Laying plywood subfloor for LVT...

Pickers

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For reasons of allergies, we are ripping up the old carpet in our 4.2m x 5.2m front room and have ordered LVT.

I am going to rip up the carpet and underlay in 3 weeks time, expecting to find floorboards throughout but have been advised to lay plywood as a subfloor.

My understanding / plan is:

Use 5.5mm hardwood ply 8x4ft sheets
I've been told to screw at 6inch gaps, countersunk and filled. That sounds like a lot of screws.

Skirting:
I also think I need to leave 10mm gap around perimeter of the room for boards expansion. As the skirting boards are already in place, this leaves me with a conundrum. Do I tear off the skirting and replace them higher to cover the expansion gap of the boards and then the LVT, or do I use a multiltool to cut the bottom off the existing boards in situ and then lay to the skirting to hide the edge?

Does anyone have any good guide/advice?
 
I did the whole of downstairs in 5.5mm ply and also the upstairs bathroom. I really wouldn't recommend screws... staples is where it is at. I bought a cheap titan nail gun and used tacwise staples.
 
casper_uk said:
I did the whole of downstairs in 5.5mm ply and also the upstairs bathroom. I really wouldn't recommend screws... staples is where it is at. I bought a cheap titan nail gun and used tacwise staples.
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Ahhh my new friend! Sorry in advance if I bombard you with questions! Any suggestions on which model gun and size staples? Is this for convenience or are the staples inherently better? Did you feather the joins?
 
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mickyflinn said:
Get some knee pads
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This x 1000, well, buy 2.

We just had ours done but after 2yrs of seemingly constant DIY I paid for a pro to do it to give myself a rest, I've done flooring before and hated every minute so it was worth it. They used a nailgun rather than screws.
18 SqM took 2 guys 1 not-quite-full day to lay ply and that was cutting out the skirting (old house moving them wasn't an option)
 
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I'm paying to have the floor laid, but doing the subfloor myself... I've done a couple of rooms and there are bits that never clicked properly so less hassle.
 
Don't forget to fill the gaps between boards too, not totally sure what the guys used but it is simple enough to fill in.
 
Had to ply board my upstairs as it was unlevel and poor condition floorboards. If yours is level then 5.5 should be fine.

I used small 12mm self tapping screws so as to make sure I don't go through the floorboards. They have got a self countersinking head so they just drive in flush very easily.

It really didn't take too long even though I was screwing every 6". It was several hundred screws but these little screws are only a few quid for a pack of 200 so it was only a few boxes for me.

Remember it's in the middle of the ply too, not just the edges, in case you didn't know.
 
Just be wary of the plastic floor you are buying, it can react badly to sunlight and cause UV fading, also it off gasses a lot, so more sun is bad on both counts especially in a living room.

Who ever is laying it have then pay attention to the repeating patterns, I saw an install recently where the installer had put two identical boards next to each other that were supposed to be natural wood looking, it looked stupid.
 
Journey said:
Who ever is laying it have then pay attention to the repeating patterns, I saw an install recently where the installer had put two identical boards next to each other that were supposed to be natural wood looking, it looked stupid.
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My biggest bugbear with these floors. It's not cheap stuff, all machine made, why can't they use a much bigger randomized pattern so repeating is less likely. The laminate floor I bought for my bedrooms had 12 types of board, that's it. I had to make sure I randomized the placement but had to be really careful not to place 2 same boards together.
 
Journey said:
Just be wary of the plastic floor you are buying, it can react badly to sunlight and cause UV fading, also it off gasses a lot, so more sun is bad on both counts especially in a living room.

Who ever is laying it have then pay attention to the repeating patterns, I saw an install recently where the installer had put two identical boards next to each other that were supposed to be natural wood looking, it looked stupid.
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****. Didn't know / think to compute this... I'll have to check the specs. It's a south facing room with massive window.


Edit. The floor says V high UV resistance and low VOC
 
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Pickers said:
****. Didn't know / think to compute this... I'll have to check the specs. It's a south facing room with massive window.


Edit. The floor says V high UV resistance and low VOC
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Check the warranty then, as the normally put some terrible get out clause and you'll end up footing the bill to replace it in a few years. Is it a well know brand that is backed up by the manufacturer, if not get some section 75 with your CC provider.
 
casper_uk said:
I did the whole of downstairs in 5.5mm ply and also the upstairs bathroom. I really wouldn't recommend screws... staples is where it is at. I bought a cheap titan nail gun and used tacwise staples.
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Just to counter on this. We had a professional company lay amtico upstairs. They overlaid our floorboards with 6mm ply. And used staples. I had to call them out a couple of weeks later as you could feel the ply ‘bouncing’ and some squeaking. They did come out and remedy it by lifting the lvt and putting some screws in. Again wouldn’t have wanted to fanny around lifting glued down LVT myself.

It’s been a year now and no issues since. If I were doing it myself though, I would use screws. Overtime staples will give up and squeak. The same way nails do. Staples are just nails.
 
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Journey said:
Check the warranty then, as the normally put some terrible get out clause and you'll end up footing the bill to replace it in a few years. Is it a well know brand that is backed up by the manufacturer, if not get some section 75 with your CC provider.
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It's a high street flooring specialist
... 25 year warranty
 
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