Luxury Vinyl Tile – What to Look Out For
Luxury Vinyl Tile (LVT) has many attractive benefits – low maintenance, hundreds of colors and styles, extremely durable, and economically favorable. It has become the flooring material of choice for many homeowners and builders across the country.
Although there are numerous benefits to utilizing LVT, builders should remain cautious about using this material. There are important factors to know before choosing this material for your construction needs. While LVT is a waterproof material, moisture problems in LVT floors can occur.
Moisture-related issues with LVT may occur when excessive moisture accumulates beneath the flooring. Due to LVT’s low moisture permeability, any moisture trapped underneath the floor can become a serious problem – bubbling, warping, cupping and mold growth may occur. These problems are most often caused by improper installation or by a high moisture environment underneath the floor planks that was overlooked before installing LVT flooring.
To try to prevent these problems, be sure to follow manufacturer guidelines, instructions, or recommendations. Also, you may want to consider the following, which could help to reduce claims arising from LVT flooring: installing a vapor barrier, allowing the LVT products to acclimate to the room, making sure the mechanical heating and air conditioning systems are operable, verifying the subfloor surfaces are properly prepared and are suitable for installation, and using only those underlayments, adhesives, sealants, and installation methods that are recommended by the LVT manufacturer.
Sometimes, even if builders explicitly follow manufacturer recommendations for underlayment, adhesives and installation, things go wrong and lead to claims. However, the risk of claims and issues with LVT can often be reduced by following manufacturer guidelines, instructions, and recommendations, installing a vapor barrier, allowing the LVT products to acclimate to the room, making sure the HVAC systems are operable, verifying the subfloor surfaces are properly prepared before installation, and using only those underlayments, adhesives, sealants, and installation methods that are recommended by the LVT manufacturer.