I keep seeing people lay vinyl plank flooring without acclimating it first

Just watched a neighbor rip out a whole weekend's work because his planks buckled three days later, all because he skipped letting them sit in the room for 48 hours. I made the same mistake on my first install back in 2019 and learned the hard way after a 90 degree day made the floor pop like a popcorn ceiling. Anyone else notice more DIYers ignoring that step or am I just getting old and cranky?

2 comments

2 Comments

rivera.holly12d ago

Most modern vinyl plank is way more stable than what we had even five years ago, so in a climate controlled house with consistent temps subfloor acclimation is often overhyped marketing. If your room and subfloor are within 10-15 degrees of the planks and you're not slamming them in during a crazy humidity swing, rip that box open and start laying.

oliverbailey9d ago

Ha, yeah I saw a video from some flooring installer on YouTube saying basically the same thing. He said if your house is climate controlled and you've had the boxes in the room for like 48 hours, the planks basically adjust on their own. People get too in their heads about it. I think I read somewhere that a lot of the warping people blame on not acclimating is actually from a bad subfloor or moisture coming up from below. So really you're probably right, it's just one of those things that gets repeated until it sounds like a rule. My buddy laid a whole basement floor last summer, never let the planks sit out even overnight, and it's fine two years later. So I'd say trust your gut on this one.