If you plan to have luxury vinyl flooring installed in your home, but you aren’t sure whether floating or glue-down installation is the better option, you’ve come to the right place.
If you have never purchased flooring, choosing a product that will work well for your lifestyle and budget may seem like a daunting prospect—and the process becomes trickier when you have to select a method of installation.
Let’s say you’re still in the exploratory stage of product selection, but you’re sure you want to install luxury vinyl flooring in your home. The first factor to take into consideration is exactly where in your home you plan to install new luxury vinyl flooring.
If you plan to have vinyl planks installed in your basement, you should consider going with a floating installation method; if you plan to install luxury vinyl tile in your bedroom, you could go with a glue-down installation or a floating installation method and be fine either way.
Installing new flooring in any area of your home that is below grade—and, by below grade, what we mean is that the area sits below your home’s main floor—means that your flooring will rest on a concrete substrate. Concrete isn’t very forgiving when it comes to changes in temperature and humidity, so choosing a full-spread glue-down installation probably won’t be the right way to go. If you choose the floating method, your luxury vinyl flooring won’t shift and bulge each time the concrete swells and contracts.
The second factor you should consider is your home’s acoustics. If, for example, you plan to install luxury vinyl flooring in a second-floor hallway, give some thought to the average amount of foot traffic that hallway sees on a day-to-day basis, and where that hallway is in relation to your bedroom, your home office, and your living room. If you choose a floating installation, the product will have somewhat of a hollow sound when it’s stepped on, and, if you’re used to having carpet in that area of your home, you may discover the sound of those footfalls is slightly annoying when you’re trying to watch your favorite TV show.
To sum up, if you’re installing luxury vinyl plank in an area of your home that has anything more than light-to-moderate foot traffic, you’re most likely going to be better off going with a glue-down installation. If you’re installing luxury vinyl in an area of your home where foot traffic is light, and the sound of footfalls isn’t a concern, you should be perfectly fine going with a floating installation.
