We’ve had gapping throughout our glue down Karndean Van Gogh install. Karndean and the installer have (finally) agreed to fix it, but I’m not confident that gapping won’t just happen again. Any advice is most appreciated. We had about 4000 square feet of Karndean Van Gogh glue down installed in a new build home in 2018. At first it looked great but over the next year or so small end gaps started to appear between the ends of all the boards. Those gaps expanded to about 1/16 to 1/8”. After much back and forth Karndean and the installer have agreed to replace it, but it is going to create a big mess and I’m concerned it might just happen again. Original install used K91A.4 adhesive on top of 1/4” “luan mahogany” plywood, which was nailed on top of a 3/4” plywood subfloor on top of wood joists (although the nailing of the 1/4” looks sporadic and poor). The glue is still “tacky” and has ridges, and there was clear transfer to the boards. I’m not sure if it was rolled but given the ridges perhaps not. The home is heated but not air conditioned, so the home never drops below ~18C but can go as warm as 30C+. There are areas with direct sunlight exposure through large windows, which is also where the largest gaps are (but there are also gaps in the hallways, where there is no direct sunlight). Comparing left over boards from the basement to installed boards it seems the installed boards have simply shrunk - putting in a new board fills the gap almost perfectly. I’m wondering what you all think about how to maximize the odds this doesn’t happen again. Should we use a different adhesive? Should we install it differently? Should we let them gently pull up the boards and then put down new glue/boards on the existing 1/4”, or should we ask them to pull up the 1/4” plywood as well and start from scratch? Your comments and advice are most appreciated.
Sounds like it’s the heat and sunlight. Lvt doesn’t like it. Especially if it’s installed in the heat. It will expand in the summer and shrink on the floor. You need very strong high temperature adhesive. I’m not familiar with the subfloor but if you can’t see it shadowing through I doubt it’s anything to do with that
Wrong plywood used and wrong adhesive I’d guess as don’t know that one. Should be SP101 or FG1 plywood Glue for any LVT -lank should be a HT like uzin KE66, Fball F48 plus or similar with a A2 adhesive trowel.
Yes we are in North America. Assuming they are going to pull out all the planks, should we insists they remove and install a new 1/4” plywood? The boards seem to come off “pretty cleanly”, so I can see a temptation to just put new glue down and install on top of the existing 1/4” ply. Also do you think we should insist on a different adhesive? They’ve told me this adhesive is “what they always use” and “have never had problems with”. I know the other adhesive is also more expensive and “much harder to work with”. What do you recommend here?
They’ve used a ps by the sound of it and it’s not strong enough to hold the lvt. Need high temp glue wet set
Read karndean installation guidelines and make sure your fitter follows them, always best that way, learnt the hard way with mega-fuckin-bond
The guidelines are shite, a good fitter will know the best products to use not what the manufacturer wants to push! For example there own adhesive when there are superior products out there
Agreed but..Does it sound like they’ve used good products and a good fitter…no. The fitter could spin them a load of bullshit and how are they supposed to know. Follow the guidelines and there shouldn’t be any issues and karndean can’t argue about warranty if it happens again
