Had to choose between a full glue down or a floating floor for a concrete slab in Phoenix

The homeowner wanted luxury vinyl plank over a slab that had some moisture issues. I could either do a full trowel-on adhesive job with a vapor barrier, or a floating floor with a 6mm underlayment. I went with the glue down because that Arizona heat can make planks move a lot. Has anyone else had a floating floor fail out there in the summer?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_rowan22d ago

So you basically had to pick between a floor that's stuck for life or one that might try to escape out the front door? Good call on the glue, man. I saw a floating floor in Mesa that buckled so bad last July it looked like a tiny skate park. How do you even begin to fix that?

aaron_perry22d ago

Glue down was the only real choice. Floating floors over a slab here are a gamble. The thermal expansion is no joke. I pulled up a failed click-lock job in Scottsdale where the planks had pinched together so tight they popped the locking systems right off. You end up with a floor that’s either gapped or buckled. That trowel-on adhesive is like a permanent seat belt for your floor.

emmam8922d ago

Oh man, that's rough but also kind of funny to picture. Just to be totally clear though, a proper floating floor install over a slab should have an expansion gap around the whole edge, hidden by the baseboard. If it buckled that bad, that gap was probably missing or filled. The glue down is definitely the safer bet to avoid install errors, but a floating floor can work if every single step is done right, which is a big if lol. Your point about the gamble is spot on.