Luxury vinyl install question

[willy3486]

I am about finished with my new workshop , I am getting ready to install the flooring. This is one of the portable buildings they bring to you. The floor is tongue and groove and smooth and the seams have no spaces. The flooring is Cortec brand and their site says its 5mm thick. As far as the floor goes it has paint spots and some drywall mud on it. I have used a scraper on it and cleaned it. I am checking it for the nails and if they are too high. So it is smooth to the touch.

With that said how clean does it have to be? Do I need to mop it as well? I did clean the floor with a vacuum. The flooring has cork on the bottom. Here are some pictures of the floor first and the second is the flooring. This is probably one of the worst places that has stains and such. But I have it smooth.

 

[Spud McGee]

In my experience, you dont need to mop it. Just sweeping it with a broom is good enough. I sweep it as I'm going, too. As I progress across the floor, I sweep another 4ft of it clear for the next rows.

Make sure all sub floor is securely fastened down. You dont want the subfloor moving and squeeking.
And then use a 4ft straight edge to make sure your subfloor is flat. Any gaps over about 1/8", I fill in with that white premixed flooring putty that comes in a gallon bucket. If you leave any gaps over that size, your flooring will flex as you walk over the unsupported spot, and could squeak or weaken.

 

[willy3486]

In my experience, you dont need to mop it. Just sweeping it with a broom is good enough. I sweep it as I'm going, too. As I progress across the floor, I sweep another 4ft of it clear for the next rows.

Make sure all sub floor is securely fastened down. You dont want the subfloor moving and squeeking.
And then use a 4ft straight edge to make sure your subfloor is flat. Any gaps over about 1/8", I fill in with that white premixed flooring putty that comes in a gallon bucket. If you leave any gaps over that size, your flooring will flex as you walk over the unsupported spot, and could squeak or weaken.

Thanks for the reply. I did have a few squeaks so I put some screws in the area to stop them. As far as I can tell there is no gaps even close to that, the did a good job putting the flooring in with no gaps. Hopefully I can get it down today, I am going out there in a few minutes to clean and sweep it. Then after I get breakfast I plan to start laying it down. Thanks for the reply.

 

[stick70]

I just had this same brand and thickness put down in my house, installed by a sub contractor.

I think from your description you're going to be absolutely fine. I went over mine with a shop vac to clean up debris, as what I was covering up was partially removed linoleum from a burst water heater.

Areas of the floor were all the way down to subfloor, two rooms the linoleum was left, and others were patchy. I was told the same information about the 1/8" gap and thin set when I bought the stuff, though the sub contractor just threw it down. The only areas I've noticed anything are where there were "islands" of old flooring and the surrounding area was flat. It's real small and a very minor thing, but it is something I have noticed.

 

[willy3486]

I just finished cleaning and removing the mud,paint splatter. So far it looks good so hopefully it will be fine.

 

[willy3486]

I am over half way through now and taking a break. At first it was a pain but after I got the first two rows together it is going good. I am putting them into place and my wife is putting them down for me. She is watching for patterns so I don't have to. We are going to eat a bite and finish it tonight. It has gone really good since I got the hang of it.

 

[willy3486]

We got the flooring done around 12:30 am the next day. It took about 10 hours with breaks to do around 400 square feet. But it turned out good, all I need to do now is put the trim around it on. So far no issues with it. So it seems we got it scraped and clean enough. Here is a picture of it, I really like it. In a few weeks I hope to be finished with everything and moving the stuff in. Thanks for the advice.