I've been asked to look at a glued LVT plank with a hump in it

[Floorist]

Ive seen ply and vinyl installed over heat registers.

I did that once in a three room pull through to a powder room.

Lady called the builder three months into the Winter and told him the powder room was always cold .

I have left carpet covering a register a few times.

 

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I have left carpet covering a register a few times.

One time in 1995, 112 miles out of town, that happened. I was new to the trade and working with Gramps..
I recall Gramps asking my brother and myself if there was a vent in the room.................. Heck, it had a fancy electric fireplace on the wall in that room........... so why a vent too?
On Monday when Gramps went to get his check from the mobile home place, he was told we forgot to cut out the vent.
Lady said the carpet was "floating" the next morning.
I recall those mobile home heating system fans could blow the paint off baked enamel cookware.
The mobile home guys were down at that job for a few days more and they cut out the vent hole. Never would happen close to town.

 

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I would be a bit cagey about cutting a area of underlay out as it could lead to more trouble trying to get all the cut edges smooth in a small area
Maybe just one cut in the middle so the underlayment lays flat again?

A light bulb came on yesterday Jon........... to keep the adhesive uncontaminated, I think I will cut down through the existing LVT and the 1/4" plywood, then vacuum up the mess. Once the floor is squeeky clean, I can remove the strips of flooring, staple the underlayment better, then drop the new planks in place.
Using a thin kerf saw blade, no need to fill the narrow slot that I cut.
I ordered a can of that spray adhesive in case the existing adhesive has lost some of it's 'tackyness' I suppose I can mask off the existing tiles then very lightly, 'dust' the floor with a quick spray of adhesive. The adhesive goes on extremely thin.

 

[Jon]

I would still go with lifting the smallest number of planks as I could then trying screw, staples, or even nails to see if the bubble would go down before even looking at cutting it
I would just use a thin layer of an acrylic type glue Do not have any of that spray stuff

 

[highup]

I would still go with lifting the smallest number of planks as I could then trying screw, staples, or even nails to see if the bubble would go down before even looking at cutting it
I would just use a thin layer of an acrylic type glue Do not have any of that spray stuff

I'm not gonna mix adhesives Jon. This is a 'releasable' adhesive. I pulled out 1/2 of a plank and it seemed to lay and re-stick just fine.
You have to stand on this narrow plywood hump to get it to move or flex downward. It feels like there's a lot of pressure. If I nailer, stapled or screwed it down without a relief cut, it might force up another spot later.
This LVT is stiff as a sheet of 1/8 inch hardboard. It's thick and heating or warming it with a hair dryer doesn't really make it much more flexible or pliable. I bet I could easily cut a 1/4" wide groove in the floor and there would never be a problem even with not filing it. My narrow kerf saw blade is well under 1/8" wide................ much closer to 1/16" wide. By the time the board is re stapled, the gap will close slightly, I'm sure.
I agree, the fewer planks the better. I'm guessing two strips in length and one on each side of those might be enough.

 

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Ended up removing just 3 planks after checking more closely for fasteners with my magnets. I ran one saw kerf 4 feet long through the middle of the high spot.
Between the width of two 6 inch wide planks (12 inches) there were no fasteners where the plywood was buckled up. Fasteners near the edge planks that I left in place had fasteners 6 to 8 inches apart. My bet is the entire floor has less than 1/2 the fasteners that were needed. I told the fella that oversaw the project how to go about fastening the panels, with emphasis when fastening to OSB. I told him run a row of staples down the center of each sheet, both in length then in width, then from the center out, do each quadrant and seams last. I told him that its harder to forget or miss staples if you do one quarter of a panel at a time. That said, his workers might forget an entire quarter panel at a time.