Herringbone LVT lifting where it meets the skirting

[opps]

Hi all.

A customer had LVT flooring laid when converting her first floor maisonette flat in to a 2 story flat. Where the flooring meets the skirting on the exterior walls the are sections that are lifting slightly.





Her surveyor thinks that it is the result of deflection- by which he means that the flooring joists have twisted. I have no idea if that is true or not.

Can I simply "inject" some flooring adhesive and put a weight over the top until the adhesive sets? I have loads of adhesive after having to replace some damaged sections. For what it is worth, you can push the LVT down, but it pops up once you cease to apply pressure.

 

[dazlight]

What’s the sub floor ? What adhesive was used and what trowel

 

[opps]

What’s the sub floor ? What adhesive was used and what trowel

Plywood. Not sure which adhesive was used. I have had to replace damaged sections elsewhere and used the Mapei Eco VS90. I have been using a 2mm trowel.

The property was a first floor maisonette that was gutted and a second story added.

I am starting to wonder if the guy that laid it was so concerned about getting glue on the skirting boards that he stopped an inch short of the skirtings and that since the building work was done the floors have dropped by a couple of mm and that they are lifting slightly because the builder ran silicone along the bottom of the skirting- resulting with the LVT wanting to stick to the silicone more than the floor. I am only guessing though.

I am not convinced it is the "deflection" of the floor.

 

[JohnD]

Is there an expansion gap?

 

[opps]

Is there an expansion gap?

Good point. I don't know. Referring to my earlier image, the other side of the room has a generous expansion gap (where the kitchen units will be fitted). The floor was laid by a guy that lays a lot of commercial (read: hotel) LVT floors. To be honest, I have no idea how big the expansion gap on a LVT floor should be, advice on the web seems to vary quite a lot.

I have however worked in several properties where there is no discernable expansion gap.

 

[dazlight]

Shouldn’t be any expansion gap at all. Yes the silicone would have lifted the Lvt a fraction. If the adhesive is an inch short it tells me they aren’t proper LVT fitters. What plywood is it? Should be a good grade like SP101 or FG1 for gluing straight to it.

 

[dazlight]

The trowel should be a A2 notch. The adhesive used is a good one. It’s a wet set so you have to get the planks in before it goes off. Within 15 min

 

[dazlight]

Not sure why it’s been siliconed though as it doesn’t need it. It’s an easy fix though. Warm planks up. Lift up and apply some glue and get some weight on the cuts.

 

[opps]

Thanks @dazlight I have no idea what plywood was used.

Now that I think about it, the fact that much of the LVT runs under skirting implies that perhaps it was laid before the skirting, or that a gap was left to accommodate it. I am gonna go with the latter. Note: the LVT was not an inch short- when I mentioned that, I was

With the latter, it might explain why the guy didn't run the adhesive to the end.

Given that they run under the skirting, I am hesitant to heat up each strip to remove and reglue (especially that were only looking roughly 15mm of lifting at the ends on some, but not all). As an side, I do have a professional Steinel digital heat gun, which temperature should I set it to? From memory, I used about 180 degrees C to lift the full bits that I replaced. I worked on the assumption that by heating it, I made each section expand and used new bits to replace the damaged ones (that said, by virtue of fact that they were damaged, they needed to be replaced anyway) .

 

[dazlight]

Low heat and watch you don’t burn the skirting. Try heating up and rolling it and seeing if it stays down

 

[opps]

Low heat and watch you don’t burn the skirting. Try heating up and rolling it and seeing if it stays down

Thanks Daz. Will try next week when back on site.