Heavy furniture on luxury vinyl plank flooring

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JEH

New Member
Joined
Nov 13, 2019
Messages
4
Location
Orange County, CA
We are looking forward to replacing carpeting with luxury vinyl plank flooring. The only drawback is one large piece of furniture. We have a HUGE oak icebox. Not one of those cute little reproductions. It's a bit over 6 feet tall, over 7 feet wide, and almost 3 feet deep. I don't know the weight, but I'm sure it's over 500 pounds and could be 1,000 pounds. At some point, this was in a store or business at the turn of the century. Years ago we removed the insulating interior material with shelves and mirrors and transformed this into a beautiful armoire.

Unfortunately, the guy who did the conversion for us put very small wheels on the bottom. Since we placed it on a carpeted flooring 20 years ago, it wasn't an issue. But, now I'm concerned about what we will do when trying to position it on luxury vinyl plank.

I may be able to remove the small wheels. That would leave the weight spread out a bit more. Just wondering if there are any ideas out there about how to protect the vinyl flooring and whether this is too much weight for luxury vinyl plank flooring. I've attached a photo. Our house isn't usually quite this messy, but we're having drywall done in several rooms so everything is stacked up in the living room.

Thanks.
oak icebox.jpg
 
When moving something like that, protect the floor by sliding the unit on a couple sheets of 1/8 inch tempered hardboard. Have the hardboard cut into halves or thirds. Lay one sheet next to the unit then tip it backwards so you can slide the sheet part way under it.
Now place more sheets next to the first one. Use the sheets of hardboard like train tracks to slide it on. Even heavy things slide fairly well on tempered hardboard. Do the same when moving it back
 
Decision for replacing your carpet with luxury vinyl plank flooring is a good option or idea I can say, since planks are known for their good weight bearing capacity, also stain , chemical and water resistant, there is less or no chance of any damages on your floor, but still make sure that huge ice oak box are shifted and moved properly without any harm to it.
 
Tho this is an old post, people or visitors still read these comments. Let me add that tho they can withstand heavy furniture, nothing made can withstand heavy furniture with small metal glides or slides. Weight over time will dent anything.
Replace small metal furniture leg gizmos or wheels with soft, wide felt floor protectors.
 
Decision for replacing your carpet with luxury vinyl plank flooring is a good option or idea I can say, since planks are known for their good weight bearing capacity, also stain , chemical and water resistant, there is less or no chance of any damages on your floor, but still make sure that huge ice oak box are shifted and moved properly without any harm to it.
Thanks for adding input Justin.
 
I would agree, though a good SPC floor will sustain pressure better than a WPC floor... Something like that would lose the little metal wheels in favor of large pads with felt on the bottom. Moving it would be on carpeted furniture dolly or a couple of strong guys with lifting straps. Better make sure that beast is where you want it and won't be moved other than the next repaint/remodel.

If removing the wheels wasn't an option, then I would put a small piece of sanded edge plywood or similar to distribute the weight of the wheels to avoid damaging the floor.

If flooring issues were to develop in the home with a floating floor, this thing would be the first thing I'd be pointing to as a potential cause.
 

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