Have you decided to remodel a room of your home by adding vinyl plank flooring? You'll definitely want to know some tips to help with the installation if you are doing it on your own.  

Prepare Your Subfloor

It's important that your subfloor is properly prepped before you get started. This includes making sure that it is very clean without any debris on the surface. If there is adhesive residue on the subfloor from old flooring material, you'll want to make sure the adhesive is completely gone as well. A vinyl plank floor actually floats on top of the subfloor, so anything that holds it in place is not good.

Have a subfloor that is not level? It will be worth it to use self-leveling concrete to help smooth things out. All of those dips in the floor are going to be very noticeable after the vinyl plank flooring is installed since you'll feel the flooring press down into the dips as you walk on the surface. 

Let The Flooring Acclimate

A good tip for installing any type of flooring material is to let it acclimate to the space for a couple of days. This is because flooring material can change its shape slightly as it adjusts to the humidity of your home. If you have a very humid home, the floorboards could expand and cause the material to buckle. If you have a very dry home, the floorboards could shrink slightly and leave unwanted gaps between boards. 

Use Spacers Around The Room

It's not a good idea to let a floating floor be tight against the walls, since it needs a little bit of room to move around. That's why you'll want to use spacers around the edges of the room to give it a small gap. The molding along the floor will cover up the gap in the end so that you do not see it. 

Offset Your Floor Boards 

Each row of flooring material should be slightly offset so that the seams do not form a corner with each other. It's a good idea to off each floorboard in a consistent manner. For example, take a floorboard and cut it into 2 one-third- and two-thirds-inch pieces. Start the first row with a full plank, the second row with the one-third-inch plank, and the third row with the two-thirds-inch plank. This creates a nice offset pattern that looks great.

Contact a local flooding service, such as Floorco Flooring, to learn more.