Fitted some beveline in a reception of a surgery last August, and had to go back for something else so had a peek at the flooring I laid which looked good, untill I took a closer look to see that the planks had gapped on the ends, not horrendous but possibly just under a knife width, they were stored in the room for a couple of days before fitting,the air conditioning was on and the temp was about 20 degrees, the tiles were slightly under that, and worst the same temp as I was checking them through the install, when I went back recently the room was considerably warmer as they had the heating on, I appreciate that being a commercial property they probably turn off the heating through the night ( not ideal ) The only thing I did notice was the section I fitted on the second day was tight as a drum........where have I gone wrong ! The flooring was fitted on mapei ps Is there a maximum grab time on ps like when a wet adhesive goes off fully ? This is not a complaint because they are very happy with their floor !
LVT moves with temp change. As the one section you fitted on another day is fine and the other part is gappy then there is only one thing for it. Basically the gappy ones was warmer than the others when fitted. I would guess that you fitted around summer time as you say teh aircon was on. When the room is back to teh same conditions as when it was fitted then the gaps will disappear. Like you say they probably turn the heat off at night so the flooring will try and shrink. If you do the maths of when the place is open and heated vs the time teh place is unheated it would make sence that teh tiles will be reacting to the climate of actually being colder than when fitted. In a domestic property the heating is on more time than its off so the lvt dont really have enough time to start to shrink untill teh heating is back on and keeping the product stable. Dont forget you need to acclimatise the product to its normal condition. In commercial its normal conditions are colder than a domestic area.
So is it because where the heating goes off at night ( being colder than the Summer) there shrinking, and even though the heating is blasting in the day there not having chance to grow back ? If i had used a wet adhesive would it had held together better ?
Pretty much yes. Ideally the lvt could of done with being installed a little colder. Hence the one side you have don and teh other is slightly gappy. On a wet set adhesive you will get the same issues also. Its one of those things you get with a product that moves with heat. Just like a wood floor moves with moister
I could of had it colder, as I got them to put the aircon on, but I thought 20 degrees was about as low as I should install at, 18 degrees being the bottom line of recommendation ?
you should install at the areas average temperature. So if it is 10c then you need to install at 10c. As for domestic the average is 18-21c so you need to install within this temp range. Your job was commercial so a different playing field.
Ok cheers Matt .......I was thinking of the 18 to 28 degree for general domestic , next time I will leave a temp gauge in their for a few days and work from that .........I'm still learning
Problem you have is winter and summer could be massive difference. Can be the same in domestics too. A conservatory could be 0 in the winter and 40*c in summer
Some modern conservatories aren't as bad with the type of glass used which somehow prevents them turning into greenhouses whenever the sun blinks. A customer of mine had theirs replaced with a modern one and insisted on Van Gogh which I tried to dissuade them. Their old one had Amtico and it had shrunk more than any lvt I'd ever seen.... 5mm gap at the end of the planks and at least 1mm between them. I already knew they couldn't use it during good weather as it got too hot. The new one was another story and I went into it on a warm sunny day and it was no worse than warm. Anyway I fitted the Van Gogh one evening about a year ago. I saw it last week and it was still tight as a drum.
dont suppose you lads have any left over planks you are getting shrinking on that you could send me? Seems a few getting shrinkage of late and it has me thinking. Test results on movement i have are tests i have done over the years. IF the products have been changed with different build up of core etc then there stands a chance that certain products are moving more than the glue can cope with. Basically the products might now be unstable. I need to retest these products to see for myself. I was running some tests on a new product out last week and the product was totally stable. If this product gets changed for some reason and now starts to move then i need to know so i can advice you all. So if any of you have left over material that you think is substandard then can you send to me please.
I am doing the carpets in a house which i did the bathrooms back in the summer. Both bathrooms have shrunk. Same as above not badly and the customer is still very happy but enough to bug the hell out of me. I remember the day i fitted them was silly hot so put it down to temp change. They where an Amtico tile stuck with F46. Dont think i got any left but will check.
