Just in the finishing stages of building our new home and are about to start the flooring. We have hardwoods going down in most of the house with the exception being the mudroom. (We opted for vinyl in there because of the heavy traffic, laundry, etc.) So the question is, do we need to do some type of underlayment to bring the surface up closer to the 3/4″ level of the hardwoods? We have Advantech as the subfloor but I’ve heard from several sources that we need to put some kind of underlayment, preferably luan, to make it a smoother, nail free surface to put the vinyl on. Any thoughts? Also, how do I pick out a good grade of vinyl versus the cheap, rip-it-on-moving-day builder grade stuff?
Thanks!!!
Replies
Subfloor directly below the vinyl should be 1/4" underlayment. This can look like luan, but is a bit smoother/ flatter and has no voids.
Surface undulations and texture will telegragh through vinyl and voids will cave-in over time leaving depressions in the surface.
Buy the pattern/ design you like. You will be looking at it every day.
Frankie
There he goes—one of God's own prototypes—a high powered mutant of some kind never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live and too rare to die.
—Hunter S. Thompson
from Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas
how do I pick out a good grade of vinyl versus the cheap
When you go to look at samples, take your box cutter and caliper or micrometer with you. Peel up a small corner (1/16" enough of the sample edge if somebody has not already done it) and measure the actual vinyl thickness. Good stuff should be a nominal 20 mils, really cheap stuff as thin as 4 mils.
I would not raise the surface of the floor to match the hardwood. I would ripe a tapered shim to create a dam. If the laundry floods, it would not flow to and ruin the wood floors. A little drain behind the washer helps too.
Good idea, the shim/dam thing, although I would raise the level closer to the hardwood.
Also, buy the best you can afford, and if it is a small room, the best won't really cost you that much anyway.
I always tell my customers to buy the best available, although some do not heed my advice. After all, it is a floor and you will be beating it up daily. It needs to be able to take years of daily abuse.
Grunge on.
Usually luan is used for underlayment because it has one sufficiently smooth surface and it is cheap. But you can use any material with a smooth surface if you want to get more thickness. You could go with 3/8, 1/2, or 3/4 inch plywood. Screw it securely and fill the surface texture, screw heads, and seams with leveling compound.
As for quality, the major manufactures grade their product lines with names such as bronze, silver, gold, and platinum. Those are reliable indicators of quality. After looking at many samples you can tell just from the samples. The better flooring is thicker and, perhaps more importantly, has a thicker wear layer on top of the pigmented layer. They will hold a shine considerably longer than the 75¢/sq. ft. material on the bargain roll. The better floors are better looking, too. The patterns look more real and the image quality is sharper.
My personal advice is if you are going for a better quality, don't just go with a higher grade of ugly builder's faux Italian white. Get something with some character and color that will compliment your hardwood floor. I'm imagining a brownish stone appearance, but definitely not white.
We use BC plywood for underlayment. Luan is not recomended by some manufactures (Armstrong for one) because it is mahogany based and may bleed a purple color into light colored vinyl. I have never seen this but when you install it for a living you use what they want so you can warranty it if need be. DanT
Thanks for all the excellent advice guys! I knew this was the right place to ask!!Cheers!