Common Mistakes When Installing Luxury Vinyl Tile Flooring in Your Home
One of the most popular types of flooring that has been introduced in the last few years is called luxury vinyl tile flooring. It’s composition, durability, and style makes it a popular choice for residential and commercial applications. Because of this explosive popularity it has led many people to consider installing it themselves or using cut-rate home improvement companies to install the popular flooring choice for them. I wanted to outline some of the common mistakes that may show up when you don’t use a properly qualified home improvement contractor to install the flooring for you. If you’re a do-it-yourselfer or you’re planning on using a cut-rate contractor be sure to be aware of these common mistakes.
Common Mistakes When Installing Luxury Vinyl Tile Flooring in Your Home
For those who have seen luxury vinyl tile installed will know just how beautiful it can look. There are literally thousands of styles and patterns that you can choose from. Luxury vinyl tile can mimic almost any type of flooring from ceramic tile to hardwood flooring. It’s made to be extremely durable and can hold it’s luxurious finish for decades with very little maintenance. However, even the best luxury vinyl tile available will look terrible if it isn’t installed properly. And when there are small mistakes in the luxury vinyl tile flooring it can stick out like a sore thumb. Avoiding these mistakes will ensure you get the best quality finish of the flooring once it’s installed.
Improper Alignment of Luxury Vinyl Tiles
This is a very common problem in older homes. As the home settles it may move more than you realize making corners that aren’t exactly 90 degrees. This can make huge problems especially in larger rooms when the luxury vinyl tiles are aligned with a single wall. While this problem won’t be apparent as you’re laying the tiles down it will be apparent once it’s completed. Even worse is when the luxury vinyl tile spans several rooms either in an open layout home or by hallways. Consider what it will look like if the hardwood luxury vinyl tile flooring isn’t parallel with the walls in a hallway and you’ll be able to see what I mean. An experienced contractor will be able to determine this type of problem early and recommend fixes before installation.
Pattern Mismatch of Tiles
Installing small luxury vinyl tiles can be quite a mundane job and you can get bored pretty quickly. In fact, when it comes to larger rooms, it’s sometimes a bit confusing and make you dizzy just laying the tiles over and over. A small problem that can turn the entire project into a disaster is a mismatch tile that is placed. If you’re going for a alternating pattern in the tiles and a single one is turned wrong it puts each and every tile laid after that one wrong. It’s very easy to do and you’ll need to pay close attention to not fall into this problem.
Uneven Base for Luxury Vinyl Tiles
To get the best look for the luxury vinyl tile flooring you’ll need a great base to place the tiles. Although some minor imperfections can be covered with the luxury vinyl tiles there are things that can completely ruin the project. Having a flooring base that is uneven is one of those problems that you will want to avoid. This is really common in areas where the flooring transitions from one room to the other. A small difference in floor heights can make the flooring look bad. Making sure the base is good before laying any of the flooring is best to ensure a good finish.
Too Much / Little Adhesive
Not knowing how much and where to place adhesive is also a common problem. Too much adhesive can seep through cracks when installing and be very difficult to get off the luxury vinyl tile flooring. Too little over a large area and you can end up with ridges in the flooring. Each type and brand has different recommendations so be sure to read all the manufacturer’s instructions before starting on the flooring project.
To Get Best Results Use a Flooring Contractor
There are just some of the more common types of mistakes that you can make when installing the flooring yourself or using a cut-rate contractor. In order to really take advantage of the beauty of luxury vinyl tile flooring and the durability you’ll need to hire a licensed home improvement contractor such as Home Pros Plymouth in order to install the flooring for you. Home Pros Plymouth offers free estimates on flooring projects so be sure to give them a call at 734-548-9911