How flat does it really need to be?

[Golden]

I am a DIY and new to the world of LVP installations. I am renovating 1050 square feet of my home to have Coretec original WPC "click together planks". Coretec installation instructions say that the floor needs to be level to 3/16 in a 10 foot radius. My home is 40 years old and built on a crawl space. When I go around the home with a 6 foot straight edge I find that it has sagged through the years and the center of the home down the central hallway that is over the center footer is high and the floors sweep downward in both directions. it is well over the 3/16 requirement. My question is "just what will happen if I lay flooring over this? " If it clicks into place right now will it fall apart in time later?

Thanks in advance for the help.

 

[Tile Tom]

Deflection happens. If the floor isn't flat there will be voids under the planks. Then when you walk on them the locking mechanism will break and the floor will start coming apart.

The 3/16 rule gets broken a lot. I can't stray far from that rule because I would be on the hook for thousands of dollars in replacement/repair work. but experience tells me when I can cheat a LITTLE.

Your situation is a bit extreme. I would consider returning what you have and switching to a glue down lvp.

The way they market those floors indicates even a caveman can do it. While true that it's fairly easy to snap planks together, the prep work is where the skill comes in.

 

[C.J.]

If you have a high spot in the hallway? and the rest of the house slopes away from the high spot, yet is fairly flat except for the high spot, then in theory you could break up the floor at the high spot with a T-mold(s) assuming the rest of the house is fairly flat.

Is the hump running the length of the hallway? Assuming the hump is not smack dab down the center of the hallway and is to one side or the other then you could use T-molds at the doorways on the side with the hump. Or is the hump at one end or the other of the hallway? Then you put a T-mold where the hump is.

Now if the hump is somewhere inconvenient that runs into a larger area then Tom is right and switching to a glue down may be your best bet.

 

[rugaddict]

How flat does it really been it to be?——-how long do you really want it to last?