get it’s floating and not stuck down but you should still feel the subfloor underneath. The noise I can hear is the gap between the floating boards and subfloor. It’s all over the place.

I also have an issue where the living room is not perfectly level either (slopes near hearth). They put MDF down for the LVT to attach to but didn’t do any leveling in there. I’m not sure how to play it at this stage as in my opinion if they knew it was going to be an issue they should have suggested leveling this aswell. I’m not a floor fitter, I just paid for a product which now I’m extremely unhappy with due to the poor fitting.

silvercar

Kaipa88 said:

The fitter commented when I said I could feel abit of movement that it’s because it’s floating. I get it’s floating and not stuck down but you should still feel the subfloor underneath. The noise I can hear is the gap between the floating boards and subfloor. It’s all over the place.

I also have an issue where the living room is not perfectly level either (slopes near hearth). They put MDF down for the LVT to attach to but didn’t do any leveling in there. I’m not sure how to play it at this stage as in my opinion if they knew it was going to be an issue they should have suggested leveling this aswell. I’m not a floor fitter, I just paid for a product which now I’m extremely unhappy with due to the poor fitting.

I can say that it bothers me less over time.

danrv

silvercar said:

The fitters insisted that I needed the glue down type to avoid the issues that you appear to have. 

I think that type would probably be better in the OP's case. I'm currently putting that down in my corridor hallway that has a slight down slope halfway along.
The glue type flooring is flexible so will suit this issue better. Also fitting click type LVT in my bathroom on a new chipboard subfloor.

Click LVT flooring, especially for large areas needs a good, flat and stable base/subfloor, ideally concrete.
Sounds as though the subfloor in the OP hasn't been properly prepared and maybe has dips and gaps where it's been overboarded. 
I would have thought the areas pointed out could be redone as the LVT is loose lay.
Flexing in the boarding isn't quite so easy. Maybe the problem sections can be cut out and levelled with screed.

Kaipa88

You can get an idea of how unlevel this area of the living room is as there’s a huge gap underneath the right side of the hearth (hearth is level). Fitter also didn’t put the LVT all the way under the hearth which forced me to have either a wooden strip or beading which I DID NOT want. It looks frankly awful. The boss said he will come back to address this and get the LVT under but there was no mention of leveling this area. You can actually feel the boards not connecting to anything towards the back of the wall 

Kaipa88

UPDATE: Boss of the floor company has been out to inspect and has offered to take all the LVT up and refund in full. Alternatively he’s offered to re-level the areas requiring attention and fit a new floor of my choosing. I have to say I am relieved to say the least but now I have the dilemma on what floor to choose from here. I would like to give them another opportunity since he’s clearly admitted fault and is willing to rectify it. He commented the particular LVT floor I choose is 8mm which in his opinion is TOO thick making it extremely rigid and unforgiving on the foot. He said the 5.5mm LVT they fit all the time has no issues. I’m unsure whether to go for another (thinner LVT) or something else..