Hour 1
Hear underlayment options for vinyl plank flooring, a tip for insulating around recessed lights, and more.
Underlayment for Vinyl Plank Flooring
Paul in Illinois wants to replace the carpet on the lower level of his tri-level home with vinyl plank flooring. This level is on a concrete slab, and the floor gets very cold in the wintertime.
He wants to know if he can put a quarter-inch or half-inch high-density foam board under the flooring to act as insulation between the concrete floor and the flooring.
“Will that cause problems with trapping moisture under that?” he asks.
Having existing carpet there will be a pretty good test of moisture accumulation. If you pull the carpet up and don’t see signs of moisture damage, he should be fine.
In terms of putting anything dense over the slab, any layer will certainly help insulate it a little bit. A quarter-inch underlayment, glued and screwed down properly, will work well, and some would even say it’s overkill.
Check with the vinyl floor manufacturer first. Some are very specific about what types of underlayment to use. Some will allow a very thin underlayment, no more than an eighth of an inch, and others don’t recommend one.
Vinyl plank flooring doesn’t have